A Holiday for the Holidays

If you choose (wisely) to spend your holidays on holiday in the Sunshine State, then there is plenty to see and do this month at the various local theme parks.

As you can see by the gorgeous shot above and in this video, Cinderella's Castle at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom is all decked out for the winter (on the west coast, Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle is positively quaint by comparison). The Kingdom was also the recent setting for the annual pre-taping of WDW's annual Christmas parade (to be aired on ABC, naturally, on Christmas day, naturally). The special will include performances by Dancing With the Stars champs Julianne Hough and Helio Castroneves, as well as Patti LaBelle, the Jonas Brothers, Menudu (yep, their back) and, of course, Regis and Kelly as your hosts. The ticketed event, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, is also going on at the Kingdom, while Epcot is hosting the Candlelight Processional nightly. Neil Patrick Harris was recently there, and this year's remaining celebrity narrators include Gary Sinise, Rita Moreno and Marlee Matlin; I've seen this several times, and it never fails to be inspirational. Disney's other parks are also in on the fun, with the Hollywood Holly-Day Parade at the Disney-MGM Studios and the Jingle Jungle Parade at the Animal Kingdom.

Over at Universal Studios Florida, Dr. Seuss' classic party-pooper hosts a Grinchmas celebration several times daily at Islands of Adventure, and the Polar Express is still on track at Sea World Orlando. Visit the Orlando Sentinel for a full rundown of the current holiday offerings in the Orlando area.

Links via OrlandoSentinel.com, DisneyGeek.com, ABC.go.com, Disney.go.com, LaughingPlace.com and UniversalOrlando.com.