The logo for Macy's Holiday Parade.
The Macy's Holiday Parade was a seasonal nighttime parade that performed at Universal Studios Orlando at the Universal Orlando Resort annually as a part of the park's Christmas festivities. The Parade features various elements from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, while employing performers and costumed characters from Universal Orlando Resort.
History[]
In 2002, Macy's Parade and Entertainment Group partnered with Universal Orlando Resort to bring the magic of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to their Florida theme park. The Parade featured non-licensed novelty balloons, as the regular giant character balloons do not fit in Universal Studio's Parade route. Several floats, costumes, and toy floats were borrowed from the Macy's Parade, in addition to Universal providing their own Parade floats, costumes and vehicles.
In addition to the Holiday Parade, between 2002 and 2007, Universal also offered a specialty walk-through exhibit known as Balloonopolis, which gave park guests an up-close and personal look at some of the Parade's giant character balloons including Woody Woodpecker, Jimmy Neutron and Pikachu.
Although the event was originally planned to only last two or three years, the partnership between Universal and Macy's would strengthen, allowing for an expanded Parade lineup and the creation of elements that exclusively appeared in the Macy's Holiday Parade.
The Parade's soundtrack was given a revamp in 2008, with a newly-composed rendition of "Let Your Hearts Take Flight". The soundtrack would once again be updated in 2014, with singer William Blake giving the song an upbeat tempo with jazzy underscores.