Hello friends and welcome back to another Muting and The Mouse. It is time to escape into more magic no matter how far you might be. For Abby and I, this has been fun to plan posts as we are reliving our vacations while sharing tips and thoughts with all of you readers. This post is a good one because it can spark a fun Disney conversation and opinion. Let’s dive into the topic here first. Disney is known for its parades. The music, the floats, the extravagant costumes. All of these make the Disney Parades some of the best. Well, during Covid-19, Disney re-opened up and did not have parades available for guests to see. I mean, rightfully so, it would have created areas of mass amounts of people gathering to see the parade. Instead, Disney came up with the idea to continue some cavalcades unannounced that would go through the parks. Now, you might ask, what is the difference and wouldn’t people still be gathering? Well, yes people would still gather a bit but it is hard to gather when it is the spur of the moment. The cavalcade is a short parade in a sense and it is of certain characters. We saw a good amount of them in the week we were there and they were all very fun and entertaining. They are all in different areas of the parks but have the same route, so you are sure to see them if you are along the route. The music starts and then you see the characters you know and love right there in front of you. I will go park by park and let you know who we saw and then give my final thoughts on them later on. But for now, let’s enter the parks and see who we found on our trip! There are more cavalcades than what we saw, but I will focus on what we saw at the parks.
Magic Kingdom: Main Street Philharmonic
First off, we saw the iconic Main Street USA Marching Band. They are known as the Main Street Philharmonic. As they march along the normal parade route, they play some of your favorite Disney Tunes. They march from Frontierland to Liberty Square, to the Hub and then down Main Street USA. These guys are fun as they add the marching band feel with your favorite tunes to sing and dance to in the streets.
Magic Kingdom: Tinker Bell
You can fly, you can fly, you can fly! Here we go! On the normal parade route from Frontierland to Main Street, you hear the iconic music from Peter Pan and look to find Tinker Bell. She is atop a giant float of treasure clapping and moving to the music. Tink really adds to the fun as she shows her jolly fun and attitude to all the guests.
Magic Kingdom: Goofy and Friends
You will want to keep dancing to the music as the Goofy and friends float passes by. The music is upbeat and the characters are so much fun as they dance upon the Move It, Shake It floats. Goofy is up top and Max is on the bottom grooving to the music as if they were right out of the Goofy movie. They are also accompanied by Clarabelle Cow, Pancito, and Jose. This is a fun float and the music adds so much fun.
Magic Kingdom: Princesses
The giant magical float comes on the normal parade route and you are left with all of the Disney Princesses you know and love waving to the crowd. The music is enchanting and all of a sudden you see the Fairy Godmother up top waving her magic wand and grating wishes. This float is magical and really adds the royalty to the parks!
Magic Kingdom: Mickey and Friends
I mean, come on, there has to be one with Mickey right? Mickey and the gang are the ones on the last float and they have the best music that accompanies them. “It’s a Good Time” blasts and Mickey, Donald, Pluto, Minnie and Daisy jam and wave to the guests. Abby and I were greeted by this cavalcade when we first got to the park and it was everything and more.
Epcot Princesses:
We went over to Epcot and we saw the princesses again. The route goes around the World Showcase and the princesses are in a horse drawn carriage. It is a really cool cavalcade because they get pretty close to you and interact. This one was one of a kind and cool because it had a live horse pulling the carriage.
Epcot Mickey and Friends:
Mickey and Minnie are driving in a fancy car while Pluto and Goofy lead the way for them around the world showcase. This is a fun one once again because the characters are close and really provide interactions for videos and pictures. The music and the vibe in the showcase really is magical during this one.
Animal Kingdom: Timon and Rafiki
We did not catch many of these just because we never were around the route. But, we did see a couple of them and the one we captured was Timon and Rafiki. The flotilla (boat) cavalcade goes around the Tree of Life on the water and it is really fun to see them waving up to the bridges and pathways. It was a great way to utilize the water and character interactions.
Hollywood Studios: Pixar Characters
Over in Hollywood, we were able to see the Pixar legends. The Incredibles, Edna Mode, Sully, Green Army Men, Jessi and Woody, and Buzz all greet the guests as they walk from the front of the park back to the area where Star Tours is. This one is fun with the music playing and the Green Army Men playing the drums. They get close to you for interactions and Buzz’s car is pretty cool!
Hollywood Studios: Mickey and Friends
Mickey and the Gang are back with some cool cars and closer interactions with the guests. They use the same music that is used for the Mickey and Minnie Runaway Railway attractions and this is a fun use of the cars and walking characters for guests to see. I really enjoyed how they used the Hollywood theme in this one.
That does it for all of the cavalcades we were able to see. There were some at each park that we missed, but I am sure they were magical. It was fun that they happened at random moments during the day and felt like an added bonus when you were stumbling upon them. They really provided some fun photo opportunities and in my opinion was a slam dunk decision for Disney to do. They are fun, the music is catchy, and they create lasting memories with seeing characters. To me, I liked them more than the actual parade, but that is just because of the rush of the surprise because it was happening. Have you seen the cavalcades? Do you like them? Would you rather them just be parades? Let us know in the comments below! Make sure you follow us on Instagram, subscribe to the blog and continue to escape into the magic, no matter how far!
Muting & The Mouse 