Hello everyone,
In this second part to my Walt Disney World Christmas Trip Report, I am going to share the fun we had at Epcot across several days, for their Holidays Around the World, and other festive things.
We start our journey at the front of the park of course, where we shall stop to look at the Christmas decorations and topiaries of Future World. We took day and night shots of some of the topiaries, as they had a different look and feel to them at different times of the day, so I’ll share both with you.
Future World is also host to a religious musical performance - “Joyful! A Gospel Celebration of the Season”.
The main Epcot Christmas Tree is located on the walkway that links Future World to World Showcase. We took day and night photos of this, too, of course!
Duffy the Disney Bear has his permanent location near the Christmas Tree, on Showcase Plaza, and for the holidays he wears his cute Christmas outfit.
Now we shall make our way around World Showcase to discover their holiday offerings, starting in Canada.
Canada used to be home to the Canadian Pere Noel, but sadly he has departed for voyages into the great wilderness of Canada, and has been replaced with a live band. The Canadian Holiday Voyageurs perform what are told to us to be Canadian Christmas songs and music styles from the different provinces and territories of Canada. The band and the music has a strong Christian rock overtone, although there are some songs that are non-religious too.
In the United Kingdom you can listen to Father Christmas as he shares stories of festive British traditions, including mistletoe and Christmas cards.
I’m sure these next two will make my fellow Brits chuckle. A giant Christmas tea set, and Christmas crackers on a garland - because that’s what we all use and decorate our homes with, right?!
Crossing the ”English Channel” (AKA the bridge across to France), we can discover the enchanting Pere Noel, and his story of Babette and her brother, Francois, who didn’t believe in Pere Noel.
In Morocco you can learn all about traditional Muslim festivals and food, where celebration is “the spice of life!”
Japan hosts the Daruma vendor who tries to sell everyone her Daruma dolls. You also learn about the Japanese New Year traditions.
At the American Adventure, you can discover the traditions of Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, as well as meet Santa Claus and Mrs Claus, and wander around the Santa’s Village they have there. The American Adventure is the permanent home to the Voices of Liberty, and while we were there they were singing traditional carols, dressed in Dickens wear. Sadly we didn’t get any photos of them - they were the only thing from Holidays Around the World we missed!
Three times per night Epcot hosts its Candlelight Processional at the America Gardens Theater. Candlelight Processional is an epic musical retelling of the traditional Christmas story. During its run the narrator is always a celebrity, and while we were there it was Jonathan Groff - known more recently as Kristoff from Frozen! While we aren’t really into religious retellings and religious carols, it was pretty neat to hear him speak live, and the musicians and choir are exceptionally talented.
I have included a short video clip below. It was taken on my phone, and I didn’t want to be rude and sit there holding my phone above everyone for a minutes on end, so the quality is poor, but I thought I’d share it anyway, to give you some idea of what the experience is like.
Moving on to Italy, and we learnt about the story of the good witch, La Befana, who leaves presents for good children on the Eve of Epiphany, having searched the world for Christ for thousands of years.
In Germany Helga tells her story of her very first Nutcracker, which comes to life as if by magic!
The Germany snowman topiary by day…
...and by night!
In previous years, China used to be home to the Monkey King, but like Pere Noel in Canada, he had to depart and make way for new entertainment. This year the Chinese Lion Dancers entertain guests.
As with the video for Candlelight Processional, this was taken on my phone, so don’t expect great quality - I just wanted to capture the moment!
Next up is Norway. Here, Sigrid tells the story of the Christmas gnome, Julenissen, however, she doesn’t believe in him! With a little bit of magic, faith and trust, she eventually realises he’s real! For some reason this is the only Holidays Around the World that I didn’t take a picture of the storyboard for. There is also a video below, and like the previous two, it was taken on my phone.
The final stop on our tour around the holidays of the world is Mexico. Previously the Three Kings would tell their story, but sadly they have now gone too. This year instead there is a Mariachi band and some performers who show us what it is like to celebrate Navidad the Mexican way. In addition, Donald Duck, who always greets in Mexico, dons a new outfit this year to celebrate Navidad. There are two videos for the Mariachi performers, below.
That’s wrap! We have discovered all the Holidays Around the World! We really enjoyed Holidays Around the World this year, even if they did cut some of the storytellers in favour of musicians. I don’t mind the musicians, but I wish they had been in addition to the storytellers, instead of replacing them. Also, I didn’t mention it in the main part above, but for the storytellers that remain, you can’t always meet them now, either. In the past it would be that they would stop for photos and autographs afterwards, but now most of them do not, and the ones that do feel very rushed, which is a shame.
In case you missed part one, which was all about Christmas at the Magic Kingdom (including Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party), you can read that here. Part three of this report, which will be about Christmas at Disney's Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom, will come in the next week or so, so look out for that!
Dan.
***
Want to discover the magic of all the Disney Parks worldwide without leaving your seat?! Then be sure to check out my “Grand Circle Tour”, which is currently touring Main Street, Adventureland and Frontierland, here on the Character Central Blog! See below for links.
Part 1 - Main Street USA
Part 2 - Adventureland
Part 3 - Frontierland
|