"This Is Not a Party, This Is a Journey" — Why Magic Kingdom's NEW Parade Is Unlike Anything You've Ever Seen Before

Magic Kingdom’s NEW nighttime parade is just a few days from its grand opening! Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away debuts on July 20th, 2025, and we recently got the chance to hear from Cast Members about what to expect with the new parade.

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Tara Anderson, Show Director at Disney Live Entertainment, and Katie Marks, Producer at Disney Live Entertainment, spoke about Disney Starlight and why this new parade will be unlike anything you have seen before. We were already excited for this new parade, and now we are even more excited!

We can’t wait to experience this new nighttime parade in Magic Kingdom! The parade features more than 60 dancers and characters, as well as illuminated floats that create a “stardust illusion.” We have gotten sneak peeks of what characters and movies floats will be inspired by, such as Moana, Peter Pan, Wish, Coco, and more. And while this parade has taken inspiration from every nighttime Disney parade, it will be uniquely its own.

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When asked whether the parade took inspiration from Paint the Night at Disneyland, Tara Anderson said that it was inspired by it, but it has a different vibe. Paint the Night is more of a party, whereas Disney Starlight is a journey or experience.

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The parade will incorporate technologies that feel new and relevant, while also ensuring that it doesn’t lose out on the nostalgia of past parades. Disney adults will appreciate the nods to past shows and parades throughout Disney Starlight.

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During its opening phase, you can view Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away at 9 PM and 11 PM. The parade will begin on Main Street, U.S.A. and then travel towards Frontierland. This is the opposite direction that the Festival of Fantasy Parade and the Disney Adventure Cavalcade travels, so keep that in mind!

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We can’t wait to experience this new nighttime parade in Magic Kingdom. Stay tuned to DFB for all your Disney news and coverage of the opening night of Disney Starlight on July 20th!

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Disclosure: In nearly all circumstances, Disney Food Blog writers and photographers pay full price for their own travel, hotel, food, beverage, and event tickets. We do this because it’s important to us as journalists to ensure not only that we give you unbiased opinions, but also that you can trust us to do so since we’re paying our own way. On rare occasions, when we are invited by a company to attend a preview as media, and when we choose to accept that invitation, we will always make you, our readers, aware of that situation. Today, we were invited by Disney World to attend their media preview of Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away. Note that when we attend events as media we are 1) Not required to review that event/food on any of our channels, and 2) Not required to review that event/food favorably. You can always count on DFB to give you a 100% unbiased and honest review of any event that we attend, food that we eat, or beverage that we drink. You can see more in our Disclosure Policy. Thank you for reading. — AJ