Walt Disney International has made quiet calendar adjustments to 2 Magic Kingdom presentations beginning subsequent week, lowering or pausing showtimes of productions held at the forecourt level. This aligns with a prior announcement about repainting Cinderella Citadel, a minimum of type of. Right here’s the newest, together with why we’re questioning whether or not the undertaking is behind schedule.
As fundamental background, Walt Disney International introduced final month that the Cinderella Citadel makeover would get started in early 2026. This undertaking will contain repainting the Magic Kingdom icon in a extra vintage colour scheme, restoring its pre-Fiftieth Anniversary look. The up to date Cinderella Citadel will function grays, lotions, blues, and touches of gold aiming to fortify the fortress’s structure.
With the former replace one month in the past, Disney indicated that visitors would realize paintings round Cinderella Citadel starting in early January 2026. A particular get started date used to be no longer shared, however our expectation used to be on or after January 5, 2026. That’s when the vacation rush begins subsiding, prior to totally relenting on January 12, 2026.
Every time it does after all get began, the undertaking will start with the draining of the moat round Cinderella Citadel to organize for portray. After a a hit of completion of the moat draining, paintings will proceed with high-reach cranes and lifts positioned within the moat. This building apparatus might be used to achieve Cinderella Citadel and paintings at the undertaking.
Cranes and lifts might be increased right through the morning hours. Then again, by way of midday every day, the apparatus might be diminished and out of sight from the Cinderella Citadel Central Plaza and Major Boulevard USA. The view might be picture-perfect for afternoon and night footage.
A minimum of from a guest-facing viewpoint, none of this has began but. Should you discuss with Magic Kingdom as of late, you’d be not likely to note the rest going down. It’s imaginable that crews are laying the groundwork, however there are not any visual indicators of that. Additionally, Walt Disney International wouldn’t have introduced the early January timeline for invisible paintings with 0 visitor have an effect on. We’ll circle again to that, despite the fact that. For now, let’s flip to (doable?) affects within the coming week…
Let the Magic Start Welcome Display…Finishing?
Walt Disney International prior to now introduced that there could be brief changes to leisure starting January 28, 2026. This features a changed “Let the Magic Start” welcome display. The opposite daylight display, “Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire,” will proceed to be to be had with minor changes.
True to their phrase, there are agenda adjustments for each daylight level presentations beginning on January 28, 2026. Then again, they’re no longer fairly what we anticipated in keeping with the “changed” language.
Beginning January twenty eighth, there are not any performances of “Let the Magic Start” as a ways out because the calendar extends (overdue March 2026). We’re at all times skeptical of this respectable calendar, because it’s incessantly an erroneous supply. There are a few causes for wondering the loss of welcome display performances on this case.
The primary is that not one of the visual groundwork, which is a essential prerequisite to portray Cinderella Citadel on January twenty eighth, has begun. It’s tough to believe this undertaking at some degree the place performances want to finish solely lower than per week from as of late.
2d, “changed” and “suspended” imply very various things. The implication used to be that we’d see gentle adjustments. My expectation used to be no pyro (which has reportedly already been got rid of), no longer no welcome display, duration. Or an audio-only welcome, perhaps with characters out and about at the flooring.
One chance here’s that Walt Disney International already set in movement leisure adjustments final month, and it’s too overdue to opposite the ones although the undertaking isn’t on the level of portray simply but. We’ve reached out to Walt Disney International for rationalization and can replace this if/after we obtain rationalization.
Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire Showtimes Shift
The opposite agenda exchange beginning on January 28, 2026 considerations Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire, which is the daylight display that includes Mickey & Pals, in addition to characters from The Princess and the Frog, Rapunzel and Flynn from Tangled, and Olaf, Anna and Elsa from Frozen. It’s adorable and amusing.
One of the most causes I’m susceptible to imagine the “Let the Magic Start” welcome display agenda exchange is correct is as a result of a simultaneous calendar replace used to be made to Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire; this has an quantity of specificity that needed to had been functional. From that, we will be able to almost certainly infer that the pause at the welcome display right through repainting used to be almost certainly intentional, too.
The excellent news is that Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire will proceed, albeit with one efficiency got rid of and showtimes shifted to later within the day. Right here’s the prior to/after agenda:
Thru January 27, 2026:
- 10:05 am, 11:05 am, 12:40 pm, 1:55 pm, 4:00 pm
From January 28, 2026 to (a minimum of) February 19, 2026:
- 1:00 pm, 2:05 pm, 4:00 pm, 5:15 pm
Despite the fact that it’s one fewer showtime, I love this variation. My want has at all times been that this display would get started later within the day and be carried out as soon as the solar is decrease within the sky. However that’s some other subject for some other day.
Once more, my expectation used to be that minor changes intended no pyro or small tweaks like that, however a agenda shift additionally is smart. Which means no level presentations might be carried out whilst the cranes are increased, which additionally additional reinforces the loss of a welcome display.
It’ll be attention-grabbing to peer whether or not there’s an offset to those adjustments–equivalent to extra loose roaming characters out for Early Access or at rope drop to “make up” for the loss of a welcome display. As somebody who has, admittedly, solely noticed the welcome display fewer than a half-dozen instances in its provide structure (a low quantity for the reason that I’ve carried out Early Access dozens and dozens of instances), I’m no longer too labored up about those adjustments.
Cinderella Citadel Portray Mission Not on time?
As famous above, it used to be our expectation that Walt Disney International would start the undertaking just about as quickly because the Christmas crowds subsided. The announcement liberating dates and information about the have an effect on used to be shared on a weekend amidst the vacation season (Sunday, December twenty first), suggesting a way of urgency in sharing main points.
One month later, and not anything visual has came about. Once more, it’s solely imaginable that crews are quietly wearing out invisible paintings and it’s continuing as meant. However if that is so, it will be peculiar to announce that visitors will realize paintings round Cinderella Citadel in early January 2026. It’s now mid-to-late January, and the moat nonetheless hasn’t been tired.
Although moat draining had been to begin the following day, I’m nonetheless skeptical that it might be completed and having apparatus might be moved in briefly sufficient for portray to start out in earnest on January 28, 2026. That may be an excessively competitive timeline; extra so than the final time Cinderella Citadel used to be repainted.
That is exactly why we expected the moat draining to begin round January fifth or perhaps January Twelfth. Operating backwards from January 28, 2026 for portray, that’s just about the window to focus on for moat draining. This means to me the undertaking is a minimum of a few weeks in the back of agenda.
To be transparent, I’d nonetheless look forward to the moat draining to begin someday within the coming days or perhaps weeks. That’s what “behind schedule” on this case method, versus being rescheduled a number of months into the long run or cancelled solely (even supposing I nonetheless assume the fewer impactful transfer is beginning straight away after Easter). If that had been the case, I guess the ones leisure calendar updates should not have been made presently.
Walt Disney International states that the brand new colour scheme will debut “later in 2026”. An actual finish date has no longer but been introduced, nor has even a season or the rest. So no delays there given how open-ended that used to be from the beginning!
Cinderella Citadel Repainting Previous Precedent
For individuals who neglected it or don’t bring it to mind, Cinderella Citadel at Walt Disney International gained a royal makeover again in 2020. That undertaking used to be first introduced on February 17, and started inside of days.
The moat used to be in part tired, more than one cranes gave the impression within the basin, and paintings commenced. The time from drain to crane used to be a few weeks, if the DTB Archive’s footage are correct. Heavy equipment to permit the royal makeover used to be already on web site for the Dream Lighting elimination (be mindful the ones?!), and coffer dams had already been put in within the moat round Cinderella Citadel.
All the way through that undertaking, performances of Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire had been in a similar way shifted later within the day beginning March 9, 2020–precisely 3 weeks after the undertaking used to be introduced. That additional reinforces the above timeline for draining previous to portray, and why visual paintings must’ve began round January 5-Twelfth in keeping with previous precedent.
This may be what makes us skeptical that there’ll want to be any leisure adjustments beginning subsequent week. It kind of feels extremely improbable that we’re going to peer cranes emerging and repainting Cinderella Citadel by way of January 28, 2026. We don’t be expecting to peer visual paintings at the fortress itself till early to mid-February at this level.
Turning again to the final repainting undertaking, there used to be additionally a prolong with that during March 2020…however to the closure of the parks and all building round Walt Disney International being paused for a number of weeks. As soon as repainting resumed, the closure in fact enabled a fast-tracking of labor. Portray passed off during the day whilst Magic Kingdom used to be closed, as an alternative of simply mornings.
By the point the parks reopened in July, nearly all of the royal makeover of Cinderella Citadel used to be finished. It used to be utterly completed by way of the top of the month. All advised, the final repainting of Cinderella Citadel took about 4-5 months from begin to end.
When we get to mid-March, it’s actually dicey to make use of that undertaking as precedent given the COVID closures. However the early levels must nonetheless turn out instructive, and that’s what we’re most commonly thinking about right here as we strive to determine why the leisure is finishing or converting, in spite of moat draining no longer but beginning.
This additionally makes predicting an finish date for the Cinderella Citadel undertaking very tough.
If we’re going by way of the final repainting ~5 years in the past, my bet would’ve been that the paintings could be completed by way of someday in overdue Spring 2026. In all probability even prior to the Easter rush if Walt Disney International devoted the assets to the undertaking. Earlier than the summer time, regardless.
Then again, Walt Disney International has indicated that Cinderella Citadel is “anticipated” to debut with refreshed colours “later in 2026.” That is curious language that stuck my eye.
“Later in…” is generally utilized by Walt Disney International when the undertaking is of an unknown period and there isn’t a of completion date and even season, but additionally no longer anticipated to be completed quickly. It’s additionally infrequently used synonymously with “Past due.” If a undertaking is forecast to complete previous within the yr, the extra commonplace “anticipated by way of [insert season or date].” For instance, Soarin’ Throughout The united states will debut by way of Memorial Day.
That’s what makes this attention-grabbing. I might be overanalyzing Walt Disney International’s verbiage right here, however they’re generally cautious with wording for this very reason why. It kind of feels like they’d’ve used “by way of Summer season 2026” if there used to be affordable simple task the undertaking would solely final a couple of months. That may’ve supplied planners with extra simple task, particularly forward of the summer time when Walt Disney International already has hassle with bookings.
This makes me ponder whether there’s extra to this than simply repainting Cinderella Citadel. My private hope remains to be that there’s a 2nd section of this undertaking that may contain putting in the Dream Lighting for Christmas 2026. So in all probability I’m projecting my need for a loss of projections onto this information, and parsing the announcement an excessive amount of. However that’s what we do right here! Keep tuned for extra in this undertaking because it will get underway.
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Your Ideas
What do you call to mind Walt Disney International restoring the Cinderella Citadel vintage colour scheme? Suppose this undertaking has been behind schedule? Be expecting the leisure to finish or exchange as indexed at the calendar? Stunned that it gained’t be carried out till “later in 2026” or are we studying an excessive amount of into that? Do you compromise or disagree with our overview? Any questions we will be able to can help you resolution? Listening to your comments–even while you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please percentage your ideas beneath within the feedback!
