20th Anniversary Surprise Celebration Parade

    The 20th anniversary surprise celebration at Walt Disney World was a 15 month long campaign which began in 1991.  The celebration included a daytime show at EPCOT Center called Surprise in The Skies, the debut of Spectromagic, as well as a new daytime parade that took place in the Magic Kingdom. Guests would also be randomly surprised with 20th anniversary themed merchandise.

    The Magic Kingdom parade had it's origins beginning at Disneyland.  The parade was called Party Gras, and ran for about 11 months for the 35th anniversary of Disneyland.  This was a hugely popular parade and was arguably the most popular part of the 35th anniversary celebration.  The parade only ran for less than a year during 1990 because of the incoming Celebration USA parade.

   This parade was pretty much just sitting unused in California.  So in typical Disney fashion, why not haul the parade over to Walt Disney World to be used during the 20th anniversary celebration.  The only problem with this was that the themes of Mardi Gras and Carnival did not entirely gel with the theme of the "surprise" celebration on the east coast.  But they went along with it anyway being that this was the most economically feasible option.

    The parade featured massive character balloons that stood around 40 feet tall.  These balloons featured the Fab 5 as well as Roger Rabbit.  The floats did receive some aesthetic upgrades and an entirely new Mickey balloon for the stint at WDW.  The Disneyland version portrayed Mickey in his sorcerer garb.  

Cinderella and Snow White Graced this float

   The parade also featured characters from Pinocchio and the Jungle Book.  As well as Chip and Dale in their own individual mini floats and various dancers and unique costumed characters.

    Although the parade did not have all the fantastic elements that made the Disneyland parade so popular, it did have enough staying power to last for almost 3 years. This parade ran throughout the celebration and for a couple years after, until the ever popular Mickey Mania parade replaced it in 1994. 

Here Come The Muppets

           The live stage show "Here Come The Muppets" debuted at the MGM Studios in the Animation Courtyard Theater on May 25th 1990, and ran until September 2nd 1991.  The interesting thing about this show was that all the Muppet characters that appeared were life size.  So no puppeteer, but an actual walk around character in a suit.  Another interesting thing about this stage show was the inclusion of many not so well known Muppet characters.  The show was meant to be a temporary fill until Muppetvision 3D opened.  The stage show ran alongside Muppetvision 3D for 4 months as Muppetvision opened on May 16th, 1991.  When the stage show finally closed it was replaced by the ever popular "Voyage of The Little Mermaid", which opened just two weeks after Muppets closed and has occupied that theater ever since.  

               The Muppets' presence in the studios was planned to be much more extensive than it ever was, or is today. The whole area around the Muppetvision 3D attraction was to be a Muppets themed land.  The "Muppet Studios" portion of the MGM Studios was to have featured a parody of the park's headline attraction, The Great Movie Ride, called "The Great Muppet Movie Ride".  As well as an eating establishment named  The Great Gonzo's Pandemonium Pizza Parlor.  The demise of this project, and the acquisition of the Muppets franchise by Disney fell through when the owner of the Muppets, Jim Henson, passed away on May 16th, 1991.  Disney did finally acquire the Muppets franchise in February of 2004, but the grand plans for the MGM Studios have not been rekindled as of yet.  

              Hopefully with the renewed interest in the Muppets franchise with the release of the new Muppets Movie and a sequel announced for the future, hopefully the Muppets presence in the Studios will be expanded beyond what space it occupies today.   And WDI revisits some of the ideas that were on the table around the inception of the park.