Behind the Worlds · 04
Building Chilly Celebration
How an original Arctic illustration becomes a 74-foot-long world of wildlife, winter color and hand-placed light.
How do you preserve the feeling of a guest-favorite gathering place while transforming it into an entirely new world?
Chilly Celebration invites guests into a glowing winter festival. Towering trees of cool white and electric-blue light guide the way toward a massive scene inspired by Arctic wildlife. Along the journey, food and beverage offerings give guests a reason to slow down, enjoy a hot chocolate and gather with family and friends.
The tones may be cool, but the warmth is still there. It lives in the shared experience - people coming together beneath the lights in the middle of an icy world.
From warm firelight to an icy glow
In 2025, Winter Solstice turned the Event Lawn into a gathering place around the warm light of LED fires, massive arches, natural custom-designed garland, wooden timbers and giant Christmas trees. It became a guest favorite.
This year, we keep that same spirit of gathering while changing the visual language completely. Warm reds and natural timber give way to cyan, electric blue, violet and crystal white.
Nature takes center stage
Our artists custom-design every part of this giant mural of light. They begin with the natural world: deer, birds and foxes emerge from a frosty forest while snowflakes, winter flowers and swirling drifts connect the scene.
The first drawing defines every curve. A second plan assigns the icy palette - cyan, violet, electric blue and deep blue - to individual parts of the composition. Long before the first light is installed, the final sculpture has already been carefully mapped.
The palette changes. The feeling of gathering remains.
Designed to support the art - and then disappear
Our structural designers created a custom steel backing structure for the hand-crafted mural frames. Each section is engineered to fit into the larger composition and remain stable throughout the outdoor run.
A specially fitted scrim conceals the support infrastructure. As guests approach along the main pathway, they see the illuminated wildlife and intricate winter patterns - not the structure holding everything in place.
Fabricated and finished by hand
After design comes fabrication. First, the backing frame is created. Aluminum is then laser-cut into the exact shapes specified by the artists. Electronic components and individual light pixels are installed by hand, following the color map section by section.
Before shipping, the enormous artwork is assembled across the workshop floor for final inspection. Every connection, contour and color is checked before the pieces are prepared for installation in Orlando.
A celebration made for gathering
Chilly Celebration transforms the Event Lawn into a luminous Arctic world - but its heart remains familiar. Find a hot chocolate, stand among towering trees of light and take in the mural with the people who make the season feel warm.
