2024 Christmas Day Parade Filming at Disney World

Viewers of ABC’s ‘Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade’ commonly ask what dates it’s filmed, what watching it performed live is like, and how to get tickets to see it in person for Walt Disney World and Disneyland. If you want to view the parade filming live in Florida or California, here’s what to know.

First, ABC’s Disney Christmas Day Parade is not filmed live. Showing up to Walt Disney World or Disneyland on Christmas expecting to see these celebrity performances live is about the biggest possible Disney-related mistake you can make. Not only will you not see the parade in person, but you will be subject to one of the busiest days of the year in the parks. No joke–it’s nuts!

With that said, we highly recommend visiting Walt Disney World during the holiday season. If you read our list of the 10 Best and 10 Worst Weeks to Visit Walt Disney World in 2024 & 2025, you’ll see several weeks in both November and December–on both of those lists, so choose your dates carefully! For planning basics beyond that, read our 2024 Walt Disney World Vacation Planning Guide. Beyond that, here’s what you need to know about ABC’s Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade…

For the first time in as long as we can remember, the vast majority of last year’s ABC’s Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade was filmed at Walt Disney World and in a single day–back on Sunday, November 12. Prior to this year, the parade portion of the special was typically filmed at Disneyland–this year, only a couple of songs were.

For those wondering what it was like, we were in the park from opening until well after official park closing (almost 2 am!) and documented the experience in What It’s Like to Watch Stars & Musicians Film ABC’s Disney World Holiday TV Specials.

If history repeats itself and the 2024 filming follows this more efficient schedule, we actually would not recommend avoiding Magic Kingdom on whatever day the specials (plural, as the Thanksgiving one is recorded simultaneously) are filmed in 2024.

If you’re watching the special, think it might be fun to watch the filming in-person and are on the fence about visiting the parks on that day, we highly recommend checking out that photo report. It provides a first-person, “behind the scenes” account of what Magic Kingdom was like.

As you’ll read below, our normal advice when it comes to the Christmas special filming is to steer clear of the parks during the shooting of the specials; the camera crews create congestion and block off areas of the park with no real upside to regular guests.

However, there are a couple of upsides to this year’s approach. The first is getting a chance to see Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade without dropping $150+ per person for Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party certainly sounds good to us. The second is that, counterintuitive as it might seem, the way Disney did it this year–with everything condensed into Magic Kingdom–actually caused less chaos and crowdflow issues.

Based on what we saw and experienced, we’d imagine that Walt Disney World deemed this a success and will repeat the approach for Christmas 2024. But we won’t know for about ~10 months when the entertainment schedule is published in (roughly) late October. Stay tuned–we’ll keep you updated in case you’re planning an early to mid-November 2024 trip during one of those aforementioned best weeks to visit Walt Disney World!

Here’s everything else you need to know about the filming of the Christmas specials at Walt Disney World and Disneyland…

Disney typically records the Christmas special for ABC, Disney Channel, Disney+ and other outlets (usually, multiple specials are recorded all at once) during the daytime park hours over the course of a few dates in early November when crowds are low. Recording is spread out over many takes, consuming several days. It is most certainly not one-time pass-through of a parade.

Last year, filming for the television specials occurred during normal operating hours once again at Walt Disney World. At Disneyland, some of the filming still occurred overnight while some happened in the daytime while the parks were open.

We saw television crews in Walt Disney World a couple of times. Filming for last year’s Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade occurred November 12-13. This was during the busy Veterans Day weekend, which is not seem ideal, but Walt Disney World has to work around celebrity schedules, meaning sometimes there’s no viable alternative. Additional filming occurred later in the month, but principal photography for the performances happened in mid-November.

It remains to be seen when the 2024 Disney Christmas Parade will be filmed at Walt Disney World. Our best guess is sometime between November 5 and November 17, 2024. If history repeats itself, the exact date of filming would be November 10, 2024. (Don’t count on the precise day of week not changing–the timing of Veterans Day could impact when it’s shot.)

It’s possible that additional footage will be recorded at the beginning of December 2024. That’s happened on more than a few occasions in recent years. This has been the formula for the last 7 or 8 years–do the bulk of filming earlier, and return for minor reshoots or b-roll later.

The earlier the better, both in terms of the impact on crowds and the lead-time to edit the footage before the Thanksgiving weekend special airs on ABC and Hulu. (The added filming days in early December are exclusively for the Christmas Day Parade.) Usually, principal filming takes up 4 days, taking place in different parks on different days.

The 2024 Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade airs Christmas Morning on ABC at 10 a.m. ET and 9 a.m. CT/PT and begins streaming on demand the next day on Hulu. The official performer lineup has not yet been released, but for the last few years, Derek and Julianne Hough have hosted.

They are often joined by Trevor Jackson and Sherry Cola from Disneyland in California. Comedian Kevin Nealon has filled the role of Kevin Winterbean, also known as “The Christmas Day Guy” who answers any and all questions relating to Christmas Day. Gone are the days when Regis Philbin and Kathie Lee Gifford hosted the parade year in and year out.

Recording in early to mid-November gives Walt Disney World a chance to take down the Halloween decorations and get up Christmas decorations in advance of the recording. Moreover, Disney starts airing these television specials on Thanksgiving, which pretty much requires at least a couple weeks of lead-time for sufficient edits. So, if you do want to attend the Christmas parade filming, that’s the window to aim for.

One thing that’s worth noting is that more recording is now done in out-of-the-way locations. Disney used to record everything on stages in front of Cinderella Castle, which caused congestion. That stage is still used to some degree, but not nearly to the extent it used to be, when there were several consecutive hours of high-profile performers (like Mariah Carey) who drew crowds. With Walt Disney World attendance increasing, recording for the holiday specials is more spread out to diffuse crowds.

In actuality, only stage performances and interviews will be recorded at Walt Disney World, and not the traditional parade segments. The traditional parade segments will likely be recorded at Disneyland once again. Dates for Disneyland are always less certain. Again, Disney uses this footage for Thanksgiving specials in addition to the popular ABC’s Disney Christmas Day Parade, so the timelines will be similar–but typically not overlapping–between the two coasts.

Nowadays, ‘parade’ is probably a misnomer for what’s broadcast on ABC Christmas Day, because what airs is so broken up and more like a synergy fest to promote upcoming movie releases, television shows, Disney Parks, up and coming artists under Disney labels, and more. It’s basically a thinly-veiled infomercial for all things Disney…but a fun one, nonetheless!

In terms of who is allowed to watch, tickets for the performance/reserved viewing areas at Walt Disney World are distributed to Cast Members and their families. The general public is allowed to watch from farther back, but crowd control often necessitates people not being able to stand in certain areas.

We’ve also heard reports that guests have been randomly selected to receive tickets to these viewing areas, but that’s very much luck of the draw. It’s probably dependent upon how much Disney-branded Christmas garb you’re sporting or how photogenic your kids look.

These segments used to be filmed in early December, and we’re not totally sure why they’ve moved to November, but we have a couple of guesses. The most likely scenario is because ABC has been airing multiple holiday specials each year during its “25 Days of Christmas” and the longer lead time allows for footage from the filmings at Disneyland and Walt Disney World to be used prior to Christmas day.

On Thanksgiving, ABC airs “The Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration” which featured an identical lineup of performers, and was filmed simultaneous to the Christmas Day Parade. This special kicked off the holiday season with a star-studded celebration showcasing musical performances, special appearances, and Disney magical moments including the castle lighting from Disney Parks around the world: Florida, Anaheim, California, Paris, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.

Even if ABC were to stop doing this special, which necessitates filming early in November, growing crowds in December make the parade filming a nightmare for Magic Kingdom operations. Typically, early November crowds are much lighter. We can’t say for certain if the filming would occur in November irrespective of the Thanksgiving special filming, but we think it’s pretty likely.

We’ve been at Walt Disney World a few times in the past when the parade segments were filmed there, and it was a miserable experience. Banish whatever notions you have of it being fun, and getting up close to celebrities. It’s long, drawn out, and what you’ll witness does not resemble the finished product.

Normally, we actually recommend avoiding the parks where the Disney Christmas Day Parade is being recorded, as it’s boring to watch in person and it creates congestion in the parks. What you’re seeing on television now might look really fun to see in person, but we promise you that’s the result of meticulous work in shooting, re-shooting, and careful editing.

This really goes for the parade segments more than the stage show performances, which are more enjoyable to watch, and typically involve less arbitrary stopping, pausing, and restarting. Still, it’s worth noting that the songs 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.

Of course, reasonable minds can vary on this. We have friends who go every year to linger in the areas where the performances are filmed, and they generally enjoy the ‘behind the scenes’ nature of the experience, and getting to see some of their favorite celebrities ‘up close’ (err…from about 100+ yards away).

There’s definitely something to be said about the inside look at how the parade is shot, but it’s not something around which you’ll want to plan a trip to Walt Disney World or Disneyland. If you want to see a celebrity in the parks, we think the better experience (by far) is Candlelight Processional at Epcot or Disneyland, which is presented as a finished product.

It’s also worth noting that in early November when the Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade is filmed, Walt Disney World is not yet totally celebrating Christmas. Magic Kingdom is totally decked out for the holidays due to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, but the same can’t be said for Epcot or the resort hotels.

While early November is one of the lowest crowd times of the holiday season, we personally favor the couple of weeks after Thanksgiving. We detail everything you need to know about visiting during the holiday seasons in our Ultimate Guide to Christmas at Walt Disney World and Ultimate Guide to Christmas at Disneyland.

Overall, we enjoy the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade, and it’s nice to see it returning to some semblance of a “parade” format after being simply a “celebration” for a few years. Yes, it boils down to being an extended commercial for the parks and other Disney stuff, but it’s fun. However, it’s best enjoyed as a finished product from the comfort of your home on Christmas morning. If you’re planning a Disney vacation in 2024, you can subscribe to our free email newsletter for regular updates, planning tips, and everything else you need to know before you go!

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YOUR THOUGHTS

What do you think of ABC’s Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade? Have you been in the parks during a filming? What was your experience like? Would you like to attend? 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!

63 Responses to “2024 Christmas Day Parade Filming at Disney World”
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