Walt Disney World - Magic Kingdom, Part 10
Christmas in Magic Kingdom
 |
| Click to go directly to the slideshow |
The Christmas decorations go up, but Main Street isn't complete until after the Christmas Parade is taped for Network Television. Until that time, the garland and the Christmas Tree don't get installed, since it blocks the views from the TV cameras. The flag pole is even moved from the middle of Town Square, and re-planted in front of City Hall for filming (and while the tree is up).
They used to put the Christmas tree in the Rose Garden, but while the tree looks impressive in Town Square, not so much in the Rose Garden, where the open areas and the Castle made it lose a little stature. So the Magic Kingdom Christmas tree doesn't make it's appearance now until ABC has their yearly feature.
However once the parade is taped, it only takes Disney one night to make Main Street whole...
Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party
With the Christmas tree set up in Town Square and the decorations down Main Street, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party just makes the Christmas experience complete.They have cookies, apple slices, apple juice and hot chocolate stations around the park, special shows (here's a clip from a group called Rusty Cutlass) and Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade. (The same one they show on TV every year minus Mylie Cyrus and Justin Bieber.) The fireworks show is called Holiday Wishes, and it snows on Main Street. Even if it's 80 degrees out. All the characters are in their winter and Christmas garb. Even if it's 80 degrees out. The best part of the party? The weather back home probably sucks, and you're not there...
|
| The Castle Ice Lights |
Cinderella Castle Ice Lights
In 2008, the Imagineers decided that Cindy's Castle should get plussed a little, and ended up hanging 200,000 LEDs and 200 strobes lights on the Castle. It's all hung from around 30 custom castle-brick-colored nets. (There's a picture of the netting further down this page.) Electricity used per night to power the lights? About three home-dryer cycles.They have a lighting ceremony every evening, an explaination of why there's ice on the castle. You can find video of that here.
Reflections in front of Crystal Palace
In 2011, I attended D23's Magic and Merriment and actually got to take pictures backstage! Well, a couple of them, anyway...
2011 D23 Magic and Merriment backstage photos
Holiday Wishes is the Wishes variation shown during Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. Video of Holiday Wishes can be found on my video page.
The 2006 version was taped on Main Street, has an audio overlay, and is about 2 minutes longer than the 2010 version.
Holiday Wishes (2006)
Holiday Wishes (2010)
Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade
This is supposed to be the same parade they show on ABC every year, but without the celebrities. Once the ABC Christmas Parade has been taped, they finish decorating the park (for instance, the garland that goes across Main Street doesn't exist during the taped parade, because it blocks the views of the TV cameras.)The parade doesn't change that much from year to year, so there may be four sets of pictures below, but the only significant change is the background...
Video of the 2009 and 2010 Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade can be found on my video page. Arguably, the 2010 version in front of the castle has the better visuals, but the 2009 version is better lit and has a longer approach...
Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade (2009)
Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade (2010)
2008 - Liberty Square
This was taken in front of the Christmas Shop, across from Hall of Presidents. This parade was only memorable, because I had talked to friends back home, who spent a couple hours trying to get home in a snowstorm...
2008 Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade
2009 - Frontierland
This spot is from my favorite place in the MK to tape a parade, in Frontierland in front of the DVC office. There's a small bend in the road there, so you can more easily tape the parade coming and going, regardless of which direction it's coming from.
2009 Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade
Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade (2010)
Arguably, this is the best place to tape the parade, since you get the castle in the background, but the approach of the parade around the hub isn't very good, and the bend into Main Street makes the parade disappear too quickly.
2010 Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade
Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade (2011)
This parade was taped in Frontierland, closer to where it comes onstage. (Closer to Splash Mountain. What's interesting is there were construction walls up, blocking half of the street, where no guests were allowed.But the performers performed to the walls the same way they did to the guests, lol.
2011 Mickey's Once Upon A Christmastime Parade
Final thoughts on Magic Kingdom
I applaud Disney for finally adding an expansion to a park that's been over-crowded for a decade. Toontown did have a temporary feel to it, and I'm not sure it'll be missed. But however well princesses were selling when they designed the area, it's not enough to just cater to the princess crowd.And while I agree that most of the park remains untouchable (such as Adventureland), Tomorrowland is a mess, and could use some freshening. The stage shows recently attempted there have failed miserably. There are rumors that if Carosel of Progress' motors fail, the attraction is doomed.
The only thing I could suggest, would be to replace Stitch, and convert the land that the Speedway is using to something else. Something that doesn't use a two-stroke gasoline motor.
Arguably, the best thing that could happen to the park in Tomorrowland is Marvel, but Disney doesn't have the rights to use it's own properties in the Orlando theme park area. Oh well...
That all said, I do admit some of my most memorable moments at Disney World, is the slow stroll down Main Street as they close the park down, when everyone has a tired smile on their face, looking forward to a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow...
End Magic Kingdom - Part 10 of 10.
| Jump to: | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 |
|---|
- 04/17/2010 - Entire page re-imaged, rewritten
- 06/02/2012 - Complete replacement
- 12/31/2012 - Update to v3.1
- 09/01/2014 - Update to v3.2
- September 2022 - Upgrade to v5.0.
| Help! | About This Site | Contact Me |