chracters missing from parade of dreams

Originally Posted By PARADE OF DREAMS

I was in disneyland recently and noticed that the prince's ( prince chraming,prince phillip, and snow white's prince) were gone from the finale float. IS this temporary because if it is not my question is why did they take them out I thought they were a great in the parade since you barely se them>

 

Originally Posted By cstephens

There were a few other changes we noticed as well. Flotsam and Jetsam were missing from the parade, and much of the real water that cascased down Ariel's float has been replaced by fake plastic water. Ugh.



/cs

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

On Sunday, I only caught the second half of the parade, but I did notice that Flotsam and Jetsam were both there. Maybe you got them on a bad day? The plastic water on the Little Mermaid float actually got me excited, because I saw it from a distance and I thought that the water was actually working. The only time I saw it working was during the summer of 2005, and if they can't maintain it, I would prefer the plastic over nothing. I also noticed the princes missing, and that seems like it's probably a permanent change.

 

Originally Posted By Witches of Morva

ORWEN: Well, that's just not right!! Sending a bunch of ladies out to see the public without their escorts!! How awful is that?!

ORGOCH: Just hold on a dang minute, here! Anybody seen my trampy sister, Orddu yet, taday? I sure ain't. I hope she ain't gone 'n kidnapped all 3 a them jerks fer her OWN self! It'd be just like her!

ORWEN: Then, again, I've often noticed that Walt Disney World--after a parade has been around for a couple of years--starts making character cut backs just like this to save money. I hope Disneyland isn't following such a bad example as that!!!

 

Originally Posted By dresswhites

there seems to be differing reports on characters missing. when the parade came back some said they didn't see the three fairies from Sleeping Beauty. they now seem to be back.
others haven't seen the princes, but some have. maybe certain days they have certain characters. maybe on weekends they have all the characters, but on weekdays they do not.
can anyone confirm they have seen the princes? also do they still do show stops?

 

Originally Posted By dresswhites

also can anyone confirm if there have been major changes to the fireworks other than the narration changes? do they still do projections on the castle and Small World? Do they still shoot off fireworks from the fantasyland rooftops?

 

Originally Posted By cstephens

We saw it on Sunday a few weeks ago when Flotsam and Jetsam and the princes were missing, and yes, they still did show stops, they after all this time, they still don't have the timing down. Some of the floats were still racing to get to their positions when the bridge in the song was starting.



/cs

 

Originally Posted By TinksBestFriend

On Sun 1/14 - no Prince's. (Boys night out?)
On Sat 1/20 - no Prince's but Flotsam and Jetsam were there. (Another boys night out?)
On both days Flora (Pink) Fauna (Green) and Merryweather as well as The Blue Fairy and Fairy Godmother were dancing and making precious mmments I'll never forget.
And the same 3 show stops.

 

Originally Posted By dresswhites

can someone confirm they have seen the princes in the parade since it has restarted in Jan? i wonder why certain characters are missing and other times they are there?
When i worked at the park, the parades had two sets of cast. One set would perform one day and then the other set would perform the next day. i wonder if they only have one cast and so if one of the performers is ill or on vac, then they go missing. For example if Prince Phillip is sick, it would n't make sense that Snow Prince and Prince Charming are there. i mean it would look like Sleeping Beauty was dumped.

 

Originally Posted By tcsnwhite

I will clear this up:

1. The Princes have been cut, but I have been told it is only a temporary thing. When they find the proper princes they want to cast, then they will add them back to the finale unit. I was told it was NOT a budget cut, nor permanent. The parade dept. believes in not putting out an inferior product, so they decided to not just cast people that weren't right. overall, it is temporary.

2. Flotsam and Jetsam were NOT cut. If you don't see them, it was most likely either due to issues with the actual puppets themselves (which I have been told happen quite often), or there are absolutely no subs or backups if one is missing.

This is also true for the three good fairies in the opening unit.
Basically, if certain characters just cannot get out on the route for a performance for various reasons, they will cut the whole character "group" if those particular characters are sort of part of a 'group' (does that make sense?- the 3 good fairies are a group, flot. and jet. are, and so on). They want to keep consistency in the show. The only other thing would be when fairy godmother is out, Merlin may fill in for her (he was originally part of the opening unit, and then was cut). Its basically all, or nothing.
Also, if something happens, and say the finale float cannot get out (happened a couple of times when the lion king unit had issues and couldn't be moved), then they will always send out Mickey and Minnie.

3. The show stops have NOT been cut. Most likely they wouldn't do that or there would be no use for the specialty acts, and that is a MAJOR component (and selling point) of this parade.
The parade was contracted for a 5 year run, so it isn't going anywhere for a while. again, up to 5 years, anything can change.



Overall, the parade dept. does not want to put out an inferior product. They don't want it to seem that there are obvious missing pieces to the parade, if they can help it. Thus, the prince situation, and so on.

Again, I could be all wrong, or be wrong on a few things, but for the most part this is what I was told by cast and show support. Keep going out to see the parade though, that's why they do what they do.

ALL INFO SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE (you know Disney )

 

Originally Posted By dresswhites

^^^that makes sense, thanks for clearing this up.

 

Originally Posted By FerretAfros

If Merlin fills in for one of the faries, who plays him? I wonder how many people they have on hand who know the choreography and would be easier to use than just sending out whoever was supposed to go out normally. Also, when the princesses are alone, does anybody know if they have the same choreography as when they have their princes? It looked like it may have been something a little different than usual, but it also looked like it would have been easy to add a partner into the routine.

As for waiting until the casting for the princes is good enough, I really have to wonder how bad the people they had were. I understand not putting out a bad performance, but I can't imagine that all of the people auditioning would be that bad or not look very much like the characters in the films. I wonder at what point they call bad show on trying to send people out there. Either way, I applaud the parade folks for keeping the standards high as always.

 

Originally Posted By cstephens

I've seen quite a few people, whether in the parades or at meet and greets/walkarounds, who don't bear much resemblance to how the character looks on film. The only way I really recognized the character was because of the costume.



/cs

 

Originally Posted By tcsnwhite

^Truthfully, in the end, each casting director and show director is different. And they all look and 'like' different things in their performers- whether they be dancers, characters, or face characters. Yes, there are certain standards that they must cast by, but overall, the director and casting director from one show may like so and so for these certain performers, but the folks casting and working on a different production may not want those same folks for the same roles. Each production in the DLR entertainment and parade dept. is treated as a separate individual production with its own cast and crew. A certain number of folks do cross over from one to another, but that's basically it.

At the DLR, Parades and Characters are 2 separate departments with each its own group of cast and crew and so on. a few cross over from one to another here again, but most, again, do not.

The princess choreography isn't that much different, and they can change it back to the original once the princes are added back in.

As for Merlin, again, only if there is absolutely no one to do Fairy Godmother and there is a performer there that is approved for Merlin. The choreographers will prep the performer accordingly before performance.

As for the prince situation, what I stated is simply what I was told. If that isn't the real reason, I wouldn't know what it is. I would think budget, but honestly I wouldn't see them doing that from DL's primary parade offering.
Also, casting princes (or anyone) is not just about skills and looks. It is also about availability to work (that is a big one), professionalism, and so on. Disney= high standards.


*If anyone works in parades that posts here wants to correct, please, by all means go ahead. I don't want to spread false info, I am just relying info that other cast and crew have personally shared with me. =)

 

Originally Posted By tcsnwhite

^just *relaying* info... (typo =) )

 

Originally Posted By robinhood

I know for a fact that most of what tcsnwhite said is correct. The thing with Merlin is that when the Fairy Godmother or Peter Pan have "previous engagements" and cannot be in the parade he fills in for them. He happened to learn both sets of choreography. We still do all three show stops (wheather permitting) and no other characters have been removed from the parade other than the princes which shouldn't be permanent.

 

Originally Posted By Kathi K

On Saturday 3:30pm there were only six dwarfs. Is this normal?

 

Originally Posted By bobiascastle

Friday's Ariel was the same Ariel we took pics with the day before. I checked my Ariel pics to see if I was right. We have seen this before. I think that is better cause then my 5 year olds don't say "Mommy, why does Ariel look so different" Then again I can see why after meeting/greeting all day they would want someone else to ride the float. Their cheeks must be killing them. )

 

Originally Posted By dresswhites

are the princes back?

 

Originally Posted By TinksBestFriend

Happy returned to the 7:00 Parade.
The Princes have not returned. May have gone to the Super Bowl.