Magic Happens
| Magic Happens | |
|---|---|
| Park | Disneyland Park |
| Land / area | Parade route |
| Type | Daytime parade |
| Opened | February 28, 2020 |
| Designer | Walt Disney Imagineering
|
| Status | Operating |
Magic Happens is a daytime parade at Disneyland Park at the Disneyland Resort in California. It celebrates the moments of magic at the turning points of Disney and Pixar stories — a fairy godmother's spell, a demigod's voyage, a wish on a star — through nine newly designed floats, a large cast of performers and an energetic original song co-composed by singer-songwriter Todrick Hall. The parade was first performed in public on February 28, 2020, after a preview for media and invited guests the day before, and was Disneyland's first entirely new daytime parade in more than a decade.
History
Magic Happens was announced at the D23 Expo in 2019 as part of Disneyland's 65th anniversary year, under creative directors David Duffy and Jordan Peterson. Rather than retelling whole films, the parade was built around single transformative moments within them: the instant a spell takes hold, a voyager sets sail, or a lost boy learns to fly. Todrick Hall, who had begun his career as a performer at Walt Disney World, co-composed the parade's title song and contributed to its score, which mixes a contemporary pop sound with themes from the featured films.
The parade's timing could hardly have been worse. It debuted on February 28, 2020, and had been performed for only about two weeks when Disneyland Resort closed on March 14, 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. When the resort reopened in April 2021, Magic Happens did not return with it; its floats stayed backstage and the park ran without a full daytime parade, leaving the new parade in limbo for nearly three years.
Its return was announced at the D23 Expo in 2022 as part of Disney100, the celebration of the Walt Disney Company's centenary, and scheduled for February 24, 2023. Rain cancelled the performances on February 24 and 25, and the parade finally stepped off again on February 26, 2023, almost exactly three years after its debut. It has since run in seasonal engagements, typically twice a day, including a return engagement in early 2024.
Show
Mickey Mouse, in a sorcerer's-inspired costume, leads the parade from a float of swirling magic, joined by Minnie Mouse and other classic characters, while the title song sets out the parade's theme: magic does not happen by itself, but at the moment someone believes, wishes or acts.
The floats that follow each take one moment. Moana stands on her voyaging canoe as the ocean rises around her, with Maui nearby. From Pixar's Coco, Miguel crosses the marigold bridge toward the Land of the Dead, accompanied by his dog Dante and figures from the film's musical celebration. Frozen 2 is represented by a wintry forest float with Anna, Elsa, Olaf and Sven. Cinderella provides the parade's signature transformation, as the Fairy Godmother's magic turns a pumpkin toward a coach at the stroke before midnight, while Sleeping Beauty brings Aurora's dress changing between pink and blue as Flora and Merryweather duel with their wands in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle's park.
Older classics are woven through the newer films. The Sword in the Stone gives Merlin a rare parade appearance as he guides the young Arthur, and The Princess and the Frog closes the story floats with Tiana and Louis in a Mardi Gras mood. A finale unit gathers Mickey and his friends to bring the parade to its close on Main Street, U.S.A. In the evening performance the floats' lighting gives the same route a noticeably different character from the afternoon show.