Can you believe this week has the first Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party of the season?! These Disney Holiday time-lapse transformation videos show the complete transformation the parks undergo seemingly overnight and they are amazing!!
If you haven’t figured it out yet, I am a complete history nerd and love how things are built and why! In honor of the preparation for the MVMCP party on Friday let’s start with the Christmas transformation the parks undergo! It’s no secret Disney puts in great detail for everything they do, but for the holidays they really out-do themselves! As soon as the parks close teams get to work to transform the parks from Halloween to Christmas. According to Lisa Borotkanics, Disney’s manager of holiday services, “One of the most unique things is when we transform from Halloween to Christmas. It appears that we have decorated in just one night but actually it takes us three nights to decorate the Magic Kingdom. When we decorate Disney’s cruise ships, we have less than six hours.” That is not a lot of time! Fun Fact: The Walt Disney World Holiday Services team provides decor for 780 locations within 41 different properties.
Planning begins a year in advance for the holiday season with only 41 cast members who work year-round. When transformation night occurs at Walt Disney World there are over 160 cast members creating the magical transformation. These 160 cast members are hanging up 16,000 lights and more than 200 custom ornaments. 596 smaller trees, ranging from 2 to 14 feet, across Walt Disney World. 29 custom-created iconic trees, ranging from 15 to 70 feet tall. Fun Fact: The stars and toppers for the trees are up to 7 feet tall and can weigh more than 200 pounds each. Another Fun Fact: Disney’s Contemporary Resort hosts the tallest tree in Walt Disney World at 70 feet tall!
During the transformation, the team also hangs up 590 garlands measuring a total of 5,188 feet at the Magic Kingdom inside Walt Disney World and over 2,000 pieces of individual decor located throughout the parks and resorts. There are 25,000 C-7 shaped LED lights and 40,000 mini-LED lights in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. In addition, there are 10,000 pieces of gingerbread! Lisa Borotkanics reports it takes 560 hours to construct the life-size gingerbread house in the lobby of Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. Lastly, there are 117 performances of the candlelight processional at Epcot throughout the holiday season.
The teams over at Disneyland are working just as hard! However, at Disneyland, there are only 10 cast members who are working all year long to create the holiday magic that guests see today! Luckily, during the transformation season, these cast members have extra help during the 4 days it takes to completely transform the Disneyland Parks. Check out this Disney Holiday time-lapse video of It’s a Small World!
The Carthay Circle Christmas tree in Disney California Adventure is nearly 50-feet tall and decorated vintage-style ornaments. Plus, the Christmas tree over at Disneyland is 60 feet tall with 3,500 colored lights, 1,500 Victorian-inspired ornaments, and 100 faux candles!
However, the main attraction over at Disneyland has to be the “It’s a Small World” attraction. This attraction features over 60,000 lights and projections making this an amazing spectacle for the holiday season. In addition to the facade, the trees, hedges, and topiaries surrounding the attraction are decorated with 300,000 miniature LED lights.
Disneyland also gets into the festive spirit by pumping holiday scents into Main Street during the holidays. Fun Fact: Main Street contains more than 79,000 ornaments!! Plus there are 1.4 miles of ribbon featured throughout Main Street to create 812 bows. And that’s not all, there are 2,015 feet of garland, 20,000 Poinsettas, and 10,395-holiday lights. Main Street also hosts one of the longest-running Disneyland parades, ‘A Christmas Fantasy’ parade, which features 16 floats and over 100 performers.
Over at the Haunted Mansion, in the ride’s ballroom, gingerbread zombies are busy working away at a gingerbread house of cards creating an 8-foot tall house out of 120 pounds of real gingerbread, 50 gallons of frosting, and 47 pounds of fondant.
Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel lobby also hosts a giant gingerbread replica of the hotel, created with over 500 pounds of gingerbread and 60 gallons of frosting and icing for guests to enjoy throughout the holiday season.
Did you enjoy the Disney Holiday time-lapse videos?
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