The latest episode of “We Call it Imagineering” has revealed several new details for the upcoming “Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away” parade coming to Magic Kingdom, including the first look at an original character.
‘Disney Starlight’ Parade Original Character Revealed
“We Call it Imagineering” is a Disney-produced YouTube series that first premiered last year on the Walt Disney Imagineering YouTube channel. In the latest episode, which focused on several recent entertainment offerings at the Disney parks around the world, Imaginers shared an extended first look at the new “Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away” parade.
In addition to providing a first look at several of the parade floats with all their lights turned on, viewers were also surprised with the news that “Disney Starlight” will feature an original character.
Imagineers working on “Disney Starlight” introduced Whimsy, which is the name of the locomotive located on the front of the finale train float. Rather than making the train lifeless, the designers chose to make Whimsy an original character “made of starlight.”
The Imagineers go on to describe a little more of Whimsy’s personality, “He is this childlike, whimsical character, so we wanted to keep him youthful, happy, playful — we wanted him to dance, have that energy of the parade.”
In order to help design the expressions of Whimsy’s face, the designers “looked back at old Silly Symphony animation shorts so that we could bring in some of that older, then bring it into the new. Make him look super magical.”
Whimsy will be pulling the rest of the train cars that make up the finale float, which will have smaller sections themed to “Aladdin,” “Tangled,” “Snow White,” and Mickey Mouse.
The rest of the episode included a lot more information about “Disney Starlight,” including a first look at the parade’s floats, some costumes, and original animation of a classic character referencing a past nighttime parade.
“Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away” is set to debut in Magic Kingdom on July 20. It will perform nightly at 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., excluding the same nights as seasonal, separately-ticketed events, such as Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party or Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.
Watch the full episode below:
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