With the exception of one year, the Christmas Parade at Walt Disney World has occurred every year since 1983. In 2000, Disney opted to air a special on Christmas Eve called “Tracking Santa”. The parade has been called the The Walt Disney World Very Merry Christmas Parade, the Walt Disney World Christmas Day Parade and Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmastime Parade. Even if you have watched the parade every year that it’s been aired, there may still be some things that you don’t know about it.
Hosts
The first year that the parade aired it was hosted by Mike Douglas and Joan Lunden. Eventually Alan Thicke replaced Douglas and Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa went on to replace both Lunden and Thicke. Since 2009 the hosts have changed every year.
Parade Route And Line-Up
The parade goes right down Main Street U.S.A. In order to get a good seat, spectators need to arrive early to find a spot on the curb. If you don’t mind being a little further away, Frontierland generally offers great views of the parade and it’s not as crowded as Mainstreet U.S.A. In addition to the many extravagant floats and Disney characters like Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy, there are appearances made by various school groups, dance and musical performances as well as several celebrities riding on the floats. The characters from the widely popular movie, Frozen, will be highlighted quite a bit this year as well. The parade ends with a much anticipated arrival from Santa Claus. In addition to all of this, it will also be “snowing” at various times throughout the parade.
Taping Of The Parade
If you want to watch the parade in person, don’t expect to arrive at the Magic Kingdom on Christmas Day and be able to see it. The parade is actually taped about a month prior to the actual airing. This year the parade was taped on December 8th and 9th. The parade occurs once on each day and bits and pieces of each parade are aired, although it looks like it’s only one parade that was filmed.
Airing
The parade will air from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on ABC. There is no word yet on if it will be rebroadcast or not so if you want to watch it, but won’t be home, make sure you tape it.
This year’s parade is quite spectacular since it marks the 30th year of its airing. Good Morning America anchor, Lara Spencer and actor, Neil Patrick Harris are the hosts of this year’s parade. The line-up includes Ne-Yo, The Wanted and Candice Glover.
