Disney World’s Festival of Fantasy

The incredible Festival of Fantasy parade at Disney’s Magic Kingdom turns five years old this week. This visual extravagance features over-the-top floats, meticulously-dressed performers and TONS of Disney characters. Today’s post shares a virtual tour of this amazing parade.

While we’re imagining, let’s go ahead and assume we’re watching the Festival of Fantasy parade on a low crowd, low humidity day surrounded by thoughtful people with a thorough understanding of personal space.

It’s a fantasy after all, right?

Cue the music. Here we go.

Floats

The parade begins with a tribute to Disney princesses. Belle and the Beast in their formal attire, gracefully twirl and wave to fans on a beautiful, flower-coated float.

Behind Belle, and part of the same float, is a spinning platform featuring Cinderella and Prince Charming on one side and Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen on the other.

The float concludes with another spinning platform featuring the popular characters from Frozen.

I’ll pause here for a moment to say most of these pictures were taken from a spot in Adventureland, not too far from Country Bear Jamboree.  I like watching The Festival of Fantasy from this area because you can usually grab a great spot just 15-20 minutes before start time. The trade-off is that these earlier sections of the parade route, from the big hill of Splash Mountain to the heart of Liberty Square, don’t offer the same atmosphere or photographic backdrops as those near the castle or along the park’s iconic Main Street.

Back to the show with our next (hairier) princess. It’s Rapunzel, of course, on a super fun boat or float (boat float?) inspired by Disney’s Tangled.

There are so many awesome details here, from the Flynn Ryder Wanted sign to Rapunzel’s crazy long braid. If you look closely you may see Pascal the chameleon smiling from the top of the Snuggly Duckling marque. Flynn Ryder and his foes (including Maximus the horse) continue their battle while swinging from over-sized swords.

Shifting gears from fighting to swimming, the next performers are colorful friends of the Little Mermaid. I love the elaborate costumes in this sequence, like the hard-to-miss lion fish and the, um, purple conch shell (unicorn clam?!) to its right.

Probably won’t see one of those anywhere else today, right?

The next float features Sebastian and his group of lively performers from Under the Sea. Princess Ariel waves to fans (and periodically brushes her hair with a fork!) from her elaborate clam shell throne.

A lively seahorse follows Ariel’s float and mimics the ones decorating the back of her chair. The creature dips and turns like its real counterparts in the sea, and helps to transition the parade from under the sea to above it. 

Way above it, in fact. The next entry is a soaring tribute to Disney’s Peter Pan.

Peter and Wendy wave to guests from the high flying ship, which is lightly perched on a sparkling rainbow. Captain Hook dangles on an anchor beneath the rainbow’s arch.

Tinkerbell finishes the colorful float, sitting on a giant flower and waving her famous pixie-dust wand.

Tick Tock Crocodile follows the float in his slow-but-steady manner. Who knew he was so big?

No wonder Captain Hook runs for cover.

Merida isn’t one to run away from a challenge though. Here she is standing tall on an impressive bag-pipe float inspired by Disney Pixar’s Brave.

Check out all the fun details, like the family crest, the wall tapestry tassels, the archery target and the over sized crown. Merida’s three younger brothers ride along too, still in bear form.

Here’s another shot of Merida’s impressive ride, from a different location. This is the type of view you get if you try to find a spot between Main Street and Cinderella’s castle right before the parade begins. Fortunately, most of the floats are big enough to be seen above the crowds.

They’re also big enough to make funny pictures, like this image of Maleficent getting ready to attack the boy on his mother’s shoulders in front of me.

Look out kid! She’s known for cursing babies and breathing fire, you know.

In fact, she accidentally caught herself on fire with her own breath last year. No one was hurt and the evil mistress returned to the parade in January of this year, but I’m guessing the other villains still give her grief about it.

Here’s another look at the impressive dragon, before her accident, from a curb-side seat on Main Street. Of course I love watching the parade from this location too, but you really need to secure your spot (and continue to protect it!) around an hour before the 3PM daily showtime.

Fortunately, you don’t have to worry about that today, since you can enjoy this virtual parade with no wait. (Score!)

Since I’m pretty comfortable over here on Main Street I’ll stay for a few more pictures. Next up is a fun group of characters from classic Disney films like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. You can barely see the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland behind them. He’s joined by Alice and the Mad Hatter.

Not sure which classic film these pink-hair dancers with balloon skirts are from, but who cares? They’re silly and fun.

Now that I think about it, the kid that’s getting ready to be attacked by Maleficent in my previous picture kind of looks like he has the same hair.

Moving back to Adventureland we catch a quick glimpse of Jiminy Cricket skipping his way down the parade route.

Next is Jiminy’s buddy Pinocchio, sitting on a smiling, much more colorful Monstro than the one portrayed in the classic film.

The bubbles are a fun touch, don’t you think? Very festive.

Perhaps they are a nod to Dumbo the flying elephant? You can spot him briefly on the back of the same float. Dumbo faces his friend Timothy Q. Mouse along with the very enthusiastic Donald and Daisy.

Chip, Dale and Pluto are next, shimmying down the parade route in their brightly-colored best.

The parade concludes with Mickey and Minnie riding in a whimsical balloon weighed down by the sassy hippo ballerinas from Fantasia.

Perfection.

Grand Finale

Mickey’s famous smile and friendly waves means the Festival of Fantasy parade, and this virtual tour, has come to an end. I hope the colorful floats, beautifully-dressed performers and smiling characters added a little fun (and color?) to your day.

If you’re traveling to Magic Kingdom sometime soon, you’ll probably want to check out The Festival of Fantasy parade in person too. If you’re not, well, you can always enjoy this virtual viewing whenever and wherever you want.

No park admission ticket required.

Add a little (Festival of Fantasy) magic to your world!