>Celebrating with a Saturday Matinee Special Event!

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  This Saturday Matinee is to help  Celebrate our First Year Anniversary; it was a special event brought back to the Magic Kingdom in the summer of 2010, as part of Disney World’s Summer Nightastic! We were lucky enough to see it. Here is the beginning of this Unknown DisneyWorld Magic, Enjoy!

>I Love a Parade*

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When you’re a kid, Parades are cool. They either have Fire Trucks or Santa Claus, and sometimes, Both! As you get older, you start finding Fire Trucks less interesting and noisier and Santa is always Santa. So, Parades lose something the older you get. That’s not to say a nice Parade every now and then isn’t a good thing, but maybe a parade a year is enough. When you are in Walt Disney World, that’s not the case; when you are in Disney, you have to see as many parades as you can, because they are anything but your typical parade. This is today’s Unknown Magic, The Parades of Walt Disney World.

Three of the four theme parks in Walt Disney World have Parades. Epcot used to have one, but they stopped it a little while back. So, you can see parades in the three other parks, and actually you can see two different parades in the Magic Kingdom, one during the day and one at night.

The Parade in the Hollywood Studios is called Block Party Bash. According to the Disney Website “Block Party Bash is a fun-filled, 35-minute street spectacular for the entire family starring over 20 of your favorite Disney•Pixar friends”. It is a pretty cool Parade and you do get see many of the Disney-Pixar characters. High School Musical 3: Senior Year – Right Here! Right Now! Starts off as a parade and turns into an outdoor show for those fans of High School Musical, it is pretty exciting if you are into HSM. (Whenever it started coming up the street when we were there a few years ago, my nieces stopped to watch and my son made sure we kept walking to our next destination).

Over in the Animal Kingdom, Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade, happens daily. This Parade features more than 50 cast members and Disney Characters, all paying “tribute to the wild spirit of their animal friends”. The Parade lasts about 15 minutes and winds around the Africa, Discovery Island, and Asia, areas of the Animal Kingdom. This Parade features music and colorfully-costumed performers. It also includes huge animal puppets, stilt walkers, drummers and safari vehicles. This is a very neat Parade to see, as it is so high energy.

When you mention a high energy Parade, you have to mention the Main Street Electrical Parade which is just coming back to the Magic Kingdom for a limited run. This parade is a throwback to the parade that was in the Magic Kingdom until it was replaced many years ago by the Spectro Magic Parade. “SpectroMagic Parade is a glittering nighttime procession filled with beloved Disney Characters, joyous music and brilliantly lit floats,” that normally runs at the Magic Kingdom. It is mesmerizing, both in the music that is played and the way the characters are presented. It is a wonderful parade for everyone in the family. The other Magic Kingdom parade is the Celebrate A Dream Come True Parade. This parade has just as many characters as

the night time parade, but the floats and characters are presented in a different way. Both of these parades follow a path that leads them around the park.

All the parades in Walt Disney World are fun to watch and exciting to see, because of all the characters and excitement that they bring. They are definitely not your regular parade with marching bands and fire trucks. To watch the little ones and even the older ones watch the parades, you can see that they are creating a Magical Experience for the viewer.

So, now you know, find a seat on the curb, and listen for the music, then laughing and clap as the Magic surrounds you and you find yourself in the Unknown Magic of the Parade.

* This article originally posted in June of 2010. The Parade being presented in Disney Hollywood Studios is now called Pixar Pals Countdown to Fun. and features “vibrant floats inspired by: The Incredibles, A Bug’s Life, Ratatouille, Monsters, Inc., Up and Toy Story.”

>An Exciting Sight at Night

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This Unknown Disney World Magic was presented again last summer in the Magic Kingdom. It was very exciting to be able to see it, and it was as great as it was years ago. Enjoy!

 

*The commentary included about 30 seconds into the clip, is my wife and I.

>The Wonderful Words of Disney

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I’m a Teacher/Librarian/Media Specialist, so I talked to kids about words all the time. How an author uses a word to convey a meaning or a feeling to the reader. How one word can describe something so there is no doubt what is meant. Or how a word can be used in many different ways so maybe there is a doubt about what is being said. Disney uses Words to convey feelings all over the Walt Disney World Resort. They use words to get you excited about things that are coming up, things you might see and things you want to experience. The way Disney uses their words sets you up for a Magical Experience, just by being there. Disney creates this Unknown Magic by using some words that are made up words, some words they have put together to create Super Sounding words and others are everyday words that take on new meaning in the Disney parks. With this in mind I bring to you today, The Unknown Magic of The Wonderful Words of Disney.

Most of the Words that I consider Unknown Magical words are words that you may never hear until you go to the Walt Disney World Resort. Most of the Fantastic Unknown Magic Words that Disney uses are used for the specific purpose of entertaining the guests. They basically use these words for two purposes; parades and firework displays. Sometimes they will throw in a third reason, to describe a Magical Experience that envelope both parades and Fireworks.

The first great word they used this past summer was Summer Nightastic! This was where they added special Fantastic things to the parks at night- Things like special lighting at Tower of Terror and the Return of the Main Street Electrical Parade. They also had a special Fireworks Display in the Magic Kingdom. Many guests were excited about the return of the Main Street Electrical Parade And I personally was looking forward to seeing it, but I think I like the other great Disney night time experience in the Magic Kingdom (which is also a great Disney word) better. The SpectroMagic Parade is really like a third generation Main Street Electrical Parade. The

floats, characters and performers are all covered in fiber-optic lights. It is amazing how they change colors and of course like the Main Street Electrical Parade, it is all set to music.

Another made up Disney Word that just makes you go “WOW” is FANTASMIC! It sounds like something that is shouted out after something awesome happens and you are, So Excited, that you can’t just use a regular Word, so it is FANTASMIC! Fantasmic! is actually an extravaganza that is presented in Disney Hollywood Studios. The show is presented with live action, images projected on water, lasers and fireworks. It is one of the Magical Experiences that everyone should have at least once in Walt Disney World.

Another Great Disney Word that is used for a Fireworks/Laser display is IllumiNations. This is the Display presented in Epcot. The reason this word is so great, is that it fits as a name for the production very well. Not only do they Illuminate the World Showcase lagoon, and the World Showcase, but they also tie in all the Nations of the world. Hence the great name, IllumiNations.

Of course being in Disney, there are a few regular words that come to mind that take on a new Magical meaning. Words like Wishes and Dreams. What kid (or adult) doesn’t Wish they could be in Disney World and enjoy some Magic? Or have their, Dreams Come True? Disney even made that the name of the Magic Kingdom’s Daytime Parade, The Dream Come True Parade. And the Magic Kingdom’s Fireworks are called Wishes. Even if you aren’t a Disneyphile like some of us are, you can’t help but to feel a little bit of Magic When you hear the names of these things.

So, now you know, Disney helps to make things Magical by using Words. Ordinary words, Special Words, and Made-up Words that all make the Magic come alive when you are in Walt Disney World. So, take the time to Experience the activities and see what you can after reading these Wonderful Words of Disney.

>A Dragon with a Boy on His Back?

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For those of you that have been at the World Disney World Resort this summer, or are going soon, there is a special event going on in the Magic Kingdom. This event was brought back as part of Disney’s Summer Nightastic celebration. And now it is going to be around indefinitely. Of course I am talking about the Main Street Electrical Parade. The Main Street Electrical Parade offers many different Magical Experiences, so tonight I offer the Unknown Magics of the Main Street Electrical Parade.

The Main Street Electrical Parade had its original debut in June of 1977. It got its origins from the Electrical Water Pageant that is presented around the Magic Kingdom Resorts of Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon, nightly. (I wrote about this Magic in an article called ‘Magic on the Water”) The Main Street Electrical Parade took the ideas from the Water Pageant of stringing together boats or in the parade’s case floats that would change colors when they passed a certain point. The parade was very popular when it was in its first run, so much so, that it was used On January 1, 1978, during the halftime show of the

Orange Bowl. The Main Street Electrical Parade was presented in the Magic Kingdom for almost fourteen years, when it made its last showing at the Magic

Kingdom on April 1, 2001.

It made its return to the Magic Kingdom on June 5, of this year. When they brought it back this summer, they brought back some of the original floats, some that were added in the later years of the original run and then some new things for 2010. One of the things brought back from the original run was a large Dragon with a young boy on his back. This is Pete and his Dragon, Elliot, from the movie Pete’s Dragon, which was released in 1977. Pete’s Dragon was a live action mixed with Animation type movie in the same vein as Mary Poppins or Bedknobs and Broomsticks. It was nominated for 2 Oscar Awards and 5 other awards. It was very big in 1977. This is why Pete and Elliot were included in the Main Street Electrical Parade.

Another thing brought over from the Original 1977 Parade is the Salute to America. In 1977, this was put in because we were still very patriotic from the United States

Bicentennial. Things like Eagles, Flags, stars and stripes and the red, white, and blue theme were very popular then. So, Disney added a few floats to the end of the parade, to Honor America.

So, this is why there are floats and presentations during the parade that don’t flow with the Disney of today. The Disney of today presents more of the characters that everyone knows and who are commercially big. The Main Street Electrical Parade is an Unknown Magic for just that reason. It shows the audience that Disney parades can make it and be great fun and Magical Experiences without Princesses or Buzz Lightyear.

So, now you know, the Main Street Electrical Parade gives you a Magical Experience from the past, just don’t expect a Princess, but enjoy the lights and the music and the Big Dragon.

>I love a Parade

>

When you’re a kid, Parades are cool. They either have Fire Trucks or Santa Claus, and sometimes, Both! As you get older, you start finding Fire Trucks less interesting and noisier and Santa is always Santa. So, Parades lose something the older you get. That’s not to say a nice Parade every now and then isn’t a good thing, but maybe a parade a year is enough. But when you are in Walt Disney World, that’s not the case, when you are in Walt Disney World, You have to see as many parades as you can, because they are anything but your typical parade. This is today’s Unknown Magic, The Parades of Walt Disney World.

Three of the four theme parks in Walt Disney World have Parades. Epcot used to have one, but they stopped it a little while back. So, you can see parades in the three other parks, and actually you can see two different parades in the Magic Kingdom, one during the day and one at night.

The Parade in the Hollywood Studios is called Block Party Bash. According to the Disney Website “Block Party Bash is a fun-filled, 35-minute street spectacular for the entire family starring over 20 of your favorite Disney•Pixar friends”. It is a pretty cool Parade and you do get see many of the Disney-Pixar characters. High School Musical 3: Senior Year – Right Here! Right Now! Starts off as a parade and turns into an outdoor show for those fans of High School Musical, it is pretty exciting if you are into HSM. (Whenever it started coming up the street when we were there a few years ago, my nieces stopped to watch and my son made sure we kept walking to our next destination).

Over in the Animal Kingdom, Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade, happens daily. This Parade features more than 50 cast members and Disney Characters, all paying “tribute to the wild spirit of their animal friends”. The Parade lasts about 15 minutes and winds around the Africa, Discovery Island, and Asia, areas of the Animal Kingdom. This Parade features music and colorfully-costumed performers, including: huge animal puppets, stilt walkers, drummers and safari vehicles. This is a very neat Parade to see, as it is so high energy.

When you mention a high energy Parade, you have to mention the Main Street Electrical Parade which is just coming back to the Magic Kingdom for a limited run. This parade is a throwback to the parade that was in the Magic Kingdom until it was replaced many years ago by the Spectro Magic Parade. “SpectroMagic Parade is a glittering nighttime procession filled with beloved Disney Characters, joyous music and brilliantly lit floats,” that normally runs at the Magic Kingdom. It is mesmerizing in the music that is played and the way the characters are presented. It is a wonderful Parade for everyone in the family. The other Magic Kingdom Parade is the Celebrate A Dream Come True Parade. This parade has just as many characters as

 the night time parade, but the floats and characters are presented in a different way. Both of these parades follow a path that leads them around the park.

All the parades in Walt Disney World are fun to watch and exciting to see, because of all the characters and excitement that they bring. They are definitely not your regular parade with marching bands and fire trucks. To watch the little ones and even the older ones watch the parades, you can see that they are creating a Magical Experience for the watcher.

So, now you know, find a seat on the curb, and listen for the music, then laughing and clap as the Magic surrounds you and you find yourself in the Unknown Magic of the Parade.