Fantasmic!, Festival of Fantasy Parade and Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire to return to Walt Disney World

Nov 20, 2021 in "Fantasmic!"

Posted: Saturday November 20, 2021 10:32am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Walt Disney World will welcome back major entertainment in 2022 at Magic Kingdom and Disney's Hollywood Studios.


At Disney's Hollywoods Studios, Fantasmic! will make its return following extensive refurbishments to the theater.

Festival of Fantasy parade will return to Magic Kingdom, along with a 50th anniversary edition of Mickey's Royal Friendship Faire on the castle stage.

No specific dates beyond 2022 have been announced, although our sources suggest some will return early in the new year.

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jrhwdw7 days ago

???????

UniversalIsMid987 days ago

Hoping around April 7th, they'll put Moana back on the float in the Adventure Friends and make Merida walk(bc, I don't know why when Raya came to this cavalcade in November 2022, she didn't replace Elena, but rather made Moana walk for no reason when Moana is far more popular than Merida and especially nowadays Elena of Avalor(who should have been phased out from the parks by now, it's been four years since her series finale and Disney pretty much has no future for this character unless she appears in the Sofia the First/Royal Prep spin-off(they already have popular Latina superstars from Disney with Encanto, there's no point of having Elena anymore, when a more popular, if they can't bring Sofia back to MGM-Studios daily, then they have to say bye to Elena) and have it go right towards Town Square Theater and the WDW Railroad Station for people to watch the cavalcade from the Main Street Station and towards the gate near the Emporium and not straight to the gate near the store Honestly if these minor changes don't happen, otherwise I'm just waiting for this cavalcade and the current FOF to permanently end for good, so a new parade can actually bring a bit of magic back and hopefully would feature Moana(bc she's very popular right now), the Adventure Friends cavalcade despite fun new additions has definitely lost its charm 😔

jrhwdw7 days ago

So.....MK will be back to No Entertainment between the 4PM MMFF and HEA! Plus, only 1 performance of the "current" FOF! Brilliant MK!!!! Rollseyes!!!! Honestly!!!

DCBaker7 days ago

Upcoming parade time changes in Magic Kingdom: Beginning April 7, the Festival of Fantasy Parade will have one 3pm performance daily through at least May 4, 2024. Also beginning April 7, Disney Adventure Friends Cavalcade moves to two performances daily in the morning at 10:30am and 11:45am, through at least May 4, 2024.

Squishy16 days ago

They're gonna use it as b-roll footage for the imagine a new daytime & nighttime parade rolling down main street segment of D23 this year.

Disneyson16 days ago

I can imagine a new parade “in production” would be a great low-lift for a D23 announcement. They wouldn’t have to make good on the promise for two years. If they want the crowd to roar they’d also announce a nighttime parade (returning or new). If they want to instantly fix the current perception that the parks deliver less value than the past and have an interest in redeeming their image as the preeminent vacation destination, they would bring back parades at all four parks with great fanfare.

DisneyDodo16 days ago

It’s about time someone shows these ladders some respect. People have been walking all over them for too long.

EricsBiscuit16 days ago

Their reward for all their hard work during construction.

UniversalIsMid9816 days ago

It's been all but confirmed that Merida and her Brave unit won't be coming back to this parade: according to a user on that site that used to have a blue bird on its logo On a side note, If Merida is staying in the Adventure Friends Cavalcade for the remainder of its run, to the entertainment department/runs this once a day offering, put Moana back on the float and make Merida walk 100% daily alongside her other Pixar colleagues, not every once in a while like the entire month of May(like last year), and begin plans to phase out Elena of Avalor from the parks permanently ASAP, because her show ended and is no longer on reruns

DCBaker16 days ago

Ladders had a prime viewing spot for the 3pm Festival of Fantasy parade today. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53581755216_c337e9e7c2_o.jpg

McMickeyWorld18 days ago

It's quite sad, the current state of the parade :(

Squishy18 days ago

Atleast they would switch it up every 5 years instead of keeping the same thing running.

jrhwdw18 days ago

Nope. The Floats for those 3 Parades ran 2001-2014.

UniversalIsMid9818 days ago

Aka: The abridged, pandemic version of a once fresh and colorful parade, that didn't even bother bringing back an entire unit(thanks to Adventure Friends snatching away that film's leading lady who shouldn't even be featured in that cavalcade anymore for that), the dancers that still haven't returned and either replaced with nothing or two cast members watching the generic Storybook Circus CM costumes holding the rope at the end that shouldn't be a thing(the two ladies with the blue hair was way more magical), and had two songs from its soundtrack in the finale removed for reasons and awkwardly having instrumental notes take their spot instead of adding a new verse like what DL did for Magic Happens it's a shame that FOF is not the same as it was, I honestly wouldn't be shocked within a year from today that parade would either have its final performance and/or had its replacement announced, bc, I don't see this last any longer