March of the Brooms: 1983's Flights of Fantasy

To celebrate Disneylands 1983 opening of New Fantasyland, the park rolled out Flights of Fantasy, a massive parade highlighted by inflated balloon-like floats and characters. The most memorable moment, by far, was the march of the Fantasia Brooms.

They just kept on coming! These huge inflated costumes must have given their operators/performers quite a workout as they marched nonstop along the entire route

And there they go. I felt sorry for that second broom from the left; he looked like he'd thrown his back out.

This parade contained many unusual elements and rarely-seen characters, and I caught some of them on my little Kodak disc camera. More Flights of Fantasy coming soon!

1994: Disneyland's Amazing Lion King Celebration

1994 saw the debut of the greatest daytime parade Disneyland has ever presented: The Lion King Celebration. This amazing production combined music, dance, puppetry, audioanimatronics, acrobatics, radio-controlled creatures, live percussion and audience interaction into a joyful fusion of Disney animation and African art that was unlike any previous park attraction.

More of these two awesome hams after the break

Employing nearly 100 performers and operators, the production became an instant smash-hit for the park, prompting many return visits and repeat viewings.