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

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ֊ᗩζᗩᗰ]

6th parade and whimsy’s face is already broken

True Bayou Magic

 

[Starship824]

Am I the only one who assumed it was just Casey Jr?

Most people do, in fact we all did at first until they made the WCI video where they called it Whimsy.

 

[Skywise]

Am I the only one who assumed it was just Casey Jr?

I thought the same thing. They had to go and make a completely new train "character" when they could've given Casey Jr. an actual float?!

 

[ToTBellHop]

Unfortunately, Casey is now in his 3rd stint in rehab due to a recurrent hydraulic fluid addiction but the head hunter said Whimsy is extremely reliable.

Apparently, they lied. Why are there no hard workers in 2025? He refuses to take out his freaking AirPods until the gate by the fire house opens.

 

[ᗩLᘿᑕ ֊ᗩζᗩᗰ]

Has me wondering if in time they'll swap it to Casey Jr.

If people are questioning who it is or worse think this character float is Thomas the Tank Engine then Disney really bungled the design and concept in general. The parade being so IP-driven doesn't help its case.

 

[Skywise]

Appearance-wise, it looks good but agree with others here that compared to Spectro and ELP it looks very sparse.

Content-wise? Meh. "Welcome to Iger's Electrical Light Parade". Where the majority of the floats are Iger's personal favorites from the last 15 years (at least Pixar gets Coco... but no Inside Out?).

And a night parade without Tron!? (and Iger fought for the Tron sequel and Ares... What are the IP guys even thinking of if they're thinking IP and SYNERGY and not thinking - hey, we got this new Tron movie coming out around the same time as the new parade...)

 

[WDWBryan]

My thoughts after seeing it in person.

It is too rushed. The pacing needs to be spread out, it goes by too fast to take in the floats. The only float I felt I got a good look at was Peter Pan, because I suppose them flying is supposed to be the main feature.

The floats are pretty bare. They should be completely covered in lights.

Take Geppetto and Pinocchio out of the fish tank

The (Prop Walkers?) are a waste. The butterflies in back packs is weird. If these truly are performers they should be in lighted costumes and part of the parade.

Tala is too dark. they couldn't duplicate something like this with lights or blacklight?

 

[Squishy]

6th parade and whimsy’s face is already broken

Was fixed for the 2nd showing.

 

[jrhwdw]

Was fixed for the 2nd showing.

Why is Tech so weird??? LOL

 

[THEMEPARKPIONEER]

I hate to say it but I think I actually think the old Six Flags Glow in the Dark Parade is better than Starlight .

 

[MisterPenguin]

There's real concern about photon poisoning, especially for the CMs on the floats.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

It is too rushed. The pacing needs to be spread out, it goes by too fast to take in the floats.

Agreed. I could hear both the blue fairy and the wish girl at the same time, for example.

Several effects are also timed too slow to see them - Pinocchio, the manta ray, etc.

Also…. I noticed how Tink interacts with the crowd with her wand….. it really shows how lacking this parade is character wise. I remember so many characters coming up to the crowds and waving and greeting.

Tink is literally the only one.

 

[Skywise]

There's real concern about photon poisoning, especially for the CMs on the floats.

Look man, photon poisoning is the risk of doing business and giving crowds great night time entertainment! (Gene Roddenberry wisely predicted this risk when he used photon torpedoes as weapons in the original Star Trek!)
They've greatly reduced the dangers by going to LEDs which emit safer photons and I think that's commendable!

 

[The Underminer]

Just watched it at 11pm.

It was… not good.

Yikes.

Whose idea was to make the parade so dark? And why are the floats so unimpressive? What’s the deal with the people walking not wearing light up costumes? Bizarre all around. Music never committed to anything either. Just a hodgepodge of mediocrity.

Here are the two good float photos:

(Please burn the Wish one)

It doesn’t even hold a candle to Paint the Night. It’s even more pathetic when you realize that Dreamlights in Tokyo is godly.

 

[AxolotlTales]

The sad thing is that there was once a time (mainly between the 70s and 80s) when WDW was on par with Disneyland in terms of guest satisfaction, better entertainment offerings, and taking care of their shows and attractions.

Heck, WDW used to commonly rotate daytime parades every few years like Disneyland did. From 1989 till 2001, WDW ran "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah"/"Disney Character Hit Parade" (1989-1991), followed by "20th Anniversary Surprise Celebration Parade" (1991-1994), Mickey Mania Parade (1994-1996), and "Remember the Magic"/"Magical Moments Parade" (1996-2001).










Ever since 2001, WDW started keeping daytime parades running for almost 6 years. As of 2025, FOF is over 11 years old!

Don't get me started with the seasonal parades at WDW. Which consists of older floats made during the 80s and 90s.

If we're talking about failing entertainment in Disney it should be fair to call Disneyland out too for their recent actions. Their 70th parade is a cavalcade, they won't run Magic Happens with Paint the Night despite them running both day and night parades in the past. Wondrous Journeys isn't anything new, World of Color Happiness is flat, Hyperion sits empty, Fantasyland Theatre remains used for some daycare dance parties instead of the quality productions it once had. Not to mention the mess that is now Fantasmic. While these issues have been there longer for WDW, I wouldn't say Disneyland is setting the bar anymore either.

 

[TTA94]

On here it seems more negative than positive which I know is normal for a lot of things lately lol but I’m curious what everyone else is saying and the average guests opinions? or should I say the groups of people that Disney actually cares about.

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

Whimsy looks a little constipated.

 

[WDWhopper]

We saw it tonight and here are my thoughts. First off, I was there for the first opening night when light magic took over for the Main Street electrical parade at Disneyland and this had a similar feeling to me. Really landed with a thud. First off, is this going to be permanent replacement for the electrical parade? Or is this just a nighttime parade that will run for a couple of years? If they’re expecting this to run for decades like the MSEP, they are sorely mistaken. There are just not enough lights. You literally can see a house decorated on any street in America for Halloween or Christmas that have more lights than these floats. As available as LED lights are now, Disney has got to really step up and do something that wows us. There was a lady walking down the street before the parade who was Disney bounding and she had rigged up LED lights on her skirt and top and she looked better than the performers walking in the parade. It just needs more lights and more floats. I give it a 6 out of 10. I appreciated the nod to the original in the theme music and with some of the floats, but it just needs more “wow” factor. This wouldn’t even be good enough for a special event like “boo to you” or the Mickey’s Christmas party. As I’ve said before, the current team that they have in place right now doesn’t have the ability or creativity to be changing the park icons this much. I’m sorry, but they just don’t have the talent. Every 20 years or so Disney gets a good group of really creative people that really have the talent and get it. Before they rip out all this iconic stuff, they should probably wait for another group like that to come along.

 

[brb1006]

There's real concern about photon poisoning, especially for the CMs on the floats.

Photon poisoning?

 

[brb1006]

I hate to say it but I think I actually think the old Six Flags Glow in the Dark Parade is better than Starlight .

Well you're not wrong about that. At least Starlight has a somewhat better budget.