If the recently added Points of Light on Spaceship Earth have taught us anything, it’s that people love light. Glistening, sparkling, dancing little lights. And when they illuminate our favorite park icons? Heaven on [the most magical place on] earth.
With today’s news on all of the holiday offerings coming to Walt Disney World, there’s one Cinderella Castle-sized holiday staple missing from the lineup: the Castle Dream Lights.
The ultimate family Christmas photo backdrop. We could take in those merry and bright views of Main Street U.S.A. and Cinderella Castle all night long. Holiday time hub grass hangs in the evenings would greatly improve. What started in 2013 was an instant guest-favorite, only to be unfortunately cancelled along with other theme park offering casualties of 2020.
2019 was the last year we saw Cinderella Castle truly dressed in her holiday best. To be frank, the castle “lighting” projection show of recent years, Frozen Holiday Surprise, absolutely pales in comparison to the thousands of twinkling LED lights which were once strewn about Cinderella Castle. The glistening icicle effect oozed with literal holiday magic, and I can’t help but think we may have taken those years for granted.
I think we can all assume why Disney has decided not to bring the Castle Dream Lights back — money. It’s certainly not cheap to install them, especially considering all of the garland, wreaths and holiday decor their teams install all around the resort shortly after Halloween ends. If the parks are still packed for the holidays, and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party continues to sell through tickets with no new additions, why invest back any more offerings?
What do you think? Will Disney ever bring back this Magic Kingdom holiday tradition? Is it worth the potential obstructed castle views due to the construction crane used for installation? (I say YES.) Even if they may not make the most financial sense for them to return, I do wish D’Amaro would make one of his infamous surprise return announcements. Take one for the team, maybe?
