‘Disney Parks Magical Christmas Celebration’ Airs Christmas Morning

Posted on by Mathew Corn Disney Parks

Walt Disney World Resort and ABC invite you to celebrate the magic of the holidays on Christmas morning with the “Disney Parks Magical Christmas Celebration” at 10am ET and 9am CT/MT/PT on ABC! Check out the details below as shared by DisneyParksBlog.

Hosted by Tituss Burgess and Julianne Hough, this year’s Christmas special will feature merry musical performances, holly jolly laughs, heartwarming family stories, and special sneak peeks.

Tituss Burgess

You may have already met some of our amazing performers when they introduced themselves on Twitter from right here in Walt Disney World, but there is so much more holiday cheer to unwrap throughout the show! You’ll catch a look at Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, coming in 2021 to EPCOT; at WandaVision, a Disney+ original series streaming January 15; and at Disney and Pixar’s upcoming feature film “Soul,” available on Disney+ December 25. You can also expect plenty of belly laughs from actor Keegan-Michael Key, fun social moments with TikTok creator Alex Ojeda, Disney Cast Member highlights, a dive into Disney Dreamers Academy, and more festive surprises during the two hour special.

Musical performances include:

  • Hosts Tituss Burgess & Julianne Hough – “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”
  • Becky G – “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” and “Feliz Navidad”
  • Florida A & M University Gospel Choir – “Joy to the World”
  • Jon Batiste – “It’s All Right” from “SOUL” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”
  • Keedron Bryant with the Florida A & M University Gospel Choir – “Someday at Christmas”
  • Maddie & Tae – “Holly Jolly Christmas” and “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”
  • Tituss Burgess – “This Christmas”
  • Tori Kelly with the Florida A & M University Gospel Choir – “Let It Snow”
  • Trevor Jackson – “The Christmas Song”

You won’t want to miss any of the holiday cheer, so be sure to don your festive pajamas, grab your hot cocoa, and spend your Christmas morning with the “Disney Parks Magical Christmas Celebration” on ABC!!

Disney Parks to Provide an Exciting Lineup of Presenters for D23 Fantastic Worlds Celebration Virtual Event

Posted on by Mathew Corn Disney Parks

The D23 Fantastic Worlds Celebration has gone virtual this fall there are some pretty exciting Disney Parks panels that will be fascinating and informational! 

From a Disney Cast Member;

An exciting line up of Disney Parks presenters will participate in five panels that are a part of the D23 Fantastic Worlds Celebration, a week of virtual events, articles and merchandise releases celebrating all the wonderful worlds of Disney taking place November 16 – 20 on D23.com.

Premiering at 3 p.m. PT / 6 p.m. ET on Monday, November 16, Brad Schoeneberg, Tracie Alt and Cody Hampton from the Disney Parks Merchandise team explore the rich storytelling that goes into the exotic and authentic imports of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge!

It’s all aboard at 3 p.m. PT / 6 p.m. ET on Wednesday, November 18, for a birthday celebration of everyone’s favorite pals, Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse! Host Mark Daniel takes you on an inside a look at the wild and zany world of Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway at Disney’s Hollywood Studios with one of the attraction’s lead Imagineers, Kevin Rafferty. Then get a special look at the new Disney+ series “The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse” and hear from Bret Iwan, official voice of Mickey Mouse, as he shares a sneak peek of his designer Mickey Ears.

Once you decide you are going to Walt Disney World Resort, the fun really begins. The dreaming, planning and sharing of excitement takes on a magic of its own. At 2 p.m. PT / 5 p.m. ET on Thursday, November 19, join host and Walt Disney World Ambassador Stephen Lim as he talks with fellow planners sharing stories and secrets on creating a memorable vacation to The Most Magical Place on Earth and discover how a great big beautiful tomorrow is just a dream away.

Premiering at 3 p.m. PT / 6 p.m. ET on Thursday, November 19, host and Walt Disney World Ambassador, Marilyn West, is joined by Zach Riddley, Imagineering Portfolio Executive for Walt Disney World Resort and Melissa Valiquette, Vice President of EPCOT as they share about the Magic of Possibility at EPCOT and how this park is transforming today and building toward the future. You’ll also hear from Pixar’s Roger Gould and Harley Jessup along with Tom Fitzgerald from Walt Disney Imagineering about the making of Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and what it takes to bring this animated favorite to life in the France pavilion.

Finally, as a D23 Gold Member Exclusive, Creating Fantastic Worlds: A Journey into Disney Worldbuilding premiers at 3 p.m. PT / 6 p.m. ET. From San Fransokyo and Wakanda to Treasure Cove, Mustafar, and beyond, enjoy the ultimate conclusion to D23 Fantastic Worlds Celebration as we bring together creative wizards from across the realms of Disney to share a collective look behind the magic in creating the worlds that we all love. Hosted by Justina Ireland, this all-star lineup of creative geniuses will include Paul Felix, Production Designer, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Noah Klocek, Production Designer, Pixar Animation Studios, Luc Mayrand, Creative Portfolio Executive, Walt Disney Imagineering, Ryan Meinerding, VP of Visual Development, Creative Director, Marvel Studios, Mark Miller, Executive Creative Producer, ILMxLAB and Andy Park , Director Visual Development, Marvel Studios. Gold Members can register here! Not a Gold Member? Learn more here.

Be sure to join D23: The Official Disney Fan Club for an exciting week of more virtual events, articles, and merchandise releases celebrating all the fantastic worlds of Disney by visiting D23.com, Facebook.com/DisneyD23, or YouTube.com/DisneyD23.

Walt Disney World Increases Capacity to 35%

Posted on by Mathew Corn Animal Kingdom, Disney Parks, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom

Big news just announced! Disney’s CEO, Bob Chapek, announced during Disney investor call on November 12, that Disney will increase capacity to 35%.

Previously, Disney has been running at a 25% capacity window. During an interview on October 13, Chapek said Disney would remain capped at 25% for all of their theme parks. A month later and it looks like there will be a bump in capacity. Chapek did say on the call that 6-feet social distancing guidelines from the CDC will still be followed.

BlogMickey shared the quote from Chapek as follows:

…our operators, which you know are the best in the world are becoming much more efficient and effective in operating under COVID guidelines. And we’ve been able to pretty materially increase our capacity and still stay within the guidelines that local governments are giving us, for example, 6 foot be social distancing, and this is happening across our parks across the world. In fact, Walt Disney world, which was at a 25% capacity constraint which was our industrial engineering estimates to keep 6 foot social distancing, now has been able to increase to 35% of capacity. So, almost a 50% increase in the number of guests that we can allow in, and still adhere to the local guidelines and the guidelines that are stipulated by the CDC with the 6 foot social distancing.

The announcement follows the news that Disney Parks report a net loss of $2.4 billion in fourth quarter earnings. 

Walt Disney World Park Hours Through Christmas!

Posted on by Mathew Corn Animal Kingdom, Disney Parks, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom

The holidays will be here before we know it! Here are the posted hours for Disney Parks through Christmas:

Magic Kingdom:

  • December 1 – 19: 9:00am to 8:00pm
  • December 20 – 26: 9:00am to 7:00pm

EPCOT:

  • December 1 – 3: 12:00pm to 9:00pm
  • December 4 – 6: 11:00am to 9:00pm
  • December 7 – 10: 12:00pm to 9:00pm
  • December 11 – 13: 11:00am to 9:00pm
  • December 14 – 17: 12:00pm to 9:00pm
  • December 18 – 19: 11:00am to 9:00pm
  • December 20 – 26: 12:00pm to 8:00pm

Disney’s Hollywood Studios:

  • December 1 – 26: 10:00am to 7:00pm

Disney’s Animal Kingdom:

  • December 1 – 3: 9:00am to 5:00pm
    December 4 – 6: 8:00am to 6:00pm
    December 7 – 10: 9:00am to 5:00pm
    December 11 – 13: 8:00am to 6:00pm
    December 14 – 17: 9:00am to 5:00pm
    December 18 – 19: 8:00am to 6:00pm
    December 20 – 26: 9:00am to 5:00pm

Keep in mind, you’ll want to check the app before planning your visit as Disney has been known to add an extra hour or two on select days due to higher crowd levels. Happy Holiday planning Disney fans!

Disney Parks Attendance Still Down 80% Worldwide

Posted on by Mathew Corn Disney Parks

While reopening their theme parks is a major step on the road to Disney’s economic recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s still a long road ahead.

According to StreetInsider.com, Deutsche Bank reported that worldwide Disney Park attendance remains down 80% year-over-year from 2019 per their proprietary geolocation data. For months, parks around the world remained closed due to the pandemic. Park re-openings began in May with Shanghai Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland in June (though it has since closed again), while the parks of Tokyo Disney Resort, Disneyland Paris and Walt Disney World followed suit in July, all with reduced capacity to help socially distance guests. The Disneyland Resort remains closed as of the writing of this article.

Deutsche Bank analyst Brian Kraft explained that Walt Disney World’s attendance may soon rise as Florida’s COVID-19 numbers continue to trend down, saying: “While Disney World appears to be lagging the COVID case reduction, we would expect the data to relieve some of the admissions pressure in the near future.”

Kraft also discussed Walt Disney World’s chief competition in Universal Orlando Resort, who he claimed was having an increase in admissions since they reopened in June, stating “Universal’s Orlando parks continue to see an uplift in admissions with Saturday having the best [year over year] change since reopening, at -64%. Given this ongoing improvement in Universal’s attendance and declining new daily COVID cases in Florida, we believe that Disney World will also soon see some benefit.”

Earlier this month, Disney said on their Q3 earnings call that attendance at Walt Disney World was lower than expected, though revenue still exceeded variable costs.