During the Hallmark Channel holiday special that premiered on December 6, 2025, the network’s queen of Christmas, Lacey Chabert, delivered a huge announcement.
Appearing in a glimmering silver dress at Disney World, with Mickey and Minnie by her side and Cinderella’s castle illuminated behind her, Chabert revealed that she’ll star in a 2026 Hallmark Christmas movie filmed at the Happiest Place on Earth. It will mark the first-ever movie partnership between Hallmark and Disney World, according to Variety. And fans at the park have already spotted Chabert and the star-studded cast filming in early December.
Lacey Chabert Says She’s ‘Honored’ to Make a Movie at Disney World
During the “Hallmark Christmas Experience: A Hometown Holiday Special” on December 6, host Benjamin Ayres threw the broadcast to Orlando, where Chabert excitedly told fans she was at “the most magical place on Earth.”
She continued, “I am incredibly excited and so honored to share that I will be starring in the all-new 2026 Hallmark movie ‘Holiday Ever After: A Disney World Wish Come True,’ filming right here on location and Walt Disney World Resort. I love coming here with my family, and I always thought it would be the absolute perfect setting for a Hallmark Christmas movie!”
Plot & Cast for Lacey Chabert’s New Disney World Movie
In “Holiday Ever After,” Chabert will be partnered with leading man Travis Van Winkle, per Variety. According to IMDb, the actor has appeared over the last couple of years in recurring roles on Netflix’s “You” and “FUBAR. He last appeared on Hallmark in 2021’s “‘Tis the Season to Be Merry” opposite Rachael Leigh Cook.
According to press materials from Hallmark, the “Holiday Ever After” cast will feature some big names –and Disney favorites — including funnyman Richard Kind, who voices Bing Bong in Disney’s “Inside Out,” and Christy Carlson Romano, who starred on “Even Stevens” and is known as the iconic voice of Kim Possible. The cast also will include “General Hospital” actor Bryce Durfee, Hallmark newcomer Taegen Burns, child actor Asher Alexander, and a cameo from “Sandlot” alum Patrick Renna.
Hallmark’s movie synopsis says main character Lindsey, played by Chabert, “and her extended family head to Walt Disney World to spend a magical Christmas together. But the dream of a jolly holiday gets quickly dashed when Lindsey discovers her room is next door to Philip (Van Winkle), a disastrous first date she recently had, who’s also there on a family trip. As Lindsey and Philip’s paths cross throughout their stay, the frost starts to thaw as they learn they’re not so different from each other after all. Thanks to some Walt Disney World magic, the holiday wish Lindsey made in Cinderella Fountain just might turn their rivalry into romance.”
The movie was written by Ryan Landels, who’s also directing. He has experience with both Hallmark and Disney, having written and directed the 2024 Hallmark Christmas movies “Santa Tell Me” and “Sugarplummed,” as well as Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration.”
Fans Have Spotted Lacey Chabert & Cast Filming at Disney World
Chabert is currently in Kansas City for the second weekend of the Hallmark Christmas Experience, but has already been spotted filming at Disney World in early December. Multiple fans have posted videos on social media of Chabert and her castmates in action.
One theme park influencer shared a video (above) from Disney’s Hollywood Studios, trying to figure out who the stars were. When he realized one was Chabert, he exclaimed, “Dude! That’s the chick from ‘Mean Girls!'” (Could someone please inform him she’s also been in approximately one million Hallmark movies?)
Another park visitor posted a similar video on TikTok of the cast talking in between takes at Hollywood Studios. Someone commented, “That’s me and my husband in the red as background extras.”
Someone else captured Chabert and Van Winkle talking with a crew member in another area of the park, in another video posted on TikTok. And another fan posted a TikTok video of Chabert and Van Winkle leaving a filming spot as she shouted to them, “That take was so fetch!”
“Holiday Ever After” will premiere during the 17th annual Countdown to Christmas in 2026. Hallmark will also partner with Disney on a “collection of products inspired by the movie” greeting cards, ornaments, gifts, and wrapping paper.
Love you 💖 all! Thanks so much can not wait. now that have time I can pray monthly for it.