Christmas in Disneyland (1976)

Christmas in Disneyland was a 1976 Christmas special that aired on ABC and used the theme park as a backdrop for this variety special format program. Similar TV specials with the variety show performance format were the only kinds of new episodes being filmed in the parks at the time. Christmas at Walt Disney World would appear two years later and some view Christmas at Walt Disney World as a companion piece to Christmas in Disneyland.

In this rare 1970's Walt Disney Christmas Special, a Scrooge-like grandfather regains his belief in everything through a magical trip around the most magical place on earth, Disneyland. Along the way we get a trip through Small World, share in a hoedown with the Country Bears Jamboree, make toys with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, experience a Christmas story with the Three Little Pigs, and experience highlights of the Candlelight Processional. Like many of the Walt Disney TV episodes in the 1970's, this special makes several uses of bluescreen and chroma key special effects. This was very unusual for the time.
Most of the stars in this TV special star as multiple characters.

Art Carney portrays Gramps and Dr Wunderbar; the Head of Disneyland's Dept of Disbelief. Carney is known for being a television pioneer having starred as Ed Norton on the classic 1950's sitcom The Honeymooners. Later in life, he also appeared in many Christmas related films and TV specials. He was in everything from Jim Henson's The Great Santa Claus Switch and Rankin/Bass' The Leprechauns' Christmas Gold to The Night They Saved Christmas and The Star Wars Holiday Special.

Brad Savage and Terri Lynn Wood portray the grandchildren. Savage had been a co-star in The Apple Dumpling Gang and would go one to appear in a few more Disney films including Return From Witch Mountain. Wood was a film and sitcom star of the time.

Sandy Duncan portrays the Disneyland Tour Guide and Snow White. Duncan already had an affiliation with Walt Disney Productions. She'd already appeared in the comedy The Million Dollar Duck and two years prior appeared in her own TV specials Sandy Duncan in Disneyland. She also later appeared their comedy The Cat From Outer Space and would voice Vixey in The Fox & The Hound. She embodied the wholesome image that was important to the company at the time. Outside of Walt Disney Productions she would guest star on numerous TV shows of the era and eventually have her own sitcom in the late 1980's, The Hogan Family.

Glen Campbell is the Disneyland Employee and Grandpa Jones. Campbell was a popular country music star at the time and had his own variety show. He's also appeared in a few Disney TV specials including the Grand Opening of Walt Disney World. A highlight in this special is the segment when Glen performs with the audio animatronics characters of the long gone America Sings attraction. The Christmas songs are dubbed in and many of these animatronics would go on to be used in Splash Mountain.

The Disneyland singing group Kids of the Kingdom also appears.

Christmas in Disneyland is a snapshot of what the park was like a decade after Walt was gone and enjoyed an afterlife being rerun on the Disney Channel until the late 1990’s. In fact, for the first few years of that network, it was part of its annual Christmas eve broadcast evening. It was never released to VHS or DVD and hasn’t been seen on TV in over two decades. This is an important record of Walt Disney history demonstrating how Walt Disney Productions continued to adhere to Walt and Roy's values after both were gone (their widows were still around.)

December 8, 1976

*Historical Note: This is the best we could restore this TV special until better source materials are located.

Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.