Walt Disney World has made new announcements about Starlight: Dream the Night Away, the new nighttime parade coming to Magic Kingdom in Summer 2025. This latest reveal pulls back the curtain on the creative vision, characters, and order of the floats–but still nothing on the anxiously-awaited opening date.
The latest details comes via a release titled “Everything We Know About ‘Disney Starlight.’” It’s fairly brief because, at present, there are still a lot of unknowns. Nevertheless, there is some new-news shared in the update, and its timing is also significant. This post shares the new details, why this could actually be an optimistic sign for an opening date announcement and more.
This press release comes over Memorial Day weekend, which is the traditional kickoff to the summer season. This year, Walt Disney World’s kickoff is a bit delayed to give breathing room to Epic Universe at Universal Orlando, with the “Cool Kid Summer” campaign beginning on May 27, 2025. That’s when both Little Mermaid – A Musical Adventure and Villains Unfairly Ever After will debut, along with some other character stuff.
As covered in Walt Disney World Congratulates Universal on “Big Win” of Epic Universe Opening, we are still expecting more of an “answer” (air quotes) from Disney once the dust settles on the opening weekend of Epic Universe. It’s likely that there’s an event for the launch of the two new DHS stage shows and “Cool Kid Summer,” and an opening date for Starlight could be announced during that.
Alternatively, there’s the D23 “Magic After Dark: The Story of Disney’s Nighttime Spectaculars” virtual event May 29-31, 2025. It’s less likely to get an actual announcement during that, since that type of thing isn’t typically news-y, but it’s possible. More likely is that they’ll want to share more about Starlight then, meaning an announcement earlier in the week.
If it’s possible to have an opening date for Starlight before the end of May 2025, I would expect one. However, it’ll only happen if the entertainment team is confident it can hit that date. Starlight sounds like it’s going to be a race against the clock, so we may not get a date until the absolute last minute. On balance, I’d say it’s probably 60/40 that we get a date within the next week.
Against that backdrop, here are the new details Walt Disney World has revealed about Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away, followed by the latest semi-informed opening date predictions…
What is the Story of Disney Starlight?
“Disney Starlight” transports guests into the stories of beloved Disney characters. Through the power of the Blue Fairy’s magic, you’ll watch dreams and wishes come true. As the lights dance from float to float, you’ll see favorite classic and contemporary characters from Walt Disney Animation Studios and Disney Pixar films, some for the very first time in a Disney Live Entertainment nighttime parade!
Brought to life by the creative hands and hearts at Disney Live Entertainment, Starlight: Dream the Night Away is the perfect continuation of Walt Disney World’s legacy of nighttime parades. It’ll offer bits of nostalgia sprinkled throughout a dazzling procession that raises the bar for the future.
This idea holds true for every part of this parade, not only in the float design, but in the music, choreography, and more. With several members of the Starlight creative team having worked on fan-favorites such as “Main Street Electrical Parade” and “SpectroMagic,” you will see the inspiration from ever-iconic electrical parades of years past. Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away recalls the nostalgia of nighttime spectaculars with innovation lighting the way for a magical experience like never before.
Walt Disney World teased this before with Starlight Parade Will Offer ‘Nod to Past’ Magic Kingdom Night Parades, but this is the first time we’ve heard SpectroMagic called out by name. This is very reassuring to hear.
Which Characters Can We See in Disney Starlight?
From the moment the Blue Fairy’s magic wand lights up the night, dreams will come to life with an enchanting order of floats with these fantastic friends:
- Blue Fairy
- Peter Pan & Wendy
- Asha
- La Familia Madrigal (Mirabel, Isabela, Bruno)
- Elsa
- Aurora and Prince Phillip, Tiana and Prince Naveen, Belle and the Beast, and Cinderella and Prince Charming
- Miguel and Pepita
- Moana, Pua, HeiHei, and a manta ray representing Gramma Tala joining the journey
Walt Disney World shared that more characters will be revealed soon, with the above floats will appear in the order listed. Previously, Disney announced that there would be ‘other royalty’ in Starlight, beyond the princess unit.
My assumption is that, at best, there are two floats that haven’t been revealed. One could be Casey Jr. pulling Mickey Mouse’s drum float at the beginning, as that is the iconic visual for Disney night parades. Reprising this after such a long hiatus for Magic Kingdom is a slam-dunk, no-brainer decision for which fans of all ages will go wild. This would bring the float count to 9.
My hope is that Disney goes this route with the Casey Jr. and drum float in the opening, and another finale float (#10) with a medley of other fan-favorite characters. That’s the formula from Dreamlights, which is Disney’s #1 night parade. They could also follow the lead of Paint the Night (and plenty of other parades), with Minnie and Mickey Mouse in the finale.
The ‘other royalty’ line could mean Mickey and Minnie in regal attire for that, or other princesses (we know Rapunzel will have a presence–possibly in the finale?), or both. Regardless, the upper limit on floats is probably 10.
When is “Disney Starlight” Coming to Magic Kingdom?
According to Walt Disney World, “it won’t be long” before the music swells and the twinkling lights flicker, so stay tuned for more!
As we’ve already discussed at length elsewhere, the first half of Summer 2025 is already off the table. If you’re visiting Walt Disney World before July 6, 2025 and are still holding out hope that Starlight will debut ahead of your trip, we’d recommend adjusting your expectations. And by that, we mean lowering them to zero. There’s always the possibility of an earlier-than-expected debut, but it’s highly doubtful at this point.
On more of an optimistic note, the very existence of this ‘Everything We Know About Starlight’ release is reassuring. Disney has gotten into a habit of making announcements like this, with the initial release being a bit ‘hollow’ before it’s fleshed out with substantive details. The vibe I get from this press release is that it’s a placeholder that’s going to double in length once the opening date is announced.
It’s our understanding Starlight was intended to debut by now. Unfortunately, there have been multiple internal delays to Starlight, but Disney is throwing all possible resources at this parade to have it ready ASAP. Rest assured, Disney isn’t sitting on its hands with this–rather, it’s an all hands on deck situation.
However, the parade still hasn’t started proper rehearsals, and it’s very difficult for management to know when Starlight will be ready to roll until it has, quite literally, started rolling down Main Street with every float and a full cast of performers. It would be like announcing the opening date for a new ride without even starting any type of test and adjust, unless that date were very conservative.
At this point, Starlight is not going to get a conservative debut date because summer has already started and such a date would be sometime in August 2025 or beyond. The goal at this point is still July, but it’s going to come down to the wire. That presents a dilemma for Disney, as announcing sooner is always better for bookings, but there’s understandable reluctance to reveal a date they’re not sure they can make, and then miss that.
Speaking of which, remember the Walt Disney World Calendar Changes Hinting at Starlight Night Parade Opening Date? If you missed that, Happily Ever After moves to 10 p.m. nightly starting on July 6, and stays at that time through the remainder of the current summer calendar (now into early August 2025).
As covered in Extended Evening Hours Returns to Animal Kingdom…for Remainder of 2025?, those extra hours also shift from Magic Kingdom to Animal Kingdom in early July. We now have confirmation that trend continues through at least early August, strongly suggesting it’s not an anomaly. Again, I would be very surprised if Extended Evening Hours returns to Magic Kingdom before the second week of January 2026. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t return even then–it all comes down to Starlight crowds.
Additionally, there’s now official confirmation that Cast Members are blocked out of Magic Kingdom for all dates after July 2 and through the end of the current calendar–August 2, 2025. Like the above changes, this is not normal. All of this is Walt Disney World laying the operational groundwork in anticipation of Starlight’s debut.
These schedule changes still allow for the possibility for Starlight to debut as early as July 6, 2025. It almost certainly will not come before then, and what we’ve heard strongly suggests it won’t debut even that early. The schedule changes were made over a month ago to open the door for its debut as early as July 6, essentially as a hedge, but that Starlight has already missed the beginning of that window.
Mid-July is now the realistic best-case scenario. Again, Walt Disney World is throwing all possible resources to have Starlight ready ASAP. This is not a deliberate choice for the target debut date to keep slipping. There is every desire to have the parade open sooner rather than later, and ideally before late July.
Nevertheless, we wouldn’t be surprised if Starlight doesn’t arrive until early August. To be clear, this is NOT a rumor–just us extrapolating based on where things stand and the trajectory of things. There’s still a few months to go, so Walt Disney World could get Starlight back on track, but there’s also a lot of work to be done.
Magic Kingdom cannot be closing early several nights per week at the beginning of Starlight’s run. That will throw a massive monkey wrench into crowds and cause chaos on the nights when Starlight is running–even worse than what we already see with Happily Ever After. So that likely explains why Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party isn’t starting until August 15, 2025 instead of the previous week, like normal.
With Starlight already delayed until at least July, that new nighttime parade needs as many performance dates as possible as a release valve on demand and crowds before Party Season starts. Ideally, Starlight would debut at least one full month before the first Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, so by July 15, 2025 at the latest. Once Party Season starts there’s almost 5 months of Magic Kingdom closing early multiple nights per week. This causes massive disruptions to attendance patterns, which is a dynamic we’ve discussed on this blog for over a decade.
We’re not ready to broach the possibility quite yet, but at some point, it might make more sense to just push the parade to 2026. If Starlight does slip further, will Walt Disney World really want to debut it during Party Season? Outside of fan circles, Starlight is not something that is being anxiously-awaited by average guests. It’s already too late for it to generate a meaningful number of new summer bookings. Paradoxically, it will be very popular with regular guests once it does debut, causing crowding and congestion, which will be exacerbated by those early closings multiple nights per week. That’s a recipe for disaster.
Disney is already seeing high demand for a nighttime parade on the other coast, as Paint the Night draws massive crowds at Disneyland. Obviously, different demographics–but not that different. Walt Disney World now has a lot of locals, Annual Passholders and Disney Vacation Club Members. Not only that, but Starlight is brand-new and Paint the Night is a decade old! It’s going to be incredibly popular once it does debut, even if buzz isn’t that strong right now.
To be clear, I don’t think Walt Disney World will push Starlight into 2026. If there were this degree of uncertainty, we wouldn’t still be seeing teases from Disney that essentially amount to reminders that “hey, Starlight is still coming this summer.” They wouldn’t be throwing so many resources into getting it ready to roll. But it is possible that an unexpected issue arises, and the decision is made to punt on it. Hopefully, that’s not the case–and that the next update we get is early next week and reveals the official opening date!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What’s your predicted start date for Starlight? Think we’ll get an opening date announcement before May 31, 2025? Optimistic that it’ll debut by July 15, one month before Party Season starts? Looking forward to Walt Disney World’s first brand-new night parade in decades? Are you excited by Magic Kingdom getting its own light parade in Summer 2025? Any other questions or comment? Hearing feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!