One of the really enjoyable things to do at Walt Disney World during the holiday season is to visit the Disney hotels to see all the holiday decorations. Each of the hotels are beautifully themed and decorated with lots of lights, garland, wreaths, Christmas trees and gingerbread houses. And if you visit the hotels during the evening you may be lucky enough to see a local high school choir singing Christmas carols or a church group of bell ringers.
Disney doesn’t just put up garland, wreaths and trees. They make sure that the decorations are themed and have a connection with the resort. That is particularly true with the large Christmas trees that you’ll see in each hotel. In my opinion, the theming makes the decorations all that much more enjoyable to see.
In this blog I’ve included pictures of the decorations in the Animal Kingdom Lodge, Contemporary, Grand Floridian and the Polynesian Resorts. I hope you enjoy them!
The first hotel I visited was the Animal Kingdom Lodge. The large tree in the center of the lobby is both beautiful and very impressive. I love the animal in the wreaths, however, I do wish they’d add a gingerbread house of some kind.
The big Christmas tree at the Contemporary Resort Hotel is outdoors in front. The lobby of the hotel doesn’t have very high ceilings and the really isn’t any room for the tree on the 4th floor where Chef Mickey’s is. The gingerbread tree is really special and how cool is that large Mickey wreath?
Without a doubt the Grand Floridian is the most beautifully decorated place in all of Walt Disney World. It takes your breath away as you enter the hotel. I know the large gingerbread house gets most of the attention, but the tree and decorations are just outstanding.
The Polynesian does has some really beautiful decorations but is lacking compared to the other hotels. They don’t have a really big tree or a gingerbread house. A couple years ago they did put out a chocolate display that really wasn’t very good by Disney standards.
My next blog will have pictures of the decorations in the BoardWalk, Yacht Club, Beach Club and Wilderness Lodge.
Well, I hope you enjoyed the photos! Let me know if you have and comments about anything in the blog. I’d love to hear from you!
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Well, that’s all for now. As my good friend says, “see ya real soon”…DizneyMike
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Hi Mike,
We didn’t get over to the AKL this DEC. so I appreciate the photos. Did you know that the lights at the AKL are actually real African shields? We stayed there once and saw housekeeping dusting them and asked us if we wanted to have our picture taken with one of thr shields. (They pull down the lights to dust them).
Happy New Year Mike!
great photos as usual, Mike…tough job on the holidays, but, hey, you do is so well!! Agree that the Poly isn’t too Christmas-y, makes you wonder if anybody went to HI to check how they decorate for Christmas. Is this a sign of the way they will (not) decorate the new HI resort?? Do you think they’re just ‘tightening the belt’? after all, it’s huge $$ to create, store, upkeep and assemble these decorations & maybe in lean times they had to cut back?? Again, you’re the best!! Merry Christmas!
Hey Mike! I agree with you, seeing the resorts decorated for the holidays is one of the best parts of being in WDW in December. Chris and I were in FL on the west coast last week and we took a day trip to WDW just to check out the resorts and DTD since we had no park tickets. Thanks for all the excellent photos to show us the resorts we didn’t get a chance to see! Have a Merry Christmas!
When I visited in 2007 the Polynesian had a beach hut scene made of Gingerbread. Do they still have this display. It was fantastic!
DizneyMike replies: Connie, no they didn’t have that this year. The Poly was the only deluxe hotel without any display; very disappointing….Mike
Mike,
Great pictures! We were at Disney from 12/11-12/15(our first December trip!) and visited a few of the hotels to see their decorations. The Grand Floridian was very impressive. They were even roasting chestnuts and handing them out. We stayed at All Star Movies which was also nicely decorated.
Thanks for the beautiful photos of the hotels.
My brother and family went to WDW a few years ago and raved about the decorations and the food.
How about a blog of the special Holiday foods served for Christmas at each of the restaurants?
Hope you have a great Christmas!
Love the one picture of the gingerbread display in the Contemporary, where the red monorail just happens to be swooshing by! Happy Holidays to you and yours.