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Disney’s Once Upon A Dream Parade
Everyday at 16:00 along the parade route

Imagine seeing some of your favourite dreams on parade. Adventure, friendship, romance, fantasy? All of them come to life before your very eyes!

Imagine joining Mickey and friends in a once-in-a-lifetime chance to relive some of your favourite Disney moments and stories, with some of the most recent and timeless Disney Characters. Imagine being able to laugh, dance and skip-a-di-doo-dah along with the likes of Baloo, Cinderella, Timon, Woody and Pinocchio – up close.

Imagine you’re experiencing the all-new Disney’s Once Upon A Dream Parade, a yearlong new spectacular created just for the 15th anniversary of Disneyland Resort Paris. It’s everything you’ve ever imagined, with a whole host of incredible surprises. It’s the year to live your dream. The party is NOW, so what are you waiting for?

·	The parade usually lasts around 15-20 minutes so make sure you have plenty of tape, film or memory in your camera to record it all.

Do bear in mind that when Disney’s Once Upon A Dream Parade is being performed, the park will be divided in two, with few ways to get from one side to the other. Occasionally Castmembers will allow you to pass in front of a float, but failing this, you will either have to wait or walk up to Town Square to get to the other side of Main Street USA.

To get a good overview of the parade, try seeing the performance from the raised platform near the Castle Stage. This allows you to see various floats all around you from a brand new perspective. If you fancy a sit down, use the Royal Castle Stage seating for a relaxed view or follow the parade up Main Street USA to the very end.

As the parade starts at 16.00 (19:15 during Summer Magic) from Fantasyland, there’s plenty of time to find a good place to stand and watch the spectacle. The vast majority of guests head for a spot down Main Street or near the castle in Central Plaza, so for the least crowded place to stand, you’re better off staying in Fantasyland or the brightly coloured gates where the parade begins.

·	It’s best to start finding somewhere to see the parade at least 30 minutes before it is set to begin, although allowing more time will guarantee a better location. Wherever you pick, bear in mind people are likely to stand up during the parade!

Disney’s Once Upon A Dream Parade is the first Disney parade worldwide to consciously stimulate all 5 senses. The sight of the floats, the immersive sound of the orchestral soundtrack, the touch of a character’s hand and taste of the sweets given out by selected performers were all designed to created an overwhelming experience.

Throughout the parade, scents are pumped out of all 8 floats to match the dream they represent. “Dream of Imagination” has the aroma of sweets, “Dream of Adventure” smells of citrus, “Dream of Romance” has the scent of flower petals, for example.

Using 13km of fabric, 1300 unique outfits were created in the resort’s own costume workshop, found in Walt Disney Studios Park. 50km of thread sewed 1200 stars, 700 clouds, 700 buttons and 300 beads into the outfits. 400m of crystal fabric was dyed into 30 specific shades for the parade.

Disney’s Once Upon A Dream Parade was the first in Disney history to be built solely in France, employing talent from all around Europe to conduct the operation.

The parade utilises 66 speakers and 22 sub woofer bass speakers to present this parade, all of which are concealed and work in unison speakers positioned around the park to provide a full, crisp sound.

A new audio system was create for Disney’ Once Upon A Dream Parade to cater for its complex sound arrangement. Electronically synchronised by radio, the elevated park speakers play the music appropriate to each float, with transitional tunes in between. This allows for a continuous sound, giving each float its own musical personality.

Recording the music took a total of 69 hours, with the 70 piece Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performing the main elements of the soundtrack. Over a period of 10 days, the parade’s composer/arranger Steve Sidwell provided 120kg of sheet music while recording at Angel Studios, London.

The resort’s own recording studio mixed the entire soundtrack together, providing around 130 tracks of musical information for each for each float. It was here the

Dream of Imagination

Featuring dreams of Mickey, Minnie & the Disney VIPs

Mickey and Minnie are on board a glorious sun-shaped hot air balloon,
heralding the entrance of the parade with Pluto, Chip and Dale partying in
front of them, in anniversary attire. On their magical travels, the gang seem
to have found themselves attached on a smiling silver moon, sprinked
with stars. Donald is forever trying to wish upon one, but Goofy’s got his
sights set on fishing for… bubbles!

Dream of Fun and Laughter Unit

Featuring dreams from Alice In Wonderland & Pinocchio

In her larger than life form, see Alice out of her wonderland and trapped in
White Rabbit’s doll house! By her side, Mad Hatter and Queen Of Hearts
marvel, giving guests sweets and even encouraging a deck of cards to
dance before your very eyes. As the house morphs into Gepetto’s
workshop, Pinocchio welcomes you to the world where, if you wish upon
a star, wooden characters might just come to life!

Dream of Friendship Unit

Featuring dreams of the Toy Story gang & Winnie The Pooh

A huge storybook unfolds to tell Disney’s favourite tales of true friendship!
On one side, Winnie The Pooh hosts a little birthday party of his own in
Hundred Acre Wood, with Piglet chasing butterflies, Tigger bouncing away
and Eeyore not in the mood for anything at all! A brigade of marching toy
soldiers clear the way ahead for the friends of Toy Story to appear - as they
nervously await the arrival of a new birthday toy!

Dream of Fantasy Unit

Featuring dreams from Peter Pan & Mary Poppins

Flying its way through the proceedings is a glittering ship destined for
Neverland. Aboard are Peter and Wendy, but an uninvited crocodile friend
lurks just below, avoiding the cannon-fire, holding out for Captain Hook,
Smee and pirate dancers. Trailing off into the distance, the London skyline
sets the scene for our next adventure. Riding a carousel horse, Mary
Poppins makes a jolly holiday out of everything, joined by Bert of course!

Dream of Power Unit

Featuring dreams of Fantasia, Sleeping Beauty, Lion King, Little Mermaid & Hercules

Towering high upon a rocky mountain, Chernabog rules the roost over all
that is evil! Taking villainous command are Scar, Ursula and the Evil
Queen, each determined to turn this dream into a nightmare! Jafar’s
snake-like alter-ego even goes to the trouble of extending himself further
in front to scare all those who stare at him. Flaming fire dancers mark the
nasty’s territory, while Flotsam and Jetsan swim behind, by command.

Dream of Adventure Unit

Featuring dreams from The Lion King & The Jungle Book

Characters from Disney’s classic jungle adventures celebrate their
dreams on a float set in paradise. Timon, Pumba, Simba and Rafiki have
gathered around Pride Rock to show how a small dream to become king
became a huge reality. As the Tam Tam drummers play, Baloo and King
Louie get everyone in the mood for a tribal celebrations, with a herd of their
favourite carnival animals marching around them. Hup, two, three... four!

Dream of Romance I Unit

Featuring dreams of The Little Mermaid & Aladdin

Among the lush flowers and green grasses of a royal palace garden, Ariel,
Prince Eric, Aladdin and Jasmine prepare for a fairytale finale. A trickling
waterfall covered in brightly-colour seaweed, shells and sea-life... a
paradise of petals, butterflies and cherubs. This is the home of the two
special couples, serenading to each other, surrounded by dancers in
flowery dresses and carrying glorious garlands.

As The Parade Stops...

Depending on where you stand, you will experience one (or perhaps two) stops of the
parade (known as show modes). When this happens, Just Like We Dreamed plays
along the Parade route and all characters burst into song to mark the 15th birthday.

Dismounting the floats and getting even closer to you, the characters take this chance
to invite you to copy join in with their dance moves, before a finale full of confetti and
streamers allow for the parade to move on through the park.

Pitching The Dreams
From concept to the grand inaugural performance, Disney’s Once Upon A Dream Parade went though 18 months of design, development and construction.

Popular Disney entertainment Cast Member director Katy Harris saw the parade through, along with her passionate team of dream-makers such as vice president of entertainment at the resort François Leroux and artistic director Kat De Blois. Together an established group of Imagineers spent 3 months of preparation, drafting up parade ideas and the themes it could include, before pitching the concept as the new 15th anniversary parade. In January 2006, Disneyland Resort Paris announced the project to the press and fans alike.

Developing The Dreams
With the green light giving the go ahead, the project moved forward at light speed. All aspects of the production were being considered, although the designs for the floats themselves needed to be finalised first.

A dedicated group of designers provided a series of drawings, models and 3D frameworks to allow the whole team to work from their vision in 360°.

Taking inspiration from Disney’s recent parades overseas, Disney’s Once Upon A Dream Parade features 8 glistening new floats dedicated to at least 2 Disney themes. This allows for even more characters, costumes and creativity.

Successful technical elements from Disney’s other productions were added to give this parade an edge over all others. The advanced character puppetry, circus performers and Pinocchio’s bungee-bouncing toys are notably inspired by Walt Disney’s Parade of Dreams over in Disneyland California, while lighting effects, fibre optics and flashing mini-strobes were influenced by Tokyo Disney Resort.

As part of the brief for this parade, all 5 senses were to be excited throughout the presentation. To aid their efforts, Disney teamed up with Olfact’air (Grasse, South East France) to provide the scents to waft around each and every float. A successful partnership in place since Lilo and Stitch’s Catch The Wave Party (and then Kids Carnival) led to a new system being installed to allow the aromas to be fed out to the guests while a float passes. Over 150 scents were trialed before the final few were selected for production.

Building The Dreams
Construction of the 8 fabulous new floats took place in Montreuil, France, where the engines, chassis and basic body of the designs were put together, before being delivered to Disneyland Resort Paris in February 2006.

It was here where the final finishing “Disney” touches were added, allowing for rehearsals to begin in ernest. Early issues with space for the elaborate character costumes were apparent, so modifications were made all the way up to the premiere performance. Extra paintwork, props, lighting effects and animatronic features were added during the parade’s “soft opening” week, before the big day itself.

Dressing The Dreams
As with any Disney parade or show, characters and performers are wearing an extra-special costumes. Disney’s Once Upon A Dream Parade was no exception, with a massive 1300 unique outfits being custom made for every performer in the production.

The resort’s in-house costume designer Sue LeCash over-saw much of the costume-making process, suggesting designs to the team, processing drawings into costumes in the workshop (found on Walt Disney Studios Park’s “Behind The Magic” tram tour attraction) and finalising the complete look with embellishments.

Obviously she was not on her own, a team of 100 costume experts made her dream come true, accurately fitting every performing Cast Member in the parade. Even the team guiding the floats through the park had separate costumes created.

Sue’s other work has been featured in many entertainment productions in both Disneyland Park (The Tarzan Encounter, Disney’s Fantillusion Parade and The Legend of The Lion King...) and Walt Disney Studios Park (Staring Cruella DeVil, Lilo and Stitch’s Catch The Way Party and Good Morning Walt Disney Studios).

Music Of Dreams
For such a ground breaking parade, the task of composing, arranging and performing the score was to be enormous! Disneyland Resort Paris hired only the best to get the job done. Musical Director Vasile Sirli (of Dancin’ and Chante C’est Nöel as well as given the honour of compiling the soundtrack for every other parade in Disneyland Park) made the choice to make this music just a little different.

“Bouncy”, “jazzy”, “catchy” - those were the keywords throughout production, with an orchestral score used while the parade is traveling (parade mode) and a modern pop-rock record for when the parade stops (show mode).

“Show Mode” Dreams
First things first, the overwhelming theme tune of the parade and the entire 15th anniversary event is “Just Like We Dreamed It”, written by Sunny Hilden. The tune can be found in both the pop-rock show mode form, as well as part of a more classical jazz number on the Dream of Imagination float.

The song was performed by Renee Sandstrom and Ruben Martinez, working together for the first time despite sharing a history in Disney music. Beautifully produced with Bruce Healey (famous for Fantasmic, Fantillusion and Starlight Magic) and arranged by Marco Marinangelli, the theme was recorded in Hollywood’s Magelic Studio, California during 2006. The singing couple explain how their dreams come true if they dream together (see lyrics) and if you listen carefully, you might just sense a message of Disneyland Resort Paris’s own story in there. “This happy ending’s just beginning!”

“Parade Mode” Dreams
Selecting and arranging the music for production was the job of Steve Sidwell, internationally renowned for his work with Sir Elton John, Robbie Williams and Sir Paul McCartney,as well as in Moulin Rouge and Finding Nemo.

With such a choice of potential music on offer (from the film themes that the parade incorporates) many hard hours went into re-working the already successful tracks into a soundtrack for each parade unit. Giving each float its own personality by choosing a dominant instrument, recording the parade’s score went ahead at Angel Studios, London - a location close to Steve Sidwell’s heart.

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Mixing
Commissioned to perform the parade’s spectacular soundtrack, the acclaimed Royal Philharmonic Orchestra recorded the score over a period of 10 days!

Back at Le Studio in Marne-la-Vallée, the music was mixed up and loaded onto the parade float's secure digital memory cards for storage. Over 130 tracks of information for every float were added, with maximum attention to detail. As an addition, character voices were recorded here and in California to bring the floats to life.

Searching For Dreamers
When Disney’s Once Upon A Dream Parade was still in production, an international talent search began for the parade’s new performers. Including a much larger cast than the previous Disney Princess Parade, the resort decided it was time to raise the bar with the performance, including many new challenging manoeuvres.

Open auditions were held in Europe’s most influential countries to try and find potential new Cast Members, but it was tough to get through. Only a select number were offered performing contracts, having seen their ability at dancing, juggling and bungee-ing.

Rehearsing The Dreams
With the cast ready and floats in working order, preparations for the final parade began. Basic repetitions (or rehearsals) began towards the end of 2006 and temporary run-throughs happened in the park after opening hours from 26th February 2007. For this, the existing floats were used to get timings roughly accurate.

At the same time, master-classes were offered for those performers puppeteering, stilt-walking, juggling, bungee-ing and dancing. These were held in the resort’s own choreography studio, with professionals on hand of course.

In March 2007, the real floats were used and utilised the new sound systems modified for the presentation.

The Dreams Come To Life
On 31st March 2007, Disney’s Once Upon A Dream Parade had its inaugural performance after a week-long set of daytime dress rehearsals. It was a star-studded event with thousands of guests and millions of TV viewers witnessing the occasion when Disneyland Park got a totally new set of daytime parade floats, music and costumes since opening.

On hand to make sure everything went without a hitch, Mickey and the gang appeared on a special pre-parade float, decorated with the inviting “red carpet” wrapped around it. As Andie McDowell asks a little girl how every fairytale begins, the host proclaims “It’s just like you dreamed it, Disney’s Once Upon A Dream Parade is about to begin!” The rest, as they say, is history.