It's time again for the Holidays at Disneyland Resort. For this year's celebration, Disneyland has added two new street shows for Festival of Holidays at Disney California Adventure.
Disneyland hosted invited media to preview the shows today. For me, the highlight was A Musical Christmas with Mariachi Alegría de Disneyland & Miguel. This show plays in the evenings on the Carthay Circle stage on Buena Vista Street. It stars Mariachi Alegría de Disneyland with singers and dancers performing traditional holiday songs in English and Spanish. And at the end of the show, Miguel from "Coco" joins the band, who invites kids in the audience to come up, too, for a candlelight performance of "Silent Night."
It's a mariachi-flavored taste of Disney's traditional Candlelight service, and I am here for it. The performers delight, and I appreciate that the focus here remains on family holiday celebrations, with the IP character brought in just for an extra boost to a fine show.
The only problem is the staging. At the initial preview show, the performers marched in from Hollywood Land and walked around the circle before taking their places on the stage and in front of it, on the Carthay Circle street.
That created a crowd management mess for people gathered in front of the stage for the show, who had to move one way for the procession and then back to where they were for the show. Putting on my old Disney attractions audience control hat, I just would have cast members ask guests to stay off the street on the circle and watch from the sidewalks in order to prevent future confusion. Whatever the eventual solution, I am sure that Disney will figure out something.
The second new show this year is Mirabel's Gifts of the Season, which plays on weekdays in front of the entrance to Paradise Gardens.
While this is another fine, 15-minute show, it's pretty much a medley of song snippets from "Encanto," applying only a slight holiday veneer.
Yes, Disneyland needs more of a presence for "Encanto," so I suppose this is a start. But this street production is too slight for a satisfying "Encanto" attraction and not holiday enough to be a memorable Christmas show. Still, the musical performers at Disneyland are great, so it's worth a watch if you are in the area or have "Encanto" fans in the family.
The returning "Disney ¡Viva Navidad! Street Party" will play on the weekends at Paradise Gardens in place of "Mirabel's Gifts of the Season."
Holidays at the Disneyland Resort starts Friday and continues daily through January 6, 2025. For discounts on tickets to the parks, please visit our partner's Disneyland tickets page.
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