In early to mid-November 2025, ABC filmed the “The Wonderful World of Disney: Holiday Spectacular” and the “Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade” at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland. This is the third year we’ve been in Magic Kingdom for recording of the specials, and thought it’d be fun to share photos and our experiences–plus details about the show airing on ABC, Disney+ and Hulu on Cyber Monday.
Not to ruin the illusion, but the “The Wonderful World of Disney: Holiday Spectacular” is not broadcast live from Walt Disney World and Disneyland. And unlike the TV special itself, recording is not done neatly over the course of ~90 minutes.
Don’t make the mistake of showing up to the parks on the night it airs, expecting to see it live. This might sound silly, but we’ve heard stories of many guests doing exactly that. The silver lining is that at least they’ll see the daytime version of Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade for “free.”
Suffice to say, the Disney holiday television specials that air around Thanksgiving and Christmas are pre-recorded starting in late October and running through mid-November at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, Disneyland Resort in California, and other destinations around the world.
The specials feature holiday classics, plus original music, and heartwarming stories about how the Disney Parks bring families together. They also showcase new & upcoming attractions at Walt Disney World and Disneyland, as well as sneak peeks of movies and shows coming to theaters and streaming services. Basically, these specials are one part entertainment and one part infomercial for all things Disney. The second part is probably the more important one from the company’s perspective.
We always watch both the post-Thanksgiving spectacular and the ABC Disney Christmas Day Parade specifically for this reason–to see sneak peeks and what’s revealed for 2025. Honestly, I’m not expecting much in that regard this year. Neither Walt Disney World nor Disneyland have much in the pipeline for the next couple of years, so there isn’t really much that can be revealed.
It’s more likely that there will be a sizzle reel about things that have just debuted, such as Starlight Night Parade, Test Track 3.0 and Zootopia: Better Zoogether at Walt Disney World (the latter is a sure thing; Disney already confirmed it), along with the ongoing Disneyland 70th Anniversary in California.
We also might expect to see teases of the upcoming Tropical Americas, Monstropolis, Piston Peak Cars Land, Villains Land, Avengers Campus Expansion, Coco Boat Ride, and Pandora – World of Avatar (which would make sense as synergy for the new film). Or they might opt to focus internationally, where the curtain was just pulled back on Disney Adventure World and the upcoming Arendelle area.
Regardless of whether or not (most likely not) any big announcements occur during the special, ”The Wonderful World of Disney: Holiday Spectacular” is legitimately enjoyable. We would (and do!) watch even without the expectation of any Walt Disney World or Disneyland news. The performances are enjoyable and it’s a nice ‘taste of Disney’ from home. We’ve both come to prefer the post-Thanksgiving special to the ABC Disney Christmas Day Parade, despite the latter being the iconic special we grew up on.
Anyway, here are details about the ”The Wonderful World of Disney: Holiday Spectacular” in case you want to catch it live or on streaming services…
Hosted by Derek Hough, “The Wonderful World of Disney: Holiday Spectacular” returns for its 10th year, featuring dazzling new musical performances from Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, Disneyland Resort in California and Aulani, a Disney Resort & Spa in Ko Olina, Hawaiʻi.
Narrated by Ginnifer Goodwin (voice of Judy Hopps in “Zootopia 2”), who carries on the tradition of sharing how the Disney Parks sparkle to life for the holidays, “The Wonderful World of Disney: Holiday Spectacular” airs on Monday, December 1, 2025, at 8:00 p.m. EST/PST on ABC, and streams next day on Hulu and Disney+.
This year’s holiday spectacular is highlighted by Gwen Stefani, who takes center stage in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland Resort for a performance of her brand-new festive hit “Shake the Snowglobe.” With the castle aglow in Christmas lights, Gwen’s high-energy style and signature flair promise to make this one of the most unforgettable moments of the night.
Joining Gwen are incredible artists performing from Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and beyond:
- Aloe Blacc brings soulful vibes to Toy Story Land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios with “This Christmas.”
- At Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Good Charlotte rocks out in front of the Millennium Falcon at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge with “Fairytale of New York.”
- At Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Coco Jones delivers a heartfelt “Silent Night” beneath the glowing Tree of Life, while Mariah the Scientist adds a twist to “Santa Baby” in the bioluminescent wonder of Pandora – The World of Avatar.
- Over at Disneyland Resort, Tony Award Winner Nicole Scherzinger graces “it’s a small world” with a stunning rendition of “O Holy Night.”
- At EPCOT, the holiday fun continues in the World Celebration Gardens, where three-time Grammy winner Trisha Yearwood will sing “My Favorite Things.”
- Bebe Rexha takes the festivities to another level on the Cinderella Castle stage at Magic Kingdom with a performance of “Rockin Around the Christmas Tree.”
- Finally, the holiday spirit travels all the way to Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa, where American Idol winner Iam Tongi shares the warmth of the islands with “Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride” from Lilo and Stitch.
Below are some publicity photos released by Walt Disney World and Disneyland of “The Wonderful World of Disney: Holiday Spectacular.”
“The Wonderful World of Disney: Holiday Spectacular” is produced by Disney executive and senior executive producer Sally Hopkins Conner who brought on production company EverWonder Studio and executive producers Michael Antinoro, Tiffany Faigus and Ashley Edens.
Disney film fans are also in for a treat with a special look of Avatar: Fire and Ash, introduced by the cast of the movie from Pandora – The World of Avatar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The special will also offer a special celebration for Zootopia 2 introduced by Ke Huy Quan, the voice of Zootopia 2’s Gary De’Snake, from Disneyland and a closer look at Zootopia: Better Zoogether!, the all-new 4D show at Disney’s Animal Kingdom hosted by actor Nate Torrence, who lends his voice to the ever-optimistic Officer Clawhauser.
The first thing regular viewers of “The Wonderful World of Disney: Holiday Spectacular” might notice is that, for the first time in 3 years, the majority of the special was not filmed in front of Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World.
This was expected, as the new Disney Starlight Night Parade is performed twice nightly at Magic Kingdom on non-Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party nights. The result is a 3+ hour block during which no filming could be recorded (really, longer than that since guests camp out earlier and it takes time to clear the area). In the past, filming crews have only had to contend with the Happily Ever After fireworks.
As a result, there was a lot of filming that was moved to other parks and also earlier in the season. For example, D23 hosted “The Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration Overnight Taping” on October 24-25, 2025 at Disneyland. There was even more filming the following morning in California. Honestly, the biggest surprise to us is that so little of this special is at Disneyland. That suggests they held back a lot of segments for the ABC Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade.
Speaking of which, the parade portion of that December 25, 2025 holiday special was filmed at Magic Kingdom. This is something we covered at length in My Favorite Days at Magic Kingdom: See Mickey’s Christmas Parade & More Entertainment for Free!
That was the ‘big thing’ this year at Walt Disney World, and we were in Magic Kingdom throughout the day during that filming. Unfortunately, we didn’t actually watch the recording of Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade this year, both because the viewing areas were more packed than we’ve ever seen them (word has gotten out) and because we were traveling with our toddler for a family Christmas trip.
As much as she loves parades, she hates waiting even more. I doubt camping out for 2+ hours would’ve been in the cards for us. We nevertheless highly recommend doing it in 2026 if you have the chance–it’s a fun experience with great communal energy!
For each of the last 3 years, “The Wonderful World of Disney: Holiday Spectacular” and the “ABC Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade” have been filmed at Walt Disney World over Veterans Day weekend. For those planning ahead for 2026 Walt Disney World vacations, it’ll probably be filmed around November 7-8, 2026. There might be a few scattered performances in the other parks prior to then, too.
See our list of the 10 Best and 10 Worst Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2026, as the weeks around this date make both lists. (It’s really like flipping a switch with heavy crowds one day and off-season the next.)
With that said, we were in the parks over Veterans Day weekend, and despite most hotels being sold out, the crowds were manageable. It was busy, but not bonkers. Jersey Week and Veterans Day are one of our favorite times to visit for the kickoff of Christmas–we’d take elevated crowds and typically nicer weather over low crowds and elevated temperatures, but that’s just us!
As for our experience watching the filming of the 2025 “The Wonderful World of Disney: Holiday Spectacular,” we really didn’t have much of one, quite honestly. We saw the infrastructure set up, and happened to be in front of Cinderella Castle a couple of times during ‘intermissions’ in filming, but kept getting unlucky with timing.
This was our first trip over Veterans Day in the last 3 years with our toddler so, again, we couldn’t really just loiter around waiting for filming to resume. She doesn’t quite grasp the ‘Sacred Blogger Oath’ to create content, even if that means a lot of standing around and doing nothing. She just wants to ride “it’s a small world,” Dumbo, Mad Tea Party, etc.
We heard the nighttime recording start while riding Dumbo and saw the fireworks-finale in a distance, so we headed in that direction when we were done. Upon arrival, so too was the recording.
Unless we somehow missed something, recording at Walt Disney World was very brief this year. Which makes sense, since it was only one song–but there have been times when even one song requires ~2 hours worth of takes to get the choreography right.
Not only was recording brief, but setup and breakdown was fast. In previous years, it was common for the infrastructure to be installed 2 days prior to filming…and just sit there, before being removed overnight after filming was finished. This year, it arrived day of and was gone before the evening was even over. Almost everything was gone before the first showing of Starlight!
Unfortunately, that’s the extent of our “experience” with the “The Wonderful World of Disney: Holiday Spectacular” filming in 2025. What follows are further thoughts from the past two years, when I watched the recording for several hours–in one case, until long past midnight…
In the past, we’ve warned that the musical numbers being filmed for “The Wonderful World of Disney: Holiday Spectacular” can be boring to watch in person and it creates congestion. What you’re seeing on television now might look really fun to see in person, but is the result of meticulous work in shooting, re-shooting, and careful editing.
This isn’t to say it’s not enjoyable to watch (it is!), we just want to set expectations appropriately. There’s a lot of stopping, pausing, and restarting. The songs you see performed on stage are not like a traditional concert with the performer singing a variety of different holiday hits.
It’s the same song several times, and then the next performer moving on to their song…also performed several times. What you see in the span of a couple hours on television takes multiple days to record.
Another thing to note is that you cannot get to front-row, center-stage to see the musical performances up-close. The crowd is ‘carefully curated’ for these performances–it’s no coincidence that everyone in the audience is photogenic and just so happens to be wearing the latest holiday styles sold at the Disney Store!
There are reserved viewing areas at Magic Kingdom for all of these performances, and everyone you see at home in the audience is typically a Cast Member and their families/invited guests. The general public is allowed to watch from farther back, and off to the sides of the Central Plaza.
It’s still easily possible to hear the performances and see the performers. It’s like the equivalent of having nosebleed seats at a concert. I actually like being a bit farther back, as it makes seeing the fireworks easier, and you can still hear along with what’s happening on stage.
Watching the musical opening, in particular, was a really fun experience. This is a lengthy musical medley with quick transitions and, to this clumsy and uncoordinated man’s eye, a lot of fancy and tough dance moves. As a result, it took multiple takes to get this right, but not nearly as many as last year.
Getting to a certain point in the routine triggered fireworks, then the performers would goof up, and then have to do it all again. If the pyro was triggered, there would be a longer delay between takes, as they’d have to wait for the fireworks to be reset and the smoke to clear.
In aggregate, this was the second-most pyro I’ve ever seen in a single day at Walt Disney World…behind only last year’s filming of the special. That’s really saying something, since we’ve done New Year’s Eve and Fourth of July at both Magic Kingdom and EPCOT countless times!
Otherwise, the performances were a lot of fun and the visuals, as always, were impressive. There’s a reason we’ve visited for this same timeframe three years a row, and in all likelihood, will be back in 2026. Sure, the primary reason is that this special is shot during the opening weekend of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas, Disney Jollywood Nights, and the kickoff to Christmas season.
But even so, we make a point of being in Magic Kingdom during the filming, as opposed to avoiding it. That’s because spending all day in Magic Kingdom for the ABC holiday special filming is a unique experience. Seeing Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade filmed during the day is enjoyable, but honestly, it’s not the highlight for me and it’s gotten progressively worse as word has gotten out and more people pack the parade route.
In the past, the highlight of those has been watching the nighttime performances on stage for hours on end, complete with the fireworks finales. So I really hope that returns for Christmas 2026, once the ‘new parade smell’ has worn off Starlight. If you don’t mind somewhat elevated crowds over the holiday weekend and parts of the park being closed off (not rides, but walkways) while recording is happening, it’s a great time to visit!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
Were you in Magic Kingdom during the day or at night when the ABC holiday specials were filmed? Did you watch the parade, musical performances on stage, or both? What was your experience? Agree or disagree with our assessment? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!