America On Parade

 Source: D23

June 1975 – September 1976

LOCATION

Main Street USA & Fantasyland – This parade followed the same route the park’s current parades take. It started at It’s A Small World, continued down by the Matterhorn, crossed onto Main Street’s central hub, and ended down the street in the town square.

BACKGROUND

1976 was an important year for patriotic Americans…it marked the bicentennial! So of course Main Street, Disneyland’s celebration of all things Americana, had to do something big. Imagineers designed a special parade, able to run both in the daytime and in the dark, just before the fireworks. The parade wouldn’t be a typical procession of Disney characters, but would instead focus on periods of American history and achievement.

EXPERIENCE

America On Parade was a large parade – totaling 50 units and 150 character performers. It began and ended with Disney characters (Mickey, Goofy, and Donald led the first float), but in between, the parade was its own entity.

Some of the historical moments depicted in the parade included:

• Columbus sailing to the “new world”
• The first Thanksgiving
• Benjamin Franklin flying a kite
• Betsy Ross creating the first American flag
• America’s western frontier
• Creating of the railroads
• The beginnings of air & space travel
• Depiction of 70s America

Throughout the parade, viewers heard classic American songs like “Yankee Doodle” and “You’re A Grand Old Flag”. And once the procession caught up with contemporary times, it ended with a triumphant marching band.

 Source: Disney Parks Blog Note: this image is actually from the Magic Kingdom, which had the exact same parade!

CLOSURE

America On Parade had a tricky job – it had to win over Main Street Electrical Parade fans, who were not happy to see their beloved parade shelved. Daytime performances of the parade proved much more popular – the colorful floats and music worked with the backdrop of a sunny street. But in the evening, it just didn’t have the magic of the Electrical Parade. The “characters” were also a little creepy. Imagine dolls with baby faces on adult bodies. The parade was supposed to run through 1977, but after the bicentennial summer ended, it left both Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom.

TRIVIA

Disney legends the Sherman Brothers wrote The Glorious Fourth specifically for the parade.

This parade was an unbelievably tricky feat of Imagineering. Floats had to fit under bridges and tunnels backstage, so Imagineers designed the floats to collapse, hinge, or fold once hidden from public view.

America On Parade inspired Disney to design a computer-controlled music system, which has been used for park parades since 1980.

 Source: Disney Parks Blog