Since this is the DVC board, I'll tackle your first question. The cute vehicles (including vans) are transportation for guests at resorts to get to the DVC offices to tour the models and talk to a sales person about DVC. They are courtesy transportation so the guest doesn't have to use the usual WDW transportation system.
As for the parade question, I think you'll get much better results if you post that separately on the Theme Parks and Attractions board....and put the topic in the title always helps too!
Not sure what a "woody" car might be, but DVC has a fleet of mini-vans, with the logo, that are used to transport guests to/from the sales center to take the DVC tour.
You'll need to ask your grand marshall question on the Theme Parks Board- as it's off-topic for this forum.