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Festival of Fantasy is back for the first time in almost 2 years! However, there are several changes to make note of.
Festival of Fantasy
Magic Kingdom’s daytime parade, Festival of Fantasy is back! It did not resume with the reopening of Disney Parks in July 2020. While cavalcades replaced the parade, it appears both will now entertain Guests visiting The Most Magical Place on Earth. It currently runs twice a day.
Like many of the experiences that have returned, there are some changes. You may remember the Christmas parade this past year was missing quite a few elements. Staffing and health and safety protocols are likely to blame for the changes.
Let’s take a look at some of the changes. First, here is an older video from Kenny the Pirate’s YouTube channel:
The above video will refresh your memory of what was offered during the parade! Next, the video below is from a live video Jordyn took today, March 9, for the first performance of Festival of Fantasy.
You can see the video via this link.
Changes
Most of the changes in the “new version” involve certain elements of the parade being taken out. For example, the first thing you will notice is that there are no yellow dress dancers at the beginning of the parade. It simply starts with Beauty and the Beast.
Prince Charming, Anna, and Prince Naveen are all missing from the princess portion. Olaf does join Elsa which is a new addition.
The next couple sequences are exactly the same. The Rapunzel float with all the dancers and Flynn still remain in the show. The Ariel sequence remains the same with all the dancers and characters.
However, the Peter Pan portion is a bit difference. There is no Wendy on top of the ship with Peter and no Tic Toc Croc following behind. Additionally, the entire Brave float is removed from the parade.
The entire Brave sequence is removed from the parade.
Thankfully, Maleficent the Dragon does return to Festival of Fantasy! During the initial reopening phase, it was only available during Boo Bash events. Following behind, I did not spot the White Rabbit in the Fantasyland sequence.
As we wind down, the last few floats also bring some changes. First, the songs “Zip-a-dee-doo-dah” and “When I see an Elephant Fly” are both removed from the Pinocchio/Dumb sequence. Not sure why the felt the need to take out Dumbo, but it certainly makes sense for Disney to remove “Zip-a-dee-doo-dah”.
Finally, one small modification to note is that Daisy and Minnie are both walking now instead of riding on their respective floats.
What do you think of these changes? Are you shocked to see how different it is, or were you expecting it? Let us know in the comments below and on Facebook.
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Linda
Thursday 10th of March 2022
I agree with that comment 100%, Getting absolutely ridiculous everything offends someone so let's get rid of it Complete BS in my opinion!
Arlene Halifax
Wednesday 9th of March 2022
The parade was missing quite a few dancers. I also noticed that all of the floats that had "couples or duos" only had one. ie no princes, beast and Anna. Minnie, Daisy and Wendy all walked instead of being on the float. The Swan Court and Merida Highland dancers are all "couples" dancers. I think all of this is still due to Covid although I think they could be there. It was great to see it again but hope they add the additional dancers and characters back to the parade soon.
Karen
Wednesday 9th of March 2022
I loved the little changes, we go so often ( NY ) that I really like thing subtly changed up here and there
D
Wednesday 9th of March 2022
Agree - zero sense.
D
Wednesday 9th of March 2022
No it does not make sense to remove Zipidee doo dah. The woke-ism needs to stop