Grand Floridian Gingerbread House Wows, But Isn’t Easy To Get To… And Stop By the Contemporary’s Gingerbread, Too

 by Beth Keating

Review/Lifestyle

DisneyBizJournal.com

December 11, 2023

 

For more than two decades, Disney World’s pastry chefs have been whipping up creative holiday visions like the gingerbread house at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. If it’s your first time stepping into the soaring atrium of the Grand Floridian to see the life-sized cottage, it’s a good probability your jaw will drop in awe.  For several years, we’ve been filling our holiday fêtes with a stop at the Grand to pick up some gingerbread goodies and visit the spectacular house.

This year, though, it wasn’t easy to visit.  We decided to make a festive event out of the trip, and had made reservations at the Grand Floridian Café to have lunch and see the gingerbread.  We pulled up to the guard booth at the Resort about half an hour before our dining reservation, were greeted warmly, then told to swing around, make a right at the stop sign and a left into the overflow parking at the next traffic light.  Then we had to walk across the street, down the long driveway, and up to the portico of the Resort.  We were given a dashboard certificate that granted us three hours of parking to see the house and have lunch.  Turns out that if we’d decided to opt for dessert with our lunch, we never would have made that three-hour window.

As expected, the Grand Floridian Café was a busy place, and our dining reservation ran twenty minutes behind schedule. (Lunch was very good, by the way.) We finished the meal and headed out to take a few pictures in the atrium in front of the enormous tree, then hopped on line to get our goodies at the gingerbread house.  The line was long, but it only took us about 25 minutes to make it to the front of the line.  Next, it was a quick stop upstairs at M. Mouse Mercantile to do a little Christmas shopping (didn’t even have time to hit up the other shops), and by then, our three hours were up.  We hustled back across the street to overflow parking, and moved out.  If we’d stayed at the café for dessert, we would not have remotely made it back to the car in under three hours.

  
Truthfully, if we had known ahead of time about the three-hour limit on parking, we probably would have skipped the dining reservation at Grand Floridian Café, and parked at the Ticket and Transportation Center (TTC) and taken the monorail over to the Grand Floridian to see the gingerbread house.  Then we not only wouldn’t have been pressed for time, but we could have also taken the monorail to the Contemporary to see their gingerbread display.  It would have opened up a lot more dining opportunities at the Contemporary and the Polynesian as well, as both resorts are on the monorail line.

All that being said, we were still thrilled to visit the gingerbread house.  This is the 24th year for the life-sized cottage, and this year it came from the imagination of Pastry Chef de Cuisine Kristine Farmer and her team.  They spent over 500 hours baking gingerbread, and 480 hours decorating the house with 10,000 pieces of gingerbread.  An 85 pound, hand-painted chocolate Santa stands on the porch, or maybe he’s just searching for the 24 hidden Mickeys!

The culinary team used 1,050 pounds of honey; 140 pints of egg whites; 600 pounds of powdered sugar; 700 pounds of chocolate; 800 pounds of flour; 35 pounds of spices; and a bit of pixie dust to pull this house together!

If you’d like a special treat while you are visiting the Grand Floridian’s gingerbread house, or even a gift to take home for family and friends, the Grand Floridian will sell you your snacks right from the window of the gingerbread house.  The cottage is big enough for cast members to work inside, dishing out the goodies.  Among a multitude of items, this year’s sweets include dipped Mickey Gingerbread ears and gingerbread shingles ($11.50); Stollen Bread ($25.00); Brownie Christmas Tree Pops ($7.50); Peppermint Bark ($15.00); Gingersnap Cookies ($5.50); House-made Gingerbread Ornaments ($14.00); Create Your Own Gingerbread Ornament kits ($25.00);  Gingerbread Houses ($85.00); Peppermint Marshmallow Pops ($4.00); Gingerbread Cranberry Muffins ($4.50); Milk Chocolate Pecan Fudge ($9.00); and a Grand Floridian Gift Box featuring assorted treats ($60.00).

The Grand Floridian house will be available until January 1, 2024, from 9:00 a.m. until 9:30 p.m.  (Just make sure you make the right parking choices!)

If you are doing the “monorail gingerbread crawl,” and are heading to the Contemporary Resort, their Cinderella castle gingerbread display is now in its 12th year. Created by pastry chef Jeff Barnes and his 40 elves, this 17 feet tall, 25 feet wide, Mary Blair-inspired display will be shown off until January 6, 2024. It took twelve days to assemble the over 4,000 castle gingerbread bricks. (You thought you had it rough at your family gingerbread competition!)

You’ll need to head up to the fourth floor to see this gingerbread creation, which honors the Disney100 celebration. The Contemporary’s tableau was made with 612 pounds of sugar, 439 jars of honey, 1012 pounds of flour, 112 pounds of gingerbread spice, 51 pounds of chocolate, 67 pounds of modeling chocolate, 88 pounds of rolled fondant, 43 pounds of Royal icing, 512 eggs, and 12 gallons of milk.

  
And instead of hidden Mickeys on this backdrop, you’ll be hunting for 12 five-legged goats hidden in the artwork.  What?  You don’t know about the five-legged goat?  It’s a tribute to the five-legged goat that Mary Blair herself placed in the giant mosaic in the Grand Canyon Concourse at the Contemporary.  (Some say it’s there to make the statement that nothing is ever perfect.  Either way, we think it’s fun, and a challenge to locate this special goat in the tiles on the Concourse wall.)

Disney’s Contemporary Resort also has a selection of special treats for purchase, among them Gingerbread Castle “Bricks” ($6.50); Paint Your Own Cookie boxes ($25.00); Christmas Tree Butter Cookies ($5.29); Gingerbread Loafs ($5.29); Pistachio Linzer Cookies ($6.29); and 5-Legged Goat Cookies that are Gluten Friendly ($5.49).

  
We hope you and your friends and family have a great time exploring the gingerbread treats in the Magic Kingdom Resort area.

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Beth Keating is a theme parks, restaurant and entertainment reporter for DisneyBizJournal.

 

Support the Daily Dose of Disney with Ray Keating podcast at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1724143. Subscribe at the $8 or $10 level, and get The Disney Planner: The TO DO List Solution by Ray Keating. Remain a supporter and you'll get a FREE BOOK by Ray Keating every six months going forward. Thanks!

Gingerbread Display at Disney’s Beach Club

 by Beth Keating

Lifestyle

DisneyBizJournal.com

December 1, 2023

 

If you are awed by the creativity and absolute skill that it takes to create the gingerbread masterpieces at Disney World’s Resorts each year, you might want to keep your eyes peeled for a few special events coming up – Disney is offering pin signing opportunities with some of their pastry chefs. 

The first one was December 1, 2023, at the Beach Club, where the whimsical gingerbread carousel lives, and we discovered it quite by accident when we were gingerbread display hopping. Later in the month, the Contemporary will also be hosting a Pin Signing, but the date hadn’t been posted yet.  If you aren’t familiar with these pins, Disney releases a series of Resort specific pins each year, tied to the Resorts that are hosting gingerbread displays.  

For more than 20 years, Disney has been sharing amazing gingerbread displays, from the life-sized house used as a walk-up merchandise kiosk at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, to the new gingerbread lighthouse at the Yacht Club Resort.

At Disney’s Beach Club Resort, the display is a working holiday Carousel. The carousel changes themes each year, but it has been there for 22 years.  While it isn’t large enough for people to ride on, it does sport four carousel horses being ridden by some of your favorite characters.

This year’s theme is “DuckTales,” and the four horses are decorated with Donald Duck and his nephews, Huey, Duey, and Louie. You’ll need to find 22 hidden Mickeys throughout the spinning display, honoring the 22 years of the gingerbread carousel. This centerpiece of the Beach Club’s lobby took 432 pounds of honey, 1200 pounds of rye flour, 100 pounds of eggs, 25 pounds of spices, 10 pounds of simple syrup, 200 pounds of icing, 10 quarts of egg whites, 100 pounds of confectionary sugar, 50 pounds of dark chocolate, and 20 pounds of Grand Marnier to bake!

The carousel theme ties in to the “DuckTales World Showcase Adventure” game that you can entertain your family with at EPCOT. (It’s a scavenger hunt of sorts, where you follow clues to make things happen in the various pavilions, and solve mysteries… a fun diversion!)

The merry-go-round not only features the cute ducks, but a variety of Easter eggs to tie each galloping horse to one of EPCOT’s pavilions.  Look closely, and you’ll find a golf placard for the UK pavilion, butterflies decorated in the flags of the countries, and a guitar and a tiny piñata for the Mexico pavilion, among many others.

 

The Yacht and Beach Club Resorts do offer gingerbread goodies if you want to sample some holiday treats, but the holiday shop is located at the Beach Club side of the Resort, so you’ll have to head over there to indulge.  (You were going there to see the carousel anyway, so no problem, right?) The goodies are available from 11:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.

 

Some of the holiday treats available at this location include Signature Stollen Bread ($12.99); Lighthouse Fudge ($8.49); a Mickey Snowman Pop ($5.99); Crisped Rice Treats ($4.99); Peppermint Bark ($7.99); Gingerbread Shingles just like the ones on the creations! ($5.79); and Gluten-free Gingerbread Cookies ($5.79). Hot Chocolate Flights are also available.

At the Beach Club’s attached sister Resort, the Yacht Club, a quick stroll down the sidewalk will wow you with a brand new working gingerbread lighthouse, surrounded by a tiny snow village with a train chugging along.

Chef Michael and his team built the gingerbread lighthouse to ¼ scale of the Yacht Club’s lighthouse on Crescent Lake, and the light on top flashes, too!  The surrounding train town is filled with hidden Mickeys, and lots of moving parts.

While the Yacht Club has played host to the train village before, this is the first year to see the floor to ceiling sized lighthouse.

 

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Beth Keating is a theme parks, restaurant and entertainment reporter for DisneyBizJournal.

 

Support the Daily Dose of Disney with Ray Keating podcast at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1724143. Subscribe at the $8 or $10 level, and get The Disney Planner: The TO DO List Solution by Ray Keating. Remain a supporter and you'll get a FREE BOOK by Ray Keating every six months going forward. Thanks!

BoardWalk’s Gingerbread “Deli” Now on Display Through December 27

 by Beth Keating

Lifestyle

DisneyBizJournal.com

November 24, 2023

 

Depending on how you count them, there are more than half a dozen gingerbread displays around the Disney World parks this year, from a room-sized gingerbread house selling tasty holiday goodies from one of its windows over at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, to a brand new gingerbread rendition of the Crescent Lake lighthouse at the Yacht Club Resort. Really unique displays have also popped up, including the life-sized baby gingerbread giraffe and zebra at Animal Kingdom Lodge. 

 

At Disney’s BoardWalk Inn, their intricately detailed gingerbread will be on display through December 27, and it is set up in the main lobby by the registration area, alongside tons of sparkling holiday decorations. The tabletop creation by Pastry Chef Alex Vacher and his team is a miniature replica of the BoardWalk Deli. The real deli is just outside the Resort’s sweeping lawn, along the boardwalk promenade.    

Taking a peek in the windows of the tiny gingerbread deli, you’ll see a 7-inch tall Mickey and Minnie hard-at-work in their kitchen, along with shelves of supplies to create their itty-bitty magical treats (Some of them are Mickey shaped! You’ll even recognize the Mickey dome cakes you can order for your own celebrations in the Resort’s actual restaurants.) Minnie is baking her own scaled gingerbread house, and diminutive rolling pins and oven mitts are scattered about. The windows of the shop flicker with lights and shadows – even the “oven” appears to be dancing with light.

Red-and-white-striped awnings adorn the building, and petite trees, fully decorated with edible bakery goodies, complement the exterior of the display. A purple and white decorated tree gives a nod to the Disney100 celebration.  Don’t forget to look for the 100 hidden Mickeys in the décor honoring the 100th anniversary of Disney this year, and you’ll also find the shadows of a few other members of the Fab 5 hanging about. There’s a working clock on the top of the façade as well!

The BoardWalk’s Gingerbread display is no lightweight when it comes to ingredients – it took more than 210 hours of decorating by Disney’s bakery elves.  Reportedly, there’s also 184 pounds each of whole rye flour and light rye flour, 170 pounds of bread flour, 168 eggs (!), 142 pounds of granulated sugar, 42 pounds of powdered sugar, 22 gallons of honey, 6 pounds of Ammonium Carbonate, 11 pounds of Lebkuchen, 4 gallons of egg whites, 1 pound of Cream of Tartar, 30 pounds of fondant, a heaping spoonful of magic, and a sprinkling of pixie dust!

  
If it’s not enough to just visit the gingerbread, and you suddenly feel the need to munch on the spicy delights as well, the BoardWalk can accommodate those cravings. During the afternoon, the BoardWalk Inn has a number of offerings for sale, including Mickey and Minnie Sugar Cookies ($4.79); Mickey Caramel Corn Cookies ($6.49); Christmas Tree Pops ($4.49); Peppermint Bark ($7.99); and regular Gingerbread Shingles ($4.99) and Gluten/ Wheat-Friendly and Plant-based Gingerbread Shingles ($4.49) versions that look just like the ones on the gingerbread building itself.  Add on a cup of warm drinking chocolate for $5.79 if you’d like.

The BoardWalk Inn is a Deluxe level Resort, and is located on Crescent Lake between EPCOT and Hollywood Studios.  Friendship boats traverse the lakefront, ferrying guests back and forth between the Resorts and parks.

The BoardWalk’s whimsical, turn-of-the-century Atlantic City theme especially comes alive at night, when carnival games, streetmosphere entertainment, jugglers and more light up the area to entertain guests along the Coney Island-style boardwalk.  Christmas decorations, including brightly lit trees, are also on display both inside and outside the Resort, making it a festive place to visit for the holidays.

 

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Beth Keating is a theme parks, restaurant and entertainment reporter for DisneyBizJournal.

 

Support the Daily Dose of Disney with Ray Keating podcast at https://www.buzzsprout.com/1724143. Subscribe at the $8 or $10 level, and get The Disney Planner: The TO DO List Solution by Ray Keating. Remain a supporter and you'll get a FREE BOOK by Ray Keating every six months going forward. Thanks!