Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade Thoughts?

I finally made it through the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade. I usually record it and watch it later because all the commercials drive me crazy to watch it “live”. What did you all think this year? I thought it continued its toward trend. I was disappointed to say the least. The parades used to really focus on the parades and what is happening around the resorts. Now the parade really seems more about the musical performances, many of which I could do without. The segments featuring the parades themselves are short. One of most annoying aspects of the parade coverage itself to me is they feel the need to have the host speaking over the unit making “clever” comments all the time. Why not let the music come through. For example during the Soundsational sections you could hear the track in the background but actually hearing the music and Goofy on the drums would have been great!

My second complaint was with the promos. I thought the Aulani one was well done but the DCA expansion one was terrible. The package on the Cars 2 Blu Ray was substantially better. No real mention of Buena Vista Street either. Come to think of it did they say anything about the Little Mermaid attraction at DCA? The new Fantasyland segment at the Magic Kingdom was somewhere in the middle. I thought it was on the light side myself. The Cruise Line was also in the middle. They did show some things which was nice but would have liked more!

On the bright side I thought they did a much better job of balancing the two coasts this time around. Wonder if it confused anyone with so much hopping back and forth. I enjoyed it though and thought it was great to see Disneyland getting so much airtime. In years past I thought the balance was off.

I did enjoy Statler and Waldorf (the two old Muppets), thought their comments were great. The other Muppet interactions seemed a bit forced and odd to me. I would have liked to have seen them more integrated. Maybe showcasing something around one of the properties. Even something as simple as the resorts could have worked.

What did you think?

Jason