So I've posed part of this before, but this is the finished version of a new nighttime parade for the MK. The title is just a working name & could be changed.
Stardust
A new Nighttime Spectacular
Welcome to a sparkling new nightly parade for the Magic Kingdom, with breathtaking new floats, enchanting new music and memories that will last a life time...
And so the Press Release goes on. I wanted to ‘create’ a new parade for the MK, to replace both SpectroMagic (which has sadly seen its day) and the MSEP. One thing I think that’s needed is energy. Although Spectro is much more elaborate than MSEP, its music lacks the energy of the Baroque Hoedown. So here is something in-between. Stardust (working title) brings classic and new Disney stories to life in this night-time parade. So, on with the show!
A few things to point out first of all...
Music: Think along the lines of Fantillusion at DLP, mixed with the brilliant intro/main theme of BraviSEAmo at TDS. I think an orchestral-style soundtrack is what would be needed, rather than synthesised as in MSEP. However, there would be no ‘underliner’ as such, but a main theme and then the individual float melodies as they pass. From what I have seen of Spectro, the underliner often interferes too much with the float music. Every float/section has the same music length, and these have obvious starts/finishes, which can lead into show stops.
Lighting: The lighting of this new parade would be a mixture of technologies. The MK would have new parade lighting installed, similar to Disneyland’s, which would allow for new effects along the parade route. LEDs would be used on the floats, but not covering as in the current parade(s). Instead, these would be used to add ‘sparkle’ to the floats, as in PoD in night-mode. Other lighting would be used throughout the floats, to emphasize features, etc. as well as fibre optics.
Okay, so now on with the actual parade.
Opening
A chord builds quickly, just as in Fantasmic, before a fanfare (the parade’s main theme) plays out, before dying away for the parade’s introduction, voiced by our usual guide to the night at the MK, Jiminy Cricket, who welcomes us to this symphony of stardust and dreams... you get the idea. The music then builds once more, into the main theme and we see the opening sections of Stardust...
The opening for Stardust takes influence from Spectro’s opening units. The vague storyline for this parade is a ‘symphony of stardust’. The first things you will see are the three fairies, who are face-characters, with glowing costumes and glittering hats. They’re casting their magic over the night and are our pre-parade as such.
Then a short way behind them is the first float moving down the parade route: trumpet players. This float is an enhanced and redesigned version of that seen in spectro, with ‘glass’ trumpets filled with fibre-optics – these are also much more free-moving than the currently limited ones. This is tiered, with swirls of colour/light along the bottom, steps and back of the float... where the swirls become ‘3D’ pointing towards the next float.
This is followed by the parade’s title float – similar to Spectro but not quite as ‘retro’, with more trumpet players and screens which display ‘the Magic Kingdom Presents’ ‘stardust’. This is followed by nights on their horses, as seen in Dreamlights. The first row are blue, and the following different colours, making a gradual change into the next section.
Directly behind this is Mickey, standing high over the route, conducting the parade. His outfit is that of a marching band’s conductor, and his coat tails hang all the way down the podium on which he is standing and flick out at the end. The podium is scattered with ‘stardust’ shooting off behind the Mouse.
The music for this entire section is the same, the parade’s main theme, which hints at other music to come in the parade.
Behind Mickey we have a giant drum, which has a trombone, saxophone, violin and other instruments sticking out the top, all ‘playing’ themselves.
Mary Poppins
Next we have Mary Poppins and Burt, riding on the carrousel seen in the film. The penguins follow the float, their bow ties glittering.
Wonderland
This section of the parade follows straight after Mary and features the many characters of Wonderland. The first character we see is the White Rabbit, who is hurrying along the parade route, with his watch, which is lit up and the hands are spinning. He is followed by some of the marching cards, whose numbers & symbols are lit up.
This is followed by the giant blue caterpillar, with his pipe. This character is voiced, with smoke emitting from his mouth when speaking.
The main float for this section is similar to the Alice float in PoD – a tea party. The lanterns, tea cups, etc all light up and we see the Mad Hatter and Alice enjoying themselves. The Doormouse is seen popping out of a teapot in the centre of the table. The ‘talking flowers’ are wound around the base of the table.
Following the main float, we see the Tweedle brothers, who are causing havoc for the Queen of Hearts. These three are followed by the Cheshire cat, similar to the one Alice sits on in Dreamlights, who winks and disappears, etc.
Neverland
The next thing we see is a pirate ship, which is rocking on swirling, glittering blue waves which almost reach out towards the crowd, and then flick out at the back of the float. Peter Pan & Wendy are on board, along with Smee and of course Captain Hook. Pan & hook have sword fights, but Pan & Wendy also interact with the audience. The crew and lost boys are running around in front of the float.
The Big Blue
Following the pirate ship are some very familiar looking fish... Nemo, Marlin and Dory are winding their way along the parade route, or the EAC perhaps? Similar to the fish in Spectro, they can move towards he audience, spin etc.
Behind them is the ‘main’ float – Crush – who is riding on the current of the EAC. This is similar to Dreamlights’ float. Squirt is seen suspended off the back of the float, seemingly in mid-air.
Behind this are more fish, which represent those from Nemo but transition nicely into The Little Mermaid section. This is comprised of Ariel, who is sat amongst colourful corals, etc, with Flounder by her side and Sebastian.
Behind her, however, we see Ursula gliding down the parade route – a similar but updated version of Spectro’s float, and she is signalling the beginning of a slightly darker section to our parade...
Darkest Fears
Following Ursula is the Queen form Snow White, standing in front of her giant magic mirror, which shimmers and shifts as she summons evil into the night.
Behind her is a giant lamp, which spurts out steam/smoke and fire into the sky, and behind this is Jafar standing amongst the glittering Cave of Wonders, robes glowing/glittering.
This is followed by another smaller float, dominantly blue after Jafar’s red, on which Hades stands amongst rocks which glow.
Malificent follows, standing atop her tower, robes falling all the way down, as in her transformation in Fantasmic! Purple and greens dominate the lights here and she casts spells upon the audience with her sceptre. Her minions run about the route infront & behind her
A graveyard float follows, inhabited by Dr. Facilier and this leads us into the final section...
Enchanted ending
First off we have Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen in amongst trees, standing in a tiny boat which is ‘floating’ on the Bayou River as in the film. Tiana’s dress glitters in the night, as do the trees, water and fireflies.
They are followed by Sleeping Beauty and Prince Phillip in a similar woodland setting, but stylised to the film, with cube trees, etc. The birds from Once Upon a Dream sit in the trees and are animated.
This is followed by Rapunzel standing atop her tower, with her hair flowing down to the bottom. Flowers and grass shimmer at the base. Flynn walks along the route infront of the float.
A ballroom scene follows in two floats. Firstly, Belle & the Beast dance, while Mrs Potts, Lumiere & co watches on. Ballroom dancers waltz inbetween these two floats.
The second section and final float is Cinderella and Prince Charming, who dance away surrounded by arches and bushes, similar in style to the princess float in Jubilation.
The Fairy Godmother closes the show, echoing the opening by the Three Fairies.
The music concludes in a fanfare and dies out into the night.
A post-show song is played before we head into Wishes....
