Mickey’s Soundsational Parade Premieres at Disneyland

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The new Mickey’s Soundsational Parade premiered at Disneyland today – and it’s terrific. Wonderfully designed floats, great music, lots of characters, and full of energy. To be honest, there was SO much going on that I couldn’t take it all in, but it was brilliantly done. I can’t wait to see it again!

It’s been a few years since Disneyland has had a traditional parade – the last one was Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams, which ended in 2008. Celebrate! A Street Party was more of a moving show with several performance stops.

Soundsational is a continuously moving parade, and you better keep your eyes on it because there’s a lot to see! The floats incorporate musical instruments into the design of the float, in keeping with the musical theme of the float and the characters that go with it. It’s really fun to see how the float designers have put those together. For example, the fancifully designed riverboat for the Princess and the Frog uses clarinets for its smokestacks and trombones are driving the tambourine paddlewheel.

Each float features a different musical style, from New Orleans Jazz to Calypso beats to sea chanteys and African drum rhythms. And there are lots of our favorite Disney characters in colorful costumes, both on the floats and walking alongside, as well as dancers and live musicians accompanying them.

The “Soundsational” parade theme ties them all together – but even that music is themed to each individual parade segment, and each float has its own Soundsational version.

Here’s the beginning of the Soundsational Parade, featuring the terrific drumline. We had to split the video up because it was just barely too long for youtube. We recommend you actually click on the video to view it on youtube in HD.

And here’s the rest of the parade:

The parade begins with a line of drummers in front of Mickey’s float, a huge fanciful drum set. Mickey himself is playing the drums (and he is REALLY playing the drums!). Minnie is wearing a wonderful piano key skirt. In addition to the Soundsational theme, you’ll also hear the Mickey Mouse Club March.

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Goofy rides a smaller float pushed by Chip and Dale which has a large bass drum and cymbals on it that he plays.

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The Genie-turned-wanna-be-drum-major leads out the Aladdin segment, accompanied by harem dancers with cymbals. Aladdin rides on top of a large drum with accompany music such as “Friend Like Me” and “Arabian Nights”.

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A cymbal-clashing Abu follows (I thought this was adorable).

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Th Little Mermaid takes us “Under the Sea” with Sebastian and Ariel and a huge maraca-playing octopus. The dancers accompanying this float were especially colorful and mesmerizing to watch. This float had a whole lot going on with a lot of detail and a lot of motion – all in time with that Caribbean beat. It went by way too fast.

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A spinning shell-maraca-wielding hermit crab brings up the rear.

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It’s time for a trip to Latin America with the Three Caballeros. Donald Duck dangles a large pinata from his position atop a drum float, while Panchito and Jose Carioca walk alongside. (The Tres Caballeros song has some great lyrics: “We sing and we samba, we shout ‘Ay Caramba!'” “What means ‘Ay Caramba?'” “We don’t knooooooow!”)

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The Disney princesses are gathered on a float featuring Rapunzel’s Tower. Rapunzel, Snow White, Aurora, Cinderella, and Belle. The music is more serene and includes arrangements of “I See the Light” from Tangled, “Some Day My Prince Will Come”, “Once Upon a Dream”, “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes”, and “Tale as Old as Time”.

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African drum beats herald the arrival of the “Jungle” unit. King Louie, Terk and the monkey dancers accompany Simba, who is standing on Pride Rock in front of a golden sun bearing Mufasa’s face. He roars and we hear music such as “I Wanna Be Like You” and “Circle of Life”.

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The Princess and the Frog float is modeled after something that really DOES float – a Mississippi river boat! Tiana rides in front in a rowboat with Ray the firefly, and of course that trumpet-playing alligator Louis is giving it his best as they “Dig a Little Deeper” as they are “Going Down the Bayou”. This was another really detailed float that I needed a lot more time to look at! I loved the dancers’ Mardi Gras-themed costumes.

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It’s off to Neverland with Peter Pan, Captain Hook, and Mr. Smee. Tinker Bell plays the mushroom drums in her flower garden. I was expecting pixie music, but the musical theme was rollicking sea chantey versions of “You Can Fly” and “A Pirate’s Life is a Wonderful Life”. (Apparently Hook is not terrified of alligators – only crocodiles – since Louis was on the float just ahead of him!)

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The final float was my favorite – Mary Poppins. I hardly know where to start – there was so much happening! Chimney sweeps beating rhythms on the street with their brooms…Mary and Bert riding escaped carousel horses…the Disneyland Pearly Band playing live music…penguins riding on a whimsical carousel…the chimney sweeps on the London rooftops. And all of the great music from Mary Poppins: “Step in Time”, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”, “A Spoonful of Sugar”. It was just awesome.

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One of the things that Steve Davison told us afterwards is that the concept of the floats was for them to look like pop-up books. In keeping with that idea the initial float designs were done by paper sculptors Kevin Kidney and Jody Dailey. Those paper sculptures were then interpreted and built with materials that are a lot stronger than paper. I mention that because I think you really see the paper sculpture look in these next two photos.

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And that was the end of the parade. Have I mentioned how terrific it was? I watched the video a couple of times while writing this blog, and I see more details every time.

Here’s a “Fun Facts” sheet provided by Disney:

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Mickey Mouse will lead a bevy of Disney characters on a musical journey that has a whole new beat this summer. “Mickey’s Soundsational Parade” debuts May 27 at Disneyland park, expressing the timeless tales of Disney music in a variety of rhythms and styles.

Nine themed floats carry the characters down Main Street, U.S.A.

Characters and performers become part of the parade units in “Mickey’s Soundsational Parade.”

Goofy lends his musical “expertise,” performing on an oversized drum.

The cymbal dancers in the Aladdin sequence create rhythm using hand cymbals.

The Three Cabarellos sequence features Piñata dancers in folkloric-style costumes, and flower dancers costumed to look like traditional Mexican paper flowers.

The Jungle Book unit features King Louie (The Jungle Book) and Terk (Tarzan) dancing with four monkey companions.

“The Princess and the Frog” unit includes New Orleans-inspired jazz, and Tiana’s riverboat is made of musical instruments including a clarinet smokestack and tambourine paddle wheel.

Tinker Bell plays the mushrooms of Pixie Hollow, part of the Never Land unit, using her wand as a drumstick.

The grand finale Mary Poppins drum unit is pulled, in part, by a giant huntsman (from the movie’s Jolly Holiday sequence) pedaling a large bicycle.

The Mary Poppins drum unit also features a moving carousel complete with kites flying overhead, penguins riding carousel horses, and piano keys that appear to “play.”

Eleven Mary Poppins chimney sweeps perform a dance to the song “Step In Time,” using their brooms as percussive.

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Laura Gilbreath is a native of San Diego, CA. She has been making the trek up Interstate 5 to Disneyland since she was a small child and terrified of talking tikis and hitchhiking ghosts. She and her husband Lee enjoy trips to Disneyland and Walt Disney World, as well as sailings on the Disney Cruise Line.

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6 Replies to “Mickey’s Soundsational Parade Premieres at Disneyland”

  1. Thanks for the thorough review. I personally miss Disney having a parade dedicated to one particular movie like how they used to have the Lion King, Hercules, and Mulan parade. The last parade of Disney that I really enjoyed was Mulan. I miss the parade that designed specifically for night time. Tangled/Rapunzel could’ve had a great parade as well. They could have used the floating lantern scene and turn it into a magical parade with beautiful floating lights.

    This parade is good, but maybe I’m just disappointed they didn’t make a parade specifically for Rapunzel.

  2. Thanks for the great videos and report! Haven’t been to Disneyland since 2005 and planning to go next summer. This parade will be top of my list of must-sees thanks to your report.

  3. What a cute parade. Going to see it on June 26th! Can’t wait! This parade was made for my son. Loves watching the old Disney Sing-Along Videos we have plus he makes us watch The Three Caballeros at least once a day. I love the fact that my 4 1/2 year old appreciates the classics. He is going to flip when he sees them in the parade!!!!

  4. Great Photos and videos! Disney mixed colorful floats and characters but now the central theme is the music from the movies. We can´t wait to be there to enjoy it…
    “Ay Caramba!” is a Mexican exclamation for a surprise like “Wow!” or “Oh my God!”.
    Saludos desde la Ciudad de Mexico.

  5. Yah at last a real parade. I know lots of people like the new parades at WDW where the floats stop and numbers are performed with guests invited to join in but they just don’t do it for me. I much prefer this sort of parade. Alas I can’t get back to Disneyland or WDW for four years but lets hope that this one will last. I will however be in Disney Paris in 18 months time so maybe they’ll have an old fashioned parade there I can see. Thanks for the great report Laura, gave me a big dose of Pixie dust that i desperately needed now that a very cold Aussie winter is setting in.

  6. Thanks for the great overview! Any word on if they plan to bring this to Disney World?

    Laura replies: Disney has not said anything about bringing this parade to Florida.