'Let the Magic Begin' Modified at Magic Kingdom - No Characters During Castle Work

15 days ago in "Let the Magic Begin"

Posted: Wednesday January 28, 2026 8:30am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Disney has updated the 'Let the Magic Begin' welcome show at Magic Kingdom as work on Cinderella Castle begins.

The castle show now runs in a modified format without character appearances.

What's Changed

Disney posted a notice on the My Disney Experience app explaining the adjustments.

The notice reads: "Cinderella Castle is currently undergoing a magical transformation. Due to project work, Let The Magic Begin will be temporarily modified. While characters will not be making an appearance during this time, you will still hear the welcome fanfare and music to start your day at Magic Kingdom."

Guests will still experience the welcome fanfare and music at park opening. Characters will not appear on the castle stage during this period.

Why the Modification

The change accommodates ongoing work on Cinderella Castle. Disney is repainting the castle with a new color scheme inspired by its original 1971 appearance.

Crews will be draining the moat and are using cranes to access different sections of the structure. Disney plans to lower the cranes from view by noon each day, but morning work requires adjustments to entertainment offerings around the castle.

Other Entertainment Changes

Mickey's Magical Friendship Faire has also moved to a modified schedule. Starting January 28, the show runs at afternoon-only times: 1:00 PM, 2:05 PM, 4:00 PM, and 5:15 PM.

Happily Ever After continues to run with only minor adjustments as needed.

When Will Characters Return

Disney hasn't announced when Let the Magic Begin will return to its full format with character appearances.

The modifications are expected to remain in place while exterior work on Cinderella Castle continues. No completion date has been announced for the castle project.

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Touchdown1 day ago

Also if they adjusted water flow to have it be moving that would mean the most would cease to exist and it would have to become a river, water only flows naturally due to elevation change, you can’t have moat if it also needs to be swifter moving. Part of the reason for a moat in olden times was to have it be full of animals and pathogens so as to make getting to the castle via swimming life threatening.

HauntedPirate1 day ago

You've had multiple people tell you that your assessment is incorrect. If you take as much time thinking about what you've typed as it took to type, you'd realize that... Maybe... just maybe... that in 50+ years Disney knows what they are doing with water inside theme parks.

jeanericuser0011 day ago

This is not about dyes. We have already established that dyes are not the issue. This started off with the question of if it is a river but unfortunately its not functioning as a proper river. The flow is anemic to the point that its causing build of algae that during summer months leads to fish kill and negative discoloration of the water which likely means that disney is having to spend a lot of effort filtering out that water before its pumped back into its source location. During this down time they have the ability to make corrections to the natural flow of the river thru subtle changes in elevation in the water depth but they will instead just resort to the bare bones approach of algecide which is very negative effects on a lot of things from paint plaster to any organic thing that encounters it. They may need to do some replanting in a couple spots. After that it will require a pressure wash and maybe a paint job as some forms of algaecide can be pretty caustic. It will solve the problems for a couple weeks as there is technically still the water upstream by adventure land which is full of that same algae. By summer time we should start to see some interesting color changes. Remember what the water looks like on jungle cruise. Its supposed to be a light greenish brown but if it starts to look like something from willy wonka and the chocolate factory with a little green on top in some spots then that means the algae problem is rearing its ugly head again like it has many times before.

HauntedPirate1 day ago

jeanericuser0011 day ago

Im starting to get a clear picture of what is going on. On the surface they use a dye just to give you that nice pretty illusion of nice colors while on the ride so it hides what lies below. Afterwards the run off from that pours down the rivers of adventure land but the flow is poorly managed so it stagnates as it slowly flows downward towards the moat. The problems I described still exist but as long as the jungle cruise looks fine they ignore significant algea bloom and other issues. They do have the option now at this point to improve things along the moat and areas where visibility is common but they will just resort to what i mentioned at the start which is spraying algecide and pressure wash.

peter114352 days ago

The water is dyed

jeanericuser0012 days ago

I think some of them are actually introduced to eat up some of the algea though the ducks seem to like eating some of it as well. Yes and no. Look at the green on sides of the walls of the river. That is algae. Algae builds up at its strongest when water is stagnant. Water dye would have been an option a long time ago but the problem is its discolors everything hence why they use natural algea. The problem is once in a while they get algea blooms when the flow is particularly bad and the temperature gets too hot. When an algea bloom occurs the water gets especially green. As it gets greener it leaches the oxygen from the water making it turn brown. This kills the algea and leaves the water a sickly deep brown. The dead algea sinks to the bottom. That is why there is a lot of brown at the moat over by tomorrow land. The algea that survives feeds on the dead plant matter that falls in the water as well as other organic contaminants. It just replicates continuosly. The key to fixing that is creating a steady flow of water that keeps stagnation from happening. Look at an actual fast flowing river vs looking at a flow of stagnant water. This has been something I have noticed lately which has become a point of concern. Many other bodies of water disney has are pretty well managed while that one on a couple occasions has concerned me a little. Typically their solution is to dump a ton of chemicals but then it affects everything else in the area that goes to there as well. My suggestion would be a bit of a change of the topography of the underwater areas a little. Even a slight change to create an slightly more aggressive downward path for the water. This may improve the overall rate of the water flow which will in turn create more water pressure which will in turn flow back to its source. This will also reduce stagnation as the water flow is more consistent. It would require some cement work and maybe some changes to the plumbing in some spots as the increase in water flow may be a bit extra on the plumbing demands but in return the algea can be kept in manageable levels, the species that feed on the algea can make it look more natural, and we avoid that stagnation issues that occasionally seem to happen once in a while at that location.

JoeCamel2 days ago

Probably mosquito fish put there to eat skeeter larva, not expensive but very necessary or maybe Dory found his way there.....

Movielover2 days ago

Its water in Florida... there is a 100% chance of multiple life forms being in there at any giving time.

Squishy2 days ago

I remember seeing turtles swimming in there too.

wdwmagic2 days ago

Not sure if they are there in large numbers, but this week they have been rescuing some with buckets from around Tomorrowland side that has been drained.

Bocabear2 days ago

I have never seen a fish in there....in the early days they used to dye the moat...not sure if that would have affected fish or not....

wdwmagic2 days ago

Yeah there actually are fish in there - they have been pulling them out this week

Bocabear2 days ago

I don't think there are fish to worry about in the moat....Have no idea how they would have even gotten in there..,....

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