What happens when it rains on Disney’s parade

If you’ve visited a Disney theme park more than a couple of times then there is a good chance you’ve had a parade or show delayed or canceled by inclement weather. But its a relatively rare occasion when a parade is already under way and the weather rapidly deteriorates to the point of a complete washout. Usually they run the ‘Rainy Day Calvacade’, which is basically the Main Street vehicles packed with characters, instead.

I saw well over 500 performances of the Festival of Fools stage show at Disneyland and only witnessed one show that had rain so bad it had to be stopped in progress.

Matt Palm from the Orlando Sentinel witnessed a similar event at the Magic Kingdom yesterday when the ‘Celebrate a Dream Come True’ parade became Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day.

…things were getting worse quickly. The female dancers’ hair was already sticking to the sides of their faces. Thunder was starting to crackle. I assumed floats would stop coming out of the gate, but they all came out. Aladdin, umbrella-less, was sporting a very soggy turban. Mary Poppins, of course, has her own umbrella, and Bert was cheerful as ever. Alice and the Mad Hatter even had a little horseplay as she was too short to effectively hold an umbrella over his gigantic hat.

It was a deluge by the time the Fairy Godmother and three royal couples arrived. Fairy Godmother seemed flustered — and who could blame her? Her hood was being blown off by the gusty wind, and she was forced to literally hold on to her hair. Thankfully, her platform was lowered to bring her closer to earth.

Eventually things got really bad…

Halfway back down Main Street, the order was given to “abandon ship,” as it were, and Cinderella and Prince Charming and Ariel and Prince Eric opened their hatches on the bottom of their float segments and clambered down inside — no easy feat in puffy dresses and slippery conditions and what looks to be an amazingly narrow space. Poor Fairy Godmother has no such escape route, and Belle loyally remained with the Beast, who is far too big to fit through that little hole.

The parade ended with those three characters and the two poor guys carrying the end banner, who were “singing” to the end, smiling and waving at the folks huddled under awnings watching the spectacle. They were rewarded with roars of applause.

The full story and some photos over at The Orlando Sentinel.