I am a big Disney parade geek, but I rarely get to see a whole parade. Sometimes because of my travelling companion's desire to avoid waiting for them, sometimes because other guests are so darn rude and I get physically abused (yes, I mean it), and then sometimes because timing doesn't work out. This past trip, I was determined to see the new Magic Kingdom parade, Festival of Fantasy, because it looked so amazing. The first day I was in the Magic Kingdom, I staked out the perfect spot on Main Street directly across from where the hub starts to twist around toward Tomorrowland:
I sat and I waited patiently as people started crowding me and surprisingly I didn't get pushed out of the way, stepped on, no child was shoved in front of me, nor was I asked to move (like has happened numerous times in the past). It started to rain and others left, but I stayed, still waiting and trying to stay as dry as I could under my poncho:
Only 10 minutes to go and the rain stopped. I actually thought for a minute that maybe I didn't have bad luck and the powers that be were smiling down on me, especially since that day was my actual Birthday. 5 minutes after the parade should have started, they announced the parade was cancelled due to inclement weather. I was pissed off, soaked to the bone (especially my pants, because although the poncho covered my clothes, the ground on which I was sitting was flooded with running water and it all seemed to run underneath me), and was generally grumpy enough to wait out dinner in front of the restaurant for a couple of hours instead of riding anything. Silly me...the powers that be hate me, always have, always will, even on my Birthday.
It rained pretty much our entire trip, but the final day saw a break and even sunshine, so I once again decided to give it a shot. I braved a very crowded Plaza Ice Cream store to get a cone:
a weird mixture of confetti cake and low-sugar butter pecan (because I couldn't decide between the two):
went a bit further around the hub this time, staked out another brilliant location, and proceeded to wait forever.
It was hot as hades and the sun was blaring right down on us, but most all of us stuck it out, except for the "delicate flower" of a woman sitting beside me (her two little kids, her baby, and her husband managed to deal with the sun), but she insisted on covering herself (and only herself) with an umbrella:
I was terrified I was going to have her stupid umbrella in all my pictures...that's pretty typical for me, but she kept hitting her husband with it and he made her close it (thank goodness for that). Until she did, I just tried to angle all the pictures away from her umbrella:
It started clouding up again and I was afraid it would start raining, but it (thankfully) didn't:
Once her umbrella closed, her phone came out and she kept putting her arm in the weirdest position to take pictures, so again I had to adjust my angle:
It did help that the parade floats were pretty much right on top of me:
I got so excited over Olaf, I almost missed Tiana and Naveen:
Weird hand again:
But I think the Rapunzel Float was my favorite because of the swinging men!
and I loved that her hair wrapped along the entire length of it:
more swinging:
Wish Phillip would have looked my way...he was HOT!
These guys were super weird! Stilts have always freaked me out a bit though:
Again, weirdness:
But I was practically jumping up and down when the dragon arrived (and trust me, I pretty much have frame by frame shots of its entire journey down the parade route, but here's a couple):
Very Steampunk-y:
The Mad Hatter always freaks me out a bit too:
It sure was a perky Snow White though:
Umbrella/camera phone lady actually squeezed her kids out as Jiminy reached for them, putting her own hand out instead...I imagine the CM "inside" was rolling their eyes:
I think they tried to cram everyone on this float!
These turned to be some of my favorite photos of the entire trip (and there are literally hundreds of them). I loved all the colors (it almost had an 80's type vibe) and the floats were all amazing. I was so glad I waited in the hot sun, got sunburned, and toughed out annoying lady beside me...it was SOOO worth it!
I sat and I waited patiently as people started crowding me and surprisingly I didn't get pushed out of the way, stepped on, no child was shoved in front of me, nor was I asked to move (like has happened numerous times in the past). It started to rain and others left, but I stayed, still waiting and trying to stay as dry as I could under my poncho:
Only 10 minutes to go and the rain stopped. I actually thought for a minute that maybe I didn't have bad luck and the powers that be were smiling down on me, especially since that day was my actual Birthday. 5 minutes after the parade should have started, they announced the parade was cancelled due to inclement weather. I was pissed off, soaked to the bone (especially my pants, because although the poncho covered my clothes, the ground on which I was sitting was flooded with running water and it all seemed to run underneath me), and was generally grumpy enough to wait out dinner in front of the restaurant for a couple of hours instead of riding anything. Silly me...the powers that be hate me, always have, always will, even on my Birthday.
It rained pretty much our entire trip, but the final day saw a break and even sunshine, so I once again decided to give it a shot. I braved a very crowded Plaza Ice Cream store to get a cone:
a weird mixture of confetti cake and low-sugar butter pecan (because I couldn't decide between the two):
went a bit further around the hub this time, staked out another brilliant location, and proceeded to wait forever.
It was hot as hades and the sun was blaring right down on us, but most all of us stuck it out, except for the "delicate flower" of a woman sitting beside me (her two little kids, her baby, and her husband managed to deal with the sun), but she insisted on covering herself (and only herself) with an umbrella:
I was terrified I was going to have her stupid umbrella in all my pictures...that's pretty typical for me, but she kept hitting her husband with it and he made her close it (thank goodness for that). Until she did, I just tried to angle all the pictures away from her umbrella:
It started clouding up again and I was afraid it would start raining, but it (thankfully) didn't:
Once her umbrella closed, her phone came out and she kept putting her arm in the weirdest position to take pictures, so again I had to adjust my angle:
It did help that the parade floats were pretty much right on top of me:
I got so excited over Olaf, I almost missed Tiana and Naveen:
Weird hand again:
But I think the Rapunzel Float was my favorite because of the swinging men!
and I loved that her hair wrapped along the entire length of it:
more swinging:
Wish Phillip would have looked my way...he was HOT!
These guys were super weird! Stilts have always freaked me out a bit though:
Again, weirdness:
But I was practically jumping up and down when the dragon arrived (and trust me, I pretty much have frame by frame shots of its entire journey down the parade route, but here's a couple):
Very Steampunk-y:
The Mad Hatter always freaks me out a bit too:
It sure was a perky Snow White though:
Umbrella/camera phone lady actually squeezed her kids out as Jiminy reached for them, putting her own hand out instead...I imagine the CM "inside" was rolling their eyes:
I think they tried to cram everyone on this float!
These turned to be some of my favorite photos of the entire trip (and there are literally hundreds of them). I loved all the colors (it almost had an 80's type vibe) and the floats were all amazing. I was so glad I waited in the hot sun, got sunburned, and toughed out annoying lady beside me...it was SOOO worth it!
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Linda