Review: ‘Disney Parks Frozen Christmas Celebration’ 

Synergy is irresistible. And when you’re Disney, inevitable.

When a new property becomes a hot topic, the Walt Disney Company can infuse said property into its multi-arm infrastructure quicker than you can say “Maelstrom.” After decades of experience, this is one corporation that knows how to effectively extend the longevity of its characters’ legacies not only across several years, but across several generations. Whether through temporary events or permanent projects, Disney can crank a franchise through the synergy machine like no other studio can, thanks to a presence in consumer products, animation, theme parks, radio, and beyond.

‘s success in a blatantly marketable way, this year’s telecast of the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade was renamed “Disney Parks 

Christmas Celebration.” What could have been a wonderful opportunity fell flat of its potential, but not necessarily because of 

The event was an overall disappointment, largely because it strayed away from the thing that makes it most special: the parade itself. (Hey, wait a minute. Isn’t 

all about–embracing–who you are rather than changing to what we think others want to see? Sigh.) Degraded to insultingly quick clips of floats whisking briskly passed hosts Robin Roberts and Tim Tebow (Yeah, I was confused too) at Walt Disney World, the parade segments were shoved aside in favor of a major slant toward concert performances from WDW, Disneyland, and Aulani (Disney’s resort hotel in Hawaii).

into this 31-year television tradition largely relied on performances of four of the film’s songs. Oodles of dancing little girls performing “In Summer” was skippable (the irony of Olaf prancing in a circle around the famed statue of Walt Disney). Alex and Sierra’s acoustic “Love Is An Open Door” and Laura Marano’s Hawaiian “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” sounded odd as stand-alone performances given their lyrics, but music-wise sounded delightful as new renditions of favorite songs. (I would love a whole ukulele Disney album.) Closing out the show, 12-year-old Lexi Walker brought the house down with “Let It Go,” the song that catapulted her to viral stardom when she sang an African version of it last winter. Kudos with those.

‘s other inclusions were three parade floats, viewer-submitted clips singing the soundtrack, and a continual mentioning from the hosts of Anna and Elsa’s family motif being the strong center of the film, just as it is the center of a Disney vacation. This emotional lens was the route taken by producers to pitch vacation sales this year: it showed families reuniting and celebrating in the Disney parks rather than simply playing the parks’ usual highlight reels. This helped keep the program’s promotional shove to a minimum, as well as elicited a few tears.

Interestingly, Anna and Elsa were the parade’s big “build-up” characters, the ones teased at before every commercial break as coming up soon, instead of (check this out) Santa Claus. Moved to the very beginning of the broadcast, Santa is typically the big treat at the end. Not this time. Capping off the broadcast was a bizarre icification of Main Street courtesy of Elsa, complete with embarrassing visual effects on Disney’s part. It looked horrid, probably not helped by the shots being merged images from two days of filming, which unfortunately had different weather both days.

Perhaps most strange of all is not what was included, but what was left out. So much remained average that could have been extraordinary. 2013’s broadcast raised the bar high with Neil Patrick Harris’s stellar hosting duties, which included a full musical number as the show’s opener. This year we were left with a hodgepodge of oddly juxtaposed hosts in far too many locations, making for a jumpy, confusing, and uninteresting two hours. Absent was anything about the creation of 

itself; as many promotional events Josh Gad attends for Disney, I’d think he’d jump at the chance to be part of this special in a big capacity. Likewise, it’s odd Disney completely neglected Jonathan Groff, 

who was already in Walt Disney World for Epcot’s Candlelight Processional the week the special was filmed.

That seemed like a no-brainer. I remember watching Ernie Sabella perform “Hakuna Matata” and Jodi Benson sing “Part of Your World” on this same telecast during their films’ prime, and thinking that was so cool. It’s a little befuddling as to why it isn’t the norm anymore.

It’s always a risk deriving from the usual, and the peculiar thing is this annual event has tried different endeavors before, but always reverts back to its parade format. 1999 experimented with a nighttime airing instead of morning, and 2000 saw a Christmas Eve countdown to Santa instead of a regular parade. Both ultimately became one-time stints, as the 

theme will likely be. It simply did not work; not because it was specifically 

, but because it morphed itself to try to fit a mold of something it is not. The theme gave us a few nice moments (the introductory narration had some beautiful videography of empty parks after dark), but ultimately was not enough of a pay-off to be something that should continue, again more due to the format rather than the theme itself.

At the very most, I hoped for an elaborate opener with Anna, Elsa, and the gang preparing the park for a magical Christmas morning (a la the 

sing-along tape). At the very least, I expected something more than what was delivered. These unfulfilled expectations, paired with the lack of a traditional parade, made for many eye rolls and shaking heads in my living room as the telecast went on. If producers were looking for a way to make the program different this year, perhaps it would have been better to devote one extended segment of the broadcast toward

‘s influence rather than restructure the entire two hours away from its parade heritage. I could say much more, but in a discussion about the handling of

You can catch the entire show online at Watch ABC or Hulu.

In the end we saw 5 seconds of Hiro and Baymax, 30 seconds of princesses, a small glimpse of Stitch, Louis, Buzz, and Mike, 20 seconds of Star Wars with Tim Tebow really showing people how to NOT weild a lightsaber, and 20 seconds of Santa. And the float that got the longest run? I kid you not the Club Penguin Float which I can’t believe that’s still around. Also did you notice that the Elsa shown had reallt thick eyebrows for a girl who’s suppose to have that kind of hair.

I think I only managed to watch a total of 5-10 minutes of the whole thing, hoping to actually see a true “celebration” using “Frozen” and other Disney properties to put on a big show, but yeah, I found myself switching the channel to watch the day-long repeating of “A Christmas Story” instead. And honestly, this should not be.

I actually remember seeing one of the Disney World Christmas parades live when I was a kid [early 1990s; I don’t exactly remember the year], but it was amazing. Seeing my favorite characters walk the Main Street while waving back at me and feeling the Christmas magic mixed with Disney made me enjoy that fact that ABC and Disney manage to put this on television so all kids could experience a bit of that magic from home while with their families by their presents and holiday decorations. It’s sad that today’s “celebrations” are turned into nothing more than advertising ploys to get Disney Channel popstars and actors to sell albums and DVDs [because many of them can only do one or the other well, yet they try to act or sing anyway], show off the beautiful resorts and parks that Disney is trying to get people to vacation to [and it works, because Disney Parks ARE awesome. Just very pricey.], and of course, milk that “Frozen” cash cow to death.

We get it, Disney – “Frozen” is your baby and it’s awesome. Now go back and make a GOOD Christmas parade for next year, dang it… with Santa Claus this time!

It was nice to see that they were trying to plug the message of family from “Frozen”, and it does fit with one of the core meanings of Christmas without offending other religions and such. I can only give them that much credit, but I… I can’t say much more than that.

[REVIEW] ‘Disney Parks Frozen Christmas Celebration’

[REPORT] ‘A Frozen Holiday Wish’ at Walt Disney World

[EXCLUSIVE] 2 New Images & Clip from ‘Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Tough Love’

Episode 83: Mickey’s Christmas Carol – They’re Just Actors

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