Disney Parades!

**FuturePrincessWDW** · 06-12-2012, 09:06 AM

Welllll I have the Magic Kingdom Event Part Music CD from WDW MK... I have been to several of the Events on the CD and I was watching this video Mickeys Boo to You Halloween Parade 2011, Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, Magic Kingdom - YouTube to reminisce my awesometastic 16th birthday on November 1st 2011...I was watching and then it hit me..how are the parades set up? Do they practice them a lot? What controls where the floats go? ....Soooo I looked it up and there was nothing...I couldn't find any helpful information...So I thought I would ask the Disney experts on MiceChat!

Its rare that I find something Disney related that I haven't studied (and usually studied in depth) and I really want to know about this! So any information you can give me would be great

Thanks! <3

Edit: Also how does the music work? Does each float have its own loop?

**DancinBelle** · 06-12-2012, 04:17 PM

Each parade float has a driver, some floats are easier than others to spot where they are. The Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade doesn't rehearse to often, as they do the same thing every day and it hasn't changed in quite a while. The special event parades do practice a lot before the event begins. They will practice the dance a character routines first right by the parade warehouse. One year in October I watched Chip and Dale practice their snow-throwing technique for the Christmas parade. They also do full practices on the parade route after the park closes. Just before the event begins, they hold a cast member preview, so they can have a full dress rehearsal with an audience.

The music has multiple layers to it. Each float has their own section that ties in to the base tune. If you look at the ground along the parade route, you'll see groups of spots that look like kind of like gum. They are actually magnets that read the floats and feed that information into the system that controls the music. The building along the route all have speakers that play the music that corresponds to the nearest float. That's why it never goes out of sync, even if the floats don't move forward constantly.

Hope that helps!