Walt Disney World Very Merry Christmas Parade (1989)

This is the seventh Walt Disney World Very Merry Christmas Parade to be aired on network television since 1984 and the second two hour version. 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. (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 second parade broadcast had been ta 90 minute broadcast and proved so successful that this year it was a 90 minute one as well and expanded to include Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland. We get to see many coming updates to Walt Disney World. This Walt Disney World Very Merry Christmas Parade features a Christmas Day Presidential message from George Bush. The Presidential message would be a staple of these parades for decades. A few other world leaders send their Christmas greetings as well.

This is a time capsule into Walt Disney history past. This is where the Eisner regime really hit their stride with the company and you can start to see their influence coming through. Here, we get a glimpse of Disney easing into the age of their animation renaissance. We get a behind the scenes segment on the newly released Little Mermaid. You can see this once small family company is transforming into the global conglomerate people think of today. Many of these characters you don't see any more either and they STILL cared about the legacy of Walt Disney. What a tremendous time capsule this is. There’s segments on the recently opened Disney/MGM Studios, Star Tours, Splash Mountain, and other attractions. We also get to see Kermit the Frog in one of his final appearances. The Henson Company was in the process of a merger in which Jim Henson was to be installed as the Walt Disney figure of the company. Henson would die only months later.

Michael Eisner also announces the campaign to nominate the person of the century. This campaign would quietly vanish when imagineers kept voting for one of their co-workers and there was no way to correct the results so the kiosks were silently removed and it was never mentioned when the results were to be announced.

Joan Lunden and Alan Thicke co-host this parade with Regis Philbin. Joanna Kerns hosts the Disneyland segments with Mark Price on the street.

Lunden was then the current co-host of Good Morning America and Thicke was one of the stars from the sitcom Growing Pains. Regis was a well known talk show host vet even then. This archetype of hosts for the parade broadcasts would continue with the parade for decades even though the hosts would change. Kerns was a star of the sitcom Growing Pains and Price was a star on the sitcom Family Ties.

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

Original air date December 25, 1989

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