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Disney News (12/6), Festival of the Holidays Food Preview, and the history of the Candlelight Processional!

Episode 12

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This week, we discuss the history and beauty of the Candlelight Processional beginning at Disneyland, moving to Disneyworld, and now at EPCOT.  Nothing gets us in the Christmas spirit like the Candlelight Processional at EPCOT.  We also cover the 10 things we’re looking forward to most at EPCOT’s Festival of the Holidays running from November 27 – December 30th. If you’re in the mood for some Christmas magic, don’t miss these awesome Disney holiday snacks or the Candelight Processional video that we’ll link in our show notes.

Listen to us on your favorite podcast platform or at these links:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/supercalifragilistic-awesome-disney-podcast/id1519529786
IHeartRadio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-supercalifragilistic-aweso-68324055/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7aEKXzO7tTCqZfnvJnzAPC 

For show notes, transcript, and more details from this episode, please visit: 
SCFADP on Twitter: https://twitter.com/scfadp
SCFADP on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scfadp/
Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/scfadp)

All music for this episode is available through a creative commons license. The background music for the News segment was created by Kevin Macleod: Fuzzball Parade by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5044-fuzzball-parade
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 

For more things DISNEY (and Disney food reviews), check out our website: https://scfadp.com

Follow us on Twitter or Instagram at @SCFADP in both places!


Show Notes:

Disney’s Grand Californian Resort and Spa will not re-open on Dec. 6 

Radio Disney, Radio Disney Country to shut down ops in early 2021 

Not Disney related but it could influence the movie industry significantly – Warner Bros has decided to released their entire 2021 movie line-up in theaters and on HBO MAX simultaneously 

Candlelight Processional 

Festival of the Holidays Food Details
https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2020/11/foodie-guide-to-the-2020-taste-of-epcot-international-festival-of-the-holidays-presented-by-adventhealth-opening-nov-27/


Transcript:

Chris  0:04 

You’re listening to SuperCali, super, oh whatever the infernal thing is, supercalifragilistic awesome Disney podcast. Each week, we’re going to talk about three things.  In Main Street USA, We’ll talk about the latest Disney news

Unknown Speaker  0:18 

my “partridge in a pear tree” underwear needs washing. Oh, well then my Christmas wish has been granted.

Chris  0:22 

In TomorrowLand we’ll talk about the things we’re looking forward to. “What do you want with me? You will be haunted by three spirits. I’d rather not.” And world showcase is dedicated to our favorite Disney adventures. It’s Christmas Eve.. a time of mystery,  expectation. Who knows what might happen? So let’s get this show on the road.

Unknown Speaker  0:44 

Please stand clear of the doors  Por Favor Mantengase Alejado De Las Puertas.

Chris  0:50 

Hey there everybody. This

Unknown Speaker  0:51 

is Chris and I’m Kelly.

Chris  0:53 

I’m loving these holiday season intros but I don’t know they started last one. Yeah,

Kelli  0:58 

the Nutcracker. Oh,

Unknown Speaker  1:00 

I never saw it.

Kelli  1:01 

You never saw the Nutcracker ever saw it? It’s one of those movies that I would say is beautiful. Okay, like it’s gorgeous. Everything about that movie

Chris  1:10 

is gorgeous. Like I remember when you guys went to see it. You said that you didn’t say it was a great movie. It’s

Kelli  1:15 

not movie. It’s not a great plot. You know, the person who’s the villain has red hair, and I’m always against that. But it was a beautiful, beautiful movie. I might do a I might do a segment on that. That’ll be a fun one.

Chris  1:30 

So last week, you had what were probably the most creative ears. I think you’ve worn until this week.

Kelli  1:37 

Oh, really? Yeah,

Chris  1:38 

these are way different. I mean, cheers. They’re clearly stitch. But it’s like you could you could like do a Disney run in that.

Kelli  1:48 

Yeah, I know. I think it’s interesting how they made these I guess stitches ears are closer to the front of his head. Oh,

Chris  1:56 

very anatomically correct, which

Kelli  1:57 

would allow? I’m not sure. But I have to say, you know, I hit my head on the microwave door earlier tonight.

Chris  2:04 

I remember.

Kelli  2:05 

And I did not want to put a headband on. Oh, wow. And so I thought I really hit myself hard in the back there. And

Chris  2:14 

thank God for these ears stuff for whatever years, whatever kind of and it’s got

Kelli  2:18 

this cute little tuft right in the middle.

Chris  2:20 

You know I love bangs, and

Kelli  2:23 

I love tufts love animals with toughs. And I enjoy your classic Mickey t. I see You didn’t decide to model the mirch this week like I’m doing Yeah, I don’t want to take these sweatshirts off. I’m not taking these sweatshirts off until May

Chris  2:37 

they are they are super comfy. And I love

Kelli  2:40 

the sweatshirts. They are so comfy and attractive to boot. attractive to boot. Yes, but I also enjoy your classic Mickey tee, as per usual. Thank

Chris  2:49 

you. So as always, my favorite thing to do every week is to see where the downloads are coming from. Because I just can’t get over it. And I am just flush with gratitude every time I see that like this week, Atlanta, Georgia, we saw some downloads from Atlanta. I love to believe that that’s some of my friendly co-workers down there. paradise Nevada.

Kelli  3:17 

Sounds like a fun place sound

Chris  3:18 

like a good time doesn’t it? Oregon City Oregon. Which you never think about an Oregon City, Oregon. I didn’t know there was one that’s great. And

Kelli  3:28 

Fukuoka Japan. what are the chances you got that right?

Chris  3:31 

I’m sure I got it right because I had the Google’s pronounce it for me. Oh, well, and we know that the Google wasn’t it But look, I hope that tried because Fukuoka Fukuoka.

Kelli  3:45 

Fukuoka.

Chris  3:46 

Yeah, if you play around with that one too much, though it comes out. Not much worse. So see how that’s the way we’re gonna go with it.

Kelli  3:53 

I could see how that one could go sideways fairly quickly. Yeah,

Chris  3:56 

we had four downloads from Japan this week, which I

Kelli  3:59 

welcome all No,

Chris  4:00 

no, no all… spanning Japan. We are huge in Japan.

Kelli  4:04 

Four downloads. We’re huge in Japan. Well, thanks Japan.

Chris  4:10 

Yeah, absolutely. And as always add us on the Grams on Twitter, whatever social medias you use, and we’ll send you a sticker. Absolutely. Ready for Main Street?

Kelli  4:22 

Let’s do it. All right.

Chris  4:25 

So yesterday was Walt Disney’s birthday. That’s really all the news is in there for that one. Yesterday was his birthday. And how old would he have been? Would have been 119. Yeah. So so much joy and, and, you know, just happiness out of one life. It’s amazing. That’s cool. It’s amazing. That’s pretty cool.

Unknown Speaker  4:48 

I’ll start with the a mouse all started with a mouse.

Chris  4:51 

Um, so at Animal Kingdom, the two baby giraffes that that were born in recent months, maple and Zilla made their debut on the Savannah yesterday or

Kelli  5:05 

this week. Bless it now did they say that why the names Maple and Zilla. Oh, I

Chris  5:10 

couldn’t find that I couldn’t find it but they’re beautiful and they there’s some shots I’ve got of them running through the Savannah. They’re just they’re just they’re

Kelli  5:19 

having a blast on the Savannah.

Chris  5:21 

Oh yeah, you know they are. This was from Dr. Mark at Disney.

Kelli  5:27 

I like that her names may be like that, but that’s really cute.

Chris  5:32 

It’s sort of you know, sort of fits does. Um, resort news. Disney’s grand Californian Resort and Spa was supposed to open on December the sixth but spiking COVID cases. California has put things on lockdown again. So to comply with the governor’s orders. They’re pushing that back no date on exactly when you can go and take a nice spa day at the rink California. I mean, the parks not open, but they were planning to open the resort. So that’s that’s a little bit of a bummer. Yeah. Um, so we’ve talked about in previous episodes that the clown pool at the boardwalk is getting a redo the super creepy clown pool. Brooke j MacDonald on Twitter. She’s a reporter does some does a lot of parking is she released a statement from Disney? That said we look forward this is a clue. Okay, cryptic. Okay. We look forward to Mickey and his pals clowning around at the Luna Park pool.

Kelli  6:40 

That’ll be better.

Chris  6:41 

Whatever it is, whatever it is that we better guess we’ll enjoy the same great ride down the keystore coaster. Slide, but with a brand new look.

Kelli  6:51 

Please, please boardwalk. That was a creepy, creepy clown bloke. I

Chris  6:57 

mean, it still sounds like clowns are gonna be involved somehow. While they’re clowning around and around.

Kelli  7:04 

Right maybe it’s them like dressed as clowns or something. But whatever. Got to get rid of that creepy creepy clown.

Chris  7:12 

I don’t know if them dressed as clowns is going to make me feel better either. So Stacy, who if you’ve ever stayed at the resorts for whatever reason we keep it on the channel that’s always showing the Disney “must do’s” hosted by Stacy. She’s been doing this. They’ve been playing this for 15 years. Yeah, her magic bands are old. Yeah, so it was probably time for a redo. Uh huh. And but she’s gone right they’re not on the station anymore. St. Brooke McDonald twitterfeed passes along to me too. So they pulled her I pulled her off the the television in the in room television. But I’m really hoping that they’re they’re just redoing it she’s still in the spokesperson business so

Kelli  8:00 

right cuz I really love Stacey like when we go in and turn her on and she’s like, it does doesn’t look like she’s welcoming us home.

Chris  8:09 

really does. I’m gonna miss her.

Kelli  8:12 

I already miss her. I

Chris  8:13 

know we’re gonna we’re gonna be there in a week. And if I can’t find her on the TV, I’m really gonna be bummed. I mean, somebody really sent

Kelli  8:21 

directly to her. So there’s she can feel the love. I know. We do love Stacey. In fact, the first time we went you remember I downloaded Stacy. On the on the kids tablets. Oh, yeah. So they could see the “Must Do Disney” Stacy videos a great introduction

Chris  8:39 

to Disney. For people who haven’t been there. I’d love Stacy. Oh, man, I love I just hope they’re redoing it’s time, it needed to be refreshed. It was supposed to be a one year thing and they’ve kept it on there for 14 extra years.

Kelli  8:52 

Well, they’ve updated it a little bit like you can see different parks have opened

Chris  8:56 

Sure. Oh, yeah. Yeah, but yeah,

Kelli  8:59 

I miss you Stacy. already.

Chris  9:01 

I haven’t had a chance to miss you. And I mentioned already miss you. Um, so entertainment news, radio Disney and Radio Disney country are going to be shutting down in 2021. So yeah, no, you’re not. You’re missing

Kelli  9:15 

are these sirius stations. What

Chris  9:17 

is it started out as straight up terrestrial stations. But yeah, they’re on Sirius

Unknown Speaker  9:22 

now. Okay.

Chris  9:24 

Yep. It started radio. Disney started in 1996 as a regular terrestrial broadcast station that allowed kids to create the playlist by calling a toll free phone number. Oh, now. That’s fun. That cute. That’s cute. Yeah, yeah. And it and it. Significantly helped to amplify the careers of Miley Cyrus to Jonas Brothers. Selena Gomez. Demi Lovato okay, right?

Kelli  9:50 

Yes. Okay. Um,

Chris  9:52 

big for the launch of those personalities. Okay. Going down, it’s 36 employees.

Unknown Speaker  9:59 

Wow. Wow,

Chris  10:00 

yeah, that that’s that shocked me for some reason.

Kelli  10:03 

Yeah. shocked me.

Chris  10:05 

So they’re part of the, you know, the 32,000 they got cut off it or getting cut out. Yeah. It’s interesting, and not really Disney related, but movie industry related. So it’s bound to have an impact Disney has played sort of a role in this transition. But Warner Brothers announced that every movie that they are set to release in 2021 is going to be released on HBO max simultaneously with any theater releases. Yeah, every movie on their slate and they’re… I mean, that’s a major movie house. It’s obviously getting some, you know, not so great feedback from the theater industry and a lot of movie executives also, but sure, big, big movies like the Dune remake was gonna come out next it’s gonna come out next year… Matrix 4. Can’t believe those words came out of my mouth. Jonathan Groff is in matrix 4. OMG. Lin Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights.

Unknown Speaker  11:09 

Yeah.

Chris  11:10 

I do want to see that. And the new Justice League movie, which is DC so who cares, right? Oh, gosh. So yeah, that’s all I’ve got for Main Street this week. It was a fairly light week.

Kelli  11:25 

Okay. Well, how do you feel about a trivia question? I

Chris  11:28 

love this part of the show. You hate it, but I love it.

Kelli  11:34 

Okay, well, I picked this one. What am I at for as lost count? I think I gave you 20 to 25

Chris  11:41 

points. Last week.

Kelli  11:42 

So you’re at negative 475.

Chris  11:44 

We go bit by bit.

Kelli  11:48 

Okay. All right. Ready? Yep. Who said it’s kind of fun to do the impossible.

Chris  11:56 

Walt Disney.

Kelli  11:56 

There you go. Excellent. See in honor of his birthday, I

Unknown Speaker  12:02 

love that.

Kelli  12:03 

I thought I should go with the Walt Disney one.

Chris  12:06 

My father actually has a plaque on his desk. With that quote, that’s awesome. loves that quote. Excellent.

Kelli  12:15 

So yeah, fun. So

Chris  12:16 

there we go. Okay. You have been touting TomorrowLand. So I mean, I have no idea what it is. But so

Kelli  12:22 

excited about it. Well then, Let’s

Unknown Speaker  12:24 

let’s get on it.

Kelli  12:25 

Let’s do it. So I gotta jump right in. We’re talking about the Festival of the Holidays menu. Okay. All the booths. Alright. Okay, good. Okay, so there are 17 booths. I want you to know, I’ve looked at all of the menus. And I seriously consider going like Micro Machines on this segment.

Unknown Speaker  12:47 

And my nobody’s gonna know.

Kelli  12:53 

And just reading them all up. But I really wanted to give good shout out to the ones I wanted. So I have selected my top 10 booths. Okay, that i think that’s fair. Okay, let me be clear. It’s the 10 that I’m the most excited about. You guys know that I am vegetarian. And I like the alcoholic beverages at Epcot. Okay. Brace yourselves, because we’re talking basically about deserts and vegetables. Okay, so this goes from November 27 through December 30. I’m also intentionally skipping the cookie stroll offerings because we’ve got more on that at a later date. Okay, so my first booth is the holiday sweets and treats booth. Okay. And so again, I’m not going to even talk about everything at the booths that I’ve selected. I’m only going to talk about what I care about.

Chris  13:50 

I love that there’s so much that

Kelli  13:52 

we had to narrowe it down. Oh my goodness, crazy amount of stuff. So at this booth, they have several beverages and shakes but Hello. They have a chocolate peppermint shake featuring Twinings peppermint cheer tea, and whipped cream. Vodka.

Chris  14:11 

We’re not gonna make the same mistake about the whipped cream vodka that we made last time, right,

Kelli  14:16 

just for the record. That’s a theme. So I know what that is. Now, we’re talking about chocolate peppermint shake with Twinings peppermint tea and whipped cream vodka.

Chris  14:29 

Yeah, that sounds really, really great.

Kelli  14:31 

I think the booth has other things too. The second one is the refreshment outpost.

Chris  14:37 

Yeah, okay.

Kelli  14:38 

They have a brown sugar stuffed pretzel with soft serve ice cream and chocolate sauce. Oh, gosh.

Chris  14:48 

Hout out to refreshment outpost because that’s

Kelli  14:51 

really bringing it for refreshment outpost. They also have a frozen slushy and a spike the bee Sipper Cup which I think will be kind of popular. And you can get that alcoholic or non alcoholic, but I saw that pretzel cut open and if you imagine like, you know a cheese stuffed pretzel right? It’s kind of like a little tunnel all the way through the pretzel.

Okay so it’s like think of that is like a brown sugar paste going all the way through it almost like a brown sugar like butter. Oh it looks good. It looks good brown sugar paste that looks There we go. Okay Bavaria holiday kitchen This is in Germany, Germany. Now I had this last year and I just about ate the cardboard that it came in. Okay, I got this literally standing in the rain. The cardboard was wet. I was wet. You took me under the like the Germany awning where people are waiting for whatever Germany restaurant. Oh yes. And I literally sat on the floor. And just about drank this. This is the cheese fondue in a bread bowl with steamed veggies and potatoes. That cheese fondue was amazing man, a German spectacle. I made a German… that’s got to be a racist statement. But I

Unknown Speaker  16:16 

That’s a deep cut. I made

Kelli  16:18 

a very huge spectacle of myself. I’m telling you I was licking it off my fingers. I was licking it out the little container. They give you like whole little mini carrots. Not like baby carrots but like little mini carrots with the little green stem. Oh, you just dip in it. You just dip in it. Now here’s the thing. They are generous with that fondue

Chris  16:38 

and it was essential bread as an afterthought.

Kelli  16:41 

It was essentially my bread bowl was sitting in fondue. And there was fondue in the middle of the bread bowl. So good. They also have a ghluewine, house-made Hot spiced wine. I think that will be great with my cheese fondue.

Chris  17:06 

I agree.

Kelli  17:07 

Okay, next up America’s holiday table. They have a holiday pot pie with jackfruit you know where I’m going with this. Mushrooms carrots, peas, onions and a puff pastry. This is a plant based pot pie.

Chris  17:23 

Yes. jackfruit is some kind of miracle thing.

Kelli  17:26 

A plant based Pot pie look at America bringing the plant base to totally everything plant based there they nothing but meat. So like our we’re

Chris  17:33 

talking about the actual country. There’s hardly

Kelli  17:36 

anything. Yes. I’m excited about that for you though. Honey. I picked out some stuff for you too. Thanks. You’re welcome. They also have a sweet potato casserole funnel cake. Oh, at the funnel cake booth.

Unknown Speaker  17:49 

Oh, that’s, that’s strong.

Kelli  17:51 

Now this one I’m excited about for both of us. This is the L’Haime holiday kitchen. Yeah, it’s between Morocco and France. For you. pastrami on rye with housemade pickles and deli mustard. This is the most adorable little pastrami sandwich you’ve ever seen. Well, I

Chris  18:06 

do love a pastrami.

Kelli  18:08 

They also have smoked salmon potato latkes. You can get the potato latkes alone and they’re plant based. I’m totally doing that. Okay, festival favorites. This is at the world show place. They do have some good stuff in the world show place. Several beverages and some other foods. But Hello, frozen smores with the whipped cream vodka.

Chris  18:28 

Yeah, you get that booth. You’ve had that you had that before. Yeah, and it was good.

Unknown Speaker  18:32 

It was fantastic. I

Chris  18:34 

thought it was actual whipped cream.

Kelli  18:35 

I’m going back. Holiday hearth is also in world showcase. And again, they’ve got food, but they also have a gingerbread milkshake with whipped cream vodka, a gingerbread milkshake with whipped cream vodka, or a cocoa candy cane, which is hot cocoa with peppermint shops.

Chris  18:57 

You’re literally bouncing.

Kelli  19:00 

So excited. Okay, next Canada, the Yukon holiday kitchen. This one’s for you, honey. Beef bourguignon with crushed potatoes. Lovely looks lovely. And for me frozen coffee with Tap 357 whiskey and you’ll be carrying

Chris  19:20 

seriously if we’ve had the other drinks you’ve already discussed. And then you have the whiskey.

Kelli  19:28 

Well, I guess it depends on which direction we go. When we go in.

Chris  19:32 

Right I guess that’s true.

Kelli  19:33 

This one Hey, we’re both gonna love this. Okay, the France booth. This is called like marchais de Noel holiday kitchen. You’re all welcome for that pronunciation. for you honey, turkey with bacon mushrooms and onions and a mustard cream sauce with puff potatoes. Now I want you to imagine things from the France booth. Right? This is you know beautiful with little the mustard, cream sauce is little dots on your plate are pretty those puffed potatoes looked like like a really light hush puppy like a tempura batter hush puppy. Oh,

yeah, you need that. you really need that which is great because I need the frozen Hot Chocolate Martini with the Grey Goose vodka and the chocolate milk. We can go together go together. Okay, I love that little Martini I’ve had it for It’s awesome. Okay, the Sapphire holiday kitchen. This is in Morocco. Okay. They actually have some good looking meat things like they have a grilled lamb kebab and a chicken drumstick with Granny Smith, apple, toasted almonds, Brussels in a Pinot Noir glaze.

Unknown Speaker  20:43 

Gosh,

Kelli  20:44 

it’s a sharp little chicken drumstick.

Unknown Speaker  20:47 

It sounds like

Kelli  20:48 

I don’t really know how to describe this, but think of like a chicken leg. But then you know how like in fancy restaurants. They take all this stuff off of the leg part. So that’s just like a little ball of meat and a bone sticking out. Frenching. you know what that’s called?

Chris  21:04 

Alton brown taught me. Yeah,

Kelli  21:06 

I don’t want to think about how they do that. But they are pretty when they do it. But it you know, violates my number one rule, which is food that reminds me of the animal that once was

Unknown Speaker  21:17 

sure. That’s a good rule.

Kelli  21:19 

But they also have warm beignets with cream, sugar and chocolate sauce. I don’t know Morocco did then. Yay. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker  21:29 

Well, we’re gonna we’re gonna give that a test right?

Kelli  21:33 

Yeah, we are. I will say that there is some really cool boba drinks in China and in Japan love boba. And in Japan specifically, they have a sushi Christmas tree with salmon and tuna. So like the rice is shaped like a little tree. Wow. And then it has like salmon and tuna and I think a couple other cute fish names on top of it. Couple

Chris  21:55 

other fish names

Kelli  21:56 

other fish names. They also have a strawberry and Bavarian Cream filled tart. That I have to say. Yeah, the photo looks like, you know, raw hamburger meat like the it looks like somebody piped out raw hamburger meat

Chris  22:15 

That is not an enticing description.

Kelli  22:19 

saying that’s what it looks like. But that’s how big the piping is. And it’s not like a perfect swirl up. It’s sort of like a messy spaghetti.

Chris  22:32 

Well, you are not selling that one. You

Kelli  22:33 

don’t want it. I don’t think we want it.

Chris  22:36 

Okay, sounded great when you just called what it is.

Kelli  22:38 

But no, but I’m going to post a picture that one just so that people can see what I’m talking about when I say it looks like raw hamburger meat in a tart

Chris  22:47 

would not be good. Does not sound good.

Kelli  22:54 

It’s not we need to work out a plan for what we’re going to eat sounds

Unknown Speaker  22:57 

like it

Kelli  22:58 

while we’re there. Because there’s some really good stuff I think.

Chris  23:00 

I think the plan is open up the wallet.

Unknown Speaker  23:04 

Yeah. I mean, and maybe get like a stroller stroller.

Unknown Speaker  23:10 

You

Chris  23:13 

Oh gosh. Well, that was I’m excited. I’m excited about it. I’m really excited to be there but cannot wait. And then we’ve got to the Les Chefs de France at the end of the day. Oh. Oh,

Kelli  23:27 

do you think they serve that hot chocolate? That Chocolate Martini we just carry it in with us

Chris  23:36 

I’m sticking with Christmas here

Kelli  23:39 

Alright, let’s do it.

Chris  23:41 

So this is easy. I mean, it was bound to happen during the Christmas season that we talked about this easily. Top three experiences ever. For me at least at Disney. Okay. This is the candlelight processional. Okay,

Kelli  23:59 

look, we’re both at Epcot.

Chris  24:00 

I know I thought about that. Yeah, candlelight processional. And here’s what blows my mind sometimes is a friend of ours who is big a Disney nut as we are. She told me about this. I had never been to Disney at Christmas time until we went once together.

Kelli  24:21 

I can’t believe you mama never went.

Chris  24:23 

We never did we went in the summertime or in maybe October during like a fall break or something but never at Christmas. And I can’t imagine hardley going year without going at Christmas time now. But that trip friend of ours said well you got to do the candlelight processional. I had never even heard of the thing. But so this is a a mass choir. And they do a candlelight processional so they walk in by candlelight. You get this wonderful classical concert experience and the Christmas Story is read by a celebrity guest

Kelli  25:01 

and it’s a different choir. Like the choirs rotate, right?

Chris  25:05 

The choirs rotate yeah guest choirs. Okay, a lot and then they they’ll also hire you know, we did the rest of the Liberty thing and they’ll they’ll hire people for seasonal work there also. Right. So how long do you think they have been doing the candlelight processional? Well, Epcot opened in what if I told you they do it at Disneyland also?

Kelli  25:30 

So you know, that’s interesting.

Chris  25:32 

So,

Kelli  25:33 

but you’re talking about how long have they been doing it to Epcot?

Chris  25:36 

Mm hmm. This is just how long have they been doing? Just in general? How

Kelli  25:39 

long has Disney been doing a candlelight processional? 30 years

Chris  25:45 

since the official first candlelight processional at Disneyland was in 1958. Wow. Yeah. It and then in 1960, I think it looked a little more like what it that was the year the first year they had their first guest speaker

Unknown Speaker  26:02 

so we’re gonna remember that 60 years. Yeah, we’re

Chris  26:04 

gonna dive into the history of the candlelight processional.

Kelli  26:07 

Oh, wow.

Chris  26:08 

So imagine in 1959, you’re on Disneyland’s Main Street USA and Town Square. They used to have this thing called the parade of all nations.

Unknown Speaker  26:19 

We at Disneyland or Disneyland, okay.

Chris  26:20 

1959. So this is this is 12 years before Disney World, Magic Kingdom. And they just had this parade of all nations. And Walt Disney was leading the parade of all nations down Main Street towards Town Square. And behind him behind the parade of all nations. They had 2574 robed singers with candle lights they process down Main Street.

Kelli  26:56 

Yes.

Chris  26:55 

Oh, wow. In in Disneyland, it’s much more of a processional. Magical. Yes, that would be very magical. So it all really has its roots dating back to the very first year that Disneyland was open 1955 it opened in July I believe. Just a few months later on November the 25th. A group of 12 Dickens clothed Christmas carolers right on the direction of Dr. Charles hurt from the University of Southern California. And a 300 member mass choir stood on the steps of the train station in town square and sang Christmas carols accompanied by visiting bands right that kicked off the holiday season the festival holiday festival at Disneyland the very first year it was open. And then throughout the rest of the holiday season, The Dickens characters would sort of be at different places in the park singing Christmas carols, and they had a main street USA bandstand, like a gazebo. And they renamed that the Christmas bowl for the holiday season. And they would have rotating choirs sing every day during the holiday season there. So that was sort of what they did in the first year. The next year 1956 Dr. Hurt was directing the carols and singers from eight different choirs, as they sing from the train station accompanied by the Disneyland bands. That’s the first time it was on the steps of the train station. 1957 the event got much bigger following the Christmas around the world parade 900 carolers processed from fantasy land through the portico of Sleeping Beauty castle. And they were supposed to they were singing Adeste Fidelis. They were supposed to go down into the Plaza in front of the castle where they would form like a semicircle and they would sing their few few songs. But it was so popular. This was just two years in. It was so popular by then, that there was such a crowd in the plaza waiting for them that they couldn’t form their formation. So they literally were just sort of informally gathered around the Disneyland band and throughout the crowd singing this the songs which would have actually been really cool to experience. And hard

Unknown Speaker  29:20 

I can imagine very hard,

Chris  29:21 

very hard if somebody’s trying to direct everything. Then in 1958 Dr. Hurt suggested that an even larger event for the holidays should happen. And the first actual candlelight processional at Disney happened. This time 16 choirs processed up Main Street to the plaza from the castle where they performed a full concert and they were joined by the dickens carolers who were on the balcony of the castle. Right 1960 was officially, the thing was officially moved back to town square and everybody set up in the train station. This was The first time that a celebrity guest was asked to join the program after Dennis Morgan read portions of the Christmas story. He was he was famous from my wild Irish rose and Christmas in Connecticut. He was also his last credit role on The Love Boat in 1980.

Unknown Speaker  30:15 

Oh,

Chris  30:17 

um, this was also the first time that the processional included a living Christmas tree, which is where the singing okay Christmas tree right. The tree was made up of a guest choir every year until 1982 when the, that’s when the Disney employee choir was created, and since then, the Christmas tree is made up of Disney employees.

Unknown Speaker  30:39 

Oh, wow. Yeah, that’s cool. That is fun.

Chris  30:42 

When Magic Kingdom opened in 1971. It was unthinkable to leave out the candlelight processional so they built it in the Magic Kingdom and they would perform in front of the castle. Okay. And then in 1993 that moved to the American gardens theater at Epcot were the voices of liberty. harken back to the Dickens Carol singers from the early days at Disneyland

Kelli  31:05 

What year was that? Again?

Chris  31:07 

1993.

Kelli  31:09 

So

Chris  31:10 

Epcot was you know 10 years old by then or 11 years old. Okay. And but so they were still doing the candlelight processional at Magic Kingdom until then. Right. Which would have been really cool to see how Yeah, today the event has grown. Obviously, it’s in both locations. It’s 1000 person, mass choir, the Living Christmas tree, the Disneyland orchestra and fanfare trumpeters, which I love, the guest Bell choir every night,  soloists which I believe are like the voices of liberty right? sign language interpreters, celebrity narrators, guests conductors. Yeah,

Kelli  31:51 

I did not know there were 1000 people in that choir. That’s a lot a lot of, man that’s a lot of people to put up there on that stage. A lot of people to watch walk. Yeah, they do. They walk through for sure it takes a while.

Chris  32:02 

Guest narrators I mean dozens and dozens of them every year. Right. But some of the highlights Dick Van Dyke has been a guest there. Oh, wow. He’s a good one. How fantastic James Earl Jones, Whoopi Goldberg who we saw, we saw Whoopi Goldberg. More recently Chris Pratt and Lin Manuel Miranda. Have been there. Yep. We saw Susan Lucci. Of All My Children. I don’t know why that’s great. But I love that. And so this was this was cool. When when I don’t know if you remember when Susan Lucci did it, but she literally she got emotional. She started crying when she was reading some of the story and then telling talking about what it meant to her. The actor, Howard keel. He’s famous for playing Clayton farlow in Dallas, the TV show Dallas, right. Okay. He said of his time narrating the processional. I’ve never been a very religious person. But when you stand up there for all those people with that incredible chorus and orchestra beside you, it’s a wonderfully moving experience. In fact, I was so moved, I could hardly speak.

Kelli  33:10 

Yeah, I can imagine that. It has to be Yeah,

Chris  33:13 

it was. It’s it is breathtakingly beautiful. It is and like there is nothing that has gotten me into the holiday spirit. Like the candlelight processional. Yeah, no, it’s something if you ever get the opportunity to see it. see it in person. But just in case you don’t. On Thursday, this past week, Disney Parks blog actually broadcast on encore performance from 19 from from last year 2019 with Neil Patrick Harris

Kelli  33:43 

wanted to see Neil Patrick Harris

Chris  33:45 

he was gonna be I did say well, you can watch him and we’ll pull it up sometime this week. I’m sure the first six minutes or so of the of the broadcast. If you Google By the way, hashtag Disney magic moments and then space candlelight processional. It’ll take you right to the Disney Parks blog entry on so you can watch it for six minutes or so. is Becky Klein, who works with Walt Disney archives. She shares a lot of the information that I just went through the history of the candlelight processional, which she just calls candlelight, which I love. And so, so yeah, she gets she does the history of it. And then she introduces Neil Patrick Harris and 2019 candlelight processional. Oh, that’s

Kelli  34:27 

awesome. We need to watch Yeah, we

Chris  34:28 

do need to watch it, because can’t watch it live this year. That’s fantastic, though. So that’s our show for this week. I hope you enjoyed it. You know what to do now go to iTunes, leave us a review, give us a rating and we will sit back and watch all the other people come flooding into our

Kelli  34:47 

show. We’d love to sit back and do that. And if you’re looking for more things Disney visit SCFadp.com. That’s SCFadp.com. S for super, C for cali, F for fragilistic, A for awesome, D for Disney, P for podcast. We put that lava cake video out there last week.

Unknown Speaker  35:07 

A lot of

Kelli  35:08 

it’s been great. We got one more recipe to do before we leave next week and I’m excited about it. Yeah,

Chris  35:14 

looking forward to that. So keep an eye out for it. interact with us on the Grams interact with us on Twitter. We’re at SCFADP in both places. The more the merrier. Yes, we would love to hear from you. And with that, we hope to see you real soon.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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Episode 12