The Christmas parade you see on TV is filmed in November

Ron and I have a tradition of heading to Magic Kingdom on Christmas Day. It is usually a bit slower, and we enjoy it. The first time we went, we were surprised there was not the full Christmas Day spectacle we had seen on television. As a former cast member I had heard other cast members talk about going to the parade, and they made it sound like a nighttime event. That did not line up with what I expected for Christmas morning, so I let it go in one ear and out the other. It turns out the version that airs on Christmas is filmed weeks earlier, in the afternoon.

This year that afternoon falls on Tuesday, November 10, and Wednesday, November 11. Magic Kingdom will run Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade at 2 p.m. both days, during regular park hours, WDW News Today reported. Disney has not said why. ABC filming is widely expected, and both days are already full for Annual Passholders, WDWMAGIC reported: November 11 filled on October 22, and November 10 on October 23.

From a December taping to November

Taping in November is newer than the show. In 2005 the parade was taped on December 4, when sailors from Navy commands across the Southeast marched down Main Street as part of a military salute, U.S. Navy photographers recorded. Recent tapings came in early November: a Sunday, November 12, in 2023, at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. (WDW News Today); Saturday and Sunday, November 9 and 10, in 2024 (BlogMickey). This year’s taping is the first on weekdays since at least 2023.

On ABC since 1983

ABC first aired a Christmas Day parade from Walt Disney World in 1983, with Joan Lunden and Mike Douglas as hosts, according to D23, Disney’s official fan club. The 1999 parade was the first taped at night, there was no broadcast in 2000, and the show took its current name, Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade, in 2019.

The parade the broadcast is built around has run at Magic Kingdom since 2007, with units for Mickey and friends, Frozen, candy, the princesses and the North Pole, Attractions Magazine reported.

Starting in 2004, the broadcast often split its hosts between Florida and Disneyland in California, Attractions Magazine noted. Here are the best-known names who worked the Florida end.

Mickey Visit expects special characters or celebrities to be added to this year’s parade for the broadcast.

Filming day, from the curb

On November 10 and 11, Festival of Fantasy, the usual afternoon parade, is canceled. The Adventure Friends Cavalcade is off on November 10, and Mickey’s Magical Friendship Faire drops to two shows on November 10 and four on November 11, Mickey Visit reported. Check the My Disney Experience app the morning you go.

You may not get a spot on Main Street. On the 2024 filming day, Main Street was held for cast members registered for parade viewing, and other guests were sent to Frontierland and Liberty Square, Inside the Magic reported. Disney Tourist Blog, which watched the 2025 taping, says other walkways are sometimes blocked for short stretches.

The parade you see that afternoon is about 95 percent of the one at the party, according to the same Disney Tourist Blog account. Some floats and performers move slower for the cameras, and the run can take a minute or two longer. Cameras travel up and down Main Street during the parade. Before last year’s taping, Fantasy Land News reported that video cranes would go up near Casey’s Corner. In 2024, crew members told the trade publication TV Technology it was a 10-camera shoot, with one camera on a crane above the parade.

November 11 is also Veterans Day. Every day since the park opened in 1971, Magic Kingdom has lowered the flag in a Flag Retreat that honors a veteran or service member picked from that day’s guests, according to Disney.

Other ways to see it this year

If you have an Annual Pass and no Magic Kingdom reservation for those days, you can book another park and hop to Magic Kingdom later, if your pass includes park hopping. As of October 23, Animal Kingdom, EPCOT and Hollywood Studios still had Passholder availability, WDWMAGIC reported.

The parade’s usual home is Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party: 25 nights between November 8 and December 22, with tickets from $189 to $229 plus tax, with $10 off listed for children 3 to 9. The party runs from 7 p.m. to midnight, guests can enter at 4 p.m., and the parade runs twice a night. Thirteen of the 25 nights were sold out by October 23, TouringPlans reported.

From the couch, last year’s footage first aired in The Wonderful World of Disney: Holiday Spectacular on Monday, December 1, at 8 p.m., Disney Tourist Blog reported. The parade broadcast followed at 10 a.m. Eastern on Christmas morning on ABC and streamed on Disney+, Hulu and YouTube from 11 a.m. through January 4, according to WDW News Today.

Christmas Day at Magic Kingdom is still what it has been for us: a quieter park day with holiday decorations and the usual attractions. The big parade people picture on Christmas morning was already on tape by mid-November.

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