The Amazing Numbers Behind Christmas at Walt Disney World
Christmas at Walt Disney World is something to behold. The early part of this season is actually my favorite time of year to travel to Walt Disney World. The weather is usually mild and dry, and the decorations are up as early as the end of November. But if you don't like crowds, just plan to avoid the last two weeks of December and the first week of January.
My first Christmas at Disney, I was amazed to go to sleep one day with the parks decorated for Halloween and wake up the next with all out Christmas everywhere. The transformation really did seem to take place overnight. Christmas trees at each park and each resort were themed to the location and towered over the heads of guests. Christmassy window displays were all up and down Main Street USA, with wreathes hanging from the lamp posts. The Santas of the World all came out to tell Christmas stories in World Showcase, and the dinosaur at the entrance to Dinoland USA in Animal Kingdom got a Santa hat.
And those are just some of the highlights! Here are some other amazing stats about what it takes to put Christmas together at Walt Disney World:
Disney cast members start planning Christmas decorations in January of the same year, meaning that as soon as Christmas 2018 is over, in January 2019, Disney will begin planning Christmas 2019. It actually takes a team 4 nights in total to put up all the Christmas decorations including all the resorts. It appeared to be overnight because cast members take into account story when they decide what to decorate first. People notice if Main Street USA is decorate. Frontierland, not so much.
54,000 feet of warehouse space house the decorations when not in use. 40 semi-trailers take 150 trips back and forth to bring all the Christmas decorations to the parks for decorating. There are...
8.5 million Christmas Lights - Almost zero of these are incandescent. 98% are LED and 2 % are compact florescent.
There are 15 miles of garland and over 100 miles of ribbon (so much that in fact, one entire room of the warehouse space mentioned above houses only ribbon).
Let's talk plants. There are 1,300 wreaths, 100,000 poinsettias, 200 holiday-themed topiaries, and 1300 Christmas trees (approximately).
The largest tree is 70 feet tall and has over 35,000 lights. It is located right outside the Contemporary Resort. Inside the resort, you will find another tree made entirely of gingerbread.
The largest wreath is 25 feet across.
The largest gingerbread house is actually a shop with people inside that sell gingerbread cookies to you. It is baked with 1,050 pounds of honey and takes 160 hours to decorate. It is at the Grand Floridian Resort.
Like gingerbread? There is also a life-sized gingerbread carousel with chocolate fondant horses that can be found at Disney's beach club resort.
The Disney Christmas Parade is actually filmed BEFORE Christmas season. Once the big tree goes up at the entrance to the Magic Kingdom, it blocks the view, so filming must take place before that. Also, this gives Disney some wiggle room to find footage from the sunniest day with the blue-est skies for the parade.
Speaking of the parade, snow flurries fall from the sky at the end. These flurries are designed by Disney's pastry chefs! (Now I really wonder what they are made of!)
It takes about 6.5 hours to decorate one large Christmas tree, and 9 hours to decorate all of Main Street USA.
At the end of the season, it takes 10 days to take it all down.
If you are going to Walt Disney World in December, you have all of this to enjoy as well as Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party (a hard ticket event) in which snow flies on Main Street, hot chocolate is served, and there is a special Christmas parade.
You may also choose to see the Candlelight Processional at EPCOT, where each night of the run a celebrity leads the festivities. Each show has over 800 performers and there are 200 guest choirs that sing during the entire run of the show.
You may also see characters in their Christmas outfits for unique photos (about 30 dress up for Christmas).
Aside from all of that, my favorite things to do during Christmas time at Walt Disney World are:
Take the monorail resort loop and get off at each resort to admire the Christmas decorations. If you can, also get over to Animal Kingdom Lodge for one of the most unique trees and some animal viewing (not on the monorail).
Walk around World Showcase to see traditional Christmas decorations in the countries that celebrate Christmas, shop, and see the Santas. Germany is my favorite stop here. The model train set is all decorated and is usually where Saint Niklaus appears.
I'm a big fan of the Christmas trees at Disney's Animal Kingdom. The one at the entrance is decorated with traditional African baskets.
Doesn't it just make you want to go? If you are planning on it, either go the first couple weeks of December when crowds aren't so bad or just prepare to deal with crowds (but merry, festive crowds). What are your thoughts on Christmas at Disney? Share them in the comments.
