The long-awaited nighttime parade for Magic Kingdom has hit the streets. Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away is now regularly scheduled for two runnings per night at the theme park.
Lately, new Orlando park offerings have been just as advertised. Sure enough, Epic Universe boasts distinct, immersive worlds. SeaWorld Orlando’s Expedition Odyssey is, indeed, a picturesque virtual tour of the Arctic.
And Walt Disney World’s lead-up to Starlight was spot-on, with a drip-drip-drip release of float designs, music details, expected characters and back story.
But there’s nothing like the real thing, right before our eyes. Here are some musings I had after seeing Disney Starlight three times over two days.
It’s lit
The pre-opening renderings of the floats were accurate and representative, yet they don’t capture the intensity of the elaborate lighting in motion. It’s more active than I anticipated.
That includes the digital screen work, with pixels galore and changing imagery. For instance, the centerpiece candle aboard the “Encanto” float morphs into a new visual that gives it an even more glowing sort of “wow!” factor.
There are so many special effects that it’s a photographic challenge (not to mention the very darkened atmosphere of Magic Kingdom during Starlight). Some snaps will be floats only half-lit, but wait a sec, here comes some more. Oh, wait, now it’s a completely different color. Pow! Now everything is white light, SpectroMagic style. Just keep swimming.
Building and building
The first unexpected moment happens right off the bat with the size of the Blue Fairy. Let’s call her Big Blue Fairy now. She has some characters hidden up her stardust, too. It was wise not to precede her with the customary slow-walking banner characters because she would tower over them.
Most of the units are just plain ol’ jumbo. The parade order is sly after the BBF, starting small but pretty, including the “Wish” unit with Asha and Valentino. (Shame on you who thought that was “Pocahontas.”) Then, getting more formidable and striking with Elsa and the “Frozen” unit. It gets bigger by the arrival of the princesses and their float, that’s a certain upgrade, big enough for four royal couples to dance.
Things become architectural with Peter Pan, Wendy and Big Ben, building up to the grand finale float that’s a train engine featuring Goofy as engineer and Mickey and Minnie bringing up the rear to the jaunty tune of Main Street Electrical Parade. (Is it wrong to square dance at a parade? It felt OK.)
Look both ways
Starlight watching advice: Look at the floats as they approach, look at them closely when they get to your spot, then look again as they pass.
For a recent parade-trend story, I interviewed Ryan Miziker, chief creative officer of Miziker Entertainment Inc., which designs parades on a global basis. He said their design method includes creating a recognizable shape from a distance.
“The second sort of level that we like to do is that once that shape gets close to you, you either find things to discover, which are maybe other sculptural elements, or maybe that’s the VIPs that are on the characters and so forth. Or maybe it’s something that changes when you get up close or that there’s animation that you didn’t see, you know, a cannon blast or color change,” Miziker said.
“There’s this second level of excitement and kind of processing that happens once the parade gets close to you and the music comes by,” he said.
To this I add the third stage — a kind of even double-take — for Starlight. For instance, some ground performers that had been forgettable up close and adjacent to the megafloat looked gorgeous in the distance as glowing butterflies, part of the “Wish” presentation, as they traveled away from us through Frontierland.
So look both ways. Repeatedly.
That’s even true at the end. It would be easy to miss Jiminy Cricket, whose on-screen animated appearance is on the back of the small tail-end title float. He’s not giant, somewhere between walk-around costumed character size and actual cricket size.
Quick hits
• Even though it’s dark-dark during the parade, you can still see strung-together lights that aren’t lit. Don’t dwell on this. It’s darkest before the dawn. For instance, the costumes for the on-ground dancers with the princess float are made for lighting, but the first impression was like they were Christmas costumes I might rig up at home. But then they went into flicker/strobe mode and all was forgiven.
• And much like the renderings didn’t tell the whole story, some rehearsal footage released by Disney had left me unmoved. Oh, look, dancing with fabric. Not so notable in broad daylight, but the effect those performers and their lit banners had with the “Moana” float was top-notch after all. Not to get all Very New Testament on you, but “prejudge not, lest ye be prejudged.”
• It was curious to me that Tinkerbell was the only costumed character to walk the parade route. She can fly, she can fly, she can fly, she can fly, she can fly.
• Oh yes, there’s Starlight merchandise for sale in Magic Kingdom stores, including a polyester fleece throw, T-shirts, bubble wands with lighting effects and mouse ears with Mickey and Tink that light up.
Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park officially debuts the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park officially debuts the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park officially debuts the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
Peter Pan and Wendy are up on the rooftops of London during the new Disney Starlight parade. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for Orlando Sentinel)
Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park officially debuts the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, on Sunday in Lake Buena Vista. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park officially debuts the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
The Blue Fairy of ‘Pinocchio’ fame lead the Disney Starlight parade. The character also addresses stargazers (a k a spectactors). (Phelan M. Ebenhack for Orlando Sentinel)
We’ll start at the end with the title float that brings of the rear of Magic Kingdom’s new Disney Starlight parade. On its flipside: an animated, on-screen Jiminy Cricket. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for Orlando Sentinel)
Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park officially debuts the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park officially debuts the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park officially debuts the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park officially debuts the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park officially debuts the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park officially debuts the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park officially debuts the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park officially debuts the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park officially debuts the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park officially debuts the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park officially debuts the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park officially debuts the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park officially debuts the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park officially debuts the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
In the Disney Starlight parade, the “Coco” float includes music and some steamy special effects. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park officially debuts the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park officially debuts the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park officially debuts the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
Four sets of Disney princesses and princes go into ballroom mode in the middle of Disney Starlight, the new parade at Magic Kingdom theme park. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
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Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom theme park officially debuts the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away parade, Sunday, July 20, 2025, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Phelan M. Ebenhack for the Orlando Sentinel)
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Time management
Here’s the deal. It takes about 10-12 minutes for the length of Disney Starlight to pass by any point. Even the largest of its floats takes just a minute to roll past. Everyone’s different, but folks who camp for a spot for hours for a 10-minute experience are a mystery to me.
Confession: I’m not a full-on parade fan, either. Perhaps it’s marching band PTSD, but I’d rather take advantage of all those parade-waiting people not being on rides to hit other attractions. Then walk up and get a decent vantage point without sitting on hot concrete.
Your results may vary.
For instance, others may camp out for a spot for the 9 p.m. parade, stay put for the 10 p.m. showing of “Happily Ever After” fireworks, which leads right into the 11 p.m. running of Starlight. You be you.
FYI: The parade route starts next to the firehouse near the front of Magic Kingdom, loops around the flagpole area, rolls up Main Street, bears right to do three-fourths of the circle in front of Cinderella Castle, takes the bridge to Liberty Square, then hangs a left into Frontierland, where it exits the stage by Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.
It’s basically the reverse path that we’ve grown accustomed to with Festival of Fantasy, the continuing daytime parade.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios: Changes set for Animation Courtyard
Disney World is still requiring annual passholders to make date-specific park reservations, and that, of course, is true of Magic Kingdom with the new parade. It has temporarily suspended the park-hopping workaround where you’d make a reservation at one of the other three parks, then glide over to MK for the parade. No end date has been given for this change.
Find yourself planning to go on a day when reservations are no longer available? Keep checking back. At least twice, that has loosened up in the morning. (Disney shares neither attendance nor capacity figures.)
Finally, a reminder that not everyone lives for every word written about the parks. I was watching the monorail surge after the 9 p.m. parade from a bench with a family who had no idea it was Starlight’s opening night. A cast member advised them to wait 15 minutes before trying to exit the park instead of joining the throng. I agreed but said they could just stay for “Happily Ever After,” watch the 11 p.m. parade (they had only seen the earlier one from a distance, trapped in Adventureland), then high-tail it out.
Later, one asked, “Do you come here often?” I nodded.
His follow-up question: “Is this parade in each theme park?”
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Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com. BlueSky: @themeparksdb. Threads account: @dbevil. X account: @themeparks. Subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com/newsletters.
