On Saturday 7th July, The Walt Disney Company and Industrial Light & Magic took part in the Pride in London parade for the second year running!
Accompanied by a playlist of Disney, Marvel and Star Wars tunes, a team of 16 volunteer employee dancers led the group of 173 representatives from across the company. As well as Hammersmith Cast Members and colleagues from Industrial Light & Magic, we also had the participation of members of the UK Leadership Team, Disney Stores Cast Members from across the country and even a Cast Member from Disneyland Anaheim who flew in especially for the event!
Once again we had an incredible array of rainbow-coloured balloons, with updated designs including rainbow-striped Mickey heads, and LOVE letters. In total, these incredible pieces were made up of a staggering 13,500 individual balloons all assembled by the Beyond Balloons team with the help of some Disney VoluntEARS! Another addition to this year was the fabulous-looking group of cosplay characters courtesy of the Industrial Light & Magic team, proudly displaying a rainbow twist to their costumes.
All of which got an extremely enthusiastic reaction from the crowds lining London’s streets who happily sang and danced along, snapped up Pride-themed Aladdin/Lion King flags and gave the Disney contingent and excited wave of high fives.
Overall, this was an incredible year for Pride in London, as nearly 500 groups comprised of 30,000 marchers were cheered on by 1 million people – an incredible celebration of love and diversity!
As part of the wider Pride celebrations on the day, Disney Theatrical Group also made the company proud, as cast members from Disney’s ALADDIN (Matthew Croke) and THE LION KING (Lindiwe Mkhize and Nick Afoa), alongside the London Musical Theatre Orchestra, kicked off the entertainment on stage in Trafalgar Square.
It was a fantastic occasion, and the Disney PRIDE UK & Ireland group would like to thank the overwhelming and relentless support and dedication from everyone who made this momentous day possible.