How Imagineers Brought the Disney Starlight Parade to Life
“On With The Show,” the latest episode of We Call It Imagineering, takes us behind the scenes of Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away. Magic Kingdom’s first nighttime parade in nine years debuts July 20. The Imagineers’ video should make old-school Disney fans (and even the young ones) excited about what’s coming. Tara Anderson, the parade’s director, tells us Starlight should appeal to all guests:
“We wanted it to be big and grand and gorgeous, but also funny, sweet, and thrilling. Classic Stories and new stories. Iconic moments that I hope will really resonate with our guests and will create memories that they will treasure and talk about for the rest of their lives.”
I like it when Imagineers swing for the fences.
Danny Dillon, a Senior Art Director with Disney Live Entertainment, explains that each float began as a pencil sketch before being transformed into color renderings and models. Design teams collaborated with the lightning, engineering, and programming departments throughout the two-and-a-half-year process.
Starlight floats highlight several Disney movies, including Peter Pan, Wish, Encanto, Frozen, Coco, and Moana. Moana’s float includes 50,000 pixels of light, many of them in its waves. Imagineers wanted those waves to have a “sense of kinetics” even though they’re static. The float also includes new UV technology, both in the sail and Gramma Tala.
Starlight’s music
Disney Starlight’s musical score pays tribute to The Main Street Electrical Parade and SpectroMagic, two iconic Magic Kingdom parades. Roger Butterley, a Senior Music Producer with Disney Live Entertainment, explains:
“The original Main Street Electrical Parade was one of the first entirely electronic pieces of music. Then you had SpectroMagic, which brought in a whole orchestral element. So our idea was, let’s bring the electronic and the orchestral elements together.”
The music team wanted each float’s score to be unique yet cohesive to the parade. They achieved that in part by using instruments appropriate to the movie soundtracks. Guests will appreciate each float’s individual sounds thanks to GPS zones situated along the parade route that fade out the music to create a pause.
Starlight costumes
The lights aren’t just on the floats. Starlight costumes are covered in them (and more than a few rhinestones). The lights, sewn into the satin and covered in organza, are synced to each float’s music and lighting. Each outfit has a battery pack.
The amount of tech in the clothing required Imagineers to document everything, including how to launder each piece. They also made them as comfortable as possible, keeping the lights away from the performers.
Whimsy and Jiminy Cricket
Imagineers also revealed the name of the finale float: Whimsy. The train will carry Disney’s A-listers, including Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Wanting Whimsy to be youthful, happy, and playful, designers drew inspiration from Walt Disney’s Silly Symphonies.
Whimsy will also be home to an animated Jiminy Cricket. The icon will wave goodbye to guests, just like he did at the end of SpectroMagic. Disney animator Eric Goldberg supplied a traditional pencil animation of the character. Javier Beltran, a Principal Visual Effects Designer, turned those drawings into a 3D Jiminy.
Anderson closes the Starlight portion of the video by sharing her long Disney parade history. She’s understandably emotional about ushering in Magic Kingdom’s next great parade.
Disney Starlight debuts with two parades on July 20, 2025.
