Henry’s Parades

In the late 1980s, Henry’s Parade was introduced to the theme park. At 3pm daily a host of wonderfully decorated floats would start their journey in front of the Towers, each one starring a member of Henry’s family or Henry himself.

The parade went through various incarnations over the years, opening as Henry’s Birthday Parade in 1988 (celebrating the park’s Diamond Jubilee). The eight floats which took part in this parade were:

• The Bandstand Float – The opening float was led by Conductor Henry and contained a full brass band.
• Pirate Ship – Next up came Captain Henry on his pirate ship float, based on the popular Fantasy World ride.
• The Pagoda – The Gardens were represented in the parade by a float featuring the Pagoda Fountain and ‘Henry’ Talbot.
• Swan Boat – Swan Princess Henrietta stared on this float based on the iconic Swan Boat Ride.
• Piazza – This float was designed to look like the open air theatre located between the Towers and Festival Park. It featured Red Sun, the in park band.
• Aqualand – River Rider Henry, complete with raincoat starred on this float, which saw his Grand Canyon Rapid boat narrowly avoiding a whale.
• Circus – The Circus float contain live acrobats and clowns, as well a Ringmaster Henry.
• Birthday Cake – The final float was a giant birthday cake topped with Henry Hound to celebrate the park’s jubilee.

The parade operated again in 1989, but now it was the Festival Parade as it was no longer the park’s birthday, although the Birthday Cake float still remained. The line up for the Festival Parade was almost identical to that of the Birthday Parade, only now the Swan Boat float had gone, being replaced by a float representing the new Britannia Farm, featuring Farmer Henry.

After Tussauds took over the park in 1990 the parade became know as Henry’s Grand Parade. New floats added during this period included a Fun Club float, as well as floats for the new Haunted House and Runaway Mine Train rides. There was also a float added that represented Old Mother Hubbard’s Shoe. Fun Club members were sometimes invited to come and ride the Fun Club Float with Henry.

Henry’s Parade did not survive the departure of its mascot with it being discontinued at the end of the 1993 season when Henry Hound left the park.