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When you think of Disney, New York City might not cross your mind but Disney has a rich
history in the city that dates back to the late 1920s.
Steamboat Willie premiered at the Universal’s Colony Theatre in New York City on November
18th, 1928, but thats just the start.
The Walt Disney company has a long history with the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade
that dates all the way back to the 1930s.
The parade, originally known as the Macy’s Christmas Parade, made its New York debut
in 1924 and over the years its became known for its giant balloons that soar through the
streets of New York city on Thanksgiving.
Through the years, Disney’s had a presence in the parade with balloons and the appearance
of Disney walk around mascot characters including on parade floats.
So today were gonna be taking a look at the history of Disney in the parade and counting
down the Top 10 Disney Balloons and floats in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Number 10- Mickey Mouse It all started with a mouse, right?
Well that’s even true with Disney’s involvement with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.
The year was 1934, and the parade premiered the first ever Mickey Mouse balloon making
him the third pop-culture character to have a licensed balloon in the parade.
His appearance was a collaborative effort between Walt Disney and Tony Sarg, the creator
of the Macy’s balloons.
This giant mickey mouse was hand painted and featured a star on his chest as a little nod
to the Macy’s logo.
He came in at a whopping 45 feet tall and required 25 handlers who were dressed in mickey
and minnie costumes to lead him down the New York Streets.
Now Mickey appeared like he’s seen here 1934 and 1935, but in 1936 he received an
updated paint job and the star on his chest became much bigger.
This version was seen in the 1936 and 1937 parades when his balloon then became retired.
Number 9- Donald Duck Donald Duck joined the Mickey Mouse Balloon
in the 1935 Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade.
When Donald made his parade debut he was still fairly new to the Walt Disney company since
he had only been created in 1934.
Donald Duck first appeared in the cartoons sporting a very skinny and long neck.
This long neck was incorporated into the balloon design in 1935, and you can see from this
footage here that his head had a hard time staying up while he was carried through the
parade route.
Now this Donald Duck balloon only appeared for one year and seeing how flimsy his head
and neck were, it makes sense why he wasn’t included in future years.
Now although Donald’s original balloon was retired, he did appear in 1939 on the first
Disney float in the parade.
This footage here shows captain Donald Duck featured on his very own float as the captain
of the ship.
Behind him in the next float, appears to be Mickey and Minnie Mouse riding on top of a
rocking boat.
Now from 1940 until 1961 it appears Disney’s presence in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day
parade was absent.
Well thats until the 2nd Donald duck balloon was created in 1962.
This version of Donald represented the current updated look audiences were were used to seeing
at the time.
He appeared for 10 years in the parade until 1972, then was reintroduced for one year only
in 1984 to celebrate Donald Duck’s 50th birthday.
Number 8- The Birthday Cake float 1968 marked the 40th birthday of Mickey Mouse,
so to celebrate, Disney had their own birthday cake float in the parade.
Mickey Mouse stood atop a 3 tired birthday cake and was joined by other Disney characters
that included Goofy, Pinocchio, the three little pigs, Snow White and the Drawfs.
Just wanna note that Minnie mouse wasn’t featured on the float when it would also be
Minnie Mouse’s 40th birthday since both Mickey and Minnie made their debut in Steamboat
Willie in 1928.
It’s really interesting though seeing some of the old character costumes from the late
60s appearing in the parade.
At the time, these are the costumes that would have been used at Disneyland.
The cake float appeared for two years in the 1968 and 1969 Macy’s thanksgiving day parade
then was retired.
Number 7- Mickey’s 2nd Incarnation 1971 marked the opening of Walt Disney World
in Florida, so to celebrate, Macy’s created a new Mickey Mouse balloon.
It was a more colourful version of Mickey that included his signature red shorts, white
gloves and a yellow shirt.
Now although the balloon was created and flight tested in 1971, it didn’t make its parade
debut that year because the winds were too strong and the balloons had to be grounded.
Now fast forward to 1972 when Mickey Mouse finally made his official debut alongside
Donald Duck in the parade, now celebrating the 1 year anniversary of Walt Disney World.
Aside from 1935, this was the only other year where Donald and Mickey appeared together
in the parade.
The Mickey Mouse balloon continued to appear in the parade until 1982 celebrating other
company milestones along the way including the 10th anniversary of Walt Disney World.
Also between 1972 and 1982 Disney had a set of floats, including a castle float, that
appeared in the parade.
The floats featured a variety of Disney walk around characters that could normally be seen
in the theme parks.
Once Disney began airing the Walt Disney World Christmas Day parade in 1983, they pulled
these floats since now they had their own televised parade.
Although the floats were pulled in 1983, in 1984 and 1985 there was one other smaller
float introduced to celebrate Disneyland’s 30th anniversary.
Number 6- Santa Goofy In 1992 the Macy’s thanksgiving day parade
debuted the Santa Goofy balloon.
This image is from the test flight that year and at the bottom right hand side of the picture
you can see the real Goofy was also present for the test.
1992 is the only year the balloon was featured in the parade, but it wasn’t the last time
it was seen.
After the 1992 parade aired, the goofy balloon along with a few others, were transported
to Disney-MGM Studios in Walt Disney World for an event known as Macy’s New York Christmas.
It was actually the first time the Macy’s Thanksgiving day balloons were seen outside
of New York City.
Well now they were in Florida and Disney anchored the balloons on top of the buildings of the
streets of America as a Christmas display for the holiday seasons at the theme park.
After this event at Disney-MGM Studios the Santa Goofy balloon was retired from the parade
and all the balloons were shipped back to Macy’s in New York City.
Number 5- Bandleader Mickey Who’s the leader of the club?
Well the year was 2000.
Macy’s decided they wanted to have a special character kick off the new millennium of parade
celebrations.
Well they chose no one other than the leader, Mickey Mouse, and really, it was a perfect
choice since he was one of the very first ballon characters to appear in the parade.
Known as Bandleader Mickey, it was the first balloon leading the front of the parade that
year and was Mickey’s third balloon design for Macy’s.
This version of Mickey with a red and gold suit was inspired by the bandleader outfit
Mickey wore in the 1950s MICKEY MOUSE CLUB TV show.
Well the millennium parade was the only year bandleader Mickey appeared, then he was retired.
Number 4- Chicken Little Appearing in 2004, Chicken Little from the
Disney animated feature film Chicken Little made his Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade
debut to promote the new film.
Now if you’re familiar with Chicken Little, you’d probably know that it wasn’t released
until November of 2005, so Disney began promoting the film a full year before it was released
but theres a reason why.
See, the original scheduled release of Chicken Little was supposed to be July 1st, 2005,
which makes a lot more sense that it debuted in 2004.
Well the release got pushed in December of 2004, just after it appeared in the Macy’s
thanksgiving day parade getting a new release date of Nov 4th, 2005.
With this new release date, Disney chose to include the balloon once again in the 2005
parade.
This time, appearing behind Chicken Little, was a float that resembled the mark twain
riverboat at Disneyland and featured a variety of Disney characters to celebrate Disneyland’s
50th anniversary.
Number 3- Buzz Lightyear 2008 marked the year when Buzz Lightyear made
his Macy’s thanksgiving day parade debut.
His ballon was said to be 67 feet long, 39 feet wide and 34 feet tall.
He appeared from 2008 until 2013, but was never initially created to promote a film.
Other than promoting Toy Story 3 in 2009, Buzz was included in the parade because of
the popularity and relevancy of the Toy Story franchise.
John Lassester even volunteered multiple years to be one of the balloon handlers.
Now Disney and Macy’s have always had a great relationship.
In 2015, the 20th anniversary of Toy Story was coming up and Disney wanted to bring the
Buzz Lightyear balloon to D23 in Anaheim to celebrate.
Well Macy’s agreed, but like we said earlier, Macy balloons didn’t normally make appearances
outside of the New York City parade, so this was the 2nd time in history it happened.
Buzz Lightyear could be seen soaring over the trees of the courtyard at the Anaheim
convention centre for D23.
Since this appearance in California, the Buzz Lightyear balloon hasn’t been seen since
and has now been retired.
Number 2- Sailor Mickey In 2009, Sailor Mickey debuted in the Macy’s
Thanksgiving Day Parade.
This was the 4th version of Mickey mouse made by Macy’s, and this version included his
iconic red shorts and yellow shoes along with the sailer jacket and hat.
Coming in at 61 feet high, 33 feet wide and 48 feet long, Sailor Mickey was used to promote
various milestones for the Disney Cruise Line, including the announcement and launches of
the Disney Dream and Disney Fantasy cruise ships.
Sailor Mickey appeared in 4 parades from 2009 until 2012.
Number 1- Olaf For 2017, Macy’s announced that Olaf from
the Frozen films would be featured as a balloon in the 91st annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day
parade.
With the release of Disney and pixar’s newest animated feature film COCO, a new Frozen short
titled Olaf’s Frozen Adventure will debut before the film in theatres.
The Olaf balloon is said about 50 feet high, 56 feet long and 39 feet wide and will be
celebrating and promoting the new Disney short.
Olaf has already been flight tested and is all set to go to make his debut in the Macy’s
Thanksgiving Day parade on Nov 23rd, 2017.
So what’s your favorite Disney balloon or float to be featured in the parade and what’s
one other character you’d like to see become a balloon in the future?
Do your thanksgiving traditions include watching the Macy’s parade?
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