Larger: https://i2.wp.com/easywdw.com/reports13/mickeys_royal_friendship_faire.jpg
Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire is the name of a show that I still have to look up every time that I talk about it. It replaces Dream Along with Mickey on the Castle Forecourt Stage in front of Cinderella Castle.
The show is currently scheduled five or six times over the course of the day with the first show at 10:30am and the last show at 5:15pm.
A couple of the showtimes work pretty well with the Move It! Shake It! Dance & Play It! Street Party, so you might consider the 10:30am stage show and the 11am Street Party or the 5:15pm stage show and 5:45pm Street Party. If you’re less excited about the Parade, then you might want to try to time it around seeing the Main Street Philharmonic, Flag Retreat, or something else.
As a quick reminder, Move It Shake It! starts up Main Street in between the Firehouse and Emporium and then stops for a while in The Hub area before returning the same way it came. You can either wait for the Parade to arrive here or walk down Main Street and then walk with it on the sidewalk as it heads towards Cinderella Castle. Unlike Festival of Fantasy or Main Street Electrical Parade, few people arrive early and scope out viewing spots. Mickey’s Royal Friendship Faire is just under 23 minutes long, so you would have time after to walk down Main Street to watch the Parade first appear or simply wait ten minutes for it to arrive in the Hub.
Wider: https://i2.wp.com/easywdw.com/reports13/friendship_faire_pano.jpg
This is a look at the viewing area for the 1:05pm show on Saturday the 18th, a day after it debuted. We’re about ten minutes into the show, so this is about as large as the crowd will get.
The nice thing about the viewing area in front of the Castle is that it slopes upwards as you move further away from it and towards the Partners statue.
For that reason, my own preference is to see the show from further back so that I can look straight at the stage and over everyone else’s heads.
If you’re closer to the stage, you’re going to have to be taller than the people in front of you to have a good view and your head will have to be on more of a swivel as you look around the stage.
Another benefit of seeing the show from further back is that the area back there fills up later and you have a lot more space.
Overall, I like Mickey’s…let me look it up here…Royal Friendship Faire a lot. It does get better towards the second half. Disney dropped Louis Alligator “literally” two days before the show was set to debut after the tragedy at the Grand Floridian. I think he would have helped breathe some energy and humor into the earlier scenes.
If you have little interest in the characters then I don’t think you necessarily want to spend the 30 minutes out in the sun seeing it. But with kids or even a mild interest in seeing Mickey and the gang, in addition to Flynn/Rapunzel, Anna/Elsa/Olaf, and Tiana/Naveen, among other, dance around on stage then you might carve out a little bit of time to see it.
One other comment on timing – there is no shade in the viewing area and the show is delayed/canceled for inclement weather. So check the weather report and if it’s important that your group sees it, plan for an earlier show. When I visited on this particular Saturday, the 4:15pm and 5:15pm shows were canceled and we would have been out of luck had we not seen an earlier show.
Here’s a video of the show should you wish to preview it.
I think that’s it. A rundown:
- There are typically five to six shows per day with the first show around 10:30am and the last show around 5:15pm.
- Consider seeing an earlier show if inclement weather later in the day may be an issue or you “have” to see it. Check the Times Guide to see if there’s another show in the area that you’d like to see before or after. While centrally located, The Hub is not particularly convenient from the majority of Magic Kingdom.
- Consider seeing the show further away from the stage where it’s less crowded and you may enjoy a more direct, straight-on view.
A few more pictures if you’re in the mood:
Larger: https://i2.wp.com/easywdw.com/reports13/mickeys_uhhhhh.jpg
It might be time to write up Animal Kingdom After Dark but it is just going to make me sad.
What a great crowd. Only one a-hole had his 1 yr old (or younger) on his shoulders out of all of them. Nice going.
Ah yes, the shoulder people! Would not have been impressed to be stuck behind umbrella person either! What are people thinking???
Oh I hate that so much! I will hold my kids if needed, but I hold them where their head is about even with mine. I don’t put them on my shoulders. so rude.
That’s how considerate people do it Sheila. Kid on the hip and head level like someone who cares about others. Throw your kid on your shoulders walking, fine. During a show- instant A-hole. 😀
Great updates on all the new additions/changes and very quick work getting them posted. I hope the AK writeup doesn’t make me sadder than the HS Star Wars one did, what a mess. If I’m adding correctly, to help you catch Fantasmic, SW spectacular, Frozen Ever After, New Soarin, you’ll need either four days/nights in just those two parks or approximately $8 million in PPO breakfasts and dessert parties. And that’s after the couple hundred for a family of four for Early Morning Magic to get a jump on SDMT. Great. Looking forward to the Wilderness Lodge you mentioned a week or two back as well ;).
OK, that lady was really rude to just put her phone right up in your shot. Did she at least ask or apologize? Looks like a cute show.
Josh intentionally…. nevermind.
As a New Orleans girl and huge Princess and the Frog fan I hope Louis is reinstated to the show at some point. I get the initial reaction and the timing of everything but at some point it becomes kind of silly. I think that point if fast approaching. Free the Disney gators and crocs!!!
Right! I agree!
Really free them. Take the fences down and inform guests they are in Florida.
Loving these rapid-fire posts!! Love hearing your opinions about all the new stuff and how to get the most out of them.
I really like the bullet point summaries you’ve been adding to recent posts to highlight the main points. Nice work! Thanks!
Agreed! I use your bullet point to update notes on my plan. Stand back for this one – great tip!
This
Great post. Do you think Louis Will be added to the show later in time?
Was that CeeLo Green?
Is there any way of knowing if a show is cancelled for weather, or do you just have to stand out there and wait?
Daytime fireworks
yay
when will that god cursed” move it shake it parade ever end “. a lot of noise & congestion period