Year after year, Walt Disney World is transformed into a whimsical wonderland with themed décor unparalleled by anything you’ve seen before, and it all happens in the blink of an eye, as if by magic!
While you may think its Santas Elves who transform the resort for the holidays, its actually all thanks to the cast members on the Holiday Services team, who work behind the scenes year-round to create picture-perfect trees, garlands and wreaths.
Disney's Holiday Services are located behind the Magic Kingdom in three massive warehouses.
The 3 warehouses have an estimated 40,000 finished pieces of décor, accommodating every season.
From planning to building to installing, these incredibly talented cast members oversee their creations from start to finish, ensuring no branch is left unfluffed and no ornament untouched.
The Holiday Services team plays a key role in making the parks, hotels and cruise ships feel festive even when it's more than 80 degrees outside.
The Holiday Services warehouses has everything from ornaments and figurines to the parks and resorts icon trees.
Across the 40-square-mile resort there are 29 “Icon Trees” that are between 15 and 70 feet tall. Another 596 trees range from two to 14 feet tall. Stars and toppers for trees can be up to seven feet wide and weigh more than 200 pounds.
The largest tree is 70 feet tall. Located at Disney’s Contemporary Resort it weighs more than 33,000 pounds and has 1,200 individual branches. The tree is decorated with 16,000 lights and more than 200 custom light-up ornaments.
In total, Christmas trees throughout the resort feature more than 12,000 branches and are made from more than 110 tons of steel. Decorating all those trees takes more than 15,000 oversized ornaments and 260,000 lights.
Nearly 5,000 garlands are hung throughout Walt Disney World Resort. Together they cover a distance of nearly nine miles.
More than 1,700 wreaths are installed each year, many elaborately themed to their location including one on the front door of Haunted Mansion at Magic Kingdom Park and even a five-foot façade wreath on Sunset Boulevard at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Disney Springs is the location with the most décor – nearly 2,000 individual pieces including trees, garlands, ornaments and other festive details.
All of the holiday materials and installations are managed by Walt Disney World Holiday Services. The team consists of 50 year-round cast members. Another 90 seasonal cast members join the team each year.
Holiday-décor Installation begins Halloween night and is complete by Thanksgiving.
Holiday Services maintains, installs and removes more than 40,000 individual pieces of décor each year.
The team decorates 780 locations at 41 different properties. In addition to Walt Disney World theme parks and resort hotels, locations include Disney Cruise Line ships, as well as the line’s terminal in Port Canaveral and its private island, Castaway Cay, in the Bahamas. The team also decorates Disney’s Vero Beach Resort and Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort.
