The end of the Celebrate A Dream Come True Parade

The Celebrate A Dream Come True Parade at Magic Kingdom ended yesterday after nearly a five year run. It debuted on January 23, 2009 and I was there for the first one too. There will be no afternoon parade at Magic Kingdom until the spring when the new Festival Of Fantasy Parade debuts. Yesterday, the Celebrate A Dream Come True Parade ran twice; at 12:30 and 3:30. I watched both of them. I watched the 12:30 one outside The Hall of Presidents. I started to get emotional when I saw Bert and he thanked me for coming. He then got Mary's attention, they posed for me, and Mary made the hand gesture for "I love you." It was so sweet. Then Drizella spotted me and waved. She came over to me, gave me a big hug, and told me that "This is it" since her family wasn't invited to be in the new parade. I will miss Drizella so much. She was always so much fun to photograph. She was full of life and her expressions were the greatest.

I thought about watching the second parade near the end of the route but it was over an hour until the parade started and the area was pretty full. I then decided to watch the last parade in my usual spot in Town Square across from the Confectionery. A few little touches were added to the last parade. The ribbon dancer was back in the beginning of the parade and I was very surprised to see her. Also, Jiminy Cricket had an umbrella, the Queen of Hearts had a flamingo, and Jafar had his staff.

I got emotional during the last parade too. It again started when I saw Bert. He and Mary waved and posed for me again. Mary also made the "I love you" hand gesture to me. They are two incredibly sweet people and I really appreciated it. Drizella came through and waved to me a bunch of times. Ariel was sweet, as always, and waved to me.

While I am very happy to see a new parade, it was sad to see this one go. It wasn't an amazing parade but for me, it was about who was in the parade. I have seen some of them for years and I am going to miss seeing their faces so much. I can only hope that many of them will be in the new parade.