Original subtitles

- Tonight, we're giving you a backstage pass

into an enchanted world very few have ever seen.

Find out what it takes to transform the Disney parks

and resorts into spectacular holiday wonderlands.

When the last guests leave the park,

the magical conversion begins.

From beautiful trees, to ginger bread mansions.

From haunted attractions, to dazzling castles.

Some transformations take weeks.

- Watch that circle, make a circle.

- Others, months.

- You get a lot of good biceps in the bakery.

- But most happen overnight.

- Make sure you plant them nice and tight.

- Wind is still a little bit gusty,

so let's keep it safe.

Keep it under control.

- Let me know if you're a good position.

- For the first time ever, learn all of the insider

Disney holiday decorating secrets.

- What we do here at Walt Disney World,

is like nothing else in the world.

- From Disney Channels descendants

and Hollywood Records recording artist,

Sofia Carson, at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida...

- Wash the window.

- That's cute.

- Yes, there you go!

- And winner of Dancing with the Stars Season 25

and Hollywood Records recording artist,

Jordan fisher from Disneyland Resort in California.

And me! Whoopi Goldberg.

The biggest Disney and Christmas fan of them all.

[exclamations]

["Carol of the Bells" plays]

- This is Decorating Disney: Holiday Magic.

- I absolutely love visiting Disney Parks

during the holidays.

You are instantly transported to a beautiful winter wonderland,

and tonight, we're going behind the scenes

to places few people have ever been.

Now the moment the park closes,

the last guest has left, teams of talented imagineneers,

designers and cast members descend on Disneyland

and Walt Disney World resort like magical elves

transforming the parks overnight.

Now how do they do it!

Well, you're about to find out.

Welcome to Decorating Disney, Holiday Magic.

Let's start things off with Jordan Fisher

at Disneyland Resort in California.

- Thanks, Whoopi.

It's an honor to be hosting the show with you.

Even Cars Land at Disney California Adventure,

inspired by the iconic Route 66,

had gotten a holiday make over.

Showcasing trees made of tires and decorated with hub caps.

Up first, let's go behind-the-scenes

of Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland.

[upbeat music]

- I would say up easy, but there's only one up.

- There's only up.

- I'm Jen Borden,

I work at technical services at Disneyland.

I help transform the castle into this

winter time spectacular.

It takes hard work to transform

just your ordinary castle into this winter

time enchantment beauty.

Everything that goes on to the castle,

from the icicles to the snow caps,

they get re-painted so everything

is fresh and new every year.

So we re-do the lighting, we re-do the rigging points.

We test everything.

The castle is our baby,

so it's very important for us to get it right.

- It looks good.

- There are over 40 pieces that go on to the castle.

Snow caps, as we call them, and the roof tops.

And you've never seen these pieces before,

and you see the size of them all,

it's a little overwhelming.

You're like, wait a minute.

This grand thing is gonna go up there?

Without knocking anything over?

The very first year that I joined on

winter time enchantment,

it was a little bit overwhelming.

And now six years later,

I'm the one that's making the calls to

getting the pieces on.

- You're good.

- My job is pretty great.

I have two little boys,

and they look forward to coming to Disneyland,

especially during the Christmas time

because of the snow and the lights.

And I get to say, "Mommy put on those lights."

They're like, okay that's cool.

[intense music]

- Hey Ben, how we doing on that all clear?

- All right, you heard him, let's go.

We wait until the park closes,

until the last guest is through.

Then we start working.

Getting everything in and out at night takes

a little more time.

It takes a little more effort.

But making it right for the guests on a daily basis

is part of the magic that we create.

- Switch.

- When you're working around one of

the most recognizable buildings on the planet,

you have to be extremely careful.

- Hey, before you guys land this too far,

you're going to want to cut that cable there

so you can reach the power.

- Installing snow on the castle,

is an extremely coordinated effort.

With 31 people working around the castle all at once,

we tend to call it the lift ballet.

[waltz music plays]

- We have four lifts in very, very tight proximity

to each other.

And they're all moving around,

and they're all communicating and telling each other

where they're going and what they're doing.

- You guys have eyes on the dormir?

- It should be up there shortly.

- The most challenging part about attaching

the icicles, is maneuvering around the castle.

Icicles can be anywhere from three feet to 14 feet long.

So putting them up is a little difficult.

- The winter time enchantment team has worked

hard to transform Sleeping Beauty Castle for the holidays.

Now it's time to light it up,

and spread some holiday cheer.

[whimsical music]

- Hi! Good to see you.

- It's good to see you.

- Thousands of people come just to see the castle light up.

And we watch the show unfold.

Ready? Here it comes.

Here it comes. Ready?

Here it goes.

[triumphant music]

[crowd gasps]

- What do you think?

Seeing that castle lit up is breathe taking.

And seeing the reaction on the children's face

as they see the lights come up,

it's a magical moment for them.

You get this warm fuzzy sensation,

and you know personally the hard work

and dedication that it took to get there.

And you can't help it but be happy.

- Coming up.

Discover which iconic attraction uses

more than 500,000 lights to light its exterior.

And...

Find out why it takes a police escort

to transport 200,000 pounds of decorations

to Main Street after hours.

- It all comes together on one night.

- When Decorating Disney: Holiday Magic returns.

- Welcome back to Decorating Disney Holiday Magic.

Sleeping Beauty Castle isn't the only royal palace

that gets a transformation.

Here at the Magic Kingdom Park in Florida,

Queen Elsa from Frozen, illuminates over 200,000

LED lights that adorn a Cinderella castle

in a frozen holiday wish.

On selected nights,

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas party celebrates the season

with parades, fireworks, and snow on Main Street.

- I am here at Walt Disney World,

and just outside the park are three giant warehouses

that total 300,000 square feet of holiday decor.

Who's happier than me right now, nobody!

In these giant warehouses,

all of the Christmas decorations

are refurbished and stored every year.

Hey, let's meet Lisa, the manager of holiday services

and see how the magic really happens.

- This particular warehouse is 54,000 square feet.

This is where all the magic happens.

I've been with Walt Disney World for over 30 years.

When I started with the company, I was 17.

I use to serve pop-corn and ice cream on Main Street.

And I have been with holiday services over 17 years.

We have a team of people,

and it takes them all year to decorate all the resorts,

the parks, and the cruise ships for the holidays.

One of the most special things that holiday services does,

is install the nine iconic Christmas trees across property.

- It feels like the first, right?

So what we're looking at right now are pieces of the tree.

Each one stacks into the other,

and this will make 70 feet of tree.

Most of the trees range from 35,000

to up to 40,000 pounds.

- Be ready to stand-by.

We'll take that one first.

[beeping] - Well so far so good.

We got three pieces in, two trailers done,

11 more to go.

And I'll let the crane operator l know what's going on.

You're going to pull down that road,

and then we'll back you in.

Your crane is here, you guys are doing great.

4,5,6 and 7.

- We want to make sure that everything works,

everything flows, it all comes together.

Because those trees install in one night.

Got a team that is just ambitious, motivated, talented,

and they're focused on that show quality.

What we do here at Walt Disney World

is like nothing else in the world.

Oh yeah, we have a great team.

[engine rumbling]

- You got this caravan with all of these

tree pieces taking up the whole road.

- Can you just pull up a little bit,

the other driver's on his way.

So we get Orange County Sheriff's Office

to have some of their units actually block

the intersections for safety.

- Thank you.

- Hold!

- Once we get that all clear, when all the guests

have actually exited the park, we are in.

And we begin our Christmas install process

while the guests sleep.

I love being able to come in on a night,

and have nothing there that's associated

with Christmas decor, and then leave the next morning

that whole area is show quality.

- We only have a few more minutes before

the park opens, so let's light it up.

[all] 3-2-1.

[exclamations]

- Many of the nine icon tress have custom made ornaments.

The pop-corn on the Magic Kingdom tree,

is crafted to match the original tree decor from 1971.

Across all parks, 29 lobby and icon trees

range from 16 feet to 70 feet tall.

And the light on the contemporary tree

are all painted street lamp bulbs.

Visible from 25 miles away.

Decorating all lobby and icon trees,

takes over 10,000 ornaments and a quarter

of a million lights.

- I myself was going to decorate

my tree at home with this bad boy!

But first,

let's take a look at an attraction right here

at Disneyland Resort that really holds

a special in the heart s of guests from

all over the globe.

[magical music]

- It's a Small World, is very special.

It's a very iconic attraction here

at the Disneyland Resort.

It was originally built for the 1964 New York World's fair,

and then it was transported here in 1966.

It is one of the last attractions that

Walt Disney was still around for when it opened.

The overall back story of It's a Small World,

a lot of people don't know is called

the Rainy Day Project.

The concept is, is that it's raining outside,

and the kids have nothing to do and can't go out and play.

So mom gets out the construction paper and the kids create

this magical land that their doll can live in.

So you can kind of see that through the design

of the attraction, and why it's built the way it is.

For Christmas each year,

we completely do a total transformation of

holidays around the world inside.

[whimsical music]

- During the holiday transformation,

every doll gets a special accessory,

and some get complete holiday costumes.

- What do we have here?

- Here, is one of the original sketches of

one of the dolls.

This is the Java Dancer doll.

- So now this sketch would have been

for the 1964 World's Fair.

- Correct.

- So this is a piece of history right here.

- It is. - Wow.

- Okay, do they look even? - Yeah, that looks good.

- When you see our costumers work,

you can tell that they're very dedicated

to the intricacies that they have to do

in dressing these dolls.

The accessories are just right,

the hair is combed just properly.

They're very delicate.

We all like to put our little finishing touches on things.

Almost like our own little signature.

In the Ireland scene,

there's a these little paper garlands where

they've left little sayings, little notes.

It's they're little tribute to the attraction to say

"I was there and I'm part of this."

And the detail is just amazing.

- You got this.

- On the exterior, we install about 50,000

C7 size Christmas lights on the facade of it's a Small World.

And then 350,000 mini lights in the trees, bushes,

topiaries and hedges throughout the attraction.

This horse is going to look really pretty

by the time we're done.

- After three weeks of hard work,

the team at Disneyland Resort is ready to reveal

the It's a Small World holiday transformation.

["It's a Small World" theme plays]

♪ It's a world of laughter ♪ ♪ A world of tears ♪

♪ It's a world of hopes ♪ ♪ And a world of fears ♪

- The outside of the attraction is completely

transformed with a festive assortment

of holiday themed lights.

- Opening day for It's a Small World,

when we turn all those lights on for the first time

for the guests, just sends shivers through me each time.

I mean, there's a large collective gasp,

aw, that I never get tired of hearing each year.

It's just exhilarating.

- Inside Small World,

over 500 dolls and 40 nations are illuminated

with thousands of light for this special time of year.

Every single room,

and every single doll gets a holiday make-over.

♪ It's a small world after all ♪

- Coming up.

Find out what takes thousand of pounds of tasty ingredients,

and six months of round the clock preparation,

and keeps me coming back year after year.

Wow!

When Decorating Disney: Holiday Magic returns.

- Welcome back to Decorating Disney Holiday Magic.

For the first time ever, the 199 foot Twilight zone:

Tower of Terror is decorated for the holidays.

And across the resort, at the Grand Floridian

Resort and Spa, you'll find my favorite

decorations at Walt Disneyworld.

And they're good enough to eat!

- Imagine a full size, 17 foot tall ginger bread

house that you cannot only eat,

you can actually walk through it.

Let's check it out.

- Welcome to the bakery kitchen.

This is where we do all of our gingerbread houses.

During the holidays, we do our gingerbread house,

which is a major under taking.

It takes almost 2,000 pounds of flower.

Thousand pounds of honey,

800 pounds of sugar, and 150 pounds of chocolate.

It takes about 6 months.

I've been working for Disney World for 23 years.

19 years ago I thought,

why don't we build a life size gingerbread house.

Once the gingerbread house is built,

it will be built into an actual store.

We have a whole menu of items we sell from the house.

Our most popular item is the shingle, the same shingle

that we put on the roof of the house.

- Get a lot of good biceps in the bakery.

- Kristine Farmer is one of my great chefs.

She worked with me for 21 years and she's awesome.

She's probably the best I've ever had under my watch.

- I opened the Grand Floridian in 1988,

and this is our 19th year building the gingerbread house.

Our guests love it and we love to surprise them

with new ideas and new recipes year after year.

- We start building the house.

We start on the bottom and you work your way up, okay?

That's what I want, yes.

Okay, perfect.

- I'm getting ready go to up in the cherry picker.

- It's exciting because there's so much happening.

That's the most rewarding part of it.

- And there is another very special guest

who just can't get enough of the gingerbread house

at the Grand Floridian.

- Every holiday season, I come here to the

Grand Floridian to celebrate the holidays.

Because there's no better place to start at.

I come every year.

Wow!

- Hi, Whoopi!

- Hey!

- Welcome home!

- Good to see ya!

- Thank you for visiting us on our 19th year

of the gingerbread house.

- This is amazing!

It's just phenomenal!

- Well thank you.

- And I want to ask you about these guys over here, come on.

This right here, these guys, is this chocolate?

- Yes they're some in white chocolate

and then we hand paint them.

- You hand paint them?

- Yes, with cocoa butter.

- I could live in the gingerbread house.

But the problem would be, I would be eating

my way out of it like a mouse.

'Cause you know there's powdered sugar on the roof here!

I mean it is insane!

And now you understand Hansel and Gretel's problem, right?

Right?

You know, I always get gingerbread houses

and I love them.

I love them.

- Well you know, since you're such a big fan

of Walt Disney World.

- Yeah. - And our gingerbread house.

We created something very special for you.

- For me?

- You own individual gingerbread house display.

- Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Look at that!

- This is Ellen, our gingerbread lady.

- Hi, Ellen.

Hey.

That's me!

- And everything you see here is edible.

- Everything?

- Even your bus.

- I'm gon' eat my bus first.

See how long I can hold that before

I just start munching on myself.

It's just exquisite!

Thank you.

- You're welcome.

- Merry Christmas!

- Oh, Merry Christmas to you.

- Merry Christmas.

Yeah.

- It's great having you.

- Nice to be here.

- Coming up, Jack Skellington gives

Disneyland Resort a Christmas makeover.

- Right now, we are about to set up the scary tree.

Might have to get up a little higher so I can get the angle.

Got it.

- When Decorating Disney: Holiday Magic returns.

- We're the Milky family.

We love Hollywood Studios during the holiday time.

This is gorgeous!

- We decided we wanted to spend a little more time relaxing,

and that's where Disney Vacation Club came in.

- We celebrate every Christmas up at Disney World.

It allows us the flexibility to stay for one night

or seven nights, whatever we want to do.

- We used to stay at Wilderness Lodge during the holidays.

Now it's Copper Creek Villas and Cabins and we love it.

- Wow, this is awesome!

- And we also bring a few decorations ourselves

to make the room very Christmas-y.

Perfect.

- The beautiful accommodations, wonderful rooms.

- Who wants cookies?

- It's a great way to spend time with the family.

- Happy Holidays from Walt Disney World!

- Welcome back to Decorating Disney Holiday Magic.

At Disney California Adventure,

the World of Color Season of Light features

1,200 fountains dancing to holiday music.

And over at Haunted Mansion, a fan favorite holiday

transformation is about to take place.

- So how do you turn the spooky Haunted House

into one of the most anticipated Disney Holiday Experiences?

Four words, The Nightmare Before Christmas.

- Haunted Mansion Holiday is a nice mashup

between our traditional Haunted Mansion and

Jack Skellington and his crew of misfits

and what happens when you mash them all together.

The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland

is such an iconic attraction.

So it's a huge honor to be able to work in it.

And it's also one of those things

that you're working with reverence.

- Every August, the attraction closes for eighteen days

to do the transformation.

- I think one of our most dramatic changes

is what we do to the outside of the house.

We bring in wrought iron for the roof and a sleigh.

- Yep.

- This, we call our highline.

And it is basically a tension line and we have

a pulley system so that we can take things up

without having to use a crane or a lift.

- 1-2-3.

- The skulls actually look really good,

we got them focused really well so.

- Yeah, see sometimes it just works out.

- Richard is a close colleague of mine.

He's been a mentor to me and a really good friend.

- Now you got to pull out a little bit.

Down a touch.

- When Haunted Mansion originally opened in 1969,

I was fortunate enough to ride it.

I was twelve years old and I was overwhelmed by it.

It really made me wonder, how do these guys do this?

And that exploration drove me into my career.

I hope that I inspire folks because

it has been a fulfillment of a dream.

- This is the ballroom inside the Haunted Mansion.

And right now we are about to set up the scary tree.

- All right, gentlemen.

- That tree is made of steel and gummite and it is heavy.

- The tree is twenty-two feet tall.

Lindsey is back in the distance behind me

in a harness doing rope access.

- I'm gonna have to get up a little higher

so I can get the angle.

Got it.

- So that she can install each branch.

- Good.

- We actually modify the original table in the ballroom

so that we can bring in the gingerbread house

and just roll it right into place.

The ginger bread house is new every year.

And it is actually created from gingerbread.

So it smells amazing in that room.

- Inside the seance circle, you're greeted by Madame Leota

She is doing your tarot card reading.

Instead of her being outside the crystal ball,

she is inside our crystal ball.

- Floating.

- The Madame Leota in classic show is a woman named

Leota Toombs who was an Imagineer.

And they used her to create Madame Leota.

- Awaken the spirits with your tambourines!

- I work for Walt Disney Imagineering as the

Art Director at Disneyland California.

My mom's name is Leota and she is Madame Leota

in the crystal ball.

She worked at Wed Enterprises

and they created attractions at the park.

She worked on all the pirate heads

and bodies and costumes and sets.

She just was very involved in very many

things as I have been.

And I will always be very proud of the fact

that I was able to follow in her footsteps.

And my daughter, Ali, got a job in the

Resort Enchancement Department here at Disneyland.

And Ali's daughters name is, Leota.

Named after my mom, Madame Leota.

When the idea first came up about changing

Haunted Mansion for the holidays.

Steve Davidson from entertainment said

"We're gonna have to re-do the head

and the crystal ball.

And I know, you know, your mom is not round anymore,

so do you want to do it?

- And I thought man, that would be fun.

But I'm kind of shy.

And he said, "Well I can hire an actress to do it"

Well I didn't want anyone else to do it either.

So I said "Okay, I'm in, I'll do it"

- Madame Leota's legacy is not the only one that lives on.

During the holiday season, this tightknit group

of cast members pay tribute to one another as well.

- We have some tributes throughout the attraction,

especially in the attack scene.

A lot the names on the naughty, nice list

and some of the gift tags are people who have

been key individuals, the original creator and

designer and producer.

Two cast member who are no longer with us

that passed, one was Bill King who was

one of our scenic touch up artists.

Another was our dear friend of mine,

head decorator, Kristin Plummer who

lost her life to leukemia.

Her contribution to this attraction was appreciated.

Is appreciated.

That tag will always be here, even when I'm not.

- All of the hard work transforming Haunted Mansion

for the holidays is finally complete.

Let's take a look at what it's like

when Jack Skellington takes over.

After eighteen days, Jack Skellington's officially

left his mark on the Haunted Mansion.

- I wonder what the gingerbread looks like.

- I don't know, let's see if they did

something different this year.

- In the seance room...

Leota's legacy taunts guests along

with a possessed nutcracker who mimics

every word she says.

The Grand Ballroom is adorned with...

a Goolish House of Treats.

And a petrified tree dawning hundreds

of spooky ornaments.

Before Jack leaves the haunted mansion,

he brings 7,500 square feet of snow to the base

of pumpkin mountain, where sixty-nine pumpkins

tower to the ceiling, representing the year

the Haunted Mansion came to life.

- Opening day is exhilarating.

You get goosebumps.

You see the guests enjoying this.

- They completely outdid themselves, that was great.

- A tremendous amount of pride goes into this,

I love my job.

- Happy Holidays everyone!

- Up next, one small team of cast members

must take on the impossible mission of planting

over 110,000 poinsettias across the

Magic Kingdom.

- Make sure you plant them nice and tight.

Beautiful, good job.

- When Decorating Disney Holiday Magic returns.

Welcome back.

Here at Epcot, the Candlelight Processional

is held year after year, welcoming more than

800 performers each night.

And at Epcot international festival

of the Holiday, guests can see unique

holiday traditions across 11 different countries.

But one thing they all have in common

is their favorite holiday flower, poinsettias!

- They say diamonds are a girl's best friend.

But the way to my heart always starts with flowers.

- These are beautiful!

I'm Heather Will-Browne and I'm an Area Manager

at the Walt Disney World Nursery

at the Walt Disney World Resort.

We do all the specialty growing, topiarie's,

hanging baskets, all the really cool specialty items.

During the holiday season, we transform the parks

into a winter wonderland!

These Ivy bells are gonna hang at the front of

Town Square at the Magic Kingdom,

we've made beautiful red bows to go on 'em.

I have worked for Walt Disney World for 46 years now.

And I was the first female gardener at Walt Disney World.

I was here the very first day the park opened

and I'm still here today.

We're going to put poinsettias in the top

of this basket.

We're using over 119,000 poinsettias this year!

I don't think you can have holiday without the

floriculture part of it.

Joe's working on Pluto.

And you can see, this is one of our

sphagnum moss topiaries.

Epcot's plan for the holiday show,

we're going to install a total of eighteen topiaries.

There's gonna be eight character topiaries

and then there's gonna be ten snowflake topiaries.

Joe is inserting plugs and he's got some bobby pins there,

these are regular hair pins that you would buy

at a hairdresser.

And he'll use boxes of these hairpins

to get this whole topiary ready to go.

- We still got it, Heather, 74 years of experience combined.

- Michele Giger, I have worked with Michele for a long time.

- We're all from the same mold, right?

- Michele and I both worked in the

Floriculture Services Department together.

And then she moved on to become manager

now at the Magic Kingdom.

- Okay it looks like we're just about done.

- Not bad!

Look how symmetrical, guys.

- Group high-five.

- So the soil goes and encompasses Mickey's ears.

- Yeah.

- I am so proud to be a part of the holiday display.

But I started as a gardener in 1985.

The thrill of the day that I became a gardener

still stays with me today.

Walt Disney World has a very special place in my heart.

I met my husband working at Walt Disney World.

We met as gardeners.

He lured me to the Magic Kingdom on Valentine's Day

and got on one knee and you know, the rest is history.

That's good.

Now, being the manager of the Magic Kingdom,

I mean... unbelievable.

We come into the Magic Kingdom

and we work below the train station

in the Mickey Floral.

Which is one of the most photographed spots in the world.

And we take the current face and we transpose it

into a Mickey ornament.

He's just gonna pull that out and put a tree in.

We have to pull every plant out,

raid out the flower beds,

and we have to dig each hole.

Make sure you plant them nice and tight!

Beautiful, good job!

- While Michele is busy planting poinsettias

at the Magic Kingdom Park.

Over at Epcot, Heather's team ready's

the topiary installation.

- To change the holiday in one night,

we bring out a landscape crew to plant the topiaries.

All right, another one up.

And then topiaries have to have irrigation hooked up.

And then you're gonna have to clean up.

All that has to be done, you have to be out

of the park by opening.

- Let's see how Michele's beautiful

flower displays turned out.

- The holidays at Walt Disney World

mean a grand celebration.

There's nowhere else on earth you

get that feeling when you step through those

gates and you're in a fantasy of decorations

that help you to celebrate the season.

It's amazing how all the pieces of the puzzle

come together to make this beautiful display.

- Our end product is just beautiful.

When you can stand back and look at it and know you

did a good job, there is a lot of pride.

They all look good.

I am finally gonna retire after 46 years,

this will be my last holiday.

- Congratulations on 46 years of service

with the Walt Disney World Company.

- I'm extremely grateful that

I've had this career that I've had.

I love you guys.

- I love you too. - Thank you.

It's big, it's too big to thank,

it's your life.

You guys are my family.

And if I had to thank them,

I would just have to say I love 'em all.

And I'll miss 'em.

Thank you, Disney.

- Coming up.

- This is incredible,

I'm seeing the magic behind Walt Disney World.

- For the first time in Disney History,

go behind the scenes with Sophia Carson.

- Oh my gosh!

- Oh, come on.

- This is so exciting!

- Let's go, let's go.

- To see how the biggest parade at Walt Disney World

is brought to life for its holiday debut.

When Decorating Disney Holiday Magic returns.

- 8.5million Christmas lights in Walt Disney World

turn the most Magical Place on Earth,

into the Merriest.

While Disney Springs is home to shopping,

dining and one of the largest light displays

in Walt Disney World.

Across the resort, Magic Kingdom is known

for one of its largest parades.

- Now let's take a look at

Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas Time Parade.

- I just want to make sure we know exactly where

we're gonna put Mickey and Mini on this float.

My name is Tara Anderson and I am a show director

with Disney Parks Live Entertainment.

Mickey high you think?

Mickey high and Mini low.

I actually created Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas Time Parade

at Walt Disney World.

So we can do a little interaction with each other

then we can play out.

And we're just going down the street.

I began my Disney career as a Kid of the Kingdom

straight out of college.

Like literally graduate in the morning,

fly down in the afternoon.

I was a performer and then moved into show direction.

And I have been here fulltime as a show director since 2007.

I think it's time to get back to rehearsal.

- Yeah.

- Yeah? Okay.

- We're warming up.

Hello Royal Court, keep stretching.

Lovely pointed toes.

Are we ready?

Okay, you guys we're gonna go outside.

As we get towards the end of the rehearsal period.

Get to your waltz circle for me please.

This is our moment to eyeball our guests,

to bring them into the party.

We're able to talk about characterization

and how are they going to bring the guests into their world.

Good.

Because it's that emotional connection

that is what our guests love so much.

At that moment, when you take your partners hand,

I want to understand in that second

what your relationship is.

How you feel about each other.

Did you just meet?

Is it a "Oh he touched me!"

Is it that?

Or is it "We've been together so long and I still love you"?

Right?

You guys good?

'Cause we're gonna get ready to go around the building.

All right, you guys line up!

Part of our rehearsal process is actually helping

our performers build up their endurance so

that they can get through an entire parade

with a great performance.

- Watch that circle, make a circle.

- 'Cause it really is about understanding.

You're not doing this routine once,

you're probably doing it at least seventeen times

down the parade route.

- Reach, reach, reach.

- The magic that happens in this parade performance

is when our performers are no longer thinking about

what count it is, what step it is, what their blocking is.

When they are able to truly bring their characters

to life, and tell the story that we're telling,

people are so invested in our stories and our characters.

I think it is the opportunity that we have

to connect with them.

And it's also the responsibility that we have to live

up to Walt's legacy and also, frankly to exceed it.

[cheering]

Really great work, you guys.

- That was great.

- Really great.

Next run focus on spacing.

Before opening night, we basically have

a final rehearsal.

It's really just for us to make sure that we're happy

with what we're about to put in front of our guests.

- Sorry to interrupt.

- Oh, hi.

- Hi, how are you?

So nice to meet you, Tara.

This is incredible, I'm seeing the magic

behind Walt Disney World.

- Yeah.

- I would love, if possible to learn

some of the choreo.

- Yes, of course.

- Is that possible? Should we do that?

- We can teach you some of the arm-ography

that our princesses do.

- Like when you guys do all this beautiful.

- Yes! You ready?

- I'm so ready.

- We're gonna go up on the float to learn that.

- Are we really? - Yeah.

- Oh my gosh! - Oh, come on.

- This is so exciting! - Let's go, let's go.

- Okay, okay.

- If you're riding on a float, you usually

can't move your feet very much.

- This is crazy!

- So we give them some arm-ography to do.

That picks up what the court dancers are doing a little bit,

but is also uniquely their own.

- First thing we're doing is swaying.

- Swaying.

- So we're going one, two, three, four,

five, six, seven, eight.

Now open up.

Here, big burst up and over.

Yes!

And then you wave.

- And the wave is like this?

- Well I'll teach you one that Cinderella taught me.

- Okay.

- Wash the windows.

- There's a spot, there's a spot.

- Oh, that's cute!

- Yes, there you go!

Because, you know her step mother made her wash

a lot of windows.

- A lot of windows.

- Yeah?

So you want to do that whole thing together?

- Yes, yes okay.

- So we're swaying.

- Let's sway.

- Sway two, three, four, five now open up

here and big burst up and now we wave.

- Wash, wash, spot here.

- There you go, perfect!

Oh, you're very good at that.

Yay!

- Thank you, that is so cool!

We saw the preparation.

And now let's take a look at

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas Time Parade.

[cheering]

- Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls.

Mickey, Mini and all of their friends invite you

to celebrate the most wonderful time of the year.

As the Magic Kingdom proudly presents,

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas Time Parade!

- Mickey's Once Upton a Christmas Time Parade

is a magical celebration of the holidays.

- Woo!

- With fifteen floats and 170 performers,

it's the largest parade at Walt Disney World Resort.

Making this happen, however is no easy task.

It's the result of months of planning and

rehearsals by some incredibly dedicated cast members.

- There is nowhere else like Walt Disney World

during the holiday season.

It is truly magical.

[cheering]