A Candlelight Processional, Kurt Russell, and the Future

Candlelight Processional - December 5, 2012
Photo from MiceChat Member mre200200

You can certainly quibble of Disney's continual effort to profit from the Christmas Holidays. You can't quibble with the fact that they know how to put on a first rate live production and so we have the video below of a portion of Disneyland's expanded Candlelight Processional which is running twice nightly from December 1 - 20 (except when it rains) with assorted celebrity narrators. The video (and photos) come from MiceChat member mre200200 who attended the processional on December 5, the last of 3 nights when actor Kurt Russell was the narrator.

If you are not in the Christmas spirit, I assure you that watching the video should help. It's only 11 minutes long but certainly memorable. The Candlelight Processional in its entirety, I believe, is only about 25 minutes in length. Please note that the choir and orchestra are Disney cast members who volunteer their services. Enjoy!

Kurt Russell is a Disney Legend, an official honor that Disney gives to people that have made significant contributions to the various creative enterprises that make up the Walt Disney Company. Russell worked for Walt Disney for many years and new him personally even though he was just a boy at the time. There is an urban legend that the last words that Walt wrote in his office before his death was the name Kurt Russell. Its been taken a bit out of context in that at the time of his death, when Walt's office was sealed, there was a tablet with the name Kurt Russell written on it by Walt (though he misspelled the name as Kirt) along with some notation for another child actor and a potential TV project but just when exactly he made the notation is not known in relation to the time he left his office for the last time.

In any event, I'm sure seeing someone like Kurt Russell, knowing he actually knew and spoke with Walt Disney on numerous occasions, presented quite a thrill for those fortunate enough to see his turn as narrator. Mre200200 even got a quick glimpse of Russell shopping in Disneyland though security kept people well at bay.

David Koenig in his MousePlanet article last week put out the inside rumor that Disney would be taking the Candlelight Processional out of its traditional location of the Main Street Train Station and move it to the larger capacity Hyperion Theater in Disney California Adventure. Whether Disney frames the Candlelight Processional around high-priced dining packages or even a separate admission event is another story for another time. For now, I just have to see that attending the Candlelight Processional, wherever it might be held, is something that needs to be on the old Disneyland Bucket List.

PS: Those attending the Candlelight Processional tonight and tomorrow get to see Lou Diamond Phillips as narrator. If you a fortunate enough to attend the event Wednesday or Thursday of this week, its the turn of Bert the Chimney Sweep himself, Dick Van Dyke.