A Disney Park Classic Heading for Infinity

When it's used in-game as a vehicle, it had better play the music we're expecting it to play. I have a feeling the game designers won't let us down.

I'm a huge fan of the original Disney Infinity, but I love the game for the classic Disney elements, not the upcoming 2.0 Marvel infusion. Besides the impressive improvements to 2.0's Toybox mode, this float is the first announced new game feature to really make me smile.

Well...this and Donald Duck as a playable character.

Steampunk Maleficent Dragon!

Today The Disney Parks Blog unveiled what may be the best parade float in human history.

Steampunk is cool. Maleficent in dragon form is cool. Steampunk Maleficent Dragon is a whole new reason to plan a vacation to Walt Disney World. I can't stop smiling when I look at these shots. This amazing float will be part of this Spring's Festival of Fantasy parade at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom.

Now, if Disney's really smart, they'll make a clockwork toy out of this to sell in the parks...

Photos from Disney Parks Blog

Towering Tinkertoys

As we've mentioned before, the Pixar Play Parade at DCA is one of the most charming day parades Disney's ever produced. Today we've got a look at the Tinkertoys man, strutting happily with the assistance of two very courageous cast members stuck in the goofiest costumes on Earth.

Talk about team players; Give these guys a raise!

Like many elements in this parade, this scene makes the crowd smile with its clever, unpretentious way of focusing on the pure fun of childhood toys. It's one of DCA's most pleasant surprises--Just watch out for the water spray from his fingers!

Photos by Lana Whitham

Heimlich in Hollywood Land

Everyone's favorite ravenous caterpillar winds his way (in several pieces) along Hollywood Blvd. during the Pixar Play Parade at DCA. This parade never fails to make me grin as it passes by. It's impressive and filled with ingenious costume and puppetry concepts, yet manages to feel completely casual, light-on-its-feet and unpretentious.

By the way, that's DCA's best shop in the background: Off the Page. Filled with Disney art prints, cels, books and collectibles, it also gives you a chance to commission a personalized character sketch from an on-duty Disney artist. You could request a drawing of anything from Mufasa to Mickey to...well, how about Heimlich?

Two Park Classics Parade Onto iTunes

In another big marching step for fans seeking digital park music, Disney's Electrical Parade and SpectroMagic have become available for purchase on iTunes and Amazon MP3.

The price points are reasonable, considering the track lengths ($2.99 for the 9:57 Electrical Parade and $3.99 for the 14:16 SpectroMagic). The sound quality is excellent on both releases.

SpectroMagic's release is a bit bittersweet, considering this week's news about the uncheerful fate of the retired parade floats, but the high quality of this recording should rekindle happy memories in fans and introduce newcomers to the timeless fun of this Walt Disney World exclusive.

The Electrical Parade's release might strike a pang of nostalgia in many Disneyland regulars who are coming to grips with the increasingly unlikely prospect of ever getting that show back to California (Elliott, we miss you!). This is the terrific Randy Thornton mix created for The Musical History of Disneyland (complete with Alice and Pete dialogue with the crowd) but with the DCA-era alternate opening and closing announcements hailing it awkwardly as "Disney's Electrical Parade." It just sounds odd not hearing "Main Street" in that fanfare.

Still, any Electrical Parade on iTunes is better than none!

I encourage all Disney park fans to purchase both of these releases: If we want more park music released digitally, we need to vote with our wallets!

As always, I'm hoping there's more to come!

For a complete list of currently available digital Disney park music, please click here.

A DCA Moment: Slinky Dog

This is why the parks rule: There simply aren't enough giant, good-humored, stretchy pull-toy canine hind legs high-fiving people in the real world.

Tips For The Cars Land Rope Drop & Mini-Parade

If you're a Disney Park fan, you're probably familiar with the morning ritual known as the "Rope Drop", where early-bird guests are admitted to the park's entry area, but held at a temporary barrier (the "rope") until the official opening moment.

Today, we're at Disney California Adventure for one of the most well-organized and clever rope-drop variations I've ever encountered: The Cars Land Mini-Parade and Gasoline Hose March! There are a couple of tricks to it you might find helpful on your next visit...

First off, be sure to arrive early -- crazy early. The goal is to be near the front of one of the many entry lines before the park opens. After the morning greeting from the cast and a click through the turnstyle...

Move as quickly as possible (without running) down Buena Vista Street. There is a massive crowd flowing in behind you at this moment...

Continue around the right side of the Carthay Circle Restaurant. Don't look back!

You'll arrive at the "rope" (just below our view, here) and halt momentarily. The Cars Land entrance waits up ahead. You just might see Lightning McQueen and Mater driving about, getting into place for the Hose March (not Disney's official name for the event).

Unlike at Disneyland, where the rope-drop crowd splits off in different directions between three or four big attractions, almost every single person behind you is heading for Radiator Springs Racers. No worries: Prepare for a really clever bit of crowd control by the DCA cast.

King Leonidas in 2008

It's everyone's favorite showboating monarch, King Leonidas! He might be a bit of a tyrant--and his soccer sportsmanship's a bit iffy--but he can play that calliope like no one's business (and he knows it!) Working the crowd for more laughs and cheers than any other character in the Electrical Parade, he's the one Bedknobs and Broomsticks character who's remained in the public eye through sheer charisma (or maybe no one's got the nerve to hand him a pink slip.)

This picture was taken in 2008 during the Electrical Parade's DCA run, just before the show headed to Walt Disney World.

In the interest of good taste, I cropped this photo a bit: King Leo had just plopped back down on his calliope bench, and his tail was hanging in a really awkward, family-inappropriate spot. Yeah, that's right--Mouse Troop's protecting the dignity of cartoon royalty!

Two DCA Soundtracks Surf onto iTunes

Another blast of Disney park music recently hit iTunes and Amazon MP3 -- this time in the form of a DCA time capsule duo! First up: Music From (the original) Disney's California Adventure!

 

Wanna relive the early days when DCA kind of sucked eggs -- yet still had some genuine gems to offer? This long out-of-print park CD has been digitally resurrected! Here, preserved for the ages, you'll find the fun score to the infamously awful Superstar Limo ride (the music deserved better), and a pair of DCA "welcome" songs that -- in a nutshell -- sum up everything icky about the park's original attempts at being "edgy." As if in penance, this album's priced to move at $7.99!

Despite the few flops, there are several fantastic tracks here, many of which made the jump to later park albums, such as the scores for Soarin', California Screamin' and Seasons of the Vine. Great extinct show pieces include the finales from Steps In Time and Lights, Camera, Chaos plus nine minutes of music from the unusual Eureka! parade.

Rare Characters From 1983's Flights of Fantasy

In a recent post we watched the giant Fantasia brooms march by, and now we're taking a look at some more rarely-seen characters who grabbed the spotlight in Disneyland's 1983 Flights of Fantasy parade. We've got a dozen photos today, starting with the best armored oddballs ever:

 

The Trumpeter, Hippo Knight and Rhino Guards from Robin Hood show up! Check out the rhino on the far right menacing the crowd.

Heffalumps and Woozles. Hide the honey!

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!

Elliott the Park-Hopping Dragon

Dreamworks may have the wonderful How to Train Your Dragon franchise, but Disney has no shortage of its own fantasy reptiles. There's the Maleficent dragon, of course, joined by the Reluctant Dragon, Figment, Mushu, the Jabberwock, Vermithrax Pejorative and that fellow under the castle in Paris....

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.