brb1006
Well-Known Member
Same here, seeing them performer on the piano in Spectromagic looked so cute. It's odd how they been omitted since they usually appear with the Sensational Six for over 30 years now.
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MK All-New Nighttime Parade Disney Starlight Set to Debut at Magic Kingdom in 2025
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
FoF is over a decade old now, so things may have further changed since. There's also the dragon float in FoF, but I'm not sure it fully counts. I assume Maleficent is supposed to be dead, and the dragon is a mechanical replica of her. Not really complaining about it since it's a cool float, but still notable that they didn't include the "actual" villain and instead something that was obviously a fake representation of her.
Hook does seem like he's given a bit more leeway by Disney than a lot of other classic villains. He's still used in Tokyo's new Pan ride as well. It might be because of how silly and unthreatening he is as a character. Evil yes, but he's basically a gag character. His design, voice acting, personality, clothing and animation. A huge chunk of his screen time is basically him acting like a cowardly clown. Slapstick sequences whenever Tick Tock is around, his antics with Smee, Pan literally toying with and making a fool of him when they fight. Even the dialog where they discuss how he lost his hand was comedic. Unlike plenty of other villains, I can't fathom that ANY young children find Hook remotely threatening or scary. This is in contrast with other traditional "scary" villains such as the Evil Queen, Lady Tremaine, Maleficent, Scar, Jafar, Ursula etc. Heck, even Gaston has a very uncomfortable hateable ick to him (dunno if that's why he was basically not included in BATB at Tokyo, but it might be).
As much as I praise Dreamlights, Hook was also the only villain included in it. Even the original much longer 2001 iteration. Fast forward to Paint the Night, which doesn't have ANY villains at all. Nor does Starlight.
So I finally got to watch the new parade and I’m mixed. The floats are good, but then later watching an old Spectro video on YouTube, (which is 1/3 longer), they aren’t really impressive. It’s hard to believe that 34 years later and the product is roughly the same. I thought for sure there would be something amazing included, but it seems like they played it either safe or cheap?
The characters are forgettable. I wonder how long the Wish float stays as is LOL? It also needed so many more boots on the ground between the floats. Going back to Spectro, there was so much ancillary activity going on which really broadened the grandeur of the parade.
The original music I really like, but it doesn’t have the gravitas of Spectro. It’s there like background music at a mall. In fact I really get the same vibe from Disney Spring World of Disney Background Music loop. Like some sort of Owl City creation. Which brings me to the MSEP call back. It made me smile because it was so well done, but also was kind of disappointing because the parade couldn’t do its finale on its own and had to do a callback to a decades old past parade to give it that last parting impression on the audience.
I didn't dislike it overall, but it was not a masterpiece by any sense. It was good enough. I hear people saying they hope Disney will improve it in the future, and I think that's wishful thinking. But who knows.
Music B+
Floats B
Length C
Performers (A for their efforts, C for there being not enough of them)
Fun and Whimsy B
Conclusion: It’s better than nothing.
The characters are forgettable. I wonder how long the Wish float stays as is LOL? It also needed so many more boots on the ground between the floats. Going back to Spectro, there was so much ancillary activity going on which really broadened the grandeur of the parade.
The original music I really like, but it doesn’t have the gravitas of Spectro. It’s there like background music at a mall. In fact I really get the same vibe from Disney Spring World of Disney Background Music loop. Like some sort of Owl City creation. Which brings me to the MSEP call back. It made me smile because it was so well done, but also was kind of disappointing because the parade couldn’t do its finale on its own and had to do a callback to a decades old past parade to give it that last parting impression on the audience.
I didn't dislike it overall, but it was not a masterpiece by any sense. It was good enough. I hear people saying they hope Disney will improve it in the future, and I think that's wishful thinking. But who knows.
Music B+
Floats B
Length C
Performers (A for their efforts, C for there being not enough of them)
Fun and Whimsy B
Conclusion: It’s better than nothing.
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brb1006
Well-Known Member
The Share a Dream Come True Parade and the "Remember the Magic Parade" was one of the last times the MK actually had parades that had tons of performers. Look how energetic the performers and characters looked in Remember the Magic Parade.
Besides WDW, Disneyland's Parade of Dreams had tons of performers.
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
I’m not sure the actual count but Magic Happens didn’t feel lacking at all.
Speaking of magic happens….. that reminds me! I think it’s an odd choice to have Miguel in skeleton form - I much prefer him in traditional Mexican attire representing his country!
brb1006
Well-Known Member
Poor Horace Horsecollar and Clara Cluck. Outside of seasonal parades, you hardly see them getting a moment in the spotlight at WDW and DL parades.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
It looks cool at night but it’d look even better with a skeleton mariachi band in front of them.
TrainsOfDisney
Well-Known Member
Ohhhhhhhhhh - yeah that makes sense. I see what you did there
That would have looked crazy cool! Goodness everyone would have loved that.
brb1006
Well-Known Member
At least Clarice (Chip n Dale's love interest) finally got her moment in the spotlight at the U.S. Disney Parks for Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas Time Parade in 2023. She even gained a speaking role in 2024.
I remember when she returned to the U.S. Parks for the "Celebrate! A Street Party!" parade at Disneyland after being absent for 50 years and Easter at Disney's Polynesian Resort at Walt Disney World. There was a brief period in the early 2010s when she used to meet guests at DHS near the now demolish Sorcerer Hat.
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joanna71985
Well-Known Member
The outfit is in the parade. It's the people with the logo float
"Better than nothing" - the corporate ethos for Walt Disney World since 2005
Magic Kingdom’s Disney Starlight parade prompts cheers, tears on opening night
Fans pack the streets of Magic Kingdom for the after-dark arrival of Disney Starlight, the theme park’s new nighttime parade.
www.orlandosentinel.com
Magic Kingdom’s Disney Starlight parade prompts cheers, tears on opening night
Fans pack the streets of Magic Kingdom for the after-dark arrival of Disney Starlight, the theme park’s new nighttime parade.
Wonder how much that piece cost the Disney PR department.
brb1006
Well-Known Member
brb1006
Well-Known Member
Sounds like those guests aren't used to seeing a nighttime parade at the MK.
Centauri Space Station
Well-Known Member
Everest, Pandora, Soarin, Cosmic rewind, Rise, Happily ever after, skyliner, fantasmic, etc. are all more than “better than nothing”.
FutureCEO
Well-Known Member
Paris one
Pandora was budget cut and should have included another e-ticket, same with Galaxy's Edge (which was inconceivably set in the sequels and not the OG trilogy). On top of that their headlining e-ticket rarely works in full A mode anymore (and the canon blasters still don't work they way they are supposed to based on the last time I rode).
Everest was in development well before 2005 and was so far along it could not be cancelled - it, like Soarin' (which opened in 2005 and was basically done by the time Iger became CEO) were not products of the Iger era of the Walt Disney Company.
The Skyliner is nice, but once again was a value engineered decision because the long-term cost was cheaper than buses - it wasn't a guest convienence thing. AND it let them charge significantly more for Pop, AoA, and CBR, along with helping justify the insane cost for Riviera, which has to be the worst themed hotel Disney has ever done.
Fantasmic opened in 1998 at DHS so I don't really think that's germane to the argument that's being made here - I have no qualms with Fantasmic.
Happily Ever After (arguably the best fireworks show they've ever made) was considered a "temporary" bridge and they had no intention of bringing it back until GSAT scores were so low on Enchantment they were basically forced to do that.
I will concede that Cosmic Rewind is a great ride and ride system, but once again, it was value engineered into an existing pavilion into a park in which it really doesn't match. It would have been great in MK instead of TRON on that plot of land, but they decided they needed a cheap fix in MK so they threw a ride in there they'd already developed.
The reality is that every decision they have made since the time Iger became CEO was a value-engineered decision because it was "good enough" for the average family who visits Disney World once or twice in their life. They can't do that in California, Paris, or Tokyo because there is a major local/repeat visitor cadre that demands new things and excellence (which is why for example, DL's quick service food is so much better than MK).
They haven't built a decently themed hotel in decades (and don't tell me they can't do it because look what they did at Fantasy Springs and the remodel of the Disneyland Hotel in Paris) and apparently every new hotel has to be based on DVC. What they did to the Cabins at the campground was criminal, and the new Poly tower is awful (it wouldn't be bad if it matched the theme - they could have dusted off the original plans for the Poly and built THAT tower and people would have been ecstatic).
The reality is, WDW is seen as the ATM for Disney Parks and Experiences (and overall I believe the company as a whole) and because it continues to generate an outsized amount of profit, they are okay with just being "good enough" in the swamps.
Disone
Well-Known Member
I disagree on Everest. It's more thrilling but rather basic compared to BTMRR, the Matterhorn, Grizzle Gulch....
Agree on Pandora
Soaring? Well that was an exceptional attraction in a non-exceptional theme park that very much was built with with the "better than nothing" mindset. But Soarin is also over 20 years old so how far back do we want to go. Are we going to throw pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion inn on this mix?
Rise is excellent But should have opened with the rest of the land and by splitting it apart they made the entirety of Galaxy's edge somewhat underwhelming in that while it may be more than better than nothing, galaxies edge was definitely over-promised and under-delivered.
Skyliner is transportation so not a whole lot of imagineering there but I'll agree it's definitely more than better than nothing and same for Hollywood's fantasmic but not disneyland's. I used to swear by Disneyland's Fantasmic, calling it vastly superior to the one at DHS, but now I don't even bother watching it. Sad how the mighty have fallen.
Guardians comes in as a genuinely fun attraction but I don't know that it blew me away.
Here's one you didn't list but I genuinely like it a lot, Mickey and Minnie's runaway railroad. I think that's a great attraction. But others.....
Tiana's bayou adventure is underwhelming.
Test track 3.0 was underwhelming.
Walt Disney a magical life is underwhelming
Starlight Dreams is underwhelming
brb1006
Well-Known Member
Wish you seen the original Tokyo version for a better impression of the parade.