Life-Sized Gingerbread Displays Return to Disney
Updated: Jan 20, 2022
Gingerbread houses that smell so good you could eat them — and you can!
For the past 20 years, Disney has been plus-ing their holiday decorations with larger-than-life gingerbread houses. Guests have made it a yearly tradition to visit the parks and resorts at Walt Disney World to see the giant Christmas trees and themed gingerbread displays. It was noticeably absent last holiday season due to coronavirus restrictions, but the Disney Pastry Team got to pick up their piping bags again this year.
Here’s a peek at some of 2021’s Gingerbread creations!
The Beach Club Resort
The carousel is always a fun and bright addition to the Beach Club, and this year it has a The Little Mermaid theme and includes 20 Hidden Mickeys! We also recommend heading right next door to the Yacht Club where they have a Christmas village set up in the lobby with a miniature train.
The American Adventure Rotunda (EPCOT)
While enjoying the International Festival of Holidays, don’t forget to stop inside the America Pavilion where the Voices of Liberty perform. The pastry chefs have created a mini gingerbread Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, American Adventure Building, and EPCOT’s Holiday Kitchen.
Animal Kingdom Lodge
The newest addition to the 2021 displays is the “Ginger-affe.” The baby giraffe display can be found in the back of the lobby of the Jambo House at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge near the staircase. It features light, irregular-shaped patterns of gingerbread spots that look like the coat of a West African Giraffe, but you might just have to go on Kilimanjaro Safaris to find out for sure!
The Grand Floridian Resort and Spa
The piece de resistance of the gingerbread tour is the 14-foot house located in the lobby of the Grand Floridian. The house doubles as a Bake Shop where you can buy peppermint bark, cookies, s’mores, and the same gingerbread shingles the bakers use to construct the house. This year’s house is also set to have “cinnamon clouds” rising from the chimney.
Other Displays
Since these displays require advance preparation, and COVID-19 cases have fluctuated throughout the year, not ALL of the displays from 2019 could return. The houses that will not be returning are the Mary Blair-inspired castle in the Contemporary Lobby, and the gingerbread displays at the Wilderness Lodge and Saratoga Springs Resorts. But that could change as the Ginger-affe was a surprise display added on December 5, 2021.
But it’s not all bad: each year when deconstructing the gingerbread displays, the Pastry Team will carefully take off the shingles and transport them to the Disney Tree Farm. There, arborists will rinse off their sugar coating to feed the bees on- and off-property! So make sure to visit these incredible displays now through January 1, 2022, when they become a post-holiday treat for the Disney bumblebees.
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