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Tom Corless··36 Comments·1 min read

RUMOR: Paint the Night Electrical Parade Still A Possibility for The Magic Kingdom

I know Disney said there were no plans “at the time” for the highly acclaimed Paint the Night Parade to move to Florida, but a lot has changed since the Fall of 2016.

Drooping attendance at Walt Disney World since last summer has had many an executive at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts examining the idea of moving the Diamond Celebration blockbuster out east to help bolster what they hope to be an explosive Summer 2017 in Orlando.

While Disney’s Animal Kingdom will debut Pandora: The World of AVATAR (and possibly, hopefully, Rivers of Light), the other 3 parks just don’t have a whole lot going on as far as new offerings for this year. Just in case AVATAR isn’t enough to convince someone to go to Orlando in 2017, Disney may want to bring Paint the Night to Walt Disney World. Rumors also persist that a new nighttime show for the Magic Kingdom is in development for a debut later this year.

Now, management at the Disneyland Resort is putting up quite the fight, but the decision will be made above them one way or the other in the next few weeks. I would assume that attendance for the returning Main Street Electrical Parade at Disneyland Park will play a role, but the possibility of the “limited” run for that event until June being extended indefinitely (or glowing away for a Star Wars fireworks show in California) and sending Paint the Night away to the Magic Kingdom seems to be fairly likely.

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Tom Corless
Tom has been regularly visiting the Walt Disney World® Resort from the time he was 4 months old. While he made countless visits in that time, he did not become a truly active member in the Disney fan community until the summer of 2007, when he decided to launch the WDW News Today website. Tom has since become an Orlando-local and is a published author on Walt Disney World. Contact Tom at [email protected]

36 Comments

    1. The Magic Kingdom is expected to receive a new nighttime offering this spring/summer. However at the present time Paint The Night isn’t coming to Florida.

  3. Am I the only one who advocates for a) MSEP coming back after the summer, or b) for WDW to get Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade: DreamLights ported overseas? I feel like DreamLights would put a great new face on the tired old MSEP they’ve got going at DL.

  4. Something better be coming to Florida pretty soon because people over here are getting a little tired of the current policy of “less for more.”

    1. Good. Then when they stop going it will hit Disney in the wallet and they’ll make changes.

    2. Then you’re gonna love people having their 180 days out reservations at Cinderellas Castle because someone at Disney suddenly decided to make a 500 bucks a person paid special event there.

  5. Stupid question perhaps (because money is always the answer in one way or another), but why couldn’t they consider building a copy of Paint the Night if it’s so popular and have it at both parks. Seems like they don’t hesitate to do that with attractions.

    1. They need different offerings at each parks however, they have done it before with Fantastic and that’s been a huge success for them. Would be great to see them do it though as Paint the Night is a far superior parade to Mainstream Electrical Parade and personally, I would book immediately if Disney announced the parade to debut in Florida.

      At this time though, they’re giving the spot light to the Mainstream Electric Parade.

  6. WDW needs to start budgeting appropriately so they can build their own parades, rather than continually repainting old ones or stealing from Disneyland. People are starting to see how lazy WDW’s entertainment really is.

    1. New rides, shows, and attractions don’t come out of budgets. Those are capital expenditure projects that have to have executive or board approval.

  7. And what of the claims that PTN physically cannot make the turns required along the MK parade route? Any info on that?

    1. That is actually a fact. The turn coming from the Liberty Square bridge into the hub is impossible for some of the floats to navigate.

    2. This is why the current version of Paint the Night will never make it to Magic Kingdom. They would have to take out at least 2, if not more, of the floats.

  9. We were at magic kingdom in december 2016 we have been going there for past 25 years. It is not the same atmosphere without the Electric Parade. One of our kids he is only 9 years of age said he preferred Universal Studios we were shocked to hear this. Unless Disney changes things we wont be going there in the near future. We always get a 3 week pass, we are from Ireland

  10. Happened to catch the original last april. It’s odd to think of the kingdom with out a parade nightly. While the fireworks show, is nice. The big pay off of making it through a day there was the parade paired with the fireworks. Its a shame they have not replaced it.

    In regards to the lack of attendance. I’m banking on surges back up to normal/above right about when Pandora opens. And also ramping attendance as things become more complete at hollywood studios. That park has taken the biggest hit IMO. Its almost not enough park for even a half day anymore. I’m also guessing that hurrying along the projects at that park, as most of its renovations are the ones that will draw the biggest crowds in the future. Therefor most other parks are getting the back burner.

    Its just a weird transition period for them.

  11. No new attractions, fewer live musicians performing in the parks, inflated prices for meals, higher admission fees and Disney is wondering why attendance has dropped in the parks.

    1. The Disney name is only good as long as the company upholds its reputation. It has not been doing so with the parks and resorts division. In addition, the corporate mentality has not been at all concerned about the long-term stability of the company. They’ve been too focused on the results of the current quarter and the previous quarter to focus on the future. The Disney Parks reputation is in the process of being damaged for the long-term. There us such a thing as too many budget cuts.

  13. This is ridiculously cheap on Team Orlando once more. This is why universal keeps breaking WDW apart. It is not enough to bring recycled parades to the most visited theme park in the world. To add insult every single change is for the worst. Lower quality, higher prices. No real new rides other than cosmetic half baked crap like Frozen ever after. Soaring got killed with the new video. Yet the company dumps hundreds of millions in Shanghai and poor old Disney World stuck in the 80’s. I sell and work in this. Guest no longer ask for Disney. They know nothing new is worth the cost.

  14. Unless Disney makes huge changes to their management, their theme parks are a dyeing legacy of fat people too ignorant to realize the lack of value, they’re being ripped off by less and less,
    Parks’ crowds being boarded together so Disney can save paying minimum wage, and all for more cost.

    2. Yes indeed! Spectro-Magic is (was) easily the best parade I’ve ever seen. They say they can’t do it because the floats were accidentally damaged? What? You can’t make another float? Come on Team Orlando get with it and bring back Spectro-Magic PLEASE!

  17. Has anyone heard something recently about any nighttime parade coming to Magic Kingdom in the summer 2017. I heard the electrical parade will be ending in June in Disneyland. Where as I would be so so excited to learn that Paint the Night would be coming to MK. I would love any type of nighttime parade. I think they owe it to us. It’s not fair. Sorry. If anyone knows anything. Please let me know. Thanks

  18. Not only is there currently no nighttime/electrical parade, the park is closing much earlier, even during peak season. I looked at the entire month of March and half of April, and the latest Magic Kingdom is staying open is 11:00pm (without Extra Magic Hours). What’s up with that? There used to be nights they’d stay open until 1:00am or 2:00am without Extra Magic Hours.

    1. Yes. You are so right! I was checking July and every night the MK was closing at 9:00. That’s crazy and not right. I understand that pandora is opening and the AK is staying open until 10:00. While I’m extremely excited for that, I am very disappointed with what is going on at MK. They need to get it together. It’s a shame

  19. I like the paint the night parade all the Disney people are on there and all .nobody knows this new weak shit parade we don’t want it bulll!!

  20. There’s no Magic in the Kingdom without Spectromagic. I know it’s gone. Build a new one. That parade and it’s genuinely magical music cast a spell that won’t be broken.

    1. I was just at the Magic Kingdom two weeks ago, and people are still gathering in front of the castle waiting for a parade that isn’t coming. The light-up sword vendors were also stationed around the circle, so I asked one what everyone was waiting for since the parade is gone. He said that people still expect it to happen. He also confirmed that, when they got rid of the Main Street Electrical Parade, they were supposed to get the parade from California, but it turned out that some floats won’t fit. So there’s nothing. We said how much we miss the Electrical Parade and that we wish there were a nighttime parade, and he said he did, too.

      I agree that the Kingdom just isn’t as magical without the parade. When they brought the original back a few years ago, I almost cried the first time I saw it because it was the parade from when I was little. I loved that turtle and snail and the music. It just isn’t the same without it. It was definitely our favourite part of the day.

      1. Yes it’s pretty sad to see people waiting for a parade that’s not going to happen. At this point they should at least repeat the afternoon parade Festival of Fantasy at night. I heard a rumor that that might be a possibility. No offense but shame on Disney for taking something away and not replacing it. A nighttime parade is a standard, a must have for MK

  21. Omg. I swear. I’ve been wanting to see Paint the Night soooooo bad! Please bring it to MK and make some magic and wish come true for this life long Disney fan

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