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[RnRCj]

Sounds great! This parade is definitely going to be a "must-do" next time I visit!

[Masamune]

It's definatly worth seeing on every day of your visit, as the number of performers/characters per float varied on all 3 days we saw it. And it's also worth viewing it in 3 different spots, and definatly seeing it once on the left hand side and once on the right.

[tubbsy]

I dont know if my little one would stand/sit for the parade three times. But I like your advice Masamune. Maybe I'll have to do it and meet up with them-let my hubby take littlun on Small World three times instead!

[Masamune]

That's a perfect idea, as it's the spot right next to It's a Small World (where the Parade begins) that we viewed the Princess stop. If you stand right on the corner where the floats turn, you'll get to see Cinderella/Charming and Aurora/Phillip dancing, and if you stand further down the road, you'll see Snow White/her Prince and Jasmine/Aladdin dancing. Belle/Beast and Ariel/Eric remain on their floats. You could stand and watch the Parade whilst your hubby and child go on It's a Small World. Or, if not, there's a bench right on the corner I mentioned. :lol: You wouldn't be able to see through the crowds if you sat there, but your child and hubby could sit there whilst you watched if they wanted to.

[Nala_84]

@ Nala - My mum loves BTM too. Her main problem with roller coasters is when they have big drops, or if they're very fast. It gives her the feeling that she can't breathe, which is obviously quite distressing. She actually mostly enjoyed RnRC. The only bit she didn't like was the launch, which is extremely fast. There isn't many dips at all on RnRC, so apart from the launch, she was OK throughout the ride.

Hehe thank you for the encouraging words ! But I guess I'm pretty similar to your mum: It's also (or especially) the big drops that I'm afraid of, loopings f.e. aren't that bad for me...
But I wonder that RnRC could be "softer" than Crush? Is it so? Has your mother already tried Space Mountain?

I told myself I'd try SM and Crush this year, no matter what happens, I want(ed) to "jump over my shadow" (do you say that in English?!) and just try them so that I can talk about it. But now that I read what happened to the poor 14 year old girl on RnRC I'm so demotivated and scared Was it that your mother thought she couldn't breathe on Crush or "just" the feeling she would fall off it?

[Masamune]

Crush is definatly softer than RnRC, like RnRC is definatly softer than SM:M2. My mum tried Space Mountain and Space Mountain: Mission 2. :roll: She hated Mission 2, there's no way I'd be able to get her back on that. It was just too fast for her, and you get rocked from side to side a lot on SM:M2, so she didn't like that either.

We don't have that saying in England, but I know what you mean. My reasoning to my mum to get her to try those rides was simply that there would be no harm in trying. Of course, like you say, it's scary that someone died on RnRC. But I believe that's a VERY isolated incident that'll probably never happen again on the same ride.

My mum didn't have any of those feelings she gets on proper roller coasters. She never lost her breath or anything like that. She just had the feeling that she was going to fall out. I think that's because there wasn't the added protection of an over-head buckle thing. Crush only has a padded bar that goes between yours legs. I felt perfectly safe though, as I do on all rides at DLRP.

It's totally up to you though whether or not you decide to go on any of these rides. :lol: I don't want to be responsible for you trying them and then hating them. Hopefully, if you do decide to try them, you'll love them. And if you don't, at least you can say you've tried them! My mum is actually proud of herself for trying Mission 2 and RnRC.

[ukool]

loved reading the report, can wait for the pics

[Masamune]

Thanks! Hopefully pics will arrive sometime next week. :lol: Because we've taken almost 200, it'll probably take me a while to go through them all. I'm only going to upload the best ones, as it would take me forever to load them all with my dial-up connection.

[RnRCj]

200 pics?!?! :shock: Did you spend the whole trip taking photos? I hardly get time to take any!

[Masamune]

:lol: Me and my mum are quite trigger happy, so we took 4 films and 2 disposeable cameras. We ended up using them all! I wanted to make sure I had pics of everything I wanted pics of!

[ailsa]

Wow your trip sounds amazing! I can't wait til I got 5 weeks left!

[Masamune]

@ ailsa - 5 weeks isn't too far away!

Once Upon a Dream Parade: Part 2

Dreams of Power (Villains float)

Float: This float is seriously incredible. From Chernabog flexing his wings to the strong smell of fire and smoke, this float had many guests watching with their mouths wide open. Although I wish it were able to hold more real characters, the animatronic characters definatly make up for that. The animatronic Scar alone is probably my most favourite thing in the entire parade. He's all furry and ragged, and he blinks, moves his head and claws...and he sings! We were lucky enough for this float to be passing right by us as Scar started singing Be Prepared. It was absolutely fantastic, I was so impressed!
Characters: The only human characters on this float were Maleficent and the Evil Queen from Snow White. Maleficent's 15th Anniversary dress is absolutely stunning! It's made to look like she's on fire, and the detail on the dress is incredible. Sadly, the woman playing Maleficent was quite fugly, which I don't understand because Maleficent is a very elegant and beautiful fairy in the film. The Evil Queen was gorgeous. :lol: She had such an evil face, but she was beautiful, and her outfit was lovely too.
Performers: In front of the float there was a group of performers (3 on Days 1 and 2 and 4 on Day 3) dressed up like fire, much like Maleficent's dress. They had these fire spinning things. Not real fire, but like fire ribbons. They were really good, and of all the performers, I think they were the ones that got most into it. :lol: They were growling and sneering at people and trying to scare children by waving the fire ribbons near them.

Behind the float, a brilliant pair of performers disguised as seaweed each held up a puppet of Ursula's pet eels. One was holding up Flotsam and the other was holding up Jetsam. It was so clever how they worked them, as the eel's mouths moved and their bodies moves just like eels.

Dreams of Adventure (Lion King/Jungle Book float)

Float: For some reason, this was the float that made me want to cry happy tears. The start of The Lion King film always makes me cry happy tears, so that may have had something to do with it. This float was just so amazing. Of all the floats, this one was probably the most detailed, and the one that brought the biggest smile to people's faces. The smell of fruit was strong, the colours on the float were vibrant and there was characters all over it! Of course, the Lion King side was my favourite. The animatronic Simba was almost as impressive as the animatronic Scar, as he moved his head and bopped to the beat of all the songs that were played.

The Jungle Book side was great too, and of all the floats, I think these two sides fitted together the best. I got excited when I spotted the Shere Khan statue up in the tree on the Jungle Book's side.
Characters: As I said, this float was full of characters. There was Timon and Rafiki on the Lion King side, and Baloo and King Louie on the Jungle Book side. And of course, there was plenty of non-real characters. Simba, Pumbaa, Kaa and Shere Khan were all there. :shock: I don't remember spotting Bagheera, so someone will have to look for him and let me know if he's there or not.
Performers: This float was full of performers too! On the float itself, there were two black men on either side playing the drums and blowing whistles and such. They were really getting people into the spirit of what that float represented! On the Lion King side, there was people dressed as ostriches, an elephant and a giraffe. I never saw all of these 3 together in the same Parade, but I saw them all over the 3 days separately.

On the Jungle Book side, there was probably the most entertaining performers of the whole parade. :lol: Two men dressed as the vultures from the Jungle Book. Their costumes were fabulous, but it's what they were doing that made them such a joy to watch. They were on these spring shoe things, much like what Tigger used during the Parade. These guys were insanely talented though, and they were jumping all around and doing tricks in the air. We were lucky enough to view the Adventures stop, so we got like 5 minutes of them jumping around. They were really good, and they didn't look out of breath at all, even though what they were doing must've been very hard. Especially in the hot weather!

Dreams of Romance: Part 1 (Ariel/Jasmine float)

Float: Of course, these were the floats that everyone was really waiting for. The first Romance float was just beautiful. The cherubs from Fantasia were on it, which I thought was a nice touch. Ariel's Grotto was very pretty, as was Jasmine's swing. Both fitted together perfectly, as if those Princesses were somehow in the same films. :lol: Both these floats made it hard for me to accept the Dreams of Power float as my fave.
Characters: On this float there was Ariel and Eric, and Jasmine and Aladdin. If you want lots of lovely Princess attention, before to have kids planted all around you. :lol: Even though they'll be waving at the kids, you can pretend that they're waving at you instead. I thought Jasmine being on a swing was a lovely touch. It was nice when A Whole New World played and Aladdin and Jasmine mimed it together. All the Princesses were very much into the songs they had to mime. It was all very convincing.

At the Princess stop, a lovely little waterfall started at Ariel's Grotto, whilst Jasmine and Aladdin got off to dance along with Snow White and her Prince from the 2nd float. Since they couldn't get off to dance, Ariel and Eric took the time to blow kisses at kids and pose for photos, which was nice.
Performers: Between Romance Part 1 and Part 2, there were some flower dancers. *Will talk about them in the next part*

Dreams of Romance: Part 2 (Belle/Snow White/Cinderella/Aurora float)

Float: This float is just so big and beautiful, you would think it could be in a parade all on its own if needed. Everything on this float represents each Princess in some way, from the giant roses that represent Belle to the lovely little woodland bridge that Snow White and her Prince stand on. All the characters here seemed very much in love, so all I was thinking as I looked at each couple was "aww!". They moved about the float too, as the float was big enough for them to do that.

:lol: look out for the cute little purple dragon at the back of the float as it passes.
Characters: On this float there was Belle and Beast, Snow White and her Prince, Cinderella and Prince Charming and Aurora and Prince Phillip. All their 15th Anniversary outfits were stunning! I especially loved Prince Phillip's outfit. Very dashing. All of them were beautiful. Some more so than others as they varied over the 3 days. The Belle we saw on Day 3 was just gorgeous! Probably the most beautiful Princess I've ever seen, after the Snow White I met on Day 2.

During the Princess stop, Cindy and Charming and Aurora and Phillip danced in one area while Snow White and her Prince moved further down to dance with Jasmine and Aladdin. The dancing was brilliant, it was just like watching a part of one of their films. :lol: I was half expecting Aurora's dress to change from pink to blue as she and Philip danced. Belle and Beast remained on the float and did their own little dance, which was nice.
Performers: Accompanying both floats were some pink-haired women who were dressed in flowery dresses and were holding up flower banners. They were all very pretty, and they complimented the very flowery floats well.

:lol: Yay, that was my final report! I hope the way I've described the parade has done it justice. But obviously, it'll be a million times better when you see it for yourself!

[DisneyBud]

Wow, I love the detail you put in, makes me want to go even more!! Thanks for putting all this effort in, it has been really appreciated.

P.S If you like the opening of the Lion King film, you should try and see it live at the theatre - the Circle of Life is possibly one of the best pieces of theatre I have seen - astounding!!

[Masamune]

Aww, you're so welcome DisneyBud!

I've been wanting to see the Lion King play ever since I saw the Beauty and the Beast one. :oops: I suck at keeping track of what theatres in Manchester are showing though.

[Suzy]

Masamune - I've loved reading your trip report soooooo much, thanks a lot.  (I can't wait to go now!!!!!)  I hope you know that we really appreciate all the effort you've put in.  

Nala - I'm so lke you with roller coasters, to be honest BTM scares me.  I feel like I am falling out all the time -  I would enjoy the actual ride if I didn't feel like that, I think.  So I'm wary of Crush but will have to try it once at least.  I have said to the family that I will try Space Mountain too, because hopefully being more restrained will make me feel "safe".  I'll let you all know when I get back what I managed to do!