Walt Disney International has formally introduced a comfortable opening for Starlight: Dream the Night time Away, the brand new middle of the night parade debuting in Magic Kingdom this weekend! This stocks the most recent reputable main points, when Starlight will likely be carried out, park hours extensions for Magic Kingdom, in conjunction with our remark and expectancies for different unknowns.
Disney Starlight: Dream the Night time Away is the brand new middle of the night parade coming to Walt Disney International in just a few quick days. Floats are dropped at lifestyles in the course of the energy of the Blue Fairy’s magic, you’ll watch favourite vintage and recent characters from Walt Disney Animation Studios and Disney Pixar motion pictures, some for the first actual time in a Disney middle of the night parade.
Starlight used to be first introduced eventually 12 months’s D23 Expo, and is debuting not up to a 12 months later. It’s the continuation of Walt Disney International’s legacy of middle of the night parades, with bits of nostalgia for Primary Boulevard Electric Parade and SpectroMagic sprinkled during a stunning procession that raises the bar for the longer term. Disney Starlight: Dream the Night time Away debuts on July 20, 2025.
Because of Walt Disney International’s newest replace, we now know needless to say that Starlight will comfortable open forward of agenda! Right here’s the reputable announcement:
As we get ready for the reputable debut of Disney Starlight: Dream the Night time Away on July 20, Magic Kingdom is making plans a wonder and enjoyment second for visitors within the park these days with a comfortable open efficiency at 9 p.m.
This additionally offers Magic Kingdom Forged Participants a real get dressed practice session with an target market.
No phrase but on comfortable opening of Starlight on July 19, 2025 or whether or not there will likely be an 11 p.m. efficiency this night.
It could in most cases be the case that comfortable openings would happen each nights and in each time slots. On the other hand, it’s completely imaginable that Walt Disney International desires to take issues slowly and do just one unmarried efficiency on one night time.
Having an 11 p.m. showtime would imply that the park will take longer to transparent than another way, which might building up staffing prices and throw off anyone’s spreadsheet someplace via .0001% or one thing.
As for the potential for no comfortable opening day after today, that may be a question of logistics. We’re posting this at 7 p.m. Japanese, which permits not up to 2 hours for locals to get to the parks and protected a place. For all however essentially the most devoted and within reach Annual Passholders, that’s a tall job. So the turnout will principally be whoever is already within the park, plus plugged-in locals.
The next day could be a unconditionally other tale. As soon as the comfortable opening occurs, the cat is out of the bag, and many locals will plan round Starlight comfortable openings, whether or not they’re going down or no longer. This will likely create an enormous burden on PAC Forged Participants, and it’s imaginable Walt Disney International management isn’t ready for that till July 20, 2025.
With all of that stated, I nonetheless assume there’s a greater than 50/50 probability of soppy openings on July 19, 2025. Selfishly, I actually hope so, as I will be able to’t make this night’s comfortable opening, however I will be able to do day after today night time! I’ll stay you posted both approach, and can replace this accordingly after I listen extra.
As soon as Disney Starlight formally debuts on July 20, 2025, the brand new middle of the night parade could have nightly showtimes beginning at 9 p.m. and 11 p.m.
The parade will start on Primary Boulevard U.S.A. and go back and forth alongside the parade path in opposition to Frontierland to permit for higher visitor drift on the finish of the night time, in keeping with Walt Disney International.
Disney has additionally showed that Starlight is probably not offered on evenings Magic Kingdom hosts Mickey’s Now not-So-Horrifying Halloween Birthday celebration. Despite the fact that unspoken within the announcement, it’s protected to be expecting the similar for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Birthday celebration evenings. And take note, that is an outside parade and is matter to cancellation because of inclement climate.
What follows is these days’s previous replace on Starlight, and solutions to not unusual reader questions in regards to the new night time parade…
As in the past introduced, Annual Passholders visiting Magic Kingdom at any time of day (together with after 2:00 PM) should have a theme park reservation beginning July 20, 2025. Passholders will proceed so as to input EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park after 2:00 PM with out a theme park reservation.
This doesn’t observe for the July 18, 2025 comfortable opening of Starlight. As a substitute, the standard coverage that Annual Passholders might consult with the theme parks after 2:00 PM with out a theme park reservation, aside from on Saturdays and Sundays at Magic Kingdom. That is the present coverage till the brand new one takes impact on July 20.
Walt Disney International is making this alteration because of expected top call for, for a restricted time upon the outlet of this new parade on July 20, 2025. Forged Participants also are blocked out of Magic Kingdom from now thru October 31, 2025–aside from on occasion days between now and October 3, 2025. The ones are all dates when Starlight isn’t proven since the park closes at 6 pm, which means that CMs most probably received’t have an opportunity to peer Starlight till subsequent 12 months.
There’s no phrase but on when the brand new AP rule ends, but it surely wouldn’t wonder us in the slightest degree if it continues during Birthday celebration Season (identical to the CM blockouts). Even as soon as the ‘new parade scent’ wears off amongst locals in a few weeks, Magic Kingdom will get started last early a number of nights a week–and Starlight will exacerbate the pre-existing call for disparity for the park on 6 pm as opposed to 11 pm last nights.
As we reported previous these days, Annual Passholder reservations are actually bought out for Magic Kingdom on July 20-22, 2025. Those 3 days are inside the release window of the brand new middle of the night parade, and in addition two of the busiest days of the week at Magic Kingdom (Monday and Tuesday).
Word that this simplest applies to the AP bucket of park reservations. Different theme park price tag holders and Disney Hotel lodge visitors can nonetheless make reservations for the ones dates, and maximum price tag sorts don’t even require reservations within the first position. Reservations stay to be had for Annual Passholders at EPCOT, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom on the ones dates.
This rule trade has no affect on Park Hopping, which means that APs with a reservation for the opposite 3 parks will nonetheless be capable to park hop to Magic Kingdom after visiting their first park, matter to standard park capability limits. It’ll be attention-grabbing to peer whether or not two extra days ‘promoting out’ of Park Passes ends up in a run on reservations for Annual Passholders on different dates (in all probability subsequent Friday and Saturday?), or if that is the level of call for.
Walt Disney International has formally showed the Starlight performances at 9 pm and 11 pm, however they haven’t dedicated to them for the lengthy haul. In the past, they just prolonged those hours from July 20 thru August 2, 2025. This has led to a couple feedback from involved readers, fearful that Starlight wouldn’t be carried out all the way through their upcoming journeys–or wouldn’t be proven two times nightly.
The excellent news is that Walt Disney International has now prolonged park hours at Magic Kingdom for August 3-30, 2025. The park will now be open from 9 am to 11 pm on non-party nights. No wonder there.
As longtime enthusiasts most probably know, Walt Disney International’s usual running process is to submit boilerplate park hours for extra far-off dates, after which lengthen them in line with interior attendance projections as soon as the ones dates draw closer.
On the other hand, the true appeal web page for Disney Starlight: Dream the Away says “no efficiency these days” if you happen to trade the date to August 3, 2025 or past. This additionally has some readers fearful. Don’t let it. This nearly no doubt simply hasn’t been up to date–we’ve got each and every explanation why to imagine that Starlight will likely be carried out two times nightly for the rest of the 12 months.
Walt Disney International has already showed that Starlight will simplest be offered on non-party nights all the way through Mickey’s Now not So Horrifying Halloween Birthday celebration and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Birthday celebration dates. It could be very bizarre to announce that, however then no longer have the parade scheduled in any respect after August 3, 2025. It’s no longer simply that, both.
Starlight preventing after simplest a few weeks doesn’t make any sense for quite a few causes. The possibly clarification is essentially the most logical one–that the calendar is fallacious and simply hasn’t been up to date. We’ve observed time and time once more that the reputable calendar is an unreliable useful resource.
The opposite factor to notice here’s that those are the summer time showtimes, as dictated via sundown instances. Generally, Fortuitously Ever After begins shifting ahead within the fall, with the massive leap being as soon as Sunlight Saving Time results in early November. At that time, it’d be imaginable for 2 performances of Starlight and Fortuitously Ever After with a miles previous last time. Magic Kingdom may shut at 10 pm in wintry weather with the similar hourly cadence for Starlight-Fortuitously Ever After-Starlight because of ~6 pm sunsets.
The largest explanation why they wouldn’t transfer to ten pm closings in November and December is that the vacation season is among the busiest instances of the 12 months at Walt Disney International, excluding a few weeks. Even supposing they don’t “want” 11 pm closings of Magic Kingdom the ones couple of months for the sake of the leisure agenda, they nonetheless could be wanted as a liberate valve on crowds. That’s doubly true because it’s additionally the guts of Birthday celebration Season–even all the way through slower weeks, Magic Kingdom is busy on non-party dates.
To that time, we additionally be expecting 2 nightly performances of Starlight on each and every non-party night time thru no less than Spring 2026. Most probably past that. As soon as mid-August arrives, there’s nearly 5 months of Magic Kingdom last early a couple of nights a week. There are a number of weeks when there are 4 events, no longer “simplest” 3. This reasons huge disruptions to attendance patterns, which is a dynamic we’ve mentioned in this weblog for over a decade.
In all probability, Starlight goes to exacerbate the sunlight hours attendance disparity between occasion dates and non-party dates in August and past. It’ll be attention-grabbing if Disney makes an attempt to mitigate any of this–they tried final 12 months via providing loose Park Hopper upgrades, however that didn’t paintings. Perhaps there will likely be any other 3-park price tag deal quickly, or different strive at pushing other people away from MK.
Suffice to mention, there’s no approach that Walt Disney International will be capable to cut back performances of Starlight all the way through Birthday celebration Season. It merely can’t occur. There will likely be sufficient call for for three performances lots of the ones nights, and whilst I don’t assume there’s any risk of that (no longer even in November and December when 3 showings may occur with out extensions past 11 pm), I additionally don’t assume there’s any probability Walt Disney International drops to 1 nightly Starlight efficiency all the way through that point.
With wintry weather additionally being busier than ever and spring ruin beginning proper after that, I’d be expecting 2 nightly performances of Starlight thru no less than mid-April 2026. My hope is that Starlight at all times will get two nightly performances–I believe the call for will likely be there to strengthen that for the lengthy haul. Primary Boulevard Electric Parade nonetheless had two nightly performances on the finish of its run, and that used to be ~6 years later with a ~45 12 months previous parade. Regardless, we’ll stay you posted–and could have extra protection of Starlight subsequent week as soon as the parade has debuted.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Ideas on Starlight’s debut weekend? Will you be catching the comfortable opening on July 18 at 9 pm? Will you be in Magic Kingdom on July 20, 2025 for opening night time of Disney Starlight: Dream the Night time Away Parade? What in regards to the evenings forward of that or after? Taking a look ahead to Walt Disney International’s first brand-new night time parade in a long time? Agree or disagree with our tests? Every other questions or remark? Listening to comments about your reports is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please proportion your ideas under within the feedback!
