Disney Starlight Debuts: Where's the Magic?
Disney surprised Magic Kingdom parkgoers tonight with a “dress rehearsal” performance of Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away, the park’s first truly new nighttime parade in over 30 years. The parade that debuted all those years ago is my all-time favorite parade, SpectroMagic. Naturally, expectations, including mine, were sky-high. After all, not only does this parade need to stand on its own, it also needs to eclipse both SpectroMagic and the perennial favorite Main Street Electrical Parade.
To me, it failed on all three counts, and it shows the pitiful lack of care and investment Walt Disney World management seems to have when it comes to any form of live entertainment that isn’t a fireworks show.
The parade route felt sparse; gone were the legions of dancers and performers previously aglow in the streets; gone were the miniature one- or two-person units that would travel between the larger float units. In fact, most of these floats only hold one or two people. The only two units that have more than two characters are the princess unit and the “Whimsy” finale train unit, to my count watching the live stream.
I didn’t think the music was anything special at all. I don’t know if I’m ready to say the parade’s score is bad, but it certainly didn’t captivate me the way SpectroMagic’s score did or even the classic Electrical Parade. There’s something electrifying about both of those scores that is so distinctive and magical and downright Disney that I didn’t get in this score at all.
I don’t know; maybe the parade appears better in person, and I hope it does. Frankly I’m certain it does considering reviews from folks in the park tonight. I want this parade to succeed; the performers and folks at Live Entertainment worked hard on this, given what I’m sure were limited resources.
But that’s the problem with Walt Disney World’s entire slate of live entertainment, from shows like the new Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After only having three live actors to the long-gone Citizens of Main Street and Hollywood. Disney World management, led by resort President Jeff Vahle, just doesn’t see the value in live entertainment and therefore isn’t giving the department the resources needed to do truly magical things. And granted, that’s a problem across the theme park industry, with Disneyland having theaters sit dark and Universal cutting walk around characters from Celestial Park at Epic Universe, but the problem is especially noticeable and unacceptable at Walt Disney World, the flagship resort of the world’s leading themed entertainment company.
Next week I’m going to Disneyland to check out their 70th Anniversary offerings, including the new Walt Disney show. I'll report back here.