I’m sure most of you reading this watched the Disney Parks Christmas Celebration this morning on ABC. I know one topic we always discuss is how long something has been around. Well this blog should give you a little of the history of the parade.
The parade has aired annually since 1983, with the exception of 2000 when Disney aired a Christmas Eve “Tracking Santa” special instead. The parade has always featured Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Donald and a cast of many more. Now most Disney fans know this, but the parade is taped in November or December. Until the early 1990’s though, the parade was actually live on Christmas day. Back then it was also broadcast on CBS, till 1996 when Disney purchased ABC.
The first parade in 1983 was called Walt Disney World’s Very Merry Christmas Parade. The hosts for that first parade were Joan Lunden and Mike Douglas. Moving forward, Alan Thicke would eventually replace Douglas as host and none other than Regis Philbin was seen as the on-street interviewer. Eventually, Regis took over as co-host with Joan. Kelly Ripa would replace Lunden and and join her TV show partner Regis.
Over the years other hosts have been brought in and out including, Ben Vereen, Jerry Van Dyke, Suzanne Somers and Ryan Seacrest, just to name a few. This year the host was Robin Roberts and featured some of the amazing Disney parade floats, some great performances and a few surprises. We hope you all enjoyed the parade, and have a great Christmas Day!
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