A 2nd Act: Daring to Dream

How Kyle and Sammy Pratt built a holiday wonderland

Many wonderful stories begin with “Once upon a time.” It creates a sense of wonder, imagination, adventure and magic. The story of Kyle and Sammy Pratt, owners and creators of Pratt Brothers Christmas, does all this and so much more.

The Pratt brothers’ story began at a young age when their parents established the tradition of going to Disneyland every year during the holidays. “As we got older, Kyle and I started falling in love with the magic of Disneyland during the Christmas season,” Sammy said.

Kyle and Sammy would return from Disneyland with the goal of recreating at their home what they had seen. “We didn’t have a Matterhorn or Space Mountain at our house, but we could put on a show in our front yard and have people come and enjoy it with their families,” Kyle said. Starting with one light strand in 2015, the Pratt brothers produced the annual “Christmas Forever” holiday show in their front yard until 2021.

During this time, the Pratt brothers had a singular goal: to work for the Walt Disney Company. They contacted several of Walt Disney’s original Imagineers, wanting to understand how they could bring their dream of working at the company to life. One of those Imagineers and designers, Rolly Crump, who worked on It’s a Small World, Haunted Mansion and Enchanted Tiki Room, told the Pratts that while Disney appreciated academic degrees, the company wanted to see a living, breathing resume. 

“With this advice, we amped up our game on the house to not only try to impress guests who were coming by, but to impress Disney as well,” Sammy said. “Rolly became our mentor for 10-plus years. He helped us implement not only great design, but taught us about color and placement and how guests react to certain things.”

The “Christmas Forever” show snowballed into something the Pratt brothers did not expect. “By 2021, it was insane,” Sammy said. “We had ‘Good Morning America’ on our front yard the previous year and thousands of people coming to see the show. We had some upset neighbors because of traffic. We were forced to look beyond our residential home, and that’s when we decided to take it a step further and do this for real.”

One of Sammy’s favorite quotes, “The harder you work, the luckier you get,” perfectly describes the visibility and success the Pratt brothers continue to achieve. Kyle and Sammy were the youngest contestants at the time to win ABC’s 2022 “The Great Christmas Light Fight” and built their first commercial display in Mesa the same year. In 2023, they established the light show and family experience, “Pratt Brothers Christmas at Rawhide.”

The show’s new home, spanning more than 50 acres at Rawhide, affords the Pratt brothers the opportunity to expand the roots that started at home. An industrial gingerbread house with windmill fire machines, movie screens and the smell of gingerbread serves as the centerpiece. A nightly Christmas parade takes place without the concern of traffic, and characters mingle with guests. Three trains transport visitors around the property through Candy Land, the Land of Dinosaurs and the North Pole.

“Our goal and vision are to recreate what we felt as kids at Disneyland — that feeling of escapism, wonder and adventure. Everything that’s bothering you leaves your head, and you’re just focused on the experience,” Sammy said. “We also want to inspire younger generations. At the end of the day, we were two kids in Scottsdale who had a weird hobby and then took it commercial, and it ended up working as a full-blown business.”

This business includes the involvement and support of the entire family. Kyle and Sammy’s older brother is the CFO, and their little sister uses her creativity to bring characters and visions to life. Their mom is on-site every night, helping with whatever needs to be done, whether it’s picking up trash or helping visitors get in line for the train. Their dad, Dave, provides advice along the way.

As the host of the longest-running rock ‘n’ roll morning show in the country, Dave Pratt taught the boys key lessons about creativity and marketing. Kyle and Sammy could do whatever they wanted to the family home but had to earn all the money needed for the display. This fueled their creativity and forced them to think outside the box to bring their vision to life. The eldest Pratt also instilled simple marketing lessons. “Dad gave us the advice to give people a reason to come back and choose your display over others. So we try to do unorthodox stuff,” Kyle said. “We never rest on our laurels or be complacent. We keep pushing to give people a reason to come back and look forward to something.”

Looking ahead, the Pratt brothers have a new vision of building a theme park in Arizona in the next 10 to 20 years that gives Disney a run for its money. “Sammy and I love to roll the dice,” Kyle said. “Shoot for the stars, or you’ll never know what you can really reach.”

To learn more about Pratt Brothers Christmas at Rawhide, which runs Nov. 29 through Dec. 29, 2024, visit prattbrotherschristmas.com.