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Chairman of Disney Experiences Josh D’Amaro provided details on significant changes coming to Magic Kingdom Park at D23 Expo last weekend. They include two Cars (2006) rides in Frontierland, a Pirates of the Caribbean lounge opening in 2025, a Villains Land “Beyond Big Thunder Mountain,” and the first nighttime parade at Walt Disney World Resort in almost a decade.
The Main Street Electrical Parade was the blueprint for nighttime parades at Walt Disney World Resort and Disneyland Resort. It first premiered in 1972 and has moved between Disneyland Park, Disneyland Paris, and Magic Kingdom Park. Walt Disney Imagineers later created different nighttime parades, including Light Magic, Paint the Night, and the Disney Electrical Sky Parade.
Magic Kingdom Park last hosted The Main Street Electrical Parade from 2010 to 2016. It made its most recent appearance at Disneyland Park in 2022 and hasn’t returned since, though promotional materials at the time suggested that it would reappear.
Credit: Disney
Last Saturday, Walt Disney World Resort revealed it would host a new nighttime parade for the first time in decades. According to Disney Parks Blog, the “Disney Starlight” parade will “continue the nighttime spectacular legacy started by The Main Street Electrical Parade using the latest technology to tell new stories about the characters you love.”
The Blue Fairy will lead Disney Starlight, as shown in the concept art below. The Disney parade will feature characters from Frozen (2013), Encanto (2021), Peter Pan (1953), and more.
Credit: Disney
The Disney Starlight parade will take over half of Magic Kingdom Park in 2025. If it follows the same route as the Disney Festival of Fantasy and other parades, the nighttime spectacular will travel from Frontierland, through Liberty Square, past Cinderella Castle, and down Main Street, U.S.A.
D’Amaro promised that Walt Disney Imagineers were already hard at work on the Disney Starlight parade and other projects:
“At Disney Experiences, Imagineers dream, create, design and build these stories into real places. And we have Imagineers in place right now all around the world because everything we’re going to share with you is in active development. Plans are drawn. Dirt is moving. I just want to be clear about this: We are doing everything you’re going to hear tonight.”
Credit: Disney
Follow Inside the Magic for further updates on this and other projects at Magic Kingdom Park, EPCOT, Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney Springs.
What characters do you hope Walt Disney World Resort includes in the “Disney Starlight” nighttime parade? Share your ideas with us in the comments.
A week later you finally report on these changes?! I really disagree with replacing the rivers of America because there is so much more room above and beyond Thunder to add villain’s Land Cars and even more.