Goodbye Parade of Dreams?

[mrfantasmic]

Really though, PoD and Celebrate combined have about the same amount of cast as A Christmas Fantasy.

[tcsnwhite]

Originally Posted by mrfantasmic

Really though, PoD and Celebrate combined have about the same amount of cast as A Christmas Fantasy.

I thought POD originally had around 100 or so performers, and ACF has around 90 something?

How big is the cast for Celebrate?

Originally Posted by RescueTheDay

A couple of changes I heard coming were some decorations for the opening float. Involving some balloons and fake confetti. Then there was talk of putting confetti blasters on all the floats. Of course the show stop music was going to be changing also which, like someone already stated, was already produced and choreographed.

Interesting, as POD originally had confetti blasts planned didn't it? I think the opening was used on the 2004 Christmas parade special...but they were cut right? DL always used to have some sort of confetti blast, but seems like they now don't want to do them...custodial has issues with cleaning it up?

[Kritter]

Originally Posted by nolimit

Not completely true. I know several performers that will be out of jobs after Christmas Fantasy now.

POD not coming back isnt the end of the world. It wouldnt have come back for those few months as the parade that everyone knew.

He said "alot" not "all"

[twobluestripes]

Originally Posted by Armadillo4

And given the scaled back plans for the Princess Fantasy Faire (not too many MiceChatters seem upset about this though), the Entertainment Dept. seems to be absorbing a sizable portion of the budget cuts.

Entertainment is getting huge cuts, and it makes me so mad! I even care about PFF, because it's getting even worse than before, and that's not what anyone wanted. They should be adding entertainment to bring people back to the park and up the quality, and making cuts in TDA and the way they RUN the parks with JR's ridiculous global strategies.

Originally Posted by RescueTheDay

A couple of changes I heard coming were some decorations for the opening float. Involving some balloons and fake confetti. Then there was talk of putting confetti blasters on all the floats. Of course the show stop music was going to be changing also which, like someone already stated, was already produced and choreographed.

I would have liked to see these changes to see if the PoD could have supported them and how well they could mesh the new promotion into theme... it sounds like it would've been pretty successful so far.

[twobluestripes]

Originally Posted by stevo505

Parade of Dreams has not overstayed its welcome. Look at the Disney Dreams Come True Parade at Disney World. It has been there since the 90s. And Fantasmic! has been at Disneyland for 16 years.

Not helping the case; WDW has deserved a whole new parade for years, and there are def. some who dislike F! on this board... besides, the intricacy and production value if F! is astronomical compared to a parade, methinks.

But you're right, PoD hasn't overstayed. I think every well-done parade deserves 5 years. We'd nearly gotten that far, but not quite. Most people who have visited DL and seen the parade go to the park less than once a year, and as someone said earlier, they would like it to stick around so they'd have another chance to see it. It's still fresh to the average tourist.

[nolimit]

Originally Posted by Kritter

He said "alot" not "all"

and I said "not completely true"

alot will be out of jobs, unless they go for celebrate.


If it came back, the cuts would have been pretty significant, performer-wise. Some of the show stops would have been kind of pointless, imo. But, oh well.

[Kritter]

okay...

[DisneyMouse]

Originally Posted by nolimit

Not completely true. I know several performers that will be out of jobs after Christmas Fantasy now.

POD not coming back isnt the end of the world. It wouldnt have come back for those few months as the parade that everyone knew.

This is part of Entertainment anywhere in the world. Much like a movie or stage show, once it's done you move onto your next audition. If a parade is canceled, everyone not cross-utilized somewhere else is out of a job. This isn't something Entertainment hides from their performers; sometimes they'll even remount a Parade or Show during the run, making everyone already in it re-audition. This is the nature of the Entertainment business, and the want for the best possible show they can get.

Everyone in ACF needed to audition to get in, and everyone who will be in Celebrate will need to audition in order to perform. Unlike many of the other lines of business at the Resort, this is one of the downsides to being in Entertainment.

Originally Posted by mrfantasmic

Really though, PoD and Celebrate combined have about the same amount of cast as A Christmas Fantasy.

There are far from 200 performers in ACF, not to mention that Celebrate has yet to be mounted, so there are no official numbers posted.

[CAspace]

As difficult as it is to lose a great parade, it is not unexpected given this current terrible economic crisis that the world has not seen in many many years. We can only hope and pray that 2009 brings the world economic stability and prosperity (along with of course true world peace and cure to all disease). In the meantime we can unfortunatly expect to lose large parades that require hundreds of performers. I am afraid this may only be the beginning of the massive cuts to the parks live entertainment offerings we may see if things do not drastically change on the economic home front.

Let us hope and pray that 2009 brings us recovery from these horrific economic times we are now facing.

[EmeralineDragon]

Originally Posted by twobluestripes

Most people who have visited DL and seen the parade go to the park less than once a year, and as someone said earlier, they would like it to stick around so they'd have another chance to see it. It's still fresh to the average tourist.

Exactly. I think it's easy to forget that just because we may have seen the parade enough to be sick of it, most people in the park either haven't seen it, or have seen it only once before.

[TweedlDum9]

Originally Posted by Walt Jr.

A. There is a sponsor who is still sponsoring other shows so they should be funding this one.

B. These floats are relatively new.

C. Could it just be a recast and Disney just hasn't hammered out dates yet?

D. Would Disney be so dumb as to do this to their most popular parade in a while?

A. None of us could possibly know all the details of Sylvania's sponsorship deal. For all we know, they could have paid for some new lights on the Beauty and the Beast chandeliers and that's it.

B. Relatively new? They've been run into the ground for four years!
Everyone keeps talking about these 'beautiful, elegant floats' compared to other parades, which is true, but that's got to have some drawbacks.
I bet the Magic Kingdom's parade floats can still be rigged to work so long because they're small, boring little things. The POD floats, however, were some pretty HUGE and complicated-looking things with all the light and sound effects and such... and that's ultimately got to mean some huge maintenance bills on Disney's end. Plus, maybe they don't have enough time to fix things when the parade runs seven days a week for 10 months out of the year?
Had no one noticed how faded and stretched-out Ursula's skin had become? Or how sometimes she would stop talking because her mouth was cracked and torn? Or how Simba didn't roar as dramatically as he used to? Or how some parts of the Alice in Wonderland float never seemed to work?

I'm assuming the same logic as for why Aladdin was closed for so long -- because Disneyland's shows run waaaaaay more often than 'real' Broadway shows and stuff, they must need way more maintenance than others would. For Aladdin, that meant months with no shows. For POD, maybe it would take even more time because of how complicated those floats must be. And why do all that kind of major work if it'd only end up running again for a few months?

C. No.

D. See B above and next post below.

[TweedlDum9]

Originally Posted by DisneyMouse

This is part of Entertainment anywhere in the world. Much like a movie or stage show, once it's done you move onto your next audition. If a parade is canceled, everyone not cross-utilized somewhere else is out of a job. This isn't something Entertainment hides from their performers. This is the nature of the Entertainment business, and the want for the best possible show they can get.

Exactly.

Yeah, it is sad when shows close. But that IS entertainment. I think it's sadder when Disney shows close because they stick around for a long time.

People cried when Block Party closed. People cried when Animazement closed. People cried when POTS closed (well, maybe THOSE were tears of joy). And people will cry when Wicked closes in LA in a couple of weeks. That's natural.

In all seriousness, though, didn't it sound surprising to anyone that they were planning to run both Celebration and POD to begin with? We should be glad that at least they're replacing POD with SOMETHING and not just having the street be empty all year... because if they're worried about cutting costs, then THAT would have been even cheaper to do!

[CastMember08]

I was supposed to audition for this parade on December 5th, and then about 2 weeks before the audition, they had cancelled it. So, i believe this is true. I for one am going to miss it, who would not like this parade? It had all the characters, and such great floats. I looked forward to being in it, guess it won't happen. It's like their taking the heart out of parades, it was definatly the best parade I have ever seen in Disneyland.

It will be missed...........bye

[DisneyMouse]

Originally Posted by TweedlDum9

People cried when Animazement closed.

I still cry about that... What a beautiful show, and the last real time Disney has had tap dancing on stage (sorry, the Dapper Dan's single time step doesn't count).

[tcsnwhite]

Originally Posted by TweedlDum9

In all seriousness, though, didn't it sound surprising to anyone that they were planning to run both Celebration and POD to begin with? We should be glad that at least they're replacing POD with SOMETHING and not just having the street be empty all year... because if they're worried about cutting costs, then THAT would have been even cheaper to do!

Well, for some of us, it is not about the show closing that makes us sad, or upset. It's the supposed reasons as to why they are doing it.

We get that shows close. Yes, it's the nature of the business. Nothing truly lasts forever...same with the Disney parks.

But, would they still be cutting the parade entirely if the Celebration street parties were not coming, and not a part of a global marketing initiative by corporate...?