Disney is competing pretty hard with Universal Orlando Resort right now, particularly since Epic Universe is on the way.
Magic Kingdom
However, there are also some things Disney World used to offer that have since gone away, and fans are REALLY hoping they’ll come back. While we’re all looking forward to hearing about the new projects Disney has in progress at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event, and we’re interested to hear how they’ll compete with Universal, something else that will help Disney is bringing back some of these past offerings, ESPECIALLY this one!
Parades in Disney World are already some of the most popular live entertainment offerings in the park, the most notable right now being the Festival of Fantasy Parade in Magic Kingdom. EPCOT and Animal Kingdom don’t currently have parades, but we have seen parades in all our parks at various times in the past.
Ariel in the Festival of Fantasy Parade at Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom is usually the park to go to for parades, and it’s been that way for many years. As mentioned, you can see the Festival of Fantasy Parade currently, as well as the Adventure Friends Cavalcade in the OG Florida park. But for many years, there were NIGHT parades in Magic Kingdom!
Adventure Friends Cavalcade
And no, we’re not talking about the seasonal Boo To You and Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas Parade that take place after dark during Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. No, there were night parades that ALL guests could experience during regular park hours.
Boo-to-You Parade
The most notable/well-known of these parades was the iconic Main Street Electrical Parade, which was last seen in this park in 2016. However, SpectroMagic also took place in Magic Kingdom from 1991-1999 and 2001-2010 (in between the Main Street Electrical Parade). Yes, that means it’s been EIGHT. YEARS. since we last had a nighttime parade in Disney World!
Main Street Electrical Parade
The thing is, Disney hasn’t gotten rid of nighttime parades as a whole — we last saw the Main Street Electrical Parade in Disneyland in 2022, and the Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade: DreamLights is still currently happening in Tokyo Disneyland. These were very popular attractions that many Disney fans are missing, so why hasn’t Disney brought them back yet?
Main Street Electrical Parade
The truth is, Disney hasn’t given us any sort of hint as to why these parades have been extinct for so many years. However, we’re desperately crossing our fingers and hoping that Disney will announce a new nighttime parade is coming at D23! To be honest, we’ve been hoping for some sort of announcement about one for the past eight years, but maybe this will finally be the time!
Such a fun parade!
Bringing back this popular entertainment option could help give Disney a leg up over Universal Orlando and all they have coming, ESPECIALLY if Universal ends up announcing that a nighttime parade is coming to Epic Universe (which no news about one has been hinted at or revealed). While Disney and Universal are still wildly different from each other, many fans are curious about what Disney will be announcing at D23 to compete with Epic Universe.
More D23 News!
- Disney Announced a NEW Hotel Discount — But Do You Qualify?
- Disney Just Dropped a Bunch of EXCLUSIVE Souvenirs Online
- NEW Membership Perks and Events Announced for Disney’s Fan Club!
- Stay Alert! Disney Could Make Some Major Announcements This Weekend
- The SNEAKY REASON We Think Another Magic Kingdom Expansion Might Be in the Works
We’ll be reporting all the D23 news directly to you, so be sure to stay tuned to DFB!
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It is hard topic my favorite but I think it is SpectroMagic. The score to that one always made me so happy. I loved the Electrical Parade was wonderful also. I like that the Boo to you Parde is for Halloween only, it keeps it fresh.
It is hard to pick my favorite, but I think it is SpectroMagic. The score to that one always made me so happy. The Electrical Parade was wonderful also. I like that the Boo to you Parade is for Halloween only, it keeps it fresh.
Disneyland California probably needs it more than Florida. California can’t have fireworks every night because of Gavin Newsome. If what he was doing was really important for the environment, Disney World would also be refraining from doing fireworks.
I would love to see the Electrical Parade perform nightly. That was the best parade the Magic Kingdom ever had!
I would also like the original music to return for the Electrical Water Pageant, or whatever it is called now, that appears nightly outside the deluxe hotels near the Magic Kingdom.
I would also love to see Kitchen Kabaret in the land and the original Dreamfinder and Figment attraction return in EPCOT. Anyone with me?
Having recently visited all of WDW and USO, the folks at DIS had better wake up and get their collective act together.
WDW — especially the MK — is running on fumes after decades of underinvestment, mismanagement and woke lunacy.
At some point people will realize they are being fleeced (yes, they will…), but by then it may be too late for DIS to do much about it.
How a company with the most amazing content catalog in the world can run its parks into the ground is truly beyond belief….
I still get goosebumps and teary eyed just thinking about Main Street Electrical Parade. Thinking about the joy it brought to family members :parents, children grandchildren and siblings —and we all lived in PA then. We even saw it in Disneyland after it left FL.
I still get goosebumps and teary eyed just thinking about Main Street Electrical Parade. Thinking about the joy it brought to my family members: parents, children, grandchildren, and siblings. And we all lived in PA. We even saw the parade in Disneyland.