The Magic Happens parade at Disneyland is a “must see” during every visit to the Disneyland Resort. And with every performance that I watch, I either record a video of the parade performance or take a lot of pictures.
Recently, I was going through all of my pictures and realized that I have 1000’s of Magic Happens parade photos taken over the last year that I have never shared on my website nor on social media. For some parade performances, I would share a few images on the website or social media but not all of the photos from the performance. So, starting today with this post, I am going to share Magic Happens parade photos in a new post every week from a different parade performance.
Magic Happens at Disneyland Summer 2023
The parade is currently performed twice daily at 3:00pm and 5:30pm PT. However, these photos were taken on June 7, 2023 from a 6:30pm PT parade performance. I don’t know if Disneyland will change the parade performance schedule during the summer, but during the summer of 2023 the parade was performed daily at 3:30pm and 6:30pm PT.
The parade begins each performance either at Small World Mall or at Town Square (usually the earlier performance begins at Small World Mall and the later performance at Town Square). If you ever get a chance to watch the beginning of the Magic Happens parade from one of these location, you will get a special treat when the parade begins.
Mickey & Friends
The Magic Happens parade starts with an entourage of dancers performing to the upbeat parade track composed by singer-songwriter Todrick Hall. These dancers lead the way for Sorcerer Mickey who rides atop a giant sorcerer hat float. Mickey and his float is followed by Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and more.
The parade is divided into several segments including a Moana, Coco and Frozen segment. Then, the parade has a huge grand finale with Cinderella, Arthur and Merlin, Princess Tiana, Sleeping Beauty and more.
Moana
The Moana segment follows Mickey & Friends and his entourage of dancers. The segment begins with Ocean Wave Dancers dressed in neon blue costumes representing water which is a key component of Disney’s animated film Moana. The dancers are followed by Moana who is riding on her outrigger canoe which is illuminated with ocean scenes.
Moana is then followed by a group of fun dancers representing the Kakamora from the Disney film. These dancers are dressed in Polynesian style attire carrying the Kakamora coconuts on their hands. Also, Hei Hei rolls along with the Kakamora group in a barrel. He is hiding from the Kakamora who are looking for a chicken.
And Maui finishes out the Moana segment of the parade. Maui is a shapeshifting demigod. The character is voiced by Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson in the Disney film. The photos from this parade of the Kakamora and Maui were previously posted on Instagram last summer so I am not including them in this post.
Coco
Next, is the Coco segment lead by Marigold dancers. In the Disney-Pixar film Coco, marigolds play a huge role in guiding the spirit of loved ones home. These dancers represent those marigolds and the representation is even further portrayed on the float with Miguel which has a marigold bridge between the living world and the Land of the Dead.
Miguel follows the Marigold dancers playing his guitar in the Santa Cecilia Plaza. If you watch the marigold bridge as the float passes by, you will see Dante galloping across the bridge changing from his living world form to his alebrije form in the Land of the Dead.
Alebrijes dancers as well as the main Alebrijes from the film, Pepita, follow behind Miguel’s float. The Pepita photos were posted on Instagram last summer so they are absent from this post.
Frozen
The Frozen segment follows Coco and finishes out the first half of the Magic Happens parade. This segment of the parade begins with Frozen 2 dancers representing the Enchanted Forest in Frozen 2. Then Elsa, Anna, Olaf and Sven ride on a large float representing both Frozen films. Kristoff follows behind pushing a wheelbarrow and showing off a ring he has bought for Anna.
Parade Finale
After the Frozen segment, guests will notice a different tune to the parade music which begins with an entourage of Disney characters including: Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Pinocchio, Blue Fairy, Aladdin, Genie and Cinderella’s Fairy Godmother.
This group of characters is followed by flag bearers, three small parade floats and one huge castle float. The flag bearers lead each of the three small parade floats that carry Cinderella (photos absent from this post), Arthur and Merlin from the Sword in the Stone and Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen from The Princess and the Frog who are going down the bayou.
The Sword in the Stone
Merlin from The Sword in the Stone is quite a fun character to watch during the parade as he dances around in excitement. And if you are lucky, you might see Arthur pull the sword from the stone during the parade.
The Princess and the Frog
Then Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen are going down the bayou, dancing all the way throughout the parade.
Sleeping Beauty
The parade concludes with magical flag swirlers leading the huge castle float carrying Princess Aurora, Prince Phillip and the three fairies: Flora, Fauna and Merryweather.
Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip ride high atop the castle float bringing the Magic Happens parade at Disneyland to an end. Will Flora change the color of Aurora’s dress to pink or will Merryweather change the dress color to blue? They both share a little magic as Fauna enjoys the spotlight.
Watch the Magic Happens Parade at Disneyland
Now that you have seen photos from the Magic Happens parade at Disneyland, you may want to watch a different and more recent performance of the parade. Check out this unedited video of the parade recorded on March 5, 2024.
I hope you enjoy these photos with more to come from different parade performances. I plan to share photos from a different Magic Happens parade performance from Disneyland Park every Wednesday so check back to see more next week.
And as always, I’ll “see ya real soon” Mouseketeers!
