According to several new changes in the Magic Kingdom entertainment schedule and Cast Member blocked dates, the new Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away nighttime parade may be debuting this July.
Disney Starlight Parade Debut
Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away is a new nighttime parade first announced by Disney at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event. It will be Magic Kingdom’s first nighttime parade in almost 10 years. Concept art for multiple floats from the parade have been shared in the months since the announcement, including floats are inspired by “Peter Pan,” “Frozen,” “Encanto,” Disney Princesses and Princes, “Moana,” “Wish,” and “Coco.”
The upcoming parade was announced to debut sometime in the summer of 2025, but Disney never mentioned a specific date. The parade was added to the Walt Disney World website in February and the My Disney Experience app in March, leading to some speculation that the parade may be close to finally getting an official announcement. However, Disney has still remained quiet.
According to a new rumor, Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away is planning to debut or at least run a technical rehearsal in July. Cast Members at Walt Disney World are starting to be blocked from entering Magic Kingdom Park on the week of July 4. While this may be due to expected high park crowds for the holiday, the blocked dates continue through the regular week after the July 4 weekend. The Cast Member blackouts usually only extend through the holiday weekend, so the block for the entire week is not normal for the summer.
In addition, the entertainment schedule at Magic Kingdom undergoes some sudden changes in this same week. Happily Ever After, which currently runs at 9 p.m. and shifts back slightly to 9:20 p.m. in May and June, suddenly shifts further back to 10 p.m. on July 6. The change is currently only visible on the My Disney Experience app, as the schedule on the app shows dates further out than the webpage. While the push to 9:20 p.m. is normal during longer summer days in Florida, a move all the way back until 10 p.m. is not standard.
The shift to a later fireworks slot is leading many to hypothesize that Disney Starlight will debut sometime during this week after July 4 with two show times, likely around 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. with Happy Ever After in the middle. This would match the old parade and firework times from 2010, which was the last time Magic Kingdom had a routinely-scheduled nighttime parade.
Of course, it is important to note that this is all speculation until Disney makes an official date announcement, which will hopefully be sometime in the near future.
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