| Prep & Landing | |
|---|---|
 Poster of the first television special | |
| Directed by | Kevin Deters Stevie Wermers |
| Starring | Dave Foley Derek Richardson Sarah Chalke W. Morgan Sheppard (More) |
| Music by | Michael Giacchino |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Disney–ABC Domestic Television |
Release dates | 1: December 8, 2009 (2009-12-08) 2:December 7, 2010 3:December 5, 2011 4:November 27, 2025 |
Running time | 73 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | 14,000,000 |
Prep & Landing is a series ofcomputer animated televisionChristmas specials produced by theWalt Disney Animation Studios (2009–2011) andDisney Television Animation (2025). Voices ofDave Foley,Derek Richardson,Sarah Chalke andW. Morgan Sheppard are featured in the specials.
Wayne, a Christmas elf, is part of an elite organization known as "Prep & Landing", whose job is to ready millions of homes around the world for Santa Claus's visit. After working with "Prep & Landing" for 227 years, Wayne looked forward to getting promoted. Instead, Wayne is overlooked by his former partner, and Wayne is introduced to Lanny, a rookie whom Wayne has to also train. Wayne, still bitter about the promotion, decided to slack off during the mission. He permitted Lanny to do all of the work, which is disastrous. Meanwhile, Santa is informed mid-flight of a massive snow storm and that Wayne and Lanny have not fully prepared the house yet. He is told to cancel the landing, which has never happened before, when they promised to make it up for a boy named Timmy, who is living at the house. Wayne and Lanny discovered that the re-routing was a final decision, but after hearing Timmy thanking them in his sleep, Wayne decided to fix it. He called up Santa, telling him that he must land at Timmy's house. Wayne and Lanny then worked together to land Santa safely on Timmy's roof. On Christmas morning, Santa showed Wayne that Timmy had a merry Christmas. Santa offered a promotion to Wayne, but he turned it down so he can work with Lanny.
Wayne and Lanny, who are now partners, are called by Magee to meet with a secret contact, who turns out to be Mrs. Claus, who sends Wayne and Lanny on a new mission to retrieve a box from Santa's secret workshop. Later they sneak into Santa's office while he is asleep, using their high tech equipment from the previous film. Lanny's expertise at dressing the tree enabled them to enter the hidden workshop where they recovered the box and escaped just in time. Mrs. Claus revealed the contents of the box to be the last part of the first toy that Santa had ever made, and gave the complete toy back to him as his Christmas Present.
Wayne and Lanny have to recover classified North Pole technology from a hacker after it was stolen from the Coal Elf Brigade, a unit of Christmas elves responsible for children on the naughty list. They have to team up with a member of the Coal Elf Brigade, who turns out to be Noel, Wayne's estranged younger brother. Wayne reluctantly accepts, and the three elves set off to the house. Wayne accidentally triggers a booby trap, which Noel is able to fend off. Lanny is captured by the hacker, who turns out to be a child named Grace Goodwin. She blames her toddler brother Gabriel for her bad behavior, and wants to put herself on the nice list. She manages to, but Noel recovers the device. Angry at being shown up, Wayne yells that he wishes he never had a brother. Noel is hurt, and tells Wayne how he was Noel's hero. Wayne apologizes, and the brothers reconcile. The device malfunctions, and Wayne and Noel pull off a daring mission, saving Christmas. The next day, they're named "Elves of the Year."
Kevin Deters and Stevie Wermers, the directors of the specials, stated at the end of 2011 that another holiday TV special had been planned for the future.[1]
In 2017, Deters and Wermers were involved in the production ofOlaf's Frozen Adventure, an animated short film which is part ofFrozen franchise and not part of thePrep & Landing series. Arunning gag involvingfruitcake was carried over fromPrep & Landing intoOlaf's Frozen Aventure.[2]
In 2024, it was announced that a third half-hour special, entitledThe Snowball Protocol, would be produced throughDisney Branded Television andDisney Television Animation, rather than WDAS. Deters and Wermers-Skelton will executive produce, with Colleen Evanston (Monsters at Work,DuckTales) serving as co-producer and story editor, Melissa Kurtz (Monsters at Work) producing, Shane Zalvin (Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure) as director and Hilary Helding (Monsters at Work) as writer. It is set to be released on November 27, 2025 (Thanksgiving night) onDisney Channel, the first of the series to debut via that channel, followed byDisney+ on the next day and bererun onFreeform as part of the25 Days of Christmas, as well as an additional airing to be determined onABC.[3][4][5][6]
In this new installment of the Emmy®-winning holiday specials, the high-tech team of elves from the elite unit known as Prep and Landing is back! When their holiday missions go awry, Wayne thinks he is in BIG trouble with Santa, whichopens a vault of merry mishaps from the past. It’s going to be hard to dig their way out of the snowbank this time in “Prep & Landing: The Snowball Protocol.” The special will debut next year.
— Disney Branded Television[7]
A one-minute short film, titledTiny's BIG Adventure, was released on-line on December 9, 2009, along withPrep & Landing.[8] It was released on DVD on November 22, 2011,[9] and on DVD/Blu-ray ofPrep & Landing: Totally Tinsel Collection, on November 6, 2012.[10][11]
| Character | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prep & Landing | Operation: Secret Santa | Naughty vs. Nice | The Snowball Protocol | |
| Wayne | Dave Foley | |||
| Lanny | Derek Richardson | |||
| Magee | Sarah Chalke | |||
| Santa Claus | W. Morgan Sheppard | Christopher Swindle | ||
| Timmy Terwelp | Mason Vale Cotton | Cameo | ||
| Mrs. Claus | Betty White | |||
| Grace Goodwin | Emily Alyn Lind | |||
| Mr. Thistleton | Chris Parnell | |||
| Noel | Rob Riggle | |||
| Crumbles | Phil LaMarr | |||
| Renato | Manny Jacinto | |||
| Chef Geoff | Danny Pudi | |||
| Janice | Dulcé Sloan | |||
Wayne and Lanny appear in the comic bookPrep & Landing: Mansion Impossible, where they prepareAvengers Mansion for a visit from Santa. The story was written by Kevin Deters, and illustrated by Joe Mateo, being released on November 16, 2011, inAvengers #19,Marvel Adventures Super Heroes #20, andMarvel Adventures Spider-Man #20.[12]
Wayne and Lanny are part of theWalt Disney Animation Studios characters that appear in the 2023 short filmOnce Upon a Studio gathering to take a group photo.[13]
On September 5, 2025,Disney Publishing Worldwide released aPrep & Landing book, as part of theLittle Golden Books collection.[14]
The Prep & Landing franchise is the basis forJingle Bell, Jingle BAM! (November 14, 2016 – January 5, 2020; November 11, 2023 – present), a seasonal holiday-themed nighttime show at Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.[15]
