MK All-New Nighttime Parade Disney Starlight Set to Debut at Magic Kingdom in 2025

[this&that]

Yeah hard to say normal but imo I think it's safe to assume this is late. And surely the plan was not to debut it just passed the halfway mark of the normally busy summer season.

In this world of vloggers and lifestylers, every passing day Epic is open and Starlight is not rolling down main Street USA is another day of Epic stream-rolling Disney in the worlds of social media.

I dont thank an entire theme park and a parade are very comparable items.

 

[eddie104]

I dont thank an entire theme park and a parade are very comparable items.

Exactly.

 

[Disone]

I dont thank an entire theme park and a parade are very comparable items.

"A parade"? Sure. But a nighttime parade is more on the scale of a Fantasmic, a Happily Ever After, and a Illuminations.

A nighttime parade like Starlight is not "a parade".

It is a nighttime spectacular worthy of marketing and if done right will create lots of buzz. Will it beat an entire new theme park, no I don't think so. Would it have stolen some of it's thunder, absolutely yes.

 

[HauntedPirate]

"A parade"? Sure. But a nighttime parade is more on the scale of a Fantasmic, a Happily Ever After, and a Illuminations.

A nighttime parade like Starlight is not "a parade".

It is a nighttime spectacular worthy of marketing and if done right will create lots of buzz. Will it beat an entire new theme park, no I don't think so. Would it have stolen some of it's thunder, absolutely yes.

 

[Disone]

Disagree.

 

[TTA94]

There's an old school element coming to this parade that I think people are going to like.

Have we seen/heard what this will be or is that not yet revealed?

 

[HauntedPirate]

Disagree.

Maybe we have differing opinions on what "nighttime spectacular" means. A parade is not one. A parade is a parade. I wouldn't even call SpectroMagic a "nighttime spectacular". RoE was a "nighttime spectacular". HEA? Hell no. Starlight isn't and wasn't going to take any buzz away from Epic, no matter how hard some people wish.

 

[Disone]

Maybe we have differing opinions on what "nighttime spectacular" means. A parade is not one. A parade is a parade. I wouldn't even call SpectroMagic a "nighttime spectacular". RoE was a "nighttime spectacular". HEA? Hell no. Starlight isn't and wasn't going to take any buzz away from Epic, no matter how hard some people wish.

We disagree. The crowds for a night time parade like MSEP, Spectro, and PTN are far greater then a day parade by leaps and bounds.

If Starlight has rolled out memorial Day weekend you would have not seen all those "MK is a ghost town" videos from the bloggers.

 

[LSLS]

We disagree. The crowds for a night time parade like MSEP, Spectro, and PTN are far greater then a day parade by leaps and bounds.

If Starlight has rolled out memorial Day weekend you would have not seen all those "MK is a ghost town" videos from the bloggers.

Eh, I don't know. Maybe you have all the APs and vloggers out for it, but do you really think people would have said "Oh man, forget Epic, there's a new parade to go see." I get the crowds are there for night time parades, but I have to think if it's draw large enough to alter the park attendance, they wouldn't have gone like 10 years without one.

 

[Comped]

Maybe we have differing opinions on what "nighttime spectacular" means. A parade is not one. A parade is a parade. I wouldn't even call SpectroMagic a "nighttime spectacular". RoE was a "nighttime spectacular". HEA? Hell no. Starlight isn't and wasn't going to take any buzz away from Epic, no matter how hard some people wish.

WDE/DLE disagree and count nighttime parades as spectaculars...

 

[Disone]

Eh, I don't know. Maybe you have all the APs and vloggers out for it, but do you really think people would have said "Oh man, forget Epic, there's a new parade to go see." I get the crowds are there for night time parades, but I have to think if it's draw large enough to alter the park attendance, they wouldn't have gone like 10 years without one.

No. But I say that.

Will it beat an entire new theme park, no I don't think so. Would it have stolen some of it's thunder, absolutely yes.

That does not mean or insinuate that the crowds would have just said screw epic let's go to Disney. I don't think that and I haven't implied that.

Two things can be true at once. Epic could still win the day (and would have) and Disney could have gotten a much bigger crowd had they actually debuted this parade.

 

[LSLS]

No. But I say that.



That does not mean or insinuate that the crowds would have just said screw epic let's go to Disney. I don't think that and I haven't implied that.

Two things can be true at once. Epic could still win the day (and would have) and Disney could have gotten a much bigger crowd had they actually debuted this parade.

But I'm not sure that is true. APs could change some weekend plans to go (assuming they weren't already going to Disney and could change the plans they had), but would that be enough to make a huge change in park attendance? I don't think announcing a parade would cause a bunch of people to change their flights to Miami at the last minute to spend $4k on a Disney trip. Which is why I make the comparison to Universal people coming over to see it. Those are people who already have the flights/plans to be in the area. But again, I'd think if they anticipated a large attendance jump for it, they would not have waited 10 years to put one in, and you would see them put into all parks.

Maybe I'm off on that, and it will be fascinating to compare crowd/ride levels from last year to this year before and after the parade opens to see if there is a noticeable jump, but I'd be surprised if a night parade is that large an impact on attendance.

 

[wdwmagic]

Have we seen/heard what this will be or is that not yet revealed?

I've not seen it mentioned yet

 

[Disone]

But again, I'd think if they anticipated a large attendance jump for it, they would not have waited 10 years to put one in, and you would see them put into all parks.

We have a big difference in perceptions on this. (Which is fine, it keeps the conversation interesting)

There's absolutely a population of Disney foamers that would have booked a trip just to come see this is WDW had given more time to plan.

And yes it would definitely have caused annual pass holders to pivot their plans.

Main Street electrical parade, spectromagic, paint the night, we're all wildly popular. And at least out the gate there's no reason to expect for this one not to be as Even light magic which was widely panned, had packed crowds on its one and only season.

I think the only reason why we're getting a night parade after all that time is because of epic's opening. Had Universal not opened epic, we would still be longing for Magic Kingdom to push the Go button on the night parade.

 

[jrhwdw]

I've not seen it mentioned yet

Is it still in the Plans?

 

[TTA94]

I've not seen it mentioned yet

Thanks. Hopefully whatever it is it’s still happening and wasn’t cut.

 

[HauntedPirate]

We disagree. The crowds for a night time parade like MSEP, Spectro, and PTN are far greater then a day parade by leaps and bounds.

If Starlight has rolled out memorial Day weekend you would have not seen all those "MK is a ghost town" videos from the bloggers.

Because that's what people close their day with, often times. You're comparing apples to oranges.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Disagree.

Disagree with your disagreement

It’s a parade…a dose of reality is needed

 

[HauntedPirate]

We have a big difference in perceptions on this. (Which is fine, it keeps the conversation interesting)

There's absolutely a population of Disney foamers that would have booked a trip just to come see this is WDW had given more time to plan.

And yes it would definitely have caused annual pass holders to pivot their plans.

Because so many AP holders have booked already?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

We disagree. The crowds for a night time parade like MSEP, Spectro, and PTN are far greater then a day parade by leaps and bounds.

If Starlight has rolled out memorial Day weekend you would have not seen all those "MK is a ghost town" videos from the bloggers.

It absolutely would have been…save for a couple hundred vloggers/bloggers to annoy everyone.

It’s the price…not the lack of parades keeping people away…I’m starting to think this might be the worst kept “secret” ever…like hogans heroes caliber. They’ve alienated their market and it has nothing to do with woke, Florida, the weather, etc…
Its the bottomline.

Did I mention how empty it was? Honestly reminiscent of a 62 degree day in February in 1997…no joke

WDE/DLE disagree and count nighttime parades as spectaculars...

They may be the least grounded department in all of TWDC…which take a bit of doing to accomplish.