Parade Reviews - AK, MGM, and Epcot

[mktiggerman]

Ok.. it's late, and I'm tired.. so here's the short and the skinny of it:
Mickey's Jammin Jungle Parade-AK

Pros: Fun parade, cute, good for kids, fun..
Cons: CHEESY!!! (still cute though)
Verdict: take kids to see this.. lots of them.. bring em by the barrelfull. Worth seeing though, I enjoyed it and I have plans to return to watch it next week

Disney Stars and Motorcars-MGM
Pros: Very uniques idea, well executed, good for ALL audiences, lots of units, great interaction
Cons: SHORT!!! And the units come and go by so fast
Verdict: This brings parades to a new realm. It does nothing too fantastic, but it meshes so many different ideas that it makes for an amazing show for the whole family

Tapestry of Dreams-Epcot
Pros: Music is 50% the same. They mix the puppets up more.
Cons: DREAMCATCHERS ARE SCARY, THEY LOOK LIKE EVIL GIANT TROLLS!!! I did not like this parade too much.. they tried too hard and it ends up looking very cheap. They also cut out some of the best parts of the music.
Verdict: See this parade ONCE, and then go home and watch Tapestry of Nations on video and cry about how ToD is nothing next to ToN.

Also, here are the pics so far. I have AK nd MGM up for now.. and tomorrow when i get my film back, I'll have Epcot too as well as MORE MGM.. so come back in 24hrs to this thread to get the link for ToD!!!

AK- http://greenarmyman.tripod.com/dak/mickeys_jammin_jungle_parade/

MGM- http://greenarmyman.tripod.com/mgm/stars_motorcars_parade

like I said, patience is a virtue, and if you wait 24 (or less) hours, the number of parade pics will have more than doubled..

 

[pumba]

it was the regular one......even in the rain.....I was so taken with it........thanks for letting us know

 

[Debi]

Thanks for the update!

 

[mktiggerman]

Well I added the rest of the pics, they an be viewed in the same locations.

I also added my ToD pics, they are at:


http://greenarmyman.tripod.com/epcot/tapestry_of_dreams/

 

[Synonymous]

Maybe it's not fair to comment before seeing these live (this weekend, if the weather cooperates), does it seem to anybody else that the theme of these new parades is "Smaller and Cheaper"?

 

[Debi]

Thanks for the photos!

 

[swankybeth]

Thanks so much for the reports and pictures. I especially liked the MGM pics. It got me really excited about seeing it in person in January. Now you just have to post pics of the MK parade. That one looks cool!

Beth

 

[mktiggerman]

Originally posted by swankybeth
Now you just have to post pics of the MK parade.

they've been done:

http://greenarmyman.tripod.com/mk/share_a_dream_parade

 

[swankybeth]

Wow!!! Thanks a lot! Those are great.

Beth

 

[Synonymous]

The MK parade does look very nice. One thing I like about all of them is that they seem to be including characters that aren't otherwise seen very often. I particularly liked the idea of having the chimney sweeps in the parade. Is Mary Poppins in the MK parade, as well?

 

[mktiggerman]

Originally posted by Synonymous
Is Mary Poppins in the MK parade, as well?

yes.. she was in the side opposite from where I was standing She has her own unit in the MGM parade.. complete w/ Bert and Penguins!!

 

[Synonymous]

Rob, that's great news! Thank you. I'm not going to tell my daughter- she will be absolutely thrilled when she sees it Saturday (if the weather permits). MP has always been her favorite, and she kept looking for Bert the whole time we were last there.

 

[mktiggerman]

Originally posted by Synonymous
Rob, that's great news! Thank you. I'm not going to tell my daughter- she will be absolutely thrilled when she sees it Saturday (if the weather permits). MP has always been her favorite, and she kept looking for Bert the whole time we were last there.

in that case...:

 

[Synonymous]

Wonderful! Thank you for the pic. DD willl love it.

 

[Safari Steve]

I wouldn't categorize Share a Dream Come True or Disney Stars and Motorcars as "Cheaper and Smaller"... both were big, bright, and glitzy. Dream incorporates lots of mechanical effects and technically dwarfs Magical Moments. Cars and Stars involves live commentators (very neat, like watching a parade on TV) and consists entirely of modified classic automobiles. I especially liked the motorcycle escort at the beginning and end. They use an electric engine box that is cleaner and quieter, but not visually obtrusive. Also, both use many many performers. during SaDCT I saw many CMs standing in shop doorways looking on in awe. It's really cool (and Julie Andrews introduces it to boot!)

 

[maci]

I think the MGM parade looks AWESOME! My son will love it, LOTS of his favorites! The cars look really cool! Thank you MKTIGGERMAN! You have gotten me as excited about our trip in 3 weeks, as I was prior to Sept. 11! Cant wait!

 

[mktiggerman]

Today I went to see Stars and Cars again, and I noticed a few things.. such as, the characters and cars can cary greaty by day.. the playhouse disney car was MIA but the Atlantis car arrived.. also, I didn't see Little Bo Peep, but I saw Darth Vader.. and as always, the pic are up.. today's parade brings the count to 57.

 

[All Aboard]

I was going to post in a new thread, but I'll throw my 2 cents in here.

We saw Stars & Motorcars on the 24th and Share a Dream on the 25th (hope those are the correct names.)

Cars - Likes: Lots of characters, more than I've ever seen in one parade (I think). Nice to see some different characters, too. Cars are neat. I like that they are electric and quiet. The cars are very well done.

Cars - Dislikes: The flow of the music. It doesn't match the unit. It's just a collage of "redone" songs. So, the characters are dancing to whatever music is playing. It begs the question, "why are the Hun Warriors dancing to the Muppet Show theme song?" Other dislike: the live commentary. It gets very annoying listening to Al Dente shout about who is coming. We see that it's Aladdin, we see that it's the Muppets. Enough already.


Share - Likes: Again, lots of characters. Very nice floats.

Share - Dislikes: Again, the flow of the music. And, the lipsynch parts that Peter Pan does. Plus, all of the characters inside the snowglobes are lipsynching. What can I say, I just don't like lipsynching. That's why Hunchback is a much better show at the Studios than Beauty and the Beast is.

 

[mktiggerman]

Originally posted by gcurling
What can I say, I just don't like lipsynching. That's why Hunchback is a much better show at the Studios than Beauty and the Beast is.

that's cos Disney doesn't like to pay for equity (professional) singers and actors to do the shows.. not to mention that w/ a person actually doing it it adds the chance they may mess up.

 

[Safari Steve]

I had the same feeling about the Stars/Cars music, but I thought the song for Share a Dream Come True was great. I got chills when they started singing it. I think the performers will get better at synching. When I saw it, Aladdin messed up a few times, but when he got it, it really worked well, and the Fairy Godmother was almost perfect that time. Remember, you basically saw a dress rehearsal. They should have it down cold by next week.