Disneyland Paris is preparing to debut The Disney Princess Cavalcade, a street show that will send four themed floats — celebrating Tiana, Raya, Moana and Rapunzel — down Adventure Way at Disney Adventure World starting July 24, 2026. Behind the dancers, music and elaborate floats is a team of costume, hair and make-up designers whose work is central to making each princess’s world feel authentic to guests.

The cavalcade marks the first-ever such production staged at Disney Adventure World, the park formerly known as Walt Disney Studios Park, which was rebranded this spring alongside the opening of the World of Frozen expansion. It is directed by Françoise Baffioni and Matteo Borghi and produced by Claire Salmon, and features original music recorded in Nashville. Ahead of the debut, three of the designers who shaped its visual identity — costume designer Isabelle Lemarié and hair and make-up designers Julie Martinez and Jordan Ribeiro — described how the production came together.

Decades of experience on the parks’ biggest shows
All three have deep roots at Disneyland Paris. Lemarié has spent 30 years with the resort, rising from dresser to costume designer over three decades and working on productions including The Forest of Enchantment, Disney Junior’s Dream Factory and, most recently, the World of Frozen debut. Martinez, who joined a decade ago as an on-set make-up artist before moving into a creative role about four years ago, counted the show Alice and the Queen of Hearts: Back to Wonderland among her first major creative projects. Ribeiro, a hairdresser and wig-maker who also began as an intern a decade ago, previously styled Audio-Animatronics figures before becoming Head Hair and Wig Stylist and, later, Cosmetics Designer.

Designing looks rooted in each film’s world
According to the designers, the creative process began with the animated films themselves, along with the “Art of…” companion books published alongside each release, which the team mined for imagery tied to each princess’s costumes and motifs. Rather than reproducing the films’ costumes directly, the team created original looks for the dancers in a matching artistic style.

Each float draws on a distinct setting. For Tiana’s float, referencing The Princess and the Frog, dancers wear urban-inspired vests and caps for the New Orleans segment, with water-lily prints marking the transition into the bayou. Raya’s costumes, inspired by the Southeast Asian-influenced fictional kingdom of Kumandra, use an asymmetrical cut and a three-color print adapted from the film, paired with braided hairstyles and colorful make-up. For Moana, the designers aimed for a handmade, textured look using raffia skirts, shell-adorned bracelets and macramé-style necklaces, along with flower crowns engineered to fit securely over wigs during dance numbers — a detail Ribeiro said required close collaboration with the resort’s in-house milliners.

The Rapunzel-inspired float, built around the tavern thugs from Tangled‘s “I’ve Got a Dream” sequence, took a more theatrical, cartoonish direction. Lemarié said she was given latitude to lean into raw, textured fabrics and exaggerated silhouettes to give each performer a distinct personality, while Ribeiro’s team designed deliberately tousled wigs and quick-change facial hairpieces such as moustaches and goatees. Martinez’s make-up work for the segment leaned on caricature and prosthetic noses to heighten the comic effect while keeping the group visually tied to Rapunzel.

From design to daily performance
The designers also described the practical side of the work. Wig fitting is handled by the resort’s cosmetology teams, sometimes with performers securing their own wigs under supervision, while make-up is applied by a mix of dedicated artists and performers who complete a training period — sometimes lasting weeks or months — before working independently. Costume design, meanwhile, prioritizes ergonomics and seasonal comfort, since the cavalcade runs outdoors year-round; fabric sourcing draws primarily on French textile producers, with finishing and embroidery done in the resort’s own workshops.

Disneyland Paris has said the cavalcade, like all of its live entertainment, could be subject to schedule changes due to weather or technical issues. The show adds to a broader slate of new entertainment introduced this year at Disney Adventure World, which reopened in March with World of Frozen and the Adventure Way promenade as part of a resort-wide expansion.

Cover image courtesy of: Disneyland Paris