Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade is back at Magic Kingdom but not quite how you remember it

Nov 09, 2021 in "Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade"

Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade 2021
Posted: Tuesday November 9, 2021 10:@1am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

A parade took to the streets of Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World last night for the first time in more than 19 months.

'Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade' made its return as part of 'Disney Very Merriest After Hours,' the new ticketed event at Magic Kingdom. Learn more about 'Disney Very Merriest After Hours.'



Although the parade is back, with the familiar music and floats, it is a significantly cut-down version of the classic holiday parade.


The vast majority of the dancers that fill in the spaces between the floats are missing, giving the parade more of a cavalcade feel than an entire Magic Kingdom parade spectacular.


There are still hundreds of entertainment cast members waiting to be called back to work, so the lack of dancers is a little puzzling, especially given that all COVID restrictions are now over, and all cast members working must be fully vaccinated.


The 10-minute parade is performed twice during the separately ticketed 'Disney Very Merriest After Hours' event at Magic Kingdom, at 9:45pm and 12:05am. The parade route for both showings was not overly crowded, and the Town Square area was largely empty for both parades.

Watch the video below for the return of 'Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade.' (4K YouTube)

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MisterPenguinDec 22, 2021

https://www.tiktok.com/@disneyparks/live?lang=en&enter_from_merge=others_homepage&enter_method=others_photo

MisterPenguinDec 22, 2021

It's currently WDW's best fireworks show. The right music (mostly... "Simply Having" is simply awful... but redeemed with a full orchestra and choir and short snippets), the right projections, and the right fireworks. All in sync (something which Enchantment fails at over and over again).

dothebrdwalkDec 19, 2021

Don't wanna write a whole review, but went last Thursday with the family and well...... we thought it was worth every penny. Between the snacks, Christmas entertainment, and of course walk-on attractions, it was a great evening. You just cannot beat a "0 minute wait" on Space Mountain.

Casper GutmanDec 17, 2021

The traditional parties WHEN? 2019 or 2010?

jrhwdwDec 17, 2021

Can't believe this is the last Fri for Merriest AH already! Is Merry Memories and Minnie's not showing Christmas Week? I see Enchantment(not Shocking, HEA played in 2017) is Scheduled but can't find the Castle Show on the Official Site.

peter11435Dec 10, 2021

Considerably. The cap is a fraction of that of the traditional parties

mikejs78Dec 10, 2021

But lower compared to the traditional parties, right?

peter11435Dec 10, 2021

The cap on these events is higher than previous after hours events.

MisterPenguinDec 10, 2021

Cool conspiracy story, bro. You should get together with the ones who say that they kept increasing the capacity of those DAH nights. That'd be a hoot.

Disstevefan1Dec 10, 2021

I said folks attending these events would hope they actually limit tickets sales. If they are truly limiting attendance this year, what we are seeing this year is a bait and switch. As you say, "In response to unprecedented demand" next year's events will be super mobbed. This is nothing new really, WDW crept up the tickets sales to the old Christmas and Halloween parties and they too became super mobbed.

MagicHappens1971Dec 10, 2021

The after hours last was supposedly sold out and it was not mobbed or super mobbed. Crowd levels were great tbh

HauntedPirateDec 10, 2021

Oh, you think they'll actually limit ticket sales next year? Unprecedented demand! Higher prices and more tickets will be available (but still marketed as an "After Hours event"). Stop thinking about the consumers and think about shareholder dividends and executive bonus pools - Who's going to pay for those things?? If DI$ can't retain the top notch talent they have in management, think of the drop in quality storytelling and immersive entertainment that will inevitably result!

Disstevefan1Dec 10, 2021

Folks attending these overpriced events can only hope they cut off ticket sales so instead of these events being super mobbed they are just mobbed.

HauntedPirateDec 10, 2021

I'm not buying it. I think they cut off ticket sales (nudge the number of tickets available down a little and then call things "sold out", sounds great for the next quarterly call), but I also have no way to prove it. If they truly did sell out, congratulations - You'll get to pay even more next year!