Lights, Lights and More Lights

Monday December 8, 2014
The Magic Kingdom
Disney World

 

 

The Magic Kingdom is definitely a place of shows and parades, not just rides, shops and restaurants.  Today alone there were 6 parades. Some were repeats at different times but still six parades in one day in order to fit into everyone’s schedule.   They do aim to please.

 

After our morning with Winnie the Pooh and the Princesses, we gathered near the castle for the Move It! Shake It! Dance & Play It! Street Party at 12:30PM.  However at about 12:29, after everyone had been waiting, some much longer than we had,  it was announced that it was cancelled due to the rain.  As was the 1:05 stage show Dream Along with Mickey. 

We were able to see the Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade at 3:00 today.  If you missed that post, you can find it here.  We had a great spot for the Festival of Fantasy Parade very near the castle so we just move up a tad closer and hang out at the Castle Stage as it gets dark. 

We are waiting for the 6:15 stage show A Frozen Holiday Wish.  The blue ice all around the stage reminds me of the glaciers we saw in Canada.  I can’t help but expect it to be wet and very cold when I touch it but it seems to be made of something like styrafoam.  Nice fantasy look though.

Right on the dot, here they come Elsa, Anna, Kristoff  and eventually Olaf.  David says Olaf doesn’t look like a snowman.  His head isn’t round and he has Bugs Bunny teeth.  David prefers Frosty.

 

 

They go through what I assume is an abbreviated version of the story mostly centering on the fun of having the castle be made of ice and talking Elsa into doing it.

 

 

So Elsa does all kinds of hand waving and turning and sending out streams of magic through her fingers.   Eventually here it comes – the ice, complete with fireworks.   It is quite beautiful.

 

 

Everyone is pleased with the results and happily goes back inside the castle. 

 

At the conclusion of the Frozen show, we wander back down the beautifully lighted Main Street. We duck in the stores to keep out of the rain.  I model a very nice veil that I think Carrie should consider for her wedding.  The blur is me giving it the thumbs up.

 

 

Back outside, we are both chilled so when we see the glass blower has his ovens going and he’s making glass ornaments we head inside.

 

 

I am so busy watching him make the round glass ornaments as he puts them in and out of the three furnaces and turns them on a thing like a spit, that I take not one picture.   After he closes the demonstration for a break, but thankfully not the furnaces I walk through the store to avoid going outside just yet.   I come upon this gorgeous model of Cinderella’s Castle.   It really is spectacular.   And it can be yours for only $37, 500.  I guess those tower caps must be real gold.

 

 

Time to go outside.  It’s 15 minutes before the our last parade of the day begins.  We walk further down the street in order to get closer to the foot of Main Street for a quick get away after the Main Street Electrical Parade.  People have been lining the street for over 2 hours.  Even with our late arrival we are able to find a decent spot in the second row.  Thus there are folks in front of me and they put up their pointed rain hoods as it starts to rain AGAIN.  But mostly I can crop them out.

 

 

 

In the previous post comments, Tom indicated that the Electric Light parade had been taken off the menu.  Happily that isn’t the case.   Disney’s Main Street  Electrical Parade happens at 9:00 and 11:00 tonight.  No doubt the crowd will be smaller at 11, but that’s too late for me these days. 

This parade was one I watched with my mother and Carrie when the former was still alive and the latter was about 3.  Carrie doesn’t remember it.  We watched it again on David’s birthday in 2012.  It originated at Disneyland of course and came to Disney World in June of 1977.  It ran from June 1977 to September 1991.  We saw it in 1983.  It did not run from 1991 until 1999 when they brought it back for 4 years.  It finished its second run in April of 2001.   Then it came back in June of 2010 and has been running ever since.  Sort of sounds like they’d like to get rid of it but popular demand refuses.

It is a wonderful spectacle of lights.

Tonight’s begins with Tinkerbell.  She may not qualify as a Princess anymore but she’s at the head of the parade.

 

 

She looks a bit big for flying and I don’t know how that hair would do.  I always thought she had a pixie haircut.  I guess she’s aging like all the rest of us.  Although isn’t she part of the “I’ll never grow up” group, frozen in childhood?

 

 

 

Next come Mickey and Minnie riding the train.   These pictures just don’t do justice to how wonderful the lights are moving down the street with the traditional accompanying music.

 

 

 

 

 

Here comes Alice in Wonderland. She’s another non qualifier as a princess. Too independent I suspect. Not enough fear of Rabbit Holes, Cheshire Cats, Hookah smoking caterpillars, Mad Hatters or Queens of Hearts.  Plus there was no prince to rescue her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now we get into the REAL princesses.  There’s Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother.   Did you have one of those?

 

 

She’s followed by the ugly stepsisters and the prince with the glass slipper on a pillow.  Amazing that through all that searching he never dropped the slipper.  That would have made a great headline, Prince Drops Glass Slipper, Too badly Shattered to Continue Search for Princess.

 

 

 

The party guests dance their way down Main Street.

 

Clearly it’s midnight.  But I can’t see back down the street to determine if Cinderella’s coach turns into a pumpkin.

 

Next up is the rest of Tinkerbell’s Group.  Pan and Hook are dueling it out on the Pirate Ship while Smee rows frantically behind.  There should have been a crocodile chasing him.   I’d better send a note to the Disney folks.

 

 

 

The 7 obviously successful miners bring their gems down the street.  Looks like a lot more than diamonds in those carts.  The dwarfs don’t show up very well but Dopey is driving the train and Bashful, Happy and Doc are among those on the carts following it.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the first time I’ve seen Pinocchio here at Disney World.  He apparently has a restaurant here but not a ride although he has one at Disneyland and in Tokyo and Paris.

 

 

Unlike the fire breathing dragon in the earlier parade, this one is not scary.  It is Pete’s Dragon Elliot although since I have not seen that movie either,another one to add to my growing list, I think of it as Puff and the boy riding his neck as Little Jackie Paper who loved that rascal Puff.  

The dragon weighs more than 5,600 pounds, is 16 feet tall, more than 10 feet wide and is 38 feet long. He can blow smoke through his nose.

 

 

 

The parade concludes with a patriotic float of the flag unfurling attended by I guess revolutionary era dressed dancers on both sides.  It’s a long float with fire works and several sections.  This is a very long flag, more like a muffler for a giant.

 

 

 

 

The end is a golden winged eagle. 

 

We zip out the gates, walk down to the dock and take the boat back to Fort Wilderness.  I take a few pictures of the decorations on our loop as we near home.  These folks really go in for Christmas decorations on their sites.  You’d think there was some sort of competition but there isn’t as far as I know.

 

 

Love the little blow up trailer.  About the size of Casita I’d say.

 

 

All the lights both in and out of the park certainly make it seem like a very Magic Kingdom especially at this time of year.