One of the new parades for Walt Disney World's 100 Years of Magic celebration was the Disney Stars and Motorcars parade at the Disney-MGM Studios. This parade was meant to be reminiscent of Hollywood motorcades where movie stars would be paraded down the street on their way to a movie premeire. But in this parade, all the stars were Disney stars (or had some connection with the park), and all the cars had some traits that related back to their passengers. Here is a look at the parade from a rainy day in the summer of 2002. The rain did have a few effects on the parade, as will be noted. So now, on to the pictures, along with some interesting enlargements from the pictures to show a little more detail.

Before the parade starts, an announcer comes out to the street. The announcers are also Hollywood Boulevard citizens, the streetmosphere characters that can be seen throughout the day. There are several announcers along the parade route, and they introduce the stars as they make their way to that particular area. And due to the rain, the announcer had an umbrella in addition to his microphone. Fortunately, the rain did not slow down the parade.

Next some motorcycle policemen come down the street with their lights flashing, giving an official air to the procession. This particular one passed by pretty quickly, making it hard to get a focused picture.

Here come Buzz and Woody from the Toy Story movies, along with a green army man in the foreground. Notice how the car resembles a bed, with Buzz and Woody sitting on the pillows.

And from the photo above, here is our first interesting enlargement, showing Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head riding on the hood of the car.

Up next are Mary Poppins and Bert, riding on carousel horses mounted on the back of their car. And the car is brightly painted, bringing back memories of the Jolly Holiday sequence from the movie.

And the next interesting enlargement shows the penguin serving as the hood ornament for the car.

The next car brings Kermit and Miss Piggy, although it is a little difficult to make them out under the large blimp on top of their fittingly green car. Typical Muppet fare, with some rockets, sandbags, and a life preserver on the car, along with a movie camera hood ornament.

And our interesting enlargement from this picture shows just how much fun our announcer is having despite the rain.

Up next is Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia in a car that very much resembles Luke's landspeeder from his home planet of Tattoine. You will notice that these two also have an umbrella, which Luke is gallantly holding for the princess.

Following close by is Darth Vader, always looking for the opportune time to make his next move.

Next we have Mulan, the valiant girl who saved the emperor and all of China. Here she is dressed up as when she posed as a man to serve in the Imperial Army in her father's place.

And then we have Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc. riding in a sporty red convertible. This is one case where the rain brought about a casualty. Mike is usually joined by his best pal Sulley, who this time seems to have remained at home where it is dry. One can only imagine what some rain water would do to his fur.

Continue to Part 2

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