Santa Goofy is Coming to Town

UPDATE: As of 2018, Goofy and Pluto no longer dress up for the Holiday Season at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. However, Santa Goofy can currently still be found at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

While Goofy and Pluto can normally be found greeting guests in Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s DinoLand USA, the pair’s wardrobe gets a festive makeover during the Christmas Season. Most notably, this includes Goofy’s transformation into Santa Goofy. The appearance of Santa Goofy has become a tradition at Walt Disney World during the Holidays, but the parks haven’t been the only place he’s donned the bright red suit over the years.

In the 1999 direct-to-video film “Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmas,” one scene features Goofy and his young son Max hosting a Christmas dinner for a neighboring family going through a tough time. After the meal, the Goof dons a Santa costume to help entertain their children, even making an entrance down the family’s chimney. Max, who up to this point in the film has begun doubting if Santa is real, is overjoyed to see what appears to be Santa in person, but his hopes are soon dashed when he realizes the man in the suit is only his father.

Another way Santa Goofy has been depicted was in balloon form during the 1992 “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade” in New York to celebrate the character’s 60^th anniversary. While the massive balloon was only marched through Herald Square that one time, there was another way for Disney fans that missed the parade to see it. The Santa Goofy balloon, along with several others from that year’s parade, were brought to Disney-MGM Studios (now Disney’s Hollywood Studios) and set up on the New York Street during the 1992 Christmas season, predating Universal Orlando’s current partnership with the Macy’s Parade by nearly a decade.

At first glance, Goofy may seem like an unlikely candidate for Disney to cast as Santa Claus time and again. After all, his tall and gangly physique isn’t what one normally thinks about for someone portraying Kris Kringle. However, he’s certainly jolly enough for the part, and, in the end, that’s what matters most! Merry Christmas, and may your celebration this year be merry, bright, and just a little goofy!