Theme Park Rangers Radar 47: Candlelight changes, a sleigh search, red velvet cannoli

Dewayne Bevil, Orlando Sentinel
·7 min read

Theme Park Rangers Radar is increasingly focused on the holiday season, with items looking a some changes with Epcot’s Candlelight Processional, the journey of Santa’s sleigh from a barn in Pennsylvania to International Drive and a taste of red velvet.

Radar is a weekly roundup of theme park treats and twists. It appears on OrlandoSentinel.com on Wednesdays.

Processional proceeds

I’m embracing a bit of change this year, and I’m surprised to say it’s with Candlelight Processional, the musical retelling of the Christmas story at Epcot.

The fan favorite has been tweaked this season, and that bucks a trend. Most theme park holiday offerings are revivals right now. After years of pandemic-related retooling, folks yearn for the way things used to be.

And the changes to Candlelight aren’t drastic. It still features a celebrity narrator, live orchestra and mass choir that have been in the Disney universe since Walt Disney himself was around.

Two musical subtractions I noticed were the absences of the French “Il Est Né” song and a full-blown “Hallelujah Chorus.” I was clued in about the former, and because other songs are sung in foreign languages — so Epcot — I might not have noticed.

“Hallelujah” has been mashed up with “Joy to the World” in practically a battle of the hosannas with alternating verses. A side benefit is that it may eliminate the “to stand or not to stand” moment of indecision among audience members who were raised in a nondenominational barn. (For the record, I’m pro-stand, not for any religious reason, but stretching legs is nice, as is tradition.)

Bonus side benefit: No more puzzling over the phrasing of “omnipotent reigneth.”

Other adjustments: After an instrumental medley, Candlelight Processional began with “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” Then, after the closing thank-yous from narrator Simu Liu (star of “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”), there was a tagged-on segment of “Let There Be Peace on Earth.” That gives the vibes of the holiday version of “IllumiNations” that was retired a few years ago.

Those are awfully merry selections to bookend such a New Testament production but certainly inoffensive and, again, so Epcot.

I don’t have the Candlelight narration script memorized, but I noticed the “three-chord” story about “Silent Night” is gone, but the song remains. And the “one solitary life” segment has been replaced near the end.

Candlelight Processional is presented three times nightly through Dec. 30.

The show has changed before and it probably will change again one day. I’m mostly happy that “Exceeding Great Joy” (a.k.a. “When They Saw the Star”) was left alone. At my showing, Liu followed up the up-tempo tambourine-rattler with a one-word comment: “Whew!”

Amen.

Sleigh me

At the Santa Workshop Experience at Icon Park, something old is new. A 100-year-old sleigh that spent decades in a barn has been renovated and added to the holiday décor.

The red four-seater looks brighter than when Gregg Dobbs, creator of the Experience, got wind of it in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, this summer. He and his wife were traveling to an art show in New York and planned to look at possible sleigh options in the mid-Atlantic states.

“I always wanted to have a sleigh in the workshop. It was just one of those dreams,” Dobbs said.

The chosen one was built in Albany, New York, and is known as an Albany cutter. It was made in 1875.

“Everywhere it’s quoted as the ‘Ferrari of sleighs’ because it was so beautifully designed and so beautifully built,” Dobbs said. “They were custom-made, each one made for a particular owner. The Vanderbilts owned them. Henry Ford had them. They were shipped to Russia to the czars.”

The sleek sleigh is about 4 feet wide and 7 feet long. Dobbs estimated it weighs 150 pounds.

“It was just covered with years and years of grit. There were no seats in it, obviously that had all been falling apart,” Dobbs said. “This down in here was all filled with mohair and cardboard. … And it was nasty. Obviously, it had been in a barn for over 100 years.”

A plaque on the back indicates it was built for J.J. Hoffman of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Dobbs said they found a catalog from that era selling that Albany cutter for $35 ($40 with canopy option).

“We spent the month of September rebuilding it. We had to strip it all down, get it all off and then we got it all painted,” Dobbs said. New upholstery was added.

The finished product looks like new and has an S.C. monogram up front, befitting Santa Claus. It stands near Santa’s bench area, where he meets and greets visitors and poses for photos.

The space also features teddy bear-trimmed trees and selfie stops, including a gigantic polar bear suitable for lap sitting.

The Santa Workshop Experience operates in the wheelhouse building of Icon Park on International Drive. Reservations are available through Dec. 24 for photo ops with St. Nick. The price range is $20-$60. For more details, go to iconparkorlando.com.

Treat o’ the week

I may have had my red velvet blinders on when I heard about the red velvet cannoli sold at Vivoli il Gelato at Disney Springs. Yes, please … but is it a holiday treat?

Certainly “red” says Christmas and “velvet” works, too. And the cake mixed with ricotta cheese in a pastry shell certainly looks festive with light red stuffing and bits of chocolate on the ends.

The end product is sweet, just a step behind a regular red velvet cake, possibly due to absence of icing. The filling wasn’t as thick as at my usual cannoli stop, but I also didn’t feel as weighed down.

It wasn’t a gorgeous-looking treat and was presented in a clear walkaway container. It’s not giant, but sharing is probably a good idea before one hits the cannoli wall. Price: $7.

Weekend outlook

  • Mannheim Steamroller, the Christmas music supergroup, returns to Universal Studios for concerts Saturday and Sunday.  The 7 p.m. performances are included with regular park admission. Other holiday festivities include Grinchmas activities at Islands of Adventure and a nightly Christmas parade at Universal Studios.

  • SeaWorld Christmas Celebration with fireworks, Sesame Street parade, Seat of Trees, figure-skating show, “O Wondrous Night” stage show and more, continues Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

  • Epcot International Festival of the Holidays continues, including Candlelight Processional and narrators Raul Esparza (Wednesday and Thursday), Whoopi Goldberg (Friday and Saturday), Isabella Rossellini (Sunday-Tuesday).

  • Gatorland fires up its first weekend of Holiday Ho Ho Ho-Down featuring live music, craft vendors, seasonal food and displays with interactive characters such as Gator Claus and Krampus Croc.

  • Orange County Regional History Center has two events planned tied to its “Figurehead: Music & Mayhem in Orlando’s Underground” exhibit. On  Friday, the downtown Orlando museum hosts a noon Lunch & Learn session called “Figurehead Exhibition Showcase — Deep Cuts & B-Sides.” Saturday is Musical Mayhem Family Day with free admission from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. More info: thehistorycenter.org.

  • Orlando Science Center will be home of a teddy bear clinic hosted by Nemours Children’s Health 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Medical professional will give stuffed animals a checkup and simultaneously teach children about health and wellness. It’s included with regular admission. More info: OSC.org.

  • “Night of a Million Lights,” a walk-through display and fundraiser for Give Kids the World Village, continues nightly at Island H2O water park in Kissimmee.

  • “Christmas Nights in Lights,” a drive-through holiday display, is open nightly at Dezerland Action Park on I-Drive.

What’s on your radar? Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com.