All of this content has been updated following this year’s parade.
For those of you watching the New York City Thanksgiving Day Parade from home, you’ll notice that the balloons are different.
The first of the 62 balloons to appear was Star Wars: Stormtrooper. He was followed by popular characters Winnie the Pooh, the Minions and Captain Planet.
Who was the star of this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? Check out the portraits as they were parachuted out of the sky below! Posted by Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday, November 22, 2018
The latest addition, Dora the Explorer, was also recently unveiled. Check out her debut in the Macy’s parade below!
Also, there were many surprises in store.
The first of the parade’s decorated balloons burst into flames before his appearance in the parade. Photos captured the moments when flames broke from his chest balloon (see below).
Although none of the balloons were damaged, no one on the ground was injured. Thankfully, crews were able to quickly extinguish the fire before it spread.
Sadly, this was not the first time the parade’s balloon material has exploded before appearing in the parade. After taking off from NYC’s Staten Island Ferry, a Challenger II balloon collapsed and burst during the parade, leaving six people with minor injuries.
While balloon-related mishaps haven’t increased since the 1989 parade, since the end of 2009 a total of 15 human balloons have gone down in the Macy’s parade.
Here are some pics of this year’s parade from the parade’s official Instagram account: