Last year, Give Kids the World Village hoped to welcome 10,000 visitors to its inaugural Night of a Million Lights spectacular over a fully-masked holiday of 52 nights. It was an impromptu pivot to help bring the village out of the pandemic which caused a months-long shutdown.
When it was over, over 90,000 came to experience the show.
With new additions — more of the village lit and expanded food and merchandise offerings as part of a marketplace — the non-profit organization hopes to eclipse the 100,000 mark at this year’s event, which has begun and runs through Sunday, Jan. 2.
“The biggest challenge last year was having everyone keep their mask on,” said GKTW Village CEO Pamela Landwirth. “We also had no families here, but this year we’ll have about 50 families here to experience all this.”
Nearly the entire village will be accessible via a tram ride to offer the public a rare glimpse inside the 89-acre resort that for the last 35 years has provided critically ill children and their families with magical weeklong wish vacations at no cost. Jodi Benson, the voice of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid”, voices the guided tram tour.
At a preview last week, GKTW showed off a 360-degree dancing lights show encompassing 21 programmed buildings set to music. Six three-minute holiday vignettes play each hour. Children will have the chance to meet Santa, who will be vacationing in his elaborately decorated Florida home ahead of his big Christmas Eve night ride.
Walt Disney World donated most of the 3.2 million lights. The display includes 200 decorated Christmas trees mixed in throughout the village. The village’s iconic 35-foot-tall “Wish Tree” features 55 star spheres and is wrapped in over 400 strands of lights.
The event runs nightly from 5 to 10 p.m., but it’s after dark that the dancing lights show truly “pops”, fully enveloping guests in a larger-than-life fairytale of a holiday neighborhood, full of frames and backdrops to step in and snap a photo.
Tickets information can be found at www.gktw.org/lights. Entry times are staggered to prevent crowding. Proceeds from Night of a Million Lights supports Give Kids The World’s mission to make those wish vacations come true for those critically-ill children.
And, to help orchestrate all the activities part of this year’s attraction, GTKW is also asking for fully-vaccinated volunteers ages 12 and up to help with a range of activities – serving food, assisting with ticket scanning and parking, helping with merchandising and providing guest service. Volunteers ages 12-15 must be accompanied by an adult 18 years of age or older.
Individuals or groups who wish to volunteers can visit https://www.gktw.org/volunteer/apply.php.
