Walt Disney World Very Merry Christmas Parade (1997)

This is the fifteenth Walt Disney World Very Merry Christmas Parade to be aired on network television since 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 but this is the first parade where he's nowhere to be found since his involvement began. (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.

This is a time capsule of both Walt Disney history and American history. We continue to see the Eisner regime began easing out of its peak. This was also the year when several Christian groups continued their boycotts of the Walt Disney Company over their turning away from traditional family values. The popularity of things like the animated features began a steady decline. That year's animated feature, Hercules isn't even featured.

You can see this once small family company has fully transformed into 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. There’s segments on the Disney/MGM Studios, EPCOT Center, the Hercules Victory Parade, R. L. Stine's Goosebumps, a preview of Disney's Animal Kingdom park, and other attractions. The Backstreet Boys perform a few songs and there's a segment with the Harlem Globetrotters. President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary also give a Christmas greeting. Several performers from the Disney animated features perform songs throughout the broadcast.

Disney was trying for the teenage demographic this year so they used two of their popular ABC stars to co-host this parade and even renamed it from the Very Merry Christmas Parade to A Magical Walt Disney World Christmas. The name would change back for a brief time in future broadcasts.

Melissa Jone Hart and Ben Savage co-host this parade with MTV's Downtown Julie Brown hosting segments in Downtown Disney. At the time, Hart was the star of the sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch while Savage was a co-star on the sitcom Boy Meets World. This is the first parade where the format and hosts involved began to change.

Original air date December 25, 1997

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