Christmas in Disneyland

Christmas in Disneyland is a 1976 TV special filmed on location at Disneyland.

It stars Art Carney, Sandy Duncan and Glen Campbell, each playing a duel role. Art Carney plays both a miserly grandfather and a jolly magician named Dr. Wunderbar. Sandy Duncan plays a Disneyland tour guide and Snow White. Glen Campbell plays a Disneyland cast member and Santa Claus.

The show begins as the Disney characters and the Kids of the Kingdom prepare the park for the holiday season as an unimpressed Gramps, with his two grand kids in tow, are preparing to leave. His plan is quickly thwarted by tour guide Sandy Duncan, who devises a plan to prevent him from leaving. She then takes the three guests to the underground laboratory of Dr. Wunderbar, who offers Gramps a cash reward if he could resist being transformed from an unbeliever into a believer by midnight.

Sandy then makes the first attempt to warm his heart by showing him her miniature world, using green screen technology placing a miniaturized Sandy within the backdrop of It's a Small World.

Next, Glen Campbell invites Gramps to a down home Christmas hoedown in Bear Country with Big Al and the stars of Country Bear Jamboree.

The three visitors then encounter a depressed Santa, concerned with the lack of production by his toy-making elves. The children recommend that Snow White offer the assistance of the Seven Dwarfs to add their numbers and speed up the assembly line.

As night falls, Gramps and the kids pause for a moment in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle to reflect on what it would like to be older and younger, followed by a story by Gramps about Christmas Eve in the castle, shown as a dream sequence featuring the Disney characters and the Big Bad Wolf disguised as Santa Claus.

Gramps is then challenged to "hear" the unbelievable as Glen Campbell shows him the Singing Geese and other animals of America Sings performing a comical Christmas medley.

As a final test, Gramps is then asked to make a wish and if it can be made into a reality, then he must admit to being a believer. He wishes for a snowfall on Main Street, U.S.A. and, magically, Disneyland is turned into a frosted winter wonderland with real live snow. This iconic moment in Disneyland history is topped off with a romantic ice-skating routine between Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse--a scene that is well-remembered by many all these years later.

The program concludes with highlights from the Candlelight Processional as Gramps is finally transformed into a true believer.