Fact Check

Is Disney World Stopping Its Annual Christmas Celebrations in 2024?

The change purportedly was a move towards a more inclusive celebration.

Published Oct 31, 2023

 (Getty Images)
Image Via Getty Images
Claim:
In October 2023, Disney World announced that it would no longer celebrate Christmas at its parks, starting in 2024.

On Oct. 17, 2023, Mouse Trap News published an article saying that starting in 2024, Disney World parks would no longer celebrate Christmas. According to the article, the change was a move towards a more inclusive celebration, allowing the company to celebrate "the holidays" instead. The article read:

Disney World Will Not Celebrate Christmas in 2024

Christmas is often considered the most wonderful time of the year. This of course is for many reasons. It celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, it’s full of beautiful lights, presents, joy, and more. However, as the years go on, a holiday celebrated by the majority of Americans is slowly being canceled. Disney World is the next one on that list with the announcement that they will not celebrate Christmas in 2024.

While a photo on the original Mouse Trap News article shows a screenshot of Disney's website supporting the claim, the website in question makes no mention of the supposed final year of Christmas at Disney. This is because Disney has no plans to cancel its Christmas celebrations. Mouse Trap News is a site that describes itself as "the world's best satire site," meaning that none of its articles should be read as truthful. The site's about page has a full disclaimer explaining more:  

Mouse Trap News is the world’s best satire site. We write fake stories about Disney Parks stuff. From Disney Park announcements to Disney Hotel and resort news to made-up Disney partnerships, you can be assured that anything you read here is not true, real, or accurate, but it is fun. So technically our slogan The Moused Trusted Name in Disney News isn’t true, but we thought it was creative and funny, so we are running with it.

Mouse Trap News was created on a whim to have some fun and write stories about Disney we wish were true. Some Disney sites write deceptive stories for clicks. We write 100% made-up stories for your enjoyment.

Snopes frequently checks claims about Disney parks and has found that many of them originate from satirical articles originally published by Mouse Trap News, with the most recent occasion being a viral claim that the character Elsa would marry a woman in the upcoming movie "Frozen III."

For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.

Sources

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/magic-kingdom/mickeys-very-merry-christmas-party/. Accessed 31 Oct. 2023.

https://mousetrapnews.com/disney-world-will-not-celebrate-christmas-in-2024/. Accessed 31 Oct. 2023.

https://mousetrapnews.com/about/. Accessed 31 Oct. 2023.g

Jack Izzo is a Chicago-based journalist and two-time "Jeopardy!" alumnus.