Armchair Imagineering: Walt Disney Animation Holiday

We can definitely start thinking about Christmas music now.

Disney sure loves its holiday overlays. Between Halloween and Christmas, and counting parades and fireworks shows, there are no fewer than eleven holiday-specific attractions in the Disneyland Resort.* Likewise, quite a few music loops throughout the resort are seasonally replaced with Christmas-y versions.

However, there is one—attraction? sort of? let's call it an attraction-esque feature—wherein the music is much of the point, yet it has never been given this sort of temporary reskin. And this despite the fact that the feature in question is so modular that creating and executing a special version for the winter holiday season would be a snap. I am referring, of course, to the lobby area of Walt Disney Animation in California Adventure.

I've gushed about this spot before. It's just such a pleasant place to pass a half-hour or so until the display loops around. Given the extent to which my personal enjoyment of the Christmas season relies on the holiday's unique atmosphere, I can't help but feel this would only be enhanced if the lobby lined up with the holidays. The only snag is...is there enough material?

It's not that Disney never makes anything specifically for Christmas. Consider Mickey's Christmas Carol, or Prep and Landing, or even Beauty and the Beast: Enchanted Christmas. The problem from our point of view is that Walt Disney Animation focuses exclusively on theatrical features, on the output of Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar. And given that the point is to toot Disney's horn about its best offerings, things should probably stay that way. So where are we supposed to come up with a 30-minute loop's worth of Christmas footage when not a single entry in the Disney Animated Canon or the Pixar filmography counts as a Christmas movie?

Well, there are a few things we can do. The main one is that instead of celebrating an entire movie at a time, we can zero in on particular scenes, sequences and songs that are Christmas-related. Another is that we can then broaden our standards to include general winter imagery, which in American culture is associated almost exclusively with Christmas. I'll go ahead and say we can venture a little outside the WDAS/Pixar dyad, as long as we stay within the realm of theatrical feature animation. And finally...as a holiday special, maybe this loop doesn't have to be as long as the standard one. 15-20 minutes should suffice.

So what have we got to play with?

Frozen

I'll get the big obvious one out of the way first. Among other things, I think Frozen was Disney's attempt to add a “Christmas movie” to its main line of animated features. It never name-drops the holiday (and if you pay close enough attention to the dialogue, you'll realize that it actually takes place in July), but...the comical sidekicks are a snowman and a reindeer, for crying out loud. And of course there is no end of winter imagery. We could certainly include “Let It Go” in our loop—it's in the current iteration of the actual loop, for one thing—but I think the folksiness of “Frozen Heart” might be more suitable, and there are bits of “Elsa and Anna” (an instrumental score piece) that sound downright Christmasy.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

This, then, is the other big obvious one, and my main reason for not wanting to stay strictly within the lines of WDAS/Pixar, since this was a Touchstone release. As much as Disney likes to tap it for Halloween imagery, I maintain my position that it is more of a Christmas movie. Certainly “What's This?” is a Christmas song, and some of the dodgier lyrics can be avoided via editing...or use of an instrumental version (such as the first part of the film's overture).

This is also a really good movie to use from the standpoint of the lobby display's primary purpose of showing off the art of animation in its stages from concept drawings to finished work. It's a very visually distinctive film, and I can think of worse ways to spend a minute or so of my time than to be surrounded by giant renditions of Tim Burton's character sketches.

Once Upon a Wintertime

If the title leaves you scratching your head, this was one of the segments of Melody Time, released in 1948—part of the infamous “package era” when the studio was just about broke and could only produce features by cobbling them together out of individual shorts (kind of like Fantasia but without the high artistic aspirations). Nonetheless, it is part of the Disney Animated Canon, thus qualified for inclusion, and it could be used as a jumping-off point to showcase concept art from the package films in general. In and of itself, “Once Upon a Wintertime” is eminently Christmas-worthy, as this abridged version shows:

Fantasia/Fantasia 2000

Speaking of Fantasia, it and its sequel share a segment in the lobby display as it is, using the music from the Sorcerer's Apprentice segment (common to both movies) as a backdrop for still frames from both films. But you know what? Frozen gets two segments in the current loop, and I can't imagine a Christmas version being assembled without it, and Fantasia actually contains some actual traditional Christmas music in the form of the Nutcracker Suite. Play a brief selection from “Waltz of the Flowers,” pair it with imagery from the same sequence and the opening shots of “The Firebird” from Fantasia 2000, and it would fit right in.

The Three Caballeros

Again, it is a specific sequence from the film that I would want to refer to—in this case, the “Las Posadas” sequence about a Mexican Christmas tradition. This one would have to be quite short indeed, as said sequence isn't really animated—illustrations created by Mary Blair are accompanied by narration and background music. It might have to be part of a more general compilation segment; I'll share an idea for a different one of those later on.

Beauty and the Beast

“Something There” is a charming little song that takes place during an outdoor frolic in the winter, complete with a snowball fight. Belle's deep red cloak with white fur trim makes for a natural Christmas visual.

Lady and the Tramp

This film, on the other hand, literally begins and ends with Christmas celebrations, to the strains of the song “Peace on Earth.” It might make a satisfactory opener or closer for the entire display, especially if the Lady and the Tramp footage were joined by similarly heartwarming images from other movies (much as is done with the “When You Wish Upon a Star” finale of the existing loop).

Mulan

Winter imagery isn't always fluffy and positive, and perhaps nothing in the Disney Animated Canon makes that more clear than the avalanche sequence in Mulan. But rather than devoting an entire segment of the loop to that one scene, I'm picturing something more like a visual medley of Disney action scenes in cold, snowy environments, but sticking with the music from the Mulan scene (which would also play out on the small screens). Possible films to tap:

• 101 Dalmatians: The climactic chase sequence through the snow.
• Aladdin: The Ends of the Earth
• Monsters, Inc.: Sully sledding through a Himalayan blizzard**
• Brother Bear: Any tense scene among the glaciers
• Wreck-It Ralph: Part of the climactic go-kart race takes place on a mountain of ice cream
• Frozen again: Like, pick a scene.

That's about all I have for now. If nothing else, I hope I've refreshed your concept of a seasonal playlist.

* Two of them, of course, are restricted to attendees of the Halloween parties.

** This is literally the only example of extensive winter imagery in a Pixar movie that I can think of.