Disney Reveals Showtimes for the Grand Return of Its Beloved Parade

It’s been a long time coming.

Disney Guests everywhere have missed the excitement of seeing a big parade make its way down Main Street, U.S.A.

Since the start of Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary celebration, we’ve been lacking the enormous joy of having multiple floats glide by with characters, music, and amazing theming.

Yes, we’ve had the character cavalcades, but it’s not been the same not seeing the huge floats we all know and love.

Well, we had the fantastic news that Walt Disney World is finally bringing parades back, and now we have the showtimes!

On February 11, the brand-new “Disney Adventure Friends Cavalcade!” kicked off the slow return of bigger floats. This super-sized cavalcade has Guests jamming along with Moana, Merida, The Incredibles, Baloo and King Louie from The Jungle Book (1967), José Carioca and Panchito from The Three Caballeros (1944), and Nick and Judy from Zootopia (2016).

And making his Magic Kingdom debut in “Disney Adventure Friends Cavalcade!” is Miguel from Pixar’s Coco (2017)!

It’s amazing to see more characters on the parade route, giving children that magical surprise of not knowing who they’re going to see next.

The ongoing pandemic significantly changed the Disney theme park experience, with regulations such as mandatory face masks and plexiglass separators altering the magic in Disney Parks.

Most significantly, experiences that created crowds, like parades and fireworks, were stopped in Walt Disney World, Disneyland Resort, Disneyland Paris, Shanghai Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Tokyo Disneyland when each theme park Resort reopened.

Recently, Disney announced the return of the beloved Festival of Fantasy Parade. The parade will be once again in Magic Kingdom Park beginning March 9, 2022. March 9 also happens to be the anniversary of the debut of the parade back in 2014!

Now, in addition to its return date, we finally have the showtimes. And it looks like we may see the return of the famous question, “when is the 3 ‘o’clock parade?”.

From March 9-13, the Festival of Fantasy Parade will run at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

Beginning on March 13, the parade will run at 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. Times past early April have not been announced for the magical Disney Park parade as of yet.

Last year, we saw some returns of parades with Disneyland Paris launching a brand new holiday parade in November 2021, and fan-favorite Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade returning to Walt Disney World Resort.

Disney’s Festival of Fantasy Parade celebrates some of Disney’s iconic stories through a spectacle fleet of fantastical floats.

Guests can wave to characters like Cinderella, Tiana, and Belle accompanied by their respective princes in a garden of topiaries, followed by a special appearance by Frozen‘s (2013) Anna and Elsa.

Following the Princesses is a float based on Tanged (2010), with Flynn Rider and Rapunzel. Disney Guests can then see Ariel from The Little Mermaid (1989), Peter Pan, Wendy, and Tinker Bell, Merida and Scottish dancers from Pixar’s Brave (2012), and characters from the classic 1959 movie Sleeping Beauty. 

Disney Parks Blog writes:

Dazzling guests since its debut, the Disney “Festival of Fantasy” Parade features beloved characters from “The Princess and the Frog,” “Tangled,” “Peter Pan” and more bringing their individual stories to life on enchanting floats that look as though the characters themselves had a hand in crafting them.

Looming 26 feet above the parade route and 35 feet in length, the fire-breathing Maleficent Dragon float returns just as menacing as ever. We’re delighted to have this show-stopping beauty be a part of our glittering assemblage.

Back in 2021, following Walt Disney World’s reopening, Magic Kingdom used the Maleficent float for a new mini-parade called Maleficent’s Fiery Prowl, as part of a new Halloween event, Disney After Hours: BOO Bash, in time for Walt Disney World’s 50th anniversary celebration.

We are so ready to sing along to the soundtrack and dance again down Main Street, U.S.A. to a huge parade!