Cecil Gordon of Walt Disney World Holiday Services is seen here touching up the face of a six-foot-tall angel tree-topper inside one of the vacation kingdom's holiday warehouses. The angel will eventually make its way to the top of the giant Christmas tree at Epcot during the holiday season. Behind-the-scenes at Disney World, Gordon and his colleagues are currently on round-the-clock schedules preparing 150 tractor-trailer truckloads of decorations for the 40-square-mile property that includes 24 resorts, four theme parks and Downtown Disney. That's more than 1,500 Christmas trees to be set in place, about 15 miles of garland to be strung, at least 44 snow machines to be tested, at last count 1,314 wreaths to be hung, nearly 10 miles of twinkling rope lights and 8.5-million lights to be strung... all before the holiday season begins this month.
Some of those holiday festivities begin as early as this week — November 8 — with tickets now on sale for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom. Although no special ticket is required, the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Disney's Hollywood Studios will turn on the switch for its spectacular display two days later!
Let's take a peek at what's happening "around the world" this holiday:
- Tips for visiting Disney World in November and December
- Disney World Holiday Photo Gallery
- Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party
- Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights
- Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights Photos
- Epcot's Candlelight Processional
And, find more Disney World holiday information — the dates of Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade at Disney's Animal Kingdom and when you can meet Santa at Downtown Disney — within Disney World Holidays 2011.