https://disneyparks.wiki/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=A_Christmas_Fantasy_ParadeA Christmas Fantasy Parade - Revision history2026-11-14T16:51:10ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.11https://disneyparks.wiki/index.php?title=A_Christmas_Fantasy_Parade&diff=343&oldid=prevAdmin: ParksWiki backfill wave 22026-11-14T15:18:43Z<p>ParksWiki backfill wave 2</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Infobox attraction<br />
| name = A Christmas Fantasy Parade<br />
| park = [[Disneyland Park]]<br />
| land = Parade route<br />
| type = Holiday parade<br />
| opened = November 1995<br />
| designer = Disney Live Entertainment<br />
| status = Seasonal<br />
}}<br />
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'''A Christmas Fantasy Parade''', also billed simply as "A Christmas Fantasy", is the annual holiday parade at [[Disneyland Park]] at the Disneyland Resort in California. Presented as part of Holidays at the Disneyland Resort, it runs each year from around mid-November until shortly after New Year's Day, carrying Disney characters in Christmas dress, marching toy soldiers and a finale led by Santa Claus down the parade route between [[It's a small world]] and Main Street, U.S.A. It debuted during the 1995 holiday season, replacing the ''Very Merry Christmas Parade'', and has become the longest-running holiday parade in the park's history.<ref name="wiki">Wikipedia, "A Christmas Fantasy Parade" — an annual parade at Disneyland Park that runs from mid-November until the weekend after New Year's Day; it debuted during the 1995 holiday season, replacing the Very Merry Christmas Parade.</ref><ref name="daps30">Daps Magic, "A Very Familiar Brand New Parade – 30 Years Ago at Disneyland", December 2025 — A Christmas Fantasy debuted in November 1995 and is described as the longest-running parade in Disneyland history.</ref><br />
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== History ==<br />
Disneyland had presented a Christmas parade for many years before 1995, most recently under the ''Very Merry Christmas Parade'' name. For the 1995 season the park replaced it with A Christmas Fantasy, built around a new, highly repetitive theme song that tied together a set of traditional Christmas scenes — Santa's mail room, a winter wonderland, a gingerbread kitchen, a candlelight ball and Santa's toy factory. Contemporary accounts note that, despite the new name and music, the first version was recognisably assembled from elements of the parades that had come before it.<ref name="daps30" /><br />
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That formula proved durable. The parade returned every holiday season and was substantially reordered and refreshed over the years, settling by the late 2000s into the seven-unit form that later seasons have broadly kept. Newer films were folded in as they arrived — ''Toy Story'' characters took over much of the toy-themed section, and Anna, Elsa and Olaf from ''Frozen'' joined the winter scenes — while older elements such as the opening music box float, recycled from an earlier parade, stayed in place. The parade marked its 29th season in 2024 and its 30th anniversary in 2025, a run interrupted only by the resort's closure during the 2020 holiday season.<ref name="daps29">Daps Magic, "A Christmas Fantasy Parade Takes Final Bow For Its 29th Season at the Disneyland Resort", January 2025 — the parade debuted in November 1995, replaced the Very Merry Christmas Parade, and completed its 29th season in 2024.</ref><br />
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== Show ==<br />
In its modern form the parade is made up of a series of themed units, each with its own float or floats, dancers and walk-around characters, performed typically twice a day during the holiday season.<br />
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It opens with a title float built around a revolving music box, with a dancing ballerina and a teddy bear, followed by the parade's most quoted performers: a line of toy soldiers from ''Babes in Toyland'', marching in formation and playing trumpets and drums.<ref name="units">Disneyland parade guides to A Christmas Fantasy Parade — the opening unit pairs the music box float with marching toy soldiers from Babes in Toyland, and the parade ends with Santa's finale unit.</ref> Santa's Mail Room follows, with Mrs. Claus and elves sorting the letters children have sent to the North Pole, and a winter wonderland unit puts Mickey and Minnie Mouse skating on a frozen pond alongside snow-themed characters. A gingerbread unit, fronted by Goofy and a team of bakers and dancing gingerbread cookies, gives way to a candlelight Christmas ball for Disney royal couples, and then to Santa's Toyland, where Woody rides a rocking horse and Buzz Lightyear a spaceship atop oversized toy blocks around a busy toy factory.<ref name="funfacts">Daps Magic, "Fun Facts for a Merry Disneyland Holiday Celebration", November 2011 — each performance featured 105 performers, with units including Santa's Mailroom, Winter Wonderland, the gingerbread Candy Shop, the Candlelight Christmas Ball, the Toy Factory and the Finale.</ref><br />
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The finale belongs to Santa Claus himself. Led in by dancers, prancing reindeer and a large Christmas tree float, Santa rides high on his sleigh at the very end of the parade, waving to the crowd — the traditional closing image of the Disneyland holiday season, a short walk from the park's other seasonal fixtures, the [[It's a small world]] holiday overlay and the ''Believe... In Holiday Magic'' fireworks.<br />
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== See also ==<br />
* [[Disneyland Park]]<br />
* [[Sleeping Beauty Castle]]<br />
* [[It's a small world]]<br />
* [[Paint the Night]]<br />
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== References ==<br />
<references /><br />
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[[Category:Entertainment]]<br />
[[Category:Disneyland Park]]<br />
[[Category:1995 establishments in California]]</div>Admin