The First Disneyland Christmas - December 1955

It’s no secret that the holiday time was one of Walt Disney’s favourite times of the year. As shown in 1962’s Wonderful World of Color Episode, Holiday Time at Disneyland, Walt boasts about the magic that is spread throughout Disneyland park during the holidays. He stands with Santa at the beginning of the episode, dressed in a top hat and scarf, talking about the festivities that are about to ensue right on Main Street USA.

“During the Christmas holidays, or any other season here at Disneyland, Main Street USA is the happiest, busiest main street in the world. There’s always something going on.”

— Walt Disney, 1962

It was a goal of the company to make the holidays a priority for the park from the minute it opened. Though theme parks are typically at their peak guest attendance in the summertime, Walt was determined to make Disneyland a place that anyone could visit at anytime. This proved to be a challenge in the beginning though, with a dwindling park attendance due to a heat wave that spanned across Anaheim in August of 1955. Some days through the fall, the park would only see about one hundred guests. To put this in perspective, during the whole of 1955 (starting in July), Disneyland had 1.2 million guests. In 2019, the park saw 18.6 million guests. So, with this drastic image in your mind, it’s easy to imagine the park being a ghost town by the time winter rolled around. Even though the scene was discouraging, the Disneyland workers still forged ahead to create a magical Christmas atmosphere for any guests who came through.

Disneyland Christmas Décor

If you have visited the park during the holidays anytime from 2008 onward, you would have come face to face with Main Street USA’s towering 60-foot tall artificial tree, custom build for the park. Along with that, there are 6, 20-foot trees throughout the park, including in California Adventure, the Downtown Disney District, and in the lobby of Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel. In 2009, it was recorded that Disneyland used 1.4 miles of ribbon, over 80,000 ornaments, and over 10,000 lights to decorate the park. It’s easy to assume those numbers have risen over the last few years. Now that we have these figures in mind, we can take a look at what Disneyland had in 1955.

Since money was scarce, they could only afford to have décor that was absolutely necessary. In Central Plaza where the Walt and Mickey Partners Statue is now, stood the very first Disney Christmas tree, an all natural one. It didn’t have much, mostly just lights to keep it shining for a few weeks. Wreaths and garland were used in other parts of the park, including on Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, and on the entrance sign to Frontierland. A few artificial trees were placed around the Main Street USA bandstand as well.

Since the very first year, Disneyland has kept the tradition of transitioning the park over to holiday decorations in November, and switching back to normal in January, allowing ample time for guests to enjoy it all.

Disneyland’s first Christmas tree. Image from: https://www.reddit.com/r/Disneyland/comments/rk3m83/the_first_disneyland_christmas_tree_1955/

Sleeping Beauty’s Castle for Christmas in 1955. Image from: http://www.disneyhistoryinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Disneyland-Christmas-1955-A.jpg

Disneyland Christmas Bowl

As a part of Walt’s original vision for the park, he had included the construction of a traditional bandstand, that was meant to be by the train station. Once it was built and installed, they decided to move it next to the castle, as it’s original spot obstructed the view of the castle. Beginning in that first year, the bandstand was rethemed to become the Disneyland Christmas Bowl. Local choirs were invited to sing twice daily on weekends to sing Christmas carols. This instance started the tradition of the Candlelight Procession and Ceremony, which officially began in 1958.

In 1956, the Disneyland Christmas Bowl was moved to an area in Adventureland, at the time called Magnolia Park, as it allowed for more room. It lasted for 6 years until it was finally removed to make room for a Jungle Cruise expansion. The bandstand still lives on today in Orange County!

The Disneyland Christmas Bowl. Image from: https://gregcookland.com/wonderland/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/146-A-1955-1255-DL-9H-v02w.jpg

The Mickey Mouse Club Circus

The other important tradition that first began the inaugural year was the Mickey Mouse Club Circus. Walt was a huge fan of the circus, with his fascination with animals and live performance.

“Everyone loves a circus and I’m no exception. I’ve been fascinated by the clowns and the animals, the music and the excitement ever since I worked in one of these wonderful shows for a few days as a youngster.”

— Walt Disney

He had the bright idea of deciding to have a Disneyland Christmas Parade, followed by the opening of the Mickey Mouse Club Circus, as a way to draw in guests and expand the Christmas traditions. Money was still an issue, as well as support from his team, as the general manager of Disneyland, C.V Wood, was not a fan of the idea. Walt went for it anyway, cutting corners by financially underwriting it, and planned a big parade to announce the opening of the circus.

Walt and actor Fess Parker, better known as Davy Crockett, lead the parade on horse-back, riding from Town Square to the end of Fantasyland. Antique circus wagons were purchased to include in the parade, with live animals including camels, llamas, and ostriches, the “wise men”, acrobats, clowns, and some famous Mouseketeers. Jimmie Dodd and Roy Williams were amongst the group of Mouseketeers asked to participate in the parade and the circus.

Walt Disney and Fess Parker at the Christmas Parade in 1955. Image from: https://twitter.com/TWDCArchives/status/1295080574625800192/photo/1

The Mickey Mouse Club Circus had some traditional circus-like elements to it, including clown cars, animal tricks, and acrobatic stunts. They also weaved in some Christmas traditions into it, to make it more appealing for the time of year. The “March of the Toys” was the finale, that included several Disney characters such as Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, the Seven Dwarves, and the Peter Pan crocodile, parading around a Christmas tree.

The entire show lasted 75 minutes, and with this long runtime, it made it difficult to draw in guests who would sit that long for it. Many came to the park for an experience that was unlike anywhere else, and so to have a traditional circus, it wasn’t appealing to many. Unfortunately, Walt’s team was right, and the Mickey Mouse Club Circus closed in January 1956. Ironically, the tents were repurposed for the upcoming “Holidayland”, a new area for families.

The March of the Toys. Image from: https://gregcookland.com/wonderland/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/145-I-1955-1155-828w.jpg

It’s incredible to look back on the park’s first year and see its growth since then. From the thousands of new decorations added each year, to the Christmas specials that air on TV, and the close attention the Imagineers and workers pay to create an immersive experience for everyone. Walt would be proud of how Disneyland celebrates the holidays today.