Flights of Fantasy Parade - Disneyland 1983

[@herbedetsberger594]

Thank you so much for posting this parade in its entirety! I was the giant popcorn box in the Pinocchio unit in this parade, & this is the first time I've ever seen the full parade posted!

[@cartarsaucetheatre9363]

That is so awesome to hear!! And one of the reasons I’m building this archive. So much history at the park in entertainment that is overlooked because there is now footage. Thank you! 🍿

[@jankk]

My brother was one of the brooms that are shown in the thumbnail!

[@bradyguy7701]

@@jankk Who was your brother??? I was (normally) the lead broom!!! I'm actually talking to some people about doing a 40(ish) year reunion...I'd like to get in touch with him...

[@bradyguy7701]

@@jankk Okay...let's see....maybe your last name starts with a K....so....was your brother my buddy Dan Kesseloff?? I know it wasn't Rey. How about Bill ? Scott? Sean? John? Tim? Gary? Todd? Jerry? Jamie? Other Scott? Stephen?....it's been 40 years...and there were about 16-18 of us!!

[@bradyguy7701]

@@jankk I thought of a couple more names....was your brother Brian? Other John? Jay?

[@Magic3Star]

First off, those magic brooms were HUGE!!! Second, I never knew Yen Sid took part in a parade, let alone this one! :D

[@bradyguy7701]

This one of the ONLY times Yen Sid ever appeared. Nomrally, I was one of his minion Brooms. (Although at least I was the lead broom...). But one memorable afternoon I was called into the casting office and asked if I thought I could handle subbing in for Yen Sid. I very enthusiastically said "Yes". I did it only once....LOL.

[@1magicalmike]

I miss the scale and size of the cast for these 80s parades! The tugboat and train in the Babes in Toyland section look right out of Thomas the Train. I remember seeing this parade when we went to check out New Fantasyland, and the brooms (and Yensid) stood out as memorable.

[@bradyguy7701]

I was in the lead broom usually, Mike... They were about 15 feet tall...and weighed a total of about 80 pounds with all of the metal framing AND the "Gardener's" BLOWER that we wore on our backs to keep them inflated. It was crazy heavy, crazy hot, and one of the best summers of my life!!

[@BTC54321]

Finally! Real footage

[@gribbitt77]

I remember this parade. Thanks for sharing

[@SeyaDiakite7]

you went there too. the only thing i remember the most was when i almost vomited on mickey mouse and how i was very very scared of maleficent being so damn tall

[@jankk]

To this day I still talk about how cool this parade was, and it’s wonderful to see it in its entirety again! The VHS my late parents filmed is long gone and all I have are a few still photos. M brother was one of the animated brooms. One memorable parade, the fan the kept his costume inflated broke down, so the parade handlers hustled him into a backstage area of Alice in Wonderland so he could get out of it & wait out the rest of the parade. Being the curious Disney freak he was, he opened a random service door out of curiosity and on the other side was the actual ride with cars running, so he quickly shut it before someone could think “why is there some random guy in the middle of this ride?”

[@justincosplay]

Disneydish sent me here!

[@oleg1ch]

Wow. Old pooh (that I grew up with... ) and OWL! The toy solders without Santa! OMG! and Stromboli! That seems like an easy character to bring back for a Villains night (though only us old farts would remember him that well ;-) ). The biggest surprise to me was Yensid. I never realized they had made a live action character of him. 9 different themed units I counted. Amazing all of these were in there compared with the current parade formats. Poor Mary Poppins - added at the back as filler ( tee hee).

[@cartarsaucetheatre9363]

I was surprised about old pooh too. This must be close to when they got rid of that look. haha, Ya Owl, wow. Cool to have the Heffalumps used this way, perfect medium, those weird balloon costumes.

[@jankk]

Not to be pedantic but those are Woozles, lol! My brother was one of the Fantasia brooms in this parade and therefore my family went often to see it. The Woozles were one of my favorite parts & always made me squee.

[@bradyguy7701]

@@cartarsaucetheatre9363 Hmmm...let's see. We were definitely still using "old" Pooh until 1987 or so...maybe even a bit later.

[@bradyguy7701]

@@jankk Yep...Woozles. NOT to be confused with the horrible "Wuzzles" that would appear on TV in 1985. (We used those costumes very briefly...people claim to have seen them on NON-Disney TV shows....rumor has it that the costumes (and rights) were mistakenly sold off...for some reason....who knows??) BUT...there WERE also Heffalumps in the Flights of Fantasy Parade - at least one , possibly two different costumes. The biggest was even bigger (taller/wider..but lighter!) than the Brooms...I did him once or twice as well!!

[@bradyguy7701]

Yeah...poor Mary Poppins...relegated to the Character Flood. Gotta love a good flood....we all did it at some point! In fact, that parade had a flood at the front, AND at the back...sort of a "castley/medieval" theme with Cinderella and Robin Hood Characters....and then Mary! Oh, I also did Stromboli ONCE! Lightest, easiest costume EVER!

[@TsWade2]

OMG! I’ve never realize there’s costume version of Yensid!🤩

[@cartarsaucetheatre9363]

Right? Totally insane to see him.

[@TsWade2]

Cartarsauce Theatre You are so lucky. I wasn’t born until two years later. I wish they used Yensid for Magic Happens Parade.

[@benjaminroberson1924]

Incredible footage!

[@darreylhenderson702]

13:54 " oh look at the big witch up there!" *Ma'am, that is Maleficent and she's a fairy*

[@SeyaDiakite7]

I REMEMBER THIS. I WENT TO DISNEYLAND FOR THE FIRST TIME BACK THEN i was very scared of maleficent being very tall like that, plus i almost vomited on mickey mouse but he helped me to contain it. aw memories

[@herbedetsberger594]

I was in this parade, and the two girls who played Maleficent were both tall in real life too--about 6 feet! They were both very nice, and both of them liked me a bit too.

[@SeyaDiakite7]

@@herbedetsberger594 you were in this parade back then too in 1983?

[@bradyguy7701]

@@herbedetsberger594 Popcorn Herb!!!

[@bradyguy7701]

@@SeyaDiakite7 If I'm not mistaken, Herb used to carry some burnt popcorn with him during the parade...the bottom of his costume was open down/out to his legs. He would occasionally squat and...umm....."leave" a small pile of burnt popcorn on the parade route. Parade staff wasn't thrilled with it, but DANG, it was funny. Or was that your sub, Herb?? Don't want to get you in trouble 40 years later...😮😮😮😮😮😮

[@burkejedi]

Hello fellow Disney Dish listeners.

[@chuck7514]

Bring back owl!!! How could u have owl and kanga in 1983 parade but you can't have them both and gopher all together at crystal palace for a great reunion. Lol it's all or nothing, Owl deserves his fame as well

[@USSVoyager5]

Didnt Hong Kong Disneyland have a Newer and better Flights of Fantasy Parade

[@cartarsaucetheatre9363]

They did! Same name, even continued the hot air balloon theme in tribute but with different character units, I helped map out the units and performer locations with the show director on that one.

[@bradyguy7701]

@@cartarsaucetheatre9363 Newer, perhaps. Certainly not better! 😁😁😁😁

[@bradyguy7701]

@@cartarsaucetheatre9363 Very cool. Were you a choreographer?? Production Stage Manager?

[@ChrisS9993]

HI!!!!!

[@johnalvinbelarmino598]

Why all some characters looks so tall

[@bradyguy7701]

Because we were, baby....we were!! Some of the tallest performers in Disneyland Parades/Character history...