The Walt Disney Company, specifically the Disney Parks branch, loves a sense of occasion. In fact, they love to monetize ANY occasion so much that, sometimes, they take it a little too far. This is coming from a Disney lover. For example, Disney Parks likes to celebrate events like “Halfway to Halloween” and “Halfway to the Holidays,” which are exactly what they sound like. Disney thinks, “We’re halfway to a holiday celebration? Let’s celebrate!”
I’m all for celebrations, but the “Halfway to the Holidays” one can be a little much. Christmas in July is already pretty well established, why are we jumping the shark and celebrating in June? Are we going to celebrate again in July? That would all be fine, but today Disney’s Twitter account basically started a countdown to the halfway countdown to the winter holidays. With coordinates. Like SO many coordinates.
Here’s the initial tweet:
ATTENTIONÂ There have been reports that one of our reindeer is on the loose and has been spotted flying across the globe giving out gifts ahead of the holiday season. Please report any sightings using #HalfwaytotheHolidays and stay tuned for the latest alerts.
ATTENTION 🚨🦌 There have been reports that one of our reindeer is on the loose and has been spotted flying across the globe giving out gifts ahead of the holiday season. Please report any sightings using #HalfwaytotheHolidays and stay tuned for the latest alerts. pic.twitter.com/qSYVhpuVoO
— Disney Parks (@DisneyParks) June 12, 2023
Replying to itself, the Disney Parks Twitter account has currently tweeted out at least eight different set of reindeer coordinates. The reindeer apparently “is wearing their sleigh collar with a built-in Gifting Presents System (GPS),” which allows for such diligent tracking.
Twitter users following along are translating the coordinates for the lazy and less interested audience. The reindeer apparently has gone around Canada to the northern tip of Greenland to just off the coast. Some commenters are guessing the reindeer is headed to the North Pole. Others are convinced it’s making stops on all the Disney Cruise ships in the nearby waters. Some think the reindeer is just drawing a Mickey Mouse head on the map.
My personal preference would be for the reindeer to stop at my house, but my house is not a Disney Cruise ship, nor on the path of a potential Mickey Mouse head. Surely it would make sense for the reindeer to end up at one of the Disney Parks, no? I’m glad people are having fun and getting a kick out of the tracking, but I have a lot of questions. Like…
Why is there only one reindeer? How did it get loose? Was it being held in captivity against its will? Is actually a collar or is it microchipped with a tracking device? In case something like this happened? Or is he/she happy to do this work? Is it one of Santa’s reindeer? Or is this a Disney specific reindeer? How is he/she logistically delivering presents? Does he/she have a sleigh?
Answers and further speculation are welcome.