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DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: DECEMBER 12 TO DECEMBER 20, 2020

The material below details next week’s Disney World operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

Things are … a little different… as Disney World re-opens.  See this for park previews and key insights.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/12-12/20/20

The Magic Kingdom will be open from 8a-9p 12/12 and 12/13, 8a-8p 12/14 through 12/17, 8a-9p 12/18 and 12/19, and 8a to 10p 12/20

Epcot will be open from 11a to 10p 12/12 and 12/13, 12N to 9p 12/14 through 12/17, 11a to 10p 12/18 and 12/19, and 10a to 9p 12/20

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open from 9a-7p 12/12 through 12/19, and 9a-8p 12/20

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open from 8a-8p 12/12 and 12/13, 8a-5p 12/14 through 12/17, 8a-8p 12/18 and 12/19, and 7a-7p 12/20

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/12-12/20/20

There will be no Extra Magic Hours until further notice.

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/12-12/20/20

There will be no parades until further notice.

FIREWORKS AND EVENING SHOWS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/12-12/20/20

Some brief incidental fireworks happen at various times at Magic Kingdom.

Otherwise, there will be no evening shows until further notice.

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/12-12/20/20

See Steve Soares’ site here. Click the park names at its top for show schedules.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest!!

Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

CHRISTMAS POINSETTIAS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

By Jim Korkis

As soon as Halloween ends, Walt Disney World immediately trades out orange pumpkins for red poinsettias. Every Christmas season, Walt Disney World is adorned with over 100,000 poinsettias artfully arrayed in attractive baskets, impressive towers and various other arrangements. When the holidays are over, the poinsettias are removed and composted.

The poinsettia was first introduced into the United States from Mexico around 1825 by the first U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, Joel Roberts Poinsett. In the early 1900s, it became a popular landscape plant in California, and since then has become the plant most people associate with the holiday season.

On property, the eight foot tall towers which resemble big, red Christmas trees are composed of 170 poinsettias each and have been a traditional favorite at the parks for over two decades. Fourteen of them are displayed property wide with the Magic Kingdom having eleven, Disney’s Hollywood Studios two and one at Epcot.

(c) Disney

It takes a full day to assemble just one tower. The towers are fairly intricate structures with tubing for water built into the support work so that no one has to climb up and refresh the plants each day. Once assembled at the tree farm outside of the Magic Kingdom, they are transported by truck to their assigned location where they are hoisted into place by heavy machinery.

Eric Darden, a horticultural area manager, said “You just want guests to get a show like they’re not going to get anywhere else in the world. Every detail that you can add with the plants and towers just helps with that overall effect.”

86,698 poinsettias are placed in flowerbeds and containers around the resort allocated with 9,994 to Disney’s Hollywood Studios, 24,033 to Epcot, 38,543 to Magic Kingdom, 1,500 to the roadways, 11,156 to Disney Springs area and 1,472 to Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Around property are also 476 poinsettias hanging baskets that include 30 poinsettia balls, and 446 poinsettia skirts or combination baskets. Each poinsettia ball contains as many as 40 poinsettias per basket. Disney’s Hollywood Studios has 163, Epcot has 132, Magic Kingdom has 79, and Disney Springs 102.

Some of these plants are supplied by local growers in Apopka, but the majority comes from Dixie Green in Centre, Alabama.

“We had some friends down in Florida that we knew, and Disney was looking for some certain plants, and our friends couldn’t locate them so they called us,” Dixie Green President Harlan Richardson said, explaining how the partnership with Walt Disney World began over two decades ago.

“Our poinsettias are a better product,” he said. “There, they plant all their products outside, but it’s so warm down there that the plants are softer. Ours, we can let them get cooler at night and that hardens them up, makes them last longer. We have a stouter plant.”

The more rigid plants from Dixie Green live longer and every shipment that leaves Dixie Green is labeled for a specific area of the park.

“When it’s time to ship, we pull the plants according to which specific flower bed or area they go into,” he said. “We pull the plants, put them all on a rolling rack and each rack is marked. When they get the load, they know exactly where those plants are to be planted.”

Richardson said the process of getting ready to ship between 100,000 and 125,000 poinsettias to the park gets underway in July when planting begins and culminates with semi-trucks filled with potted poinsettias.

“We have a few that go down in December, but the majority of them are already down there,” he said. “They use them at all of the parks and also on their cruise ships.”

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Thanks, Jim! and come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including his new Halloween-appropriate Vault of Walt Volume 9: Halloween Edition, and his other new book, Hidden Treasures of the Disney Cruise Line.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest!!

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: DECEMBER 5 TO DECEMBER 13, 2020

The material below details next week’s Disney World operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

Things are … a little different… as Disney World re-opens.  See this for park previews and key insights.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/5-12/13/20

The Magic Kingdom will be open from 9a-9p 12/5, 8a-8p 12/6 through 12/10, and 8a-9p 12/11 through 12/13

Epcot will be open from 11a to 10p 12/5 and 12/6, 12N to 9p 12/7 through 12/10, and 11a to 10p 12/11 through 12/13

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open from 10a-7p 12/5, and 9a-7p 12/6 through 12/13

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open from 8a-8p 12/5 and 12/6, 8a-5p 12/7 through 12/10, and 8a-8p 12/11 through 12/13

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/5-12/13/20

There will be no Extra Magic Hours until January 2021.

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/5-12/13/20

There will be no parades until further notice.

FIREWORKS AND EVENING SHOWS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/5-12/13/20

Some brief incidental fireworks happen at various times at Magic Kingdom.

Otherwise, there will be no evening shows until further notice.

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 12/5-12/13/20

See Steve Soares’ site here. Click the park names at its top for show schedules.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest!!

Welcome back to Fridays with Jim Korkis! Jim, the dean of Disney historians, writes about Walt Disney World history every Friday on yourfirstvisit.net.

YOUR PERSONAL DISNEY LIBRARY (34)

By Jim Korkis

• Cooking with Mickey and the Disney Chefs by Pam Brandon

Some of the difference in a Disney theme park experience is the food, and the memories created by the meals enjoyed especially when shared with family and friends. The variety of options to sate an appetite seem almost endless, from gourmet upscale to traditional comfort food with a twist.

Many food offerings are unique to the Disney theme parks, and many Disney fans can effectively argue that having a Monte Cristo sandwich at the Blue Bayou, or Cheddar Cheese Soup at Le Cellier Steakhouse, or Tonga Toast at Kona Café, just somehow tastes different than anywhere else, and it is not just the ambience of the location.

Of course, that is one of the challenges with Cooking with Mickey and the Disney Chefs as well. Despite how accurate the description or adept the home chef, the end result will taste very similar but not quite exactly as it is served at the parks. Like any good chef, the Disney chefs will often modify the ingredients on the spot based on taste, smell and look.

My grandmother drove me crazy because every time I tried to record her making her famous Greek wedding cookies (Kourabiedes), she did little different things each time. She learned the recipe as a young girl and would never write it down. Despite my many attempts, I have never been able to quite duplicate them and if I blinked or turned away for a second, she did something that I missed writing down.

Released by Disney Editions in 2004, Cooking with Mickey and the Disney Chefs has eighty pages of recipes from Walt Disney World, which is one of the reasons I have chosen to review it. In addition, there are nearly an additional eighty pages devoted to recipes from the Disneyland Resort and the Disney Cruise Line.

Author Brandon wrote, “The aim of this cookbook is to present favorite recipes that are ‘home-cook’ friendly – though the Disney chefs must serve hundreds, all of the recipes here have been adapted to family-size servings, and tested for home use.”

Pam Brandon has been involved with several best selling Disney-related cookbooks over the years. She is a food and travel writer and managing editor of Edible Orlando magazine.

She is also food columnist for the Palm Beach Post, the Orlando Sentinel and more, including being a consultant to Birnbaum’s official Disney guidebooks. In addition to Disney cookbooks, she has written other recipe and cookbooks, primarily centering on Florida. She is often identified as Disney Parks Food Writer.

Of course not all the favorite Walt Disney World recipes are included in the book, one of the reasons for so many other Disney cookbooks by Brandon, such as A Cooking Safari with Mickey: Recipes from Disney World’s Animal Kingdom.

One of the complaints that some Disney fans have about Cooking with Mickey and the Disney Chefs is that it features no photos of the many dishes. While pleasingly laid out, the interior is just the text of the recipes. There is no additional information about the location where it is served or the recipe itself.

Many favorite dishes find recipes here, including both the Cobb Salad and the Grapefruit Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting available at The Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Being a Disney historian and old movie fan, I regretted that the amusing and intriguing stories behind the creation of those particular two items were not included, especially since Walt Disney himself enjoyed both of those items as a frequent diner at the Hollywood restaurant.

However, I content myself that the book offers those official recipes as served at the park, along with so many others.

*  *  *  *  *

Thanks, Jim!  And come back next Friday for more from Jim Korkis!

In the meantime, check out his books, including his new Halloween-appropriate Vault of Walt Volume 9: Halloween Edition, and soon-to-be-released Hidden Treasures of the Disney Cruise Line.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest!!

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: NOVEMBER 28 TO DECEMBER 6, 2020

The material below details next week’s Disney World operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

Things are … a little different… as Disney World re-opens.  See this for park previews and key insights.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 11/28-12/6/20

The Magic Kingdom will be open from 9a-9p 11/28 and 11/29, 9a-8p 11/30 through 12/3, 9a-9p 12/4 and 12/5, and 8a-9p 12/6

Epcot will be open from 11a to 10p 11/28 and 11/29, 12N to 9p 11/30 through 12/3, and 11a to 10p 12/4 through 12/6

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open from 10a-7p every day

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open from 8a-8p 11/28 and 11/29, 9a-5p 11/30 through 12/3, and 8a-8p 12/4 through 12/6

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 11/28-12/6/20

There will be no Extra Magic Hours until January 2021.

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 11/28-12/6/20

There will be no parades until further notice.

FIREWORKS AND EVENING SHOWS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 11/28-12/6/20

Some brief incidental fireworks happen at various times at Magic Kingdom.

Otherwise ,there will be no evening shows until further notice.

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 11/28-12/6/20

See Steve Soares’ site here. Click the park names at its top for show schedules.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest!!

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: NOVEMBER 21 TO NOVEMBER 29, 2020

The material below details next week’s Disney World operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

Things are … a little different… as Disney World re-opens.  See this for park previews and key insights.

OPERATING HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 11/21-11/29/20

The Magic Kingdom will be open from 9a-9p every day

Epcot will be open from 11a to 10p every day

Disney’s Hollywood Studios will be open from 10a-7p every day

Disney’s Animal Kingdom will be open from 8a-7p 11/21 and 8a-8p 11/22 through 11/29

EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 11/21-11/29/20

There will be no Extra Magic Hours until further notice.

PARADES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 11/21-11/29/20

There will be no parades until further notice.

FIREWORKS AND EVENING SHOWS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD 11/21-11/29/20

There will be no evening shows until further notice.

SHOW SCHEDULES FOR WALT DISNEY WORLD 11/21-11/29/20

See Steve Soares’ site here. Click the park names at its top for show schedules.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Twitter or Pinterest!!