Visiting Toy Story Land & Flights of Fantasy Parade @ Hong Kong Disneyland

May 7, 2012

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Although the Flights of Fantasy Parade starts at 3.30pm, the crowd could be seen gathered around the parade’s path as early as 3pm.

Snacks and balloons shaped in Disney characters sold by a push cart vendor.

With some time to kill until the parade starts, we went for a stroll along Main Street USA as well as visiting the Opera House at the Town Square.

Main Street Market is where you will get the Mickey waffles. They were selling like hot cakes, literally.

The Opera House can be found directly opposite the Disneyland City Hall (an information center) and houses the Art of Animation and the Animation Academy. The Art of Animation is an attraction where you can watch a film about Disney’s animation and the process behind it like sketching and drawing.

A 3D Toy Story zoetrope can be found here too and you must not miss it. The exhibit contains multiple succession of static Toy Story characters, and when turned in rapid motion and combined with strobe lighting, they appear to come to life in front of your eyes. Cute and cool at the same time!

A collection of handmade Disney Murano glass made by an artist in one of the souvenir shops. Gorgeous and detailed, albeit pricey.

If you are looking for something practical yet personalized as souvenirs for your family and friends, I would suggest getting the glasses and cups. They have all sorts of designs to suit various age groups, from being kiddy to simple and elegant. But perhaps more importantly to average people like us, they are not too expensive. And for only HKD15, you could have the person’s name carved on them too so they don’t seem too generic. In fact, I bought three glasses (with name carvings) for my brother, sister and myself here.

Then an announcement was made to all the visitors in the theme park – the highly anticipated Disney’s Flights of Fastasy Parade has finally arrived. Generally, the parade starts from the Storybook Theatre at Fantasyland, makes a round at the roundabout in front of the Sleeping Beauty Castle, continues its way down the Main Street and ends at an exit next to the Opera House. It is easy to make the parade’s route, which is basically roped off from the crowd and removed gradually as the parade passes through it.

Mickey’s Magical Airship is the first float of the parade units, starting with Dumbo and Timothy Mouse.

Disney’s Marching Band marching between Dumbo and the airship.

On board Mickey’s Magical Airship are none other than Mickey himself and his friends – Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Donald and Chip ‘n’ Dale. All of them seen in colorful costumes and dancing and singing along to the music.

Second float in the parade was Caught Up in Daydreams (The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh) It features Winnie the Pooh with his good friends Eeyore and Tigger, while Heffalumps and Woozles are attached to the float behind them. The highlight of this float would be the four performers who are dressed up like bees, performing bungee jumping and other acrobatic tricks in the air.

Next was the Disney Princess unit. Four princesses (Belle, Snow White, Princess Aurora and Cinderella) are on the Swan shaped airboat waving and greeting the crowd. They are also accompanied by a few paired performers dancing like they are in a ball room – very elegant.

Characters from The Jungle Book and The Lion King are featured together in the next float named Jumpin’ Jungle Jam designed to have a jungle look and feel. Four performers dressed as African female dancers add even more flair to the float, while energetic monkey dancers would invite the crowd to join in the fun and dance together during the show stop.

Tinkerbell makes an appearance as well in the parade and she has her very own float (The Magic of Pixie Dust) Four other fairies could be seen riding on the cute ladybug cars in circular motion. They didn’t seem to mind bumping on each other lol.

Then it is Lilo & Stitch‘s turn, arriving in their Hangin’ Ten and Ridin’ High float. It has a tropical and Stitch could be seen riding the wave made of blue flowers, Lilo on the other hand is leading a team of of Hawaiian dancers and surfers.

The last unit of the parade features Toy Story gang on a slightly larger float, led by a Woody and Jessie. I think this is the coolest float among all and even the dancers’ performance is a bit more unique than the rest. The female dancers are dressed in Buzz’s outfit fitted with wheels on their shoes, used cleverly to glide past the crowd in unison.

If your eyes are sharp enough you would notice a purple monkey stuck to Rex’s tail lol.

Ropes are released as soon as the Toy Story float passes through. Shown here is the crowd following the parade along the Main Street.

If you can keep up the pace and reach the Town Square quick enough, you could catch a glimpse of the parade again before they make an exit. Looking at the time, we could tell that the parade lasted for about 40 minutes.