Debuting as part of the 20th Anniversary of Hong Kong Disneyland (HKDL), dubbed “The Most Magical Party of All”, the Friendtastic Parade is the main entertainment offering debuting as part of the anniversary celebration. It’s also easily the most anticipated offering of the 20th anniversary among Disney fans, myself included. It debuted at the start of the 20th Anniversary Celebration on June 28, 2025 alongside Disney Friends Live: Party at the Castle and Momentous: Party in the Night Sky. 

But is the parade worth seeing? How does it stack up to the other parades that Hong Kong Disneyland has had? Should you book a trip to the resort just to see this parade? I’ll be discussing everything you need to know about this parade and more below. Hopefully this review can give you a better idea of what to expect from this parade.

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Background on the Show 

I must preface this by saying that I am a huge parade fan. I think they’re the best entertainment offering that the Disney Parks have (or at least tied with the nighttime spectaculars). I was and still am a huge fan of the three former parades that called Hong Kong Disneyland home: Disney on Parade, Flights of Fantasy, and Paint the Night. 

Disney on Parade was the show of my childhood, while Flights of Fantasy was such a spectacle in and of itself. And of course, the legend of Paint the Night is so well known in the Disney-verse due to it also being the centerpiece of Disneyland’s 60th Anniversary Celebration in 2015. So after it was rumored that Hong Kong Disneyland would be getting a new parade for its 20th Anniversary, I was eagerly anticipating the announcement. 

They eventually announced the parade on February 5, 2025 and said it would be the largest parade in the history of Hong Kong Disneyland, with a total of 100 performers and 11 floats, beating out Flights of Fantasy and Paint the Night’s 7 floats and Disney on Parade’s 9. They also released concept art of the Mickey and Friends Float, the Princess Float, and the Encanto Float while also announcing that they would hold 20th Anniversary preview parties for Magic Access members. 

The concept art of the floats for Friendtastic got me even more excited for and skyrocketed my expectations of the parade. If every float looked like the ones that they teased in the lead up to the anniversary preview parties, it would probably end up being the best parade in HKDL history. 

But then the creative reveal took place during the preview parties. They showed that, while the parade would feature huge, detailed floats based on Big Hero 6, Zootopia, and Duffy and Friends (the latter of which I was most excited for), it would also feature 5 smaller “mini floats” themed to various Pixar movies like Inside Out and Turning Red. This really disappointed me, mostly because I felt like the park was “cheating” by saying the new parade would have 11 floats when in reality it was 6 floats and 5 mini floats. These 5 floats were so small in scale that they should’ve really just been combined into 1-2 floats. The supposed biggest parade of HKDL suddenly didn’t really seem like the biggest 

If I’m being honest, this lowered my expectations for the anniversary as a whole. I began wondering if the anniversary would even hold up to its moniker of being “The Most Magical Party of All”. 

Well after experiencing everything the anniversary had to offer during my recent three-day trip to Hong Kong Disneyland from July 7-9, 2025, I can confidently say that, not only is The Most Magical Party of All the best HKDL anniversary ever, it’s also one of the best Disney Park anniversaries of the last 5 years, beating the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World and, surprisingly, the 70th anniversary of Disneyland, and comes second only to Disneyland Paris’ 30th. 

This is due in large part to the Friendtastic parade, whose themes of friendship and belonging got me feeling emotional as I was watching it. With catchy music, incredible float and costume designs, and electrifying performances from its performers, the Friendtastic parade continues HKDL’s incredible run of star-quality parades. 

Before the Parade and Viewing Tips

I thought, since most guests were visiting the park for the 20th Anniversary Celebration offerings, that the demand for the parade would be incredibly high. Because I was anticipating large crowds, especially because I was visiting only 9 days after the anniversary celebration started, I made sure to stake out a spot for my first viewing of the parade early. So at 12:30pm I headed to the beginning of the parade route between Tomorrowland and Fantasyland by the Storybook Theater to secure my spot for the 1pm show. 

To my surprise, it was pretty empty! I was one of the first guests lined up along the parade route, and even up to 10 minutes before the show there were still a couple of empty spots along the parade route. 

Granted, like I said, this was the 1pm showing when the sun was blazing hot. More people watched the second show at 5:15pm when the weather was a little cooler and there were more spots in the shade. I would still say to get there around 20 minutes prior to showtime if you want to make sure you get a good spot. If you’re going on a huge holiday like Lunar New Year or Christmas, be there 30 minutes beforehand to see the show with an unobstructed view.

Also take note that, while everyone sits while waiting for the parade, everyone stands once the parade begins. It’s also rude to keep your umbrella open during the show, so fold it down to make sure the people behind you have a good view of the parade.

Hong Kong Disneyland offers a Premier Access pass for the parade that gives you access to a reserved viewing area for the parade. It’s currently priced at HK$95 per person and the reserved viewing area can be found at this location on Main Street.

 

I personally would not recommend buying this pass. The parade route is long and has lots of space so it’s easy to just walk up 15 minutes before the parade starts to get a good spot for it. Plus the vantage point of the viewing area isn’t the most ideal so you aren’t getting a lot of bang for your buck. 

In terms of where to watch Friendtastic from, I would recommend watching in the corridor between Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, the Hub immediately outside Adventureland, and Town Square. The curve of the route means you’ll have a good view of the parade and performers from these areas. 

The Parade Itself

Friendtastic starts with the Mickey and Friends float. It features Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Daisy standing on top of the float, with each of them “playing” a musical instrument. I put playing in quotations because technically only Mickey is playing the drums. The rest of them are kind of just holding the instruments. The design of the float is supposed to pay tribute to the official flower of Hong Kong, the Bauhinia. They are then followed by Chip, Dale, and Pluto walking behind the float, as well as the HKDL marching band. 

The Zootopia float follows the lead float. It’s a very tall float, probably only second in height to the Princess float at the end. It features dancers dressed as armadillos, zebras, cheetahs, and moose, as well as Clawhauser and of course Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde. The float features signs from different Zootopia establishments, as well as screens and figures of other Zootopia characters. My favorite part of the float are the lemmings at the back of the float who walk in a continuous circle with some of them holding the popsicles from the movie. 

Big Hero 6 is the next float. It features dancers in outfits similar to those of the titular Big Hero 6 characters. Two of them are holding megabots, which is the robot Hiro creates for the robot fighting competition in the movie. The main float shows Hiro standing on top of Baymax, both dressed in their superhero garb. Baymax’s arm swings back and forth as smoke is blasted from vents around the float. The back of the float looks like San Fransokyo and includes landmarks like the stylized Golden Gate Bridge found in the movie. 

 

Next up are the 5 mini Pixar floats. Each float is accompanied by 2-3 dancers, all dressed in these patchwork outfits that include pictures of the Pixar characters associated with the movie represented by the float they’re tied to. The first float features Woody and Buzz riding on an RC car. After them is the Monsters Inc. float featuring Sulley, with the float being designed to look like the Monsters Inc laugh factory.  After that is the Turning Red float featuring Red Panda Mei. That float has a friendship bracelet encircling Mei with beads that turn.

Next is the Inside Out float that features Sadness and Joy. The float is supposed to look like their headquarters and even features the console and the memory orbs from the movie. Finally, the last Pixar float is the Up float, which is my personal favorite float from this bunch. It features Carl and Russell and has them riding on a small version of the Spirit of Adventure blimp. 

After the Pixar floats comes my personal favorite Friendtastic float: The Encanto float. Designed to look like the casita from the movie and featuring Mirabel and Isabela, the floats shingles, floor tiles, windows, and flowers all move as if the house was alive just like in the movie. It also features statues of Luisa and Bruno and is led by 8 dancers dressed in Colombian traditional costumes. 

Next is my second favorite float in the parade which is the Duffy and Friends float. The dancers that lead the float are dressed in grass-like attire and carrying butterflies. The float is designed like a garden and features all 7 Duffy and Friends. Pro-tip: stay on the right side of the parade route facing the float as that is the only side of the parade that gets to see Gelatoni. 

Finally, the Princess float acts as the finale of the parade. It features a rotating lineup of Princesses with Anna and Elsa seeming to be the only permanent characters on the float. When I saw the parade, the other princesses on the float were Snow White, Jasmine, Rapunzel, and Belle, although I have seen videos where Cinderella was there in place of Belle. The design is similar to the lead float, except it has a replica of the Castle of Magical Dreams at the rear. The float is followed by 3 dancers carrying a rope, which signals the end of Friendtastic. 

Thoughts on Friendtastic

I think this parade is a welcome addition to Hong Kong Disneyland. After years of having no parade of any kind, it’s nice getting to see a high-quality parade in the park again. Like I said in my intro, I had a lot of initial doubts about the parade, but after seeing it they were all extinguished. I was completely blown away by it, so much so that I saw it 5 times in the three days we were there. It’s safe to say that it surpassed all my expectations for it. 

The floats were all incredibly detailed and included many visual references to the movies they represented. This is especially true of the smaller Pixar floats. Considering they only had small floats to work with, the imagineers really packed in as much detail as they could on those floats. This is especially true for the Turning Red and Up floats that have many small visual details adorning the float. 

Of course, while I would rather have regular-sized floats, the floats themselves are incredibly well-designed and really embody the spirit of the movies they represent. The Imagineers did a fantastic job creating these floats even with the limitations presented to them, and they deserve to be commended for that.

The six bigger floats are even more detailed than the mini-floats. The Encanto float may be one of the best parade floats in any Disney parade ever, with its moving tiles, shingles, and windows making the house really feel like Casita on wheels. 

The Zootopia, Big Hero 6, and Duffy floats are also so visually striking and are packed with an insane level of detail. From the tiny buildings of San Fransokyo to the jumping fish in the river under the bridge of the Duffy float and the lemmings in the Zootopia float, you can tell that a lot of love and care went into creating these floats. 

The costumes of the parade were also very unique, colorful, and added to the visual storytelling of each float. In particular, the Zootopia costumes featuring different performers in stylized animal outfits are a standout of the parade, as are the Duffy and Friends dancers in their cute garden-themed garb. The Big Hero 6 costumes also feature moving pieces and even have elements that could be taken apart and put back together (the megabot). Overall, these are probably the best costumes of any HKDL parade because of their innovativeness and diversity. 

All the performers should also be commended for bringing an energetic vibe to the whole parade. The performances of the entire cast, especially the dancers, are just so electrifying and infectious. Performers also actively interact with the crowd a lot. In one performance I was approached over 5 different times for a high five, and many others around me experienced the same thing. 

The one flaw of this parade, however, is also related to the performers. Some of the floats could have benefited from there being more characters represented in their unit. This is especially evident in the Encanto and Big Hero 6 floats. I would have expected Luisa and Bruno to actually be on the float but instead they were just statues. The Big Hero 6 float also didn’t include any of the other superheroes that form the titular 6. The Pixar floats were also lacking in characters, with Dug from Up and Jessie from Toy Story being notable omissions. Friendtastic gets docked half a point because of this, but in my opinion it’s the only flaw in the entire parade. 

Another highlight of Friendtastic is the music. The new renditions, remixes, and interpolations of Disney songs like Try Everything, Immortals, You’ve Got a Friend in Me, Nobody Like U, If I Didn’t Have You, Waiting on a Miracle, and We Don’t Talk About Bruno give the parade a distinct sound. The standout soundtrack has to be the Pixar floats soundtrack that seamlessly transitions between five songs, each representative of the five floats in this unit. 

The parade also has 4 original songs that are used throughout the show: one being the main theme (Friends Forever), another being the Show Stop music (I Got You), a third being the Duffy and Friends theme (What Friends Do), and the last being the Princess float song (Count On Me). All of them are fun, upbeat, and will get stuck in your head. They also all expertly reinforce the theme and message of the parade.

Friendtastic’s theme is about the transformative power of friendship and how friendships are vital to the life of every person. This can be seen in the parade’s music choices, in how the parade performers interact with the crowd, and in the movies and characters represented in the parade. 

The songs chosen for the parade reinforce the theme through their lyrics, and the dancers heavily interacting with the crowd is done to make you feel like you’re seeing old friends on the parade route. In addition, each movie represented in the parade has a theme that is similar to the theme of the parade itself. By uniting every element under a common theme, the parade has a certain cohesion that other parades in other parks don’t have. 

I couldn’t tell you what the theme of Magic Happens at Disneyland is, or of Festival of Fantasy at Magic Kingdom. Neither of those parades try to be anything more than just a collection of floats based on recent popular movies. Only HKDL has had the consistency of having each of its parades center around a theme. But what separates Friendtastic from other parades, and what makes it such an impactful show, is that it has a message to go along with its theme. In short: it has something to say. 

Its message is that friends are the most important people in your life because they stick with you through the good and bad. It also goes further and says that, ultimately, our purpose is to be there for each other and to support one another through any trial we may face. This is a powerful message and one that has resonated and is still resonating with me since seeing the parade. This is why I think this may be the best parade ever put on at HKDL. It’s a parade with purpose, and a very powerful one at that. 

Friendtastic Parade Final Word

To most guests, Friendtastic will just be another cute parade filled with their favorite Disney and Pixar characters. But those who choose to dig deeper will be rewarded with a much more meaningful experience. In the end, the answer to the question on whether Friendtastic is worth taking a trip to HKDL for is a resounding yes! I hope everyone makes it over to HKDL to see this new parade! Coupled with the other things that are part of the 20th Anniversary, this year is shaping up to be another record year for HKDL, and I can’t wait to visit the park and see Friendtastic again. 

9.5/10

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