Walt Disney World Very Merry Christmas Parade (1984)

This is the second Walt Disney World Very Merry Christmas Parade to be aired on network television from 1984. This parade would become a staple for decades and something important in growing up Disney in the 80's and 90's, although the "Christmas" name would be dropped near the end of the Eisner age. The Christmas parade telecast really became a 2 hour infomercial for what the Walt Disney Company had in the works for the upcoming year. Eventually annual Easter and Independence Day Parade telecasts would join the Christmas Parade and the Christmas Parade itself would expand to a 2 hour Christmas morning broadcast tradition. Regis Philbin became the figure most associated with these parades and this is his debut parade. (The Easter and Independence Day Parade broadcasts were dropped near the end of the Eisner years as well.) The Christmas and Easter parades always aired on the ABC Network. The previous year's parade had been a 1 hour broadcast and proved so successful that this year it became a 90 minute one and expanded to include Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland. We also get to see a preview of the then brand new featurette, Mickey's Christmas Carol.

This is a time capsule into Walt Disney history past. This is the transitional Walt Disney World Christmas Parade as the Eisner regime took over the company. Here, we get a glimpse at what Disney was like BEFORE Pixar, before The Lion King, Aladdin, Beauty & the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and the other beloved properties that came later and they could only rely on the characters that Walt Disney personally created. Walt had been dead for nearly 20 years at this point, and they were STILL coasting on the fumes he'd left behind. You can see how this was still a small company that was run like a family. It wasn't anywhere near the global conglomerate people think of today. Many of these characters you don't see anymore either and they STILL cared about the legacy of Walt Disney. What a tremendous time capsule this is.

Joan Lunden and Bruce Jenner co-host this parade with Regis Philbin.

Lunden was then the current co-host of Good Morning America and Jenner was a former Olympic athlete. Regis was a well known talk show host vet even by this time. This archetype of hosts for the parade broadcasts would continue with the parade for decades even though the hosts would change.

Joan Lunden is the longest-running host of the Disney parade broadcasts.

Original air date December 25, 1984

Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.