Credit: DisneyWalt Disney World Resort is updating the operation of its Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away.
Recent years have been rather bleak for nighttime parade fans at Disney World. While Magic Kingdom has regularly hosted a daytime parade in the form of Festival of Fantasy since 2014 (with the exception of a break for COVID-19), Disney World’s OG theme park was sans nighttime parade after shuttering the Main Street Electrical Parade in 2016.
This all changed in July when Disney debuted its brand-new nighttime parade, Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away.
Featuring characters from the likes of Moana (2016), Peter Pan (1953), Encanto (2021), Frozen (2013), Pinocchio (1940), and many more, the parade follows the traditional parade route down Main Street, U.S.A., through to Frontierland.
Considering the long hiatus, any nighttime parade was going to be well-received by diehard Disney World guests. Unsurprisingly, Magic Kingdom was swarmed by guests for the parade’s debut. While some have negatively compared Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away to the likes of the Main Street Electrical Parade and Paint the Night (which also returned to Disneyland Resort earlier this year), others have praised the quality of its floats, with the Moana float often highlighted as a standout.
Since its official debut, Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away has been performed twice per night – 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. The exception is the nights of ticketed events such as Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, when the park closes early to regular guests.
Disney Backtracks on Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away Performances
Disney has now introduced updated timings for the parade, replacing its previously published schedule.
From August 31 onwards, Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away will shift to performances at 8.30 p.m. and 10.30 p.m.
That means the second nightly performance of the parade will no longer begin when the park closes. Instead, it will kick off 30 minutes prior to closure, meaning guests will likely start to filter out of the park closer to the listed time.
Disney has also adjusted showtimes for Happily Ever After, Magic Kingdom’s beloved nighttime spectacular, to better align with this new schedule.
Starting from August 31, Happily Ever After will light up the sky above Cinderella Castle at 9.30 p.m. instead of 10 p.m. Magic Kingdom’s actual closing time will remain at 11 p.m.
Have you seen Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away yet?