‘Disney Starlight’ nighttime parade debuts July 20 at Magic Kingdom with new passholder reservation rules
With the “Disney Starlight” parade debuting on July 20, Disney World updates passholder rules: Magic Kingdom now requires daily theme park reservations.
The much-anticipated “Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away” parade starts entertaining guests in Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World on July 20, 2025. This will be the first nighttime parade at Magic Kingdom in almost a decade, and intends to blend Disney’s rich storytelling heritage with cutting-edge technology.
Each float is a tribute to Disney classics and contemporary favorites. Highlights include the ethereal Blue Fairy from “Pinocchio” leading the parade, a “Coco”-themed float featuring Miguel performing beneath a glowing marigold bridge with Pepita soaring above, and a “Wish”-inspired float showcasing Asha, Valentino, and Star gathered around a radiant tree. Other floats bring to life scenes from “Moana,” “Encanto,” “Frozen,” and “Peter Pan.”
Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy also wear new costumes in the parade:
Passholder reservation changes with ‘Disney Starlight’ opening
Walt Disney World anticipates this parade will be extremely popular. As a result, Disney will institute new annual passholder theme park reservation rules for Magic Kingdom.
For several years now, Walt Disney World annual passholders have needed to make theme park reservations to enter any of the four theme parks.
Now through July 19, 2025: Annual passholders can enter any of the four Walt Disney World theme parks without a reservation anytime on a “good-to-go” day, or after 2 p.m. on other days — excluding Magic Kingdom on weekends. Annual passholders require a theme park reservation at Magic Kingdom on Saturdays and Sundays if it’s their first Walt Disney World theme park of the day, even if they enter after 2 p.m. (Annual passholders could always “park-hop” to Magic Kingdom if they had already visited their initial theme park where they made a reservation.)
Starting July 20, 2025: The official statement from Walt Disney World reads, “For a limited time, starting July 20, 2025: Passholders will continue to be able to enter Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park after 2 p.m. without a theme park reservation. However, due to anticipated high demand upon the opening of the ‘Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away’ parade on July 20, 2025, passholders visiting Magic Kingdom Park at any time of day (including after 2 p.m.) must have a theme park reservation.”
TL;DR: Disney World passholders will need a reservation to visit Magic Kingdom on any day at any time, starting July 20, 2025.
This means any day of the week, annual passholders will need a theme park reservation of some type to visit Magic Kingdom. Disney did say this was for a limited time. However, that time frame was not specified.
At the time of writing, we do not have an official showtime schedule for the “Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away” parade. Still, guests should expect Magic Kingdom crowd levels to increase once this parade starts occurring at Magic Kingdom, pairing with nightly fireworks, “Happily Ever After.”
‘Disney Starlight’ parade merchandise, popcorn
In conjunction with the new “Disney Starlight” parade, Walt Disney World will sell merchandise and specialty popcorn. Merchandise includes a shirt, pin, mouse ear headband, and magic wand.
A new popcorn mix will be available exclusively at the Main Street Confectionary in Magic Kingdom starting July 20 (the first night of the new parade). Guests can enjoy a mix of bubble gum and blue raspberry candy popcorn, M&M’s milk chocolate candies, mini-marshmallows, and white chocolate drizzle.
More concept art
In the gallery below, swipe through all of Disney’s publicly released concept art for “Disney Starlight”:
Over on the west coast, the “Paint the Night” parade just returned to Disneyland for that park’s 70th anniversary celebration. Take a look at this 2018 recording of the parade:
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