Disney has shared a special preview of several of the floats that will be included in the new “Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away” nighttime parade coming to Magic Kingdom.
Disney Starlight Parade Floats Revealed
The latest episode of “We Call It Imagineering” was focused on several of the new entertainment offerings at the Disney theme parks around the world. The episode spent a significant amount of time on the upcoming “Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away” parade. “Disney Starlight” will be the first regular nighttime parade at Magic Kingdom since the final run of the “Main Street Electrical Parade” in 2016.
Disney Starlight Floats Inspiration
Disney has already revealed concept art for most of the floats for the new parade, as well as the complete float order. The parade will feature floats inspired by “Encanto,” Disney Princesses and Princes, “Moana,” “Coco,” “Wish,” “Peter Pan,” “Frozen,” and a finale float with Mickey and Friends in new costumes.
In the episode, Imagineers take a walk through the backstage area where the parade floats are stored in Magic Kingdom. As the Imagineers walk around, we get the first glimpse of several of the new floats.
The video includes a close look at the float themed to “Encanto.” This float is covered in glowing flowers near the base and has the Miracle Candle in the center. The middle of the candle is shown with a more modern lighting scheme that appears similar to a projection.
A second float that gets a more extended preview during the preview is “Moana.” This float is made to look like Moana’s boat sailing on the ocean waves. The Imagineers explain that the waves were a challenge to design because they wanted the water to look like it had a “sense of motion.” They go on to explain that there are roughly 50,000 pixels in the waves for “definition and density” that help the waves look like they are moving.
An additional detail for the “Moana” float is the use of UV technology on the sail of Moana’s boat and the stingray form of Gramma Tala. The Imagineers describe it as “very elegant, but also very sharp and musical when we need to be.”
While not described in detail, there is also a brief clip of the tree-shaped float for “Wish.”
Disney Starlight Parade Grand Finale Float
Finally, one of the most anticipated floats in “Disney Starlight” is the grand finale float, which will be shaped like a train. However, this video revealed that the train is actually an original character for the parade named Whimsy. The front engine will include Whimsy’s face, while the cars will have smaller sections themed to Mickey, “Snow White,” “Tangled,” and “Aladdin.”
The latest episode also shared a preview of original animation of a classic character that will be incorporated into the parade, and a new look at some of the costumes.
“Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away” will officially debut at Magic Kingdom on July 20. It will perform nightly at 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., though Disney did confirm the parade will not run on the same nights as seasonal entertainment offerings, such as Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party or Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.
Disney Starlight Parade “We Call It Imagineering” Full Episode
Watch the full episode below:
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