Disneyland guests play starring role in ‘Celebrate!’ parade

March 27th, 2009, 5:12 pm · 8 Comments · posted by Joshua Sudock

Sarah Jenner, 6, has been dancing ballet since she was three years old. Her favorite dance move is the twirl.

That being said, the last thing she expected when her family took a trip to Disneyland this week was that she’d wind up dancing center-stage in a parade along Main Street USA.

Jenner and about 100 other randomly selected park guests were pulled out of the crowd to participate alongside Disney cast members in the theme park’s latest seasonal parade, “Celebrate! A Street Party,” which debuted Friday.

The new seasonal parade has a high-energy feel reminiscent of the High School Musical films. It features 48 dancers, 12 acrobats on stilts, 3 DJs, 12 drivers of combination bicycle/drum kits, and 24 Disney characters.

It makes stops at the mall in front of the its a small world ride, the central plaza near Sleeping Beauty’s Castle and then along Main Street. Cast members perform the dance numbers for about 12 minutes at each location before launching into a Latin conga finale in which audience members are pulled into the line.

“When they took my hand, I was surprised I could do it,” Sarah said as she recalled the moment when a cast member invited her to participate.

“It was really fun.”

“Celebrate! A Street Party” will run at 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. daily through April 19. Then, the parade will run only at 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and at 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

Register reporter and Around Disney blogger Adam Townsend contributed to this post.

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Jeff Roney says:

March 28, 2009 at 8:29 am

Yay! Let’s celebrate all the layoffs at Disney, too. I think its very strange that the face of the park is so happy, but underneath, many people that brought about the great changes at the Disney company are now suffering. I feel for those who have been let go. I’ve started a podcast about it. Hang in there, folks.

trent says:

March 28, 2009 at 12:01 pm

Bring back Parade of dreams
In my book i give this parade or whatever you call it a 1 out of 10
Dosent fit in at disneyland guests like my family and other familys want the parades that give magic moments with my family and other children. We dont come to disneyland to see mary poppins singing i love rock n rock . Belongs in California adventure Bring back Parade of Dreams Disneyland

Joey Stevens says:

March 28, 2009 at 6:16 pm

I took my family to see this show today and my two daughters loved it. Any family with kids who enjoy High School Musical and the like will have a great time. The performers were great. Be sure to have a camera handy when your kids get picked to dance in the show with some of the dancers!

Glen says:

March 28, 2009 at 7:05 pm

From the perspective of a late 20 something couple with a 3 year old son, this was the worst “party”/parade I’ve seen in the 20+ years I remember going to Disneyland . It is framed as a family celebration, but seems so squarely targeted at the 6-12 year old girl Hannah Montana set. Definitely didn’t seem to have the timeless “magic” that makes Disney so loved in the hearts of kids from 0-100.

eric says:

March 29, 2009 at 5:31 pm

give it a chance. The parade people still haven’t finished building all the show elements yet. from beginning concept to on the street only took about 10 months after all. and lets not forget how Florida took all of Californias money last Fall because they were in an attendance slash revenue pinch.

Sony Marie says:

March 30, 2009 at 7:06 am

as the mom to boys, I see no need to bother watching this “parade”. We do enjoy the holiday/Christmas parades and watch during that time of year. Figure, lines are smaller during parades times so that’s good for us.

Dexter Riley says:

March 30, 2009 at 8:37 am

kudos to the the cast members of this new parade. They are the only commendable element of this new DL offering. Also, I don’t want to pay over $70 to get in and watch other park visitors entertain me-the forced interactivity has to go. Unlike past parades I will not be seeing repeat performances - where’s the WOW factor? The problem is the overall “What Will You Celebrate?” theme. As a marketing campaign it’s a great sales promotion - strip out the fact that people get in free on their b-day and the campaign loses 90% of its impact.