Hidden behind the scenes at Walt Disney World lies an unassuming warehouse that helps create the resort’s legendary holiday magic. Known as the Holiday Services warehouse, this 54,000 square foot facility houses over 50,000 decorations used to transform the Disney parks and resorts into winter wonderlands each holiday season. This top secret warehouse has a long history of holiday magic:
- The current Holiday Services warehouse building opens in 1996. It was previously a food processing plant.
- Total storage space for holiday decorations spans 3 warehouses at Walt Disney World with 160,000 square feet.
- Total holiday decoration workspace and storage facilities for Walt Disney World theme parks, resorts, and Disney Cruise Line ships is over 300,000 square feet.
The purpose of this mega warehouse is to store, refurbish, and distribute all the holiday decor that makes Disney shine each winter season.
Inside the Warehouse: Items and Decorations
The Disney Holiday Services warehouse contains aisle after aisle of delightful holiday decorations, including:
- Ornaments
- Garlands
- Ribbons
- Wreaths
- Artificial trees and foliage
- Holiday props like oversized nutcrackers
Some highlights include:
- Over 50,000 total number of different decorations stored in this warehouse
- 7-foot angel tree topper from the 65-foot EPCOT Christmas tree
- Over 40,000 finished pieces ready-to-hang decor for Disney parks, resorts, and cruise ships
Decorations are precisely organized by type into baskets on towering shelves that stretch to the ceiling. They are carefully maintained year-round by Disney cast members who touch up, refurbish, and prepare them for the next holiday season from February to September each year. When it’s time for decorating, everything magically transforms overnight. But it all starts behind the scenes at this spectacular warehouse.
Accessing the Warehouse: Visits and Tours
As a top secret Disney facility, public access to the Holiday Services warehouse is extremely limited. However, Disney does offer a few select tours:Cast Member Tours
- Available during off-peak seasons as a job perk
Special Events
- Rare tours offered to media and special guests during the holidays
Potential Future Access
- Disney may open parts of the warehouse for special paid tours like the Keys to the Kingdom behind the scenes tour
How Long Does it Take to Set Up the Disney World Parks for Christmas?
- Magic Kingdom undergoes an overnight transformation from Halloween to Christmas decorations on November 1st after the last Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. It is usually fully decorated by November 3rd.
- The other parks start decorating in mid-October. EPCOT takes the longest, with decorations going up until the EPCOT International Food & Wine Festival ends on November 18th.
- Officially, the Christmas season at Disney World begins on November 11th and runs through December 31st. But decorations and some events start earlier.
- It then takes several weeks after New Year’s Day for the decorations to be taken down, with the process typically starting the first Monday after January 1st.
So in total, it takes about 6 weeks for Disney World to put up all the holiday decorations across the parks and resorts, with Magic Kingdom transforming the quickest over just a couple nights in early November.
Conclusion
So for now, the magic happens hidden away by Disney cast members who carefully prepare the holiday decorations every year. They help make the holidays bright for guests through their hard work behind the scenes. While off limits to the public, we can still glimpse the process through special backstage photos and enjoy the fruits of their labor when Disney transforms for the holidays each year. Next time you visit during the Christmas season, remember that it all started at the secret Holiday Services warehouse!
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