In fact, as the theme park with the most character cavalcades, you can expect one to drift past around every 15 to 20 minutes or so. Matheson was leading a workshop on Disney’s approach to Quality Service in Orlando, Florida. It’s one of several corporate training courses that the Disney Institute – a training division of the company better known for its animated cartoons and theme parks - offers on everything from corporate leadership through to business excellence.

Guests who love current iteration of the Electrical Water Pageant will be happy to know that the full original show will still take place, with the additions “bookending” the pageant. This nighttime spectacular features massive floating set pieces, custom-built LED panels, choreographed moving fountains, lights, pyrotechnics, and lasers. The floating set pieces transform from fountains during the daylight hours and will become an integral part of the show at nighttime.

Currently, most of the program is taped in November for broadcast on Christmas Day. However, until the early 1990s, the parade was broadcast live on Christmas Day on CBS, with whom Disney had partnered for Thanksgiving and New Year celebrations as well. In 1996, the program moved to ABC after Disney bought out the station. The parade continued to broadcast live on ABC on Christmas Day with another show recorded two days earlier for international use and/or as a back-up in case of weather issues. The Little Mermaid – Ariel and her friends sit atop a colorfully kinetic seashell music box that boasts an enchanting musical jubilee.

Despite it all, the magic of the parade is still there as a number of popular floats and Disney characters can be seen throughout. And with Parade more than 50 million viewers across the country and the more than 3.5 million spectators who line up along the streets of New York City each year, the three-hour spectacle is nothing short of a national icon. Additionally, they offer to either take a customer’s purchases directly to their hotel or to a pick up point at the theme park. This means that customers don’t have to carry bags around all day – not only convenient for customers but also making it more likely that they’ll make more purchases. Since they happen so quickly, you don’t need to plan too much to catch one of the character cavalcades. However, for the best views of the actual Magic Kingdom parade, you’ll need to be prepared.

Disney has devised a system – the "fast track ticket" – to reduce the amount of time that customers have to spend queuing for rides. The fast track ticket essentially gives customers an approximate time to arrive for the ride so that they can spend their time elsewhere in the park. Customers are happy because they don’t spend the whole day standing in a line up, and Disney is happy because customers have more time to browse in the shops and make purchases. Amber is a proud former Walt Disney World Cast Member, an unabashed travel addict, and a hospitality and tourism specialist with over 10 years in the industry.