The Disney Springs Christmas Tree Stroll has returned to the retail and dining district for this year’s holiday season, and guests who check out the themed decorations while wearing a MagicBand+ will have the opportunity to prompt a unique holiday surprise. MagicBand+ effects have been implemented into interactions with select trees at the event.
MagicBand+ Effects Added to Disney Springs Christmas Tree Stroll
The official Disney Springs website invites guests with a MagicBand+ to “activate the magic” at the Christmas Tree Stroll, writing the following:
Interact with select Christmas trees like never before with your MagicBand+.
Enjoy a jolly sight at The Nightmare Before Christmas tree. Simply make a circular gesture near the tree to experience the magic.
Plus, look for these trees across Disney Springs and use your MagicBand+ for a colorful surprise:
- Encanto
- Frozen
- Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse
- Town Center
- Wish
The most elaborate of the MagicBand+ effects has been integrated into the “The Nightmare Before Christmas” tree, as making a “circular gesture” near the decoration will (occasionally) prompt the Zero ornament atop the tree to move in circles. As with most MagicBand+ effects around Walt Disney World Resort, the integration isn’t flawless, and it may take you a few attempts to prompt the movement.
Interacting with the “The Nightmare Before Christmas” tree will also produce special lighting and vibrating effects on your MagicBand+, which is largely the extent of the offerings implemented into other trees. Interacting with the “Encanto,” “Frozen,” “Wish,” Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and Town Center trees will cause your band to quiver and emit (sometimes several) different colors.
The “Frozen” and Town Center trees, for example, will prompt similar blue effects on your MagicBand+, but the lights move around the sensor at different intervals. The “Wish,” “Encanto,” and Mickey and Minnie Mouse trees provoke multi-colored effects.
There are 19 trees scattered throughout Disney Springs as part of this year’s Christmas Tree Stroll, each of which is themed to a different Disney-owned intellectual property or inspired by The Walt Disney Company in some way. Check out our full tour of this year’s Disney Springs Christmas Tree Stroll here.
Other holiday offerings at Disney Springs include special seasonal dishes at several dining locations, nightly snowfall at Town Center, and a Santa meet and greet at Once Upon a Toy in the Marketplace section of the district.
Holidays at Walt Disney World Resort
Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party is offered on select nights at Magic Kingdom through December 22. Tickets are only available for one remaining night. During the after-hours party, guests can enjoy Minnie’s Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks, Mickey’s Most Merriest Celebration, Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade, character meet and greets, and holiday attraction overlays. There are also complimentary treats, special menu items, and exclusive merchandise.
The new “Frozen Holiday Surprise” Cinderella Castle show is performed at Magic Kingdom once during regular park hours and once during Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.
A new separately ticketed holiday party has debuted at Disney’s Hollywood Studios this year, as Disney Jollywood Nights takes place on select nights through December 20. Entertainment includes the variety show “Disney Holidays in Hollywood,” “What’s This? Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas Sing-Along,” and the “Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM!” nighttime spectacular.
The 2023 EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays commenced on November 24 and will run through December 30. Meanwhile, the roaming Merry Menagerie puppets have returned to Discovery Island at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Will you be checking out the new MagicBand+ effects introduced at the Disney Springs Christmas Tree Stroll this year? Let us know in the comments.
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