Walt Disney World has revealed new details about the Magic Kingdom nighttime parade, Starlight: Dream the Night Away. This shares new float concept art and the parade poster, plus a few fresh details about the upcoming entertainment spectacular. Plus, more hype for Main Street’s first night parade in almost a decade, and first new night parade since I was a kid in the 1990s. (Updated March 28, 2025.)
For those who are unfamiliar with Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away Parade, it’s the spiritual successor to SpectroMagic and Main Street Electrical Parade and is slated to debut sometime in Summer 2025. It was first announced during last year’s D23 Expo, and details have slowly trickled out since then, most recently over the holiday season with the full name and more reveals of floats.
Disney Starlight will use the latest technology to tell new stories about the characters you love, according to Walt Disney World. All of this is brought to life by the magic of the Blue Fairy, in addition to beloved characters from Walt Disney Animation Studios films “Peter Pan,” “Encanto,” “Frozen,” and more. We now have a look at most of these floats via concept art and the parade poster…
According to Walt Disney World, we’re just a few months away from the debut of “Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away,” an all-new nighttime parade that will light up the streets of Magic Kingdom in Summer 2025! To get ready for the big day, the Disney Live Entertainment team has been busy designing and choreographing in Florida, recording music in London and checking in on float construction across the United States.
Let’s kick things off with a look at the newest float, which was revealed on March 28, 2025:
I’m honestly a little surprised to see Wish getting its own float, as the movie was a box office flop and hasn’t really gained any momentum via streaming. More than anything, this probably speaks to how high expectations were internally for this film (it’s an understatement to say Wish’s underperformance caught the company by surprise) and just how long ago development on Starlight started.
Setting the popularity or artistic merits of Wish aside…this looks like a good float! I’m a big believer that even weak IPs can form the foundation of great theme park offerings (see Pandora, Splash Mountain, and TRON Lightcycle Run), and the same could prove true here. So perhaps it’s a good thing that Walt Disney World started development of this parade before Wish bombed. It’s also nice to get variety in entertainment, and it’s one film that isn’t represented much elsewhere.
The other big thing with this reveal is that Walt Disney World has not gone radio silent about Starlight Night Parade. As discussed in Is Walt Disney World’s Starlight Night Parade Delayed?, that was one of our fears. The summer marketing campaign kicked off this week and Starlight was absent from the promotional push. The obvious conclusion from that is Starlight has been delayed–or at least won’t debut around Memorial Day.
Releasing this concept art only a couple of days later is reassuring to the extent that it’s not an indefinite delay due to unknown issues. Nothing is “wrong” with the parade, it’s just behind schedule. I’m still hoping we get a Starlight opening date soon, but my gut says that we’re looking at the second half of June 2025, or perhaps in the week leading up to Independence Day. I still would hold off on booking summer trips just yet, unless you’re visiting in August, which should be “safe.”
What follows is the previous float reveals for Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away…
Above is a first look at the official parade poster for “Disney Starlight.”
This design, which will take its place amongst the iconic artwork below the Main Street, U.S.A. Train Station, captures the creative vision for the parade by showcasing both modern stories and familiar nostalgia.
If you’ve been following Starlight updates closely, you may notice some friends on the poster who haven’t been revealed just yet.
“Disney Starlight” will get un poco loco with a new Coco float at Magic Kingdom!
In a celebration of the Pixar Animation Studios film, sounds of Mariachi music will announce the arrival of a larger-than-life Pepita, wings spread above the parade route. Below, Miguel will strum his guitar at the foot of a marigold bridge to the Land of the Dead, complete with sugar skull fireworks.
This Coco float looks fantastic. Coco having a presence in Disney Starlight is unsurprising, as it’s been a staple of nighttime spectaculars for the last several years. And for good reason. The music of Coco is energetic and emotional, so even when there are no accompanying visuals, it’s always an asset to the nighttime spectaculars. Not to get too carried away, but Coco was almost enough to redeem Harmonious. Almost.
In the case of Starlight, it’ll obviously be a mix of music and visuals, and the vibrance of Coco should be perfect for a night parade. My hope is that the marigold bridge is thousands of points of light, and that Pepita and Dante are likewise vibrantly illuminated. Pepita taking flight would be awesome. Again, I don’t want to get too carried away, but this could be the highlight of Starlight.
The very first float sets the tone for our star-kissed constellation of Disney dreams, all brought to life by the magic of the Blue Fairy.
See that glowing star at the end of the Blue Fairy’s wand? To paraphrase a fan-favorite Magic Kingdom nighttime spectacular, that’s actually the “first star you’ll see tonight.” You’ll be invited to wish upon this very bright star to kick off Disney Starlight Night Parade.
Keep an eye out for Peter Pan, Wendy and Elsa on their own floats too! (For those keeping score at home, this brings the total float count to 4: Coco, Blue Fairy, Peter Pan & Wendy, and Elsa.)
Not pictured on the poster art is the Encanto unit (#5), but this was the second float revealed back at D23.
Isabela makes her Magic Kingdom debut alongside her fellow Madrigal family members in the Encanto portion of “Disney Starlight.” In true Isabela fashion, she’ll swing on floral vines just like she does in the film.
Main Street, U.S.A. will also “make way” for a Moana float (#6), complete with gorgeous, luminescent waves.
While Moana takes center stage, if you look closely, you’ll notice Pua, HeiHei, and even a manta ray representing Gramma Tala joining her journey.
The princess float (#7) had its own similar first look, which also revealed that Disney Starlight Parade Will Offer ‘Nod to Past’ Magic Kingdom Night Parades, as well as the influence of Disney Legend and artist Mary Blair on the unit’s design.
This float will feature beloved princes and princesses like Aurora and Prince Phillip, Tiana and Prince Naveen, Belle and the Beast, and Cinderella and Prince Charming.
What you do not see in the concept art are the royal court dancers who will bookend this princess segment – one of many references to the classic “Main Street Electrical Parade.”
Finally, Walt Disney World ended with this tease: “waltzing princesses aren’t the only royalty you’ll see in Disney Starlight, but that’s enough for today!”
Turning to commentary and speculation, my assumption is that the ‘other royalty’ in Disney Starlight will be Minnie & Mickey Mouse (and maybe Goofy?). Casey Jr. pulling Mickey Mouse’s drum float 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 8.
My hope is that Disney goes this route with the Casey Jr. and drum float in the opening, and another finale float (#9) 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. But my guess is that the ‘not the only royalty’ tease is referring to Minnie and Mickey Mouse, possibly in royal attire (but not necessarily–they’re “Disney royalty” even if not a proper princess and prince).
Otherwise, our guess is that this is probably it in terms of the floats in Disney Starlight Night Parade. To be clear, this announcement indicated that all of the floats on the poster have now been revealed, not all of the total floats. So there could be even more. We’d be ecstatic if the total number is 10 or higher. We’re skeptical of that, as Starlight is already Paint the Night length just based on what we know. Even though it’s still much shorter than Dreamlights, it’s hard to imagine that Walt Disney World is going to foot the bill for a Dreamlights-duration parade.
That’s not criticism, it’s just recognizing the reality of entertainment at Walt Disney World vs. Tokyo Disneyland. If Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away is even half as good as Dreamlights, it will be arguably the best nighttime parade to ever roll down Main Street in Magic Kingdom. The music, floats, and costuming are equal parts technology, creativity and heart. If Starlight has all three, it will be an emotional tour de force.
There’s a reason this was the #1 announcement from D23 Expo for us. We cannot wait to watch it with our fellow fans, and form new ‘core memories’ of a Magic Kingdom night parade with our daughter during her formative years. Hyped is an understatement. Now the big question is: when will Starlight debut? With Memorial Day ruled out and the first half of June looking unlikely, here’s hoping it arrives before Independence Day.
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Thoughts on the Wish float or parade poster art? What do you think of the Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away reveals thus far? Looking forward to Walt Disney World’s first brand-new night parade in decades? Any floats, franchises, characters, or other nods to SpectroMagic or Magic Street Electrical Parade, etc., that you’re hoping to see out of the new Disney Starlight night parade? 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!
