Actress Lacey Chabert gave a glimpse of what she experienced while filming a Hallmark Christmas movie at Walt Disney World.
“It was a dream come true. I got to go to Disney World and make a movie,” Chabert said during Tuesday’s broadcast of “Live with Kelly & Mark.”
“We spent weeks filming in the park, which was really magical and a real pinch moment. And we also go to the park on holidays and have fun,” she said.
The TV movie, titled “Holidays Ever After: Disney World’s Wishes Come True,” was shot entirely at Disney World in late 2025 and early 2026. A debut date on Hallmark has not yet been announced. A trailer for the production shows Chabert and co-star Travis Van Winkle on Echo Lake at Disney’s Hollywood Studios decorated with Christmas decorations, with Gertie the dinosaur in the background. Other scenes include the Wishing Well near Cinderella Castle in the Magic Kingdom, Spaceship Earth in Epcot, and the lobby of the Polynesian Village Resort.
“At first they were like, ‘Why don’t we rent an apartment or something so we can cook?'” Wait, is staying at a Disney property an option? I want to stay at a Disney hotel,”’ Chabert said. She ended up staying at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge for a month.
“Live” host Mark Consuelos asked her about her favorite Disney rides, and she cited Pirates of the Caribbean and Mad Tea Party (aka Teacup), which she called “classics,” but also praised Tron Lightcycle/Run and Epcot’s Cosmic Rewind: Guardians of the Galaxy.
“It was very unexpected. I love it,” she said of Cosmic Rewind.
Chabert appeared on the talk show, along with Kevin Jonas, who is filling in for Kelly Ripa, to promote his Hallmark Channel original show “Paris is Always a Good Idea,” which premieres Thursday. She has appeared in approximately 40 Hallmark productions.
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Chabert recalled her first visit to Disney World when she was 12 years old and appearing on “Party of Five.”
“I said to my mom, ‘You know, I really like it here.’ … I thought, ‘I’m going to work here someday.’ “So when I found out we were filming this movie on Main Street, I just burst into tears.”
In the Hallmark movie, Chabert and Van Winkle’s characters go on a bad blind date and then, as fate would have it, end up staying at the same Disney World hotel. The sneak peek includes references to Belle and the Beast, including another character saying, “There’s something there that wasn’t there before,” similar to “Something There” from Beauty and the Beast.
“The Holiday Ever After” also stars Richard Kind and Christy Carlson Romano, who play Chabert’s father. The film will be written and directed by Ryan Landels, who also wrote the screenplay for the 2022 TV special “Beauty and the Beast: 30th Celebration.”
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