ABC & Disney Slate Trio of Holiday Specials

ABC and Disney Channel are set to showcase Disney Parks and Disney Cruise Line with a trio of holiday specials featuring performances from various stars.

During the specials, viewers will get exclusive looks at upcoming Disney Parks attractions, including Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, opening soon at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at both Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Disneyland Resort in California. ABC officially kicks off the holidays with The Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration on Thursday, November 28, at 8 p.m.

Hosts artist Matthew Morrison, singer-songwriter and TV host Emma Bunton and TV host Jesse Palmer will present the two-hour prime-time special on Thanksgiving night from Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland Resort in California. The celebration will feature celebrity musical performances among a flurry of Disney holiday entertainment.

Acts set to perform during the special include Sting and Shaggy, Portugal. The Man, Pentatonix and Ingrid Michaelson and Andy Grammer, among others.

That special will be followed by “Disney Channel Holiday Party @ Walt Disney World,” premiering Friday, December 13, at 8 p.m. on Disney Channel and the DisneyNOW app. Disney Channel’s Zombies 2 stars Meg Donnelly and Milo Manheim will co-host this holiday party with Morrison, featuring performances from Shaggy, Pentatonix and Disney Channel stars Issac Ryan Brown (Raven’s Home), Ruby Rose Turner (Coop & Cami Ask the World) and Kylie Cantrall (Gabby Duran & The Unsittables) broadcast from Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and aboard the Disney Fantasy. During the special, viewers will enjoy exclusive Disney Parks sneak peeks, including a first look at Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway coming to Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida in spring 2020.

As part of the annual tradition, the “Disney Parks Magical Christmas Day Parade” airs Christmas morning, at 10 a.m., on ABC and on the ABC app. The special will also be hosted by Morrison, Bunton and Palmer. Joining as co-hosts are ABC’s black-ish star Marsai Martin with Disney’s The Lion King star JD McCrary, who voiced young Simba in the live-action film.

Presented from Cinderella Castle at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida and Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland Resort in California, the show features the Christmas Day Parade down Main Street U.S.A. and celebrity performances. Among the exclusive Disney Parks sneak peeks planned for this special are Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway and Disneyland Park in California in the future, plus Avengers Campus coming to Disney California Adventure Park in California in 2020. Musical guests include Sting, Shaggy, and the cast of the Disney+ original High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, among others.