My name is Becky Cline, and I'm the Director of the Walt Disney Archives.
Hi, I'm Charlie Price. I work at Disney TV Animation and am also a self-proclaimed Disney historian.
Hi, I'm Graham Allen, I have a day job in the technology of film and TV and theme parks.
After hours, I turn into an author, photographer and graphic designer to bring you exciting projects like this magical book.
BECKY: In the early years of Disneyland it wasn't nearly as elaborate as it is today.
They had recently opened and they didn't have a lot of money to spend, but Walt wanted to make a big splash that first Christmas.
And so he did what anybody would do to celebrate the holidays and he created a circus. And I know that's a little weird!
So the very first parade that they had at Disneyland to celebrate you know the holidays was actually the Mickey Mouse Club Circus Parade.
And of course the decor at the Park was very simple then.
CHARLIE: It really became more elaborate in the 1990s when there was a Lion King parade and they couldn't hang the wreaths over top because of the floats were going by.
So they decided to increase the amount of decor and that really changed how the Park’s aesthetics and look, especially at Disneyland.
GRAHAM: There's a great many facilities that you never see as a Guest where the decorations are stored and the scale of that is pretty impressive.
They're not just warehouses, their production facilities for the decorations are designed, made, assembled.
CHARLIE: Walking down the aisle with the manager there, you could pick out anything there and she could tell you the reason that it's in the area and it’s theme and the era.
So it's very, very purposeful because a lot of these things are very fantastical, but it feels real like the denizens of that era or town made these things.
GRAHAM: You can look at things like cowboy ornaments in Frontierland or Westernland, the wonderful comic decorations in Toontown
and the countries that are in EPCOT decorations paying homage to the holidays that are celebrated back home.
Then there's the idea of historical authenticity, as you see in California Adventure and Hollywood Studios, or authenticity to different holidays.
BECKY: It's all part of telling that story. And that's the most important thing. Everything else falls into place when you think about the story first and then tell that story visually and emotionally.
CHARLIE: You get that feeling there, regardless of the Park that you'd go to. It's really kind of custom made for a "Currier and Ives" picturesque experience
because of all these people that designed these places had a visual aesthetic in mind. So it's such a fun feeling to be able to go in and see it.
GRAHAM: At the Art of Animation, the trees and wreaths and garlands are white does to evoke the idea of drawing paper
but if you look closely, and you will see cube shape ornaments. The designers wanted to find some way of evoking the notion of modern day computer animation.
So they had special cube shaped ornaments made to look like computer pixels. That's exactly the kind of detail that the designers are going for, and making sure that the decor fits the theme of the location.
CHARLIE: There are so many holidays treats you can have where I'm guessing that wasn't the case back in the 50's.
BECKY: Charlie and I had the wonderful opportunity to go to the bakery and talk to the the head chefs there and and find out all the details about how all of the treats are made for for the holidays.
CHARLIE: It took all of our willpower, not to leave the interview and just start nibbling on everything that we saw.
BECKY: One of the things that makes me most happy about releasing this book and having this book out is that there are people all over the world that never get a chance to experience all of the Disney locations
If you haven't been to Paris or you haven't been to Shanghai or Tokyo DisneySeas before, you can open up this book and just be enchanted by how beautiful, everything is and how much fun and whimsy there is.
GRAHAM: There's a little under 1900 photos in the book. We took a little short at 81,000 photographs in our travels around the parks. We are nothing if not comprehensive.
BECKY: So from all of us to all of you, Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings!