Parks Get Cracking : * Holiday fare: Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm are each presenting a version of Tchaikovsky’s ‘The Nutcracker.’

‘Tis the season for “The Nutcracker”--and this year, it’s “The Nutcracker” with a twist: Besides the customary ballet productions being offered on countless local stages, both Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm are presenting their own versions of the Tchaikovsky holiday classic.

At the Magic Kingdom, “Mickey’s Nutcracker” is playing several times daily on the Videopolis stage in Fantasyland. “Snoopy’s Nutcracker on Ice” will open Saturday at Knott’s Good Time Theatre for three performances daily except Christmas Day and Dec. 31. Both shows close Jan. 5.

Representatives of each park say they knew nothing of the other’s plans.

“I had the idea about five years ago to do something called ‘Mickey’s Nutcracker,’ ” recalls Bob McTyre, Disneyland’s vice president of entertainment. “We struggled with it for quite a while, because we weren’t sure how to do it. We had several approaches that were very traditional, more balletic with a large orchestra, but we weren’t happy with them. This year, we tried a different creative team, who came up with an approach we are very happy with. I was a little taken aback when I heard about a month ago that Knott’s was doing one, too!”

Knott’s, which usually offers a Christmas ice show, had chosen “The Nutcracker” as this year’s theme back in June. It was suggested by the park’s manager of education and culture, Beverly Mills, according to Knott’s director of entertainment, Jeff Langley.

“The whole history of this piece is one of adaptation,” Langley points out, noting that the popular ballet is very different from the E.T.A. Hoffmann story of 1814 on which it is based. The original story is “much longer and not very happy--it’s set in a household devoid of love, and the dream imagery grows out of an unhappy child. So Tchaikovsky’s version is a pretty free adaptation.

“We were kind of unsure about the idea of ‘The Nutcracker’ and (Knott’s mascot) Snoopy, because they don’t seem to go together ideally,” Langley added. “But (the) marketing (department) thought it would be a good hook.”

Indeed, including their well-known costumed characters is one element both shows have in common, along with a 30-minute running time, music drawn mostly from the familiar “Nutcracker Suite” and classy production values. But there are, of course, marked differences in execution and story line.

“Mickey’s Nutcracker” is a mini-musical with song-and-dance production numbers in a variety of musical styles: Toy soldiers tap-dance, the Queen of the Snowflakes sings a jazzy love ballad, and the Russian dance becomes a Western hoedown. There even is a rap song from Nutcracker nemesis Rat King--renamed from the original Mouse King because, as McTyre says, “at Disneyland we already have a Mouse King.”

This version opens with a Christmas Eve party at Minnie Mouse’s house where the guests include several Disney characters as well as humans. Minnie is given a miniature nutcracker that resembles Mickey Mouse that comes to life after her guests leave. He takes her to his kingdom of Candyland, where she eventually saves him from the Rat King.

No rodents by any name appear in the Knott’s show. Created in collaboration with the production company headed by Willy Bietak, who also is producer-director of Ice Capades, this “Nutcracker” is purely classical in style, with the cast skating to a recording by the London Symphony.

The story begins as young heroine Clara, played by 12-year-old skater Eve Reinhardt, holding her beloved Snoopy doll, visits the Knott’s Berry Farm toy and candy store, where she is given a nutcracker doll by a Knott’s handyman. Back home in bed, she falls asleep, whereupon Snoopy comes to life. The life-sized Nutcracker does not appear until later in the show, when he and a now-adult Clara skate a romantic pas de deux in the Land of the Snowflakes. In between, the Chinese, Russian, Spanish and Arabian dance vignettes are accompanied by scenic projections of dreamlike images reflecting each of those cultures.

After going decades without staging “The Nutcracker,” why did both parks choose this particular year to do so?

Langley answered that “all over the country, and particularly in Orange County, this is becoming the era of a return to family and tradition. You go into a bookstore and ‘Alice in Wonderland’ is prominently displayed. I don’t remember seeing those classics pushed for kids that way before. Baby boomers are rediscovering the warm, wonderful memories of childhood for their kids. It just feels right for these times.”

In fact, Langley hopes that “Snoopy’s Nutcracker on Ice” will become an annual holiday offering. McTyre has the same wish for “Mickey’s Nutcracker.” “We’re not making fun of the ballet,” he said, “but we’re having fun with it. We’re making it a friendly show, accessible for the whole family to watch.”

* “Snoopy’s Nutcracker on Ice” will be presented at 1, 3, and 5 p.m. daily Dec. 21 through Jan. 5 (except Dec. 25 and 31) in the Chevrolet/Geo Good Time Theatre at Knott’s Berry Farm, 8039 Beach Blvd., Buena Park. Park admission: $9.95 to $21.95. Information: (714) 827-1776. * “Mickey’s Nutcracker” continues on the Videopolis Stage at Disneyland, 1313 Harbor Blvd., Anaheim, Mondays through Fridays at 11 a.m., 12:30, 1:45, 3:30 and 5 p.m.; Saturdays at 2:45, 4, 5:30, 6:45 and 8:30 p.m.; and Sundays at 1:30, 3, 9:45, 6 and 7:30 p.m. Park admission: $22.50 to $27.50. Parking: $5. Information: (714) 999-4565.