The Party Gras Parade is a Disneyland parade that ran in 1990 to represent Disneyland's 35th anniversary. The parade includes giant 40-foot cold air floats of Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Donald Duck, Pluto, and Roger Rabbit. The floats apart from Mickey's were relocated to the Magic Kingdom after sitting in storage for many months and were reused for the 20th Anniversary Surprise Celebration Parade the following year.
A version of the Party Gras Parade was also held at Tokyo Disneyland for the park's 8th Anniversary celebrations. The parade wasn't the same as the Californian version, as the balloons were remade especially for this version and rearranged in different orders. Roger Rabbit wasn't even included as a balloon in this version. The parade lasted longer in Tokyo, lasting from April 1991 until April 1993.
The parade starts off with Mickey Mouse and Pluto on a staircase with the parade's logo on top. Following this is a giant Sorcerer Mickey Mouse balloon, followed by a Donald Duck balloon sitting on drums and dressed to party.
Goofy's Unit[]
This unit begins with a float with a costumed lion on the front and Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum on the sides. performers pull afloat with a jester head. This is followed by a huge Jester float holding a magic wand that lip-syncs with the lyrics. Another jester head float follows onto the main float, featuring Goofy and 2 Hippos from Fantasia, and behind them is a balloon of Goofy, wearing a Hawaiian shirt.
Pluto's Unit[]
This unit begins with a float with costumed performers, and Chip and Dale. Performers pull a float modeled after a crab. This is followed by a fish float featuring Ariel (possibly, or a generic mermaid). Another crab float follows onto the main float, featuring Donald Duck and Daisy Duck, and 2 Crocodiles, and behind them is a balloon of Pluto, sitting on a drum.
Minnie's Unit[]
This unit begins with a float with 2 colorful characters. Performers pull afloat with an unspecified design. This is followed by an eagle float with Minnie Mouse sitting on the top. A horse-powered pineapple follows onto the main float, featuring 2 mice, and behind them is a balloon of Minnie Mouse, dressed up in a Fruit Suit, and then a balloon of Roger Rabbit, laying on a drum. The parade ends with a float identical to the first float, with Tigger and Roger Rabbit on the front and the parade's logo on top.
Donald, Daisy, and Scrooge start off the parade on a character float with the parade's title on the top. This is then followed by the Donald Duck balloon, wearing a party hat and starry suit sitting on a drum. Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum, the Queen of Hearts, and the King of Hearts all stand on the balloon float.
A jester head float being pulled by performers follows on to the next character float with Goofy as the host and a huge jester (similar to the one at Disneyland, but it is static), and then followed by the Goofy balloon, wearing a starry T-Shirt and a party hat, The float is ridden by several performers, alongside Dumbo.
Aquatic Unit[]
The Aquatic Unit is the largest out of all the units in the parade. It starts off with various performers in giant shell and fish costumes and then is followed by a band, and then a hand-pulled crab float. Mickey's character float follows, hosted by Mickey and many performers. This is then followed by the huge Mickey Mouse balloon, (which is, in fact, the same design that was going to be used in the American version but was scrapped in favor of Sorcerer Mickey) wearing a colorful collared shirt and sitting on a drum, with the float full of penguins from Mary Poppins. Flounder and Sebastian follow the Mermaid float, featuring an assortment of mermaids, with Ariel sitting in the giant clam. Following on is a character float with just performers on, due to it still being themed as an underwater carnival.
Tropical Unit[]
This unit starts off with the Pluto balloon itself, otherwise identical to the Disneyland version, but is wearing a flower lei. This float is big enough to hold Pluto himself and several performers.
Following on is a fruit cart being pulled by performers, and then the character float with Minnie as the host and is themed as a giant pineapple, and then followed by the Minnie Mouse balloon, identical to the Disneyland version, but a little different. The float features some Ostriches from Fantasia on the front and The Three Little Pigs on the back. The Parade ends with a character float featuring Chip, Dale, some performers, and the Hippos from Fantasia.
In the show mode, all the floats would stop and everyone in the parade would party along with the music and dance. The balloons also rotated (Happened only occasionally in the Disneyland version) due to them being on rotating turntables, and sometimes at the end, people on the roofs would shoot out confetti from confetti cannons for the grand finale.
Fun facts[]
The Party Gras Parade appears in "The Character Parade" in the 1990Disney's Sing Along Songs home video, Disneyland Fun, but the footage for the parade is actually from the music video. Extra footage of the Party Gras Parade's music video can be seen on YouTube.[1]
The giant balloons were filled with cold air, and reached heights of up to 45 feet.
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