More than half of the nearly 100 performers in the Magic Happens parade returning to Disneyland this week after a three-year hiatus were part of the original troupe that launched the pandemic-shortened production in 2020.

“It feels new and the same,” said parade performer Jenn Acevedo. “It’s a weird feeling. It doesn’t feel like it was three years ago.”

The Magic Happens parade that ran for only a couple weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered the Anaheim theme park for more than a year will make a long-awaited return engagement on Friday, Feb. 24.

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The new Magic Happens Parade on Main Street U.S.A. inside Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, on Thursday, Feb 27, 2020. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Magic Happens includes parade floats featuring characters from “Moana,” “Coco,” “Frozen,” “Cinderella,” “Sword in the Stone,” “The Princess and the Frog” and “Sleeping Beauty” all led by Mickey Mouse.

Acevedo always believed that Magic Happens would eventually return, but she never thought it would take this long.

“It feels like a dream,” said Acevedo, 23, of Anaheim. “I get to come back and relive the opening again.”

Dancers ahead of the Maui’s float during the new Magic Happens Parade on Main Street U.S.A. inside Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, on Thursday, Feb 27, 2020. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Acevedo taught dance classes via Zoom during the pandemic while Disneyland was closed before returning in 2022 to work on the Main Street Electrical Parade and “Fantasmic.”

Acevedo says the relaunch of Magic Happens feels like a reunion of the team that launched the parade in 2020.

“There’s a lot of returning people that still want to do it, loved it the first time and really want to live it again,” Acevedo said via a video call.

Jenn Acevedo, left, performs as an ocean dancer in the Magic Happens parade at Disneyland. (Disney)

Acevedo is once again an ocean dancer leading Moana’s float along the parade route.

“I do the same exact thing in the same exact spot, which I’m really happy about,” Acevedo said.

Moana during the new Magic Happens Parade on Main Street U.S.A. inside Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, on Thursday, Feb 27, 2020. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

The innovative 32-foot-long Moana float features the title character on a flower-covered sailboat riding a sweeping blue wave filled with LED screens that offer glimpses of animated images of familiar ocean-based Disney and Pixar characters.

The demigod Maui follows on his own island float along with fan-favorite Heihei the rooster.

Maui, from Moana, rides atop a float during the new Magic Happens Parade on Main Street U.S.A. inside Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, on Thursday, Feb 27, 2020. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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The nearly new parade returns to Disneyland essentially unchanged from its original run. It only took Acevedo a few rehearsals to shake off the rust and remember the original choreography.

“All of it came back,” Acevedo said. “It was just like getting the gears moving again, but it was muscle memory as well.”

Heihei, the rooster from Moana, during the new Magic Happens Parade on Main Street U.S.A. inside Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, on Thursday, Feb 27, 2020. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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The hardest part of relaunching the “super intense” Magic Happens parade: Rebuilding endurance.

“Getting that stamina and energy back has been difficult,” Acevedo said.

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A new hire in 2020, Acevedo is now one of the seasoned veterans.

“People that were in it before have been really helping the new people and really trying to work as a team to get this thing up and running,” Acevedo said.

After three years away, Acevedo says the Magic Happens crew is anxious to hit Main Street USA again.

“We’re ready,” Acevedo said. “I just want to get going again.”