From the Disney Channel, in 1988:
It’s hard to believe that 1988 was the last time the Disney company publicly celebrated Mickey’s birthday – in this case, his 60th. Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, Disney park celebrations were often centered on specific anniversaries or events. In 1981 it was Walt Disney World’s “Tencennial”. In 1984 it was Donald Duck’s 50th birthday. Walt Disney World celebrated its 15th birthday in 1986, and 1987 marked the bicentennial of the United States Constitution. This approach gave the celebrations the feel of a real “event,” and the result was that they were far more distinctive than today’s “Celebrate Dreams”, “Celebrate Wishes”, and “Celebrate Celebrations” approach.
Despite this clip’s justification for the “Happy Birthday from Across the USA” theme of Mickey’s birthday parade, the actual reason for the theme was that it allowed for the re-purposing of 1987’s “All-American Parade.” Not that I can blame the company; this was a massive and lengthy parade with many elaborate floats and set pieces and it was re-used several times in the late 1980s.
Of course, the other in-park recognition of Mickey’s 60th was the all-new Mickey’s Birthdayland, a “temporary” attraction that would eventually turn into today’s Mickey’s Toontown Fair.
Wow, this video brought back childhood memories of WDW parades that I had almost totally forgotten about. Just the quick snippets of the parade triggered memories of how elaborate and sophisticated those floats were. Something else I now remember, and that’s evident from the video, is that the “generic dancers” in front of or behind each float were in fact not generic, but wore costumes themed to the float they were attached to. If recent memory serves correctly, this hasn’t been the case since at least 2001 (the last time that the MK got a “new parade” that was actually really new).
It’s funny how (for me at least – possibly because I was so young and also because I’ve never been one to focus much on parades) those are the kinds of things that “decline by degrees” in such a way that you don’t realize that it’s happening until you see it restored back to its original state.
Brings back memories, but this wasn’t the last time Disney had a public celebration for Mickey’s birthday. Disney celebrated Mickey’s 75th birthday in 2003, with a tour of US cities of 75 Mickey statues designed by celebrities and designers. Think Cow Parade, but for the Mouse. The statues visited Disney World, DC (here’s a link to coverage: http://www.dcpages.com/gallery/Mickey-Mouse-75th-Anniversary/) and ended up at Sotheby’s in New York where they were auctioned off for charity. I visited Sotheby’s and have a catalog from the auction. Interestingly, Disney recently re-used this idea as part of the MLB All-Star Game festivities in Anaheim this summer, with Mickey wearing the colors of each Major League team.
I do remember that tour from 2003. I think I saw some of those Mickeys while at Walt Disney World that September.
Wasn’t Dateline Disney a regular thing on The Disney Channel? That seems so familiar to me.