Holiday Sweets at the Disney Resorts

Everyone loves to eat during the holidays. Why do you think gym memberships soar in January? After Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve and other parties people usually find their pants a bit tighter than they would like. But we’re still in 2009 and there is plenty of holiday fun to be had, especially here at the Orlando theme parks. We’ve been blogging about the various holiday events going on at the parks, but in this post we’re going to let you in on some of the sweet treats you can see if you visit some of the hotels in the Walt Disney World Resort.

Over at the Contemporary, one of the hotels closest to the Magic Kingdom, you can see a holiday tree inspired by Disney Legend Mary Blair. The tree is located on the 4th floor of the hotel and measures in at 17 feet high, made completely with gingerbread shingles. Disney has plenty of traditional sweet sculptures during the holiday season, and one of them is celebrating its 10th anniversary! Over at the Beach Club Resort, the life-size edible carousel is celebrating 10 years of pleasing guests from all over the world. The carousel is made of gingerbread, chocolate, and sugar paste. You can buy your own gingerbread house from the marketplace to take home with you. If you’re a fan of Hidden Mickeys, we hear the carousel has 10 of them.

For you Disney pin traders, make sure you head over to the Board Walk for their walk-through Holiday Gazebo. It also has Hidden Mickeys, but you can also purchase a limited edition Stitch pin featuring the gingerbread display. But the most popular sweet sculpture in the Disney resort world is housed at the beautiful Grand Floridian. Here you will find their enormous gingerbread house created from a traditional Austrian recipe. This house has been featured on a variety of travel show specials and is a highlight of the Grand Floridian hotel during the holiday season. It takes 400 chefs to bake everything needed for the house and 160 hours to assemble it. Make sure you explore some of these great edible sculptures during your visit to Walt Disney World.

Gather 'Round the Bonfire at Disney's Grand Floridian

There’s no denying that Walt Disney World is a family friendly place. But after enjoying all the attractions and experiences of Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios, many may wonder what’s left for families to enjoy after they retreat to their hotels from the parks. Thankfully, Disney resorts have got you covered with a variety of fun activities to enjoy when your day at the parks is done.

For example, at the elegant Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, families can indulge in a sweet new experience under the stars. In addition to the other activities available at the resort, families are now able to enjoy a little old fashioned fun by roasting marshmallows around a Mickey-shaped campfire. Every evening around 8 pm (the time changes seasonally), guests can gather to roast and snack, gaze at the stars, and sing favorite camp tunes on the shore of Seven Seas Lagoon.

Meanwhile, the moonlit beach will also serve as an outdoor movie theater as a different family-friendly Disney film is shown on a portable screen every night. S’more kits and marshmallows are available for purchase during the campfire and movie.

Families can also enjoy campfire fun at the Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground, where Chip and Dale join in on the fun, and a different movie is shown than the one at the Grand Floridian.

Not only are these activities perfectly timed for enjoying after a day at the parks, but they’re free! The Grand Floridian also hosts a daily Wonderland Tea Party from 1:30 to 2:30 pm every weekday, with Alice and her curious friends gathering to enjoy a spot of tea - with guests, of course. And great for a bit of fun before heading off to the parks, the resort’s 1900 Park Fare hosts a character breakfast in the morning with Mary Poppins, Alice, the Mad Hatter, Pinocchio, and Geppetto.

In addition, the hotel offers various forms of outdoor recreation like tennis, golf, a jogging trail, and watercraft rentals. Hanging at Gasparailla’s Grill & Games is another fun post-park activity, as the quick-service restaurant offers a game room filled with classic arcade favorites and the latest video games.

And if parents want to enjoy a night on their own, they can leave kids in the care of the Mouseketeer Club, a supervised activity center that entertains the little ones with arts and crafts, computer games, Disney movies, and dinner and snacks.

But ultimately, you’ll want to gather the whole family together for bonfire nights at the Grand Floridian; it’s a fun way to end the day and will definitely serve as a great memory of your Walt Disney World vacation. In order to plan said vacation, check out Walt Disney World tickets on DWTickets.com. And don’t forget to pack some marshmallows.