Last year, a character in the parade at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom went viral on social media. The character, “Tally the Elf”, went viral for his antics entertaining guests with his naughty and nice list.
This year, Disney changed the viral character and removed the guest interactions. Now, Universal Orlando has created their own version of the character from last year. At Mickey Visit, we bring you the latest Disney news and planning resources, including a look at Disney’s comments about phones at the parks and ride closures. See all the current sales, including the Disney World Black Friday sale, Universal Studios Hollywood Black Friday sale, Universal Orlando Black Friday sale, and the Disneyland Black Friday sale.
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Universal Orlando Copies Disney’s “Tally the Elf” Character
The “Tally the Elf” character that went viral on social media was one of the elves within Disney World’s Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade. The role is essentially a Santa’s helper. He would check the names of the parade watchers against his Naughty or Nice list.
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Last year, Tally would go down the parade route asking guests their names and then declare them “Naughty” or “Nice” in a thick southern accent. He brandished a large pencil and a clipboard as he did it. The interactions were popular in the theme parks and took on a life of their own on social media. These videos went very viral.
Some guests were so enamored with the character that they made t-shirts featuring the actor who played the character to wear to the Christmas party.
Now, this year the cast member who played “Tally the Elf” in previous seasons is no longer visible in the parade and has been replaced by a female cast member.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. You can see our full news coverage of this change here with a video of the new change.
The change came after the actor was receiving lots of attention online that went beyond fandom of the character.
Now, after Disney changed the character this year, someone at Universal Orlando in entertainment decided to have a little bit of fun with the situation.
Universal has a history of great character interactions, especially during the holidays when their Grinch character always delivers tons of fun guest moments. Check out a look at that character. Universal generally has a wide array of holiday offerings that range from a very fun parade to holidays at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. See all the Universal Orlando Christmas details.
In a new video captured at the park, you can see Universal’s attempt at recreating the “Tally the Elf” character. The actor uses a southern accent and a very similar clipboard and pencil to recreate the same interaction in the theme park. The video appears to show that the characters are just roaming in Universal Studios Florida in front of the Studios Store.
The actor asks for a guest’s first name and last name initial and checks the list for the name. After calling over another elf partner and reading through names, he exclaims “you made it on the nice list” and runs around in the street. He then thanks the guest for being “awfully helpful today”.
The new video from @hhnspeculationmatt seen below includes the caption, “If you’re missing a certain elf on parade down the street, come tally up some fun at Universal! Find out whether you’re on the naughty or nice list with two new elves in the front of the park!”
Some in the comments of the new reel debate if this is a good addition by Universal or if it is just “Another perfect example of how universal just copies things that Disney already did ;)”. Another commented, “Leave it to Universal to replace what the other park takes away 😆🤭”.
Here’s the full video of the new character interaction at Universal.
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What do you think of Universal copying Disney’s character with their own take on “Tally the Elf”?
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