Stage Show Schedule Returning to Normal as Cinderella Castle Repainting Wraps Up.

Since the beginning of the year, Walt Disney World has modified two Magic Kingdom shows, reducing or changing showtimes during the repainting of Cinderella Castle. With that project almost 100% completed, a return to normal for the entertainment is starting to appear on the calendar. Here’s the latest.

As basic background, Cinderella Castle is getting an ‘old is new again’ color palette, inspired by the classic and original look of the castle. The updated Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom features grays, creams, blues, and touches of gold aiming to enhance the castle’s architecture.

In late December of last year, Disney shared more details about the project timeline, indicating that guests would notice work around Cinderella Castle beginning in early 2026. They revealed that the project would begin with the draining of the moat around Cinderella Castle, which would also necessitate entertainment modifications.

Walt Disney World indicated that cranes and lifts would be elevated during the morning hours to accomplish work. However, by noon each day, the equipment is lowered and out of sight from the Cinderella Castle Central Plaza and Main Street USA. The view has been picture-perfect for afternoon and evening photos.

During the morning hours, Walt Disney World has been encouraging guests to enjoy everything else that the Magic Kingdom has to offer, before returning to Main Street and the Hub in the afternoons and evenings to capture their family photos with Cinderella Castle.

The afternoon has also been when guests can enjoy entertainment presented in front of Cinderella Castle, as it hasn’t been presented in the mornings. That change started on January 28th, with a modified “Let the Magic Begin” welcome show at park opening.

The other daytime show, “Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire,” has continued to be available with a shifted schedule and minor modifications. Likewise, the Happily Ever After fireworks have continued to be shown with minor adjustments.

With the project now in the home stretch and Cinderella Castle ~99% repainted, the entertainment schedule will soon return to normal…

Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire Showtimes Shift

The main schedule change that began back in late January concerned “Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire,” which is the daytime show featuring Mickey & Friends, as well as characters from The Princess and the Frog, Rapunzel and Flynn from Tangled, and Olaf, Anna and Elsa from Frozen. It’s cute and fun.

The good news is that one performance will be restored and showtimes shift to earlier in the day. Here’s the before/after schedule for the “Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire” stage show:

Starting May 10, 2026: 

• 11:10 am, 12:30 pm, 1:50 pm, 4:00 pm, 5:15 pm

This schedule is the new (old) normal, starting May 10th and continuing as far out as the calendar goes, which is currently June 6, 2026. (The schedule indicates “no showtimes” for a couple of weeks after; those dates have yet to be added, but will populate later.)

From now through May 9, 2026:

• 12:45 pm, 1:55 pm, 3:55 pm, 5:25 pm, 6:30 pm

Early 2026 (Pre-Painting):

• 10:05 am, 11:05 am, 12:40 pm, 1:55 pm, 4:00 pm

I’ll actually miss the current schedule. My wish has always been that this show would start later in the day and be performed once the sun is lower in the sky. The perfect summer schedule would be something like 10 am, 11 am, 6 pm, 7 pm, 8 pm.

Let the Magic Begin Welcome Show Changes Coming?

The other change that occurred back in late January was no stage-based performances of “Let the Magic Begin.” In its place, there’s now an audio-only welcome message that plays. (Above photo is from the Welcome Show circa February 2020, pre-repainting.)

Walt Disney World has also added this bulletin to the entertainment page:

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.

“Let the Magic Begin” doesn’t currently have a field to display showtimes, so it’s unknown whether this will also return to normal on May 10, 2026. It’s entirely possible that no schedule change will be published, and we won’t know when “Let the Magic Begin” returns until the day it’s actually back.

We’ll be watching this one closely, as there’s also the possibility that “Let the Magic Begin” won’t return in stage show form–that the modified version will quietly become the permanent one. I doubt this will happen, as the bulletin is still on the site and indicates the show is temporarily modified. “Let the Magic Begin” is also pretty popular, so cutting it completely seems unlikely. But it has been moved and modified before, so the precedent does exist. We’ll keep you posted.

Ultimately, the main official news here is that Walt Disney World is restoring the standard summer schedule for “Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire.” Good news for those who prefer the morning showtimes, but not so much for those who favor the late afternoon ones when the sun is lower in the sky.

The unofficial news that’s potentially even more interesting is that the Cinderella Castle repainting is wrapping up. Walt Disney World still hasn’t announced an official end date, or even a season or month, for the completion of the project. There hasn’t been much mention or acknowledgment of it, period, since January. But it stands to reason we’re in the home stretch, and weeks–if not days–from the work ending.

“Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire” returning to normal means the cranes will no longer be in use as of May 10, 2026, which shouldn’t be a shocking development to anyone who has been watching the work progress. If you told me that the cranes would be gone tomorrow, I wouldn’t be surprised.

If anything, May 10th is slightly longer than expected, as I barely saw them being used at all during the week after Easter. It looks like the work has already wrapped up in earnest, with only after hours touch-ups being done at this point.

Hopefully May 10th is the completion deadline for the project as a whole, with the moat being refilled and the entire area around Cinderella Castle looking picture perfect by or before then.

Walt Disney World has done a great job with this project–we have another post coming very soon that documents the new-look classic Cinderella Castle–and we’re looking forward to seeing it without any construction blight whatsoever (although the impact has mostly been minimal throughout). Stay tuned for more!

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Your Thoughts

What do you think of Walt Disney World restoring the standard summer schedule for Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire? Wish there were only early and late showtimes, or do you prefer them throughout the day? Do you agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!