During last year’s holiday season at Walt Disney World, Disney’s Tally the Elf character from the parade at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party went viral on social media. Tally the Elf was known for his hilarious guest interactions and quickly gained a fan following.
Disney World has made a noticeable change to this character, as seen during the first Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party of the season. At Mickey Visit, we report on Disney Parks news, including the new Haunted Mansion bar opening soon and the Disney World Christmas popcorn buckets. Universal has now copied the viral character.
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Who is Tally the Elf?
Tally the Elf is a character featured in Disney World’s Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade. The role of Tally the Elf in the parade is essentially as Santa’s helper, and he would check the names of the parade watchers against his Naughty or Nice list.
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Tally would ask guests for their name and then dramatically declare them “Naughty” or “Nice” using his large pencil and clipboard. These guest interactions were extremely popular and made for good online content, with many clips going viral on social media.
If a guest was declared “Naughty,” he would usually announce that they only had so many days until Christmas to correct their behavior. Some fans loved Tally the Elf so much that they even made t-shirts featuring the character to wear to the parade.
Tally the Elf Change at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party
The first party night of Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party for 2025 was November 7, and guests immediately noticed a change to the character of Tally the Elf.
According to Serena at LivingByDisney, the cast member who played Tally the Elf in previous seasons is no longer visible in the parade and has been replaced by a female cast member. The choreography in the parade has been altered, and there are no longer interactions between Tally the Elf and guests. While the character remains a part of the parade, this is a large change from the previous year, as there are now no guest interactions.
While many guests may be disappointed, the online attention this cast member was receiving was pretty intense and went too far. Fans even went as far as to find his name and personal information and release it online. That behavior was over the top and inappropriate. It’s understandable to be sad that a favorite performer is no longer in the parks, but in this case, the character remains part of the parade. The cast member, whom many fans seemed more attached to than the character itself, has simply been recast. It’s unfortunate that guests may no longer get to enjoy the performer’s engaging interactions in this role, but the change may have been made for safety reasons.
Of course, Disney may have simply changed the casting of the character and removed the one-on-one interactions just to keep the parade running smoothly. The guest interactions may have been causing interruptions to the flow of the parade.
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Disney has made no official statement regarding Tally the Elf. This change was made quietly, so no one knows for sure Disney’s motivation for the change. However, we believe this could be a permanent change for the duration of this season’s Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.
Serena at LivingByDisney originally posted this news on TikTok.
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