One of the reasons we wanted to visit Disney World during the holidays was to see the decorations. I think it was 2009 that we saw a special on HGTV about how they start putting up the decorations in October, working around the clock. Once you're there, you can see why it takes so long!
We visited several Disney resorts during our stay, usually (ok, always) coinciding with a restaurant visit. Every resort has its' own theme for holiday decorating. Along with smaller decorative touches sprinkled throughout the public areas, each resort had a large themed tree in the lobby.
Grand Floridian (Victorian, silk flowers, ornate)
Polynesian (tropical, fresh flowers)
Yacht Club (nautical, sailboats)
Wilderness Lodge (this is one of the smaller lobby trees, rustic)
Wilderness Lodge, lobby tree--compared to the people, you can see how huge it is
Of course all the theme parks were decorated as well. Each park, with the exception of Epcot, had a giant, themed tree near their respective main entrances.
Magic Kingdom (Main Street, traditional)
Animal Kingdom (wooden stars, metal animal masks)
Hollywood Studios (film reels, glamour)
Downtown Disney (this one was right next to the toy store, Toy Story/Hasbro themed)
One of my favorite decorations were all of the swags and themed wreaths throughout the resort.
Magic Kingdom entry booths
Animal Kingdom: Africa
World Showcase: Italy
World Showcase: France
Magic Kingdom: Candy cane swag
Epcot-Future World: Earth swag
Wilderness Lodge wreath
World Showcase: Canada
Magic Kingdom, Main Street
Grand Floridian main entrance
I especially love this ornament swag in the BoardWalk Inn lobby
One of the more incredible things Disney does for the holidays is to create several large scale gingerbread displays. Several of these gingerbread structures even double as seasonal bake shops☺.
Grand Floridian gingerbread house
World Showcase: USA gingerbread chalet
My least favorite was the gingerbread tree in the lobby of the Contemporary--I love the wall behind it though.
It looked rather sloppy and was even missing a few gingerbread tiles (gasp!)
At the BoardWalk Inn, Donald, Daisy and {naughty ;-) }Stitch were all together in a gingerbread gazebo.
That's a lot of gingerbread!
Overall the decorations were fabulous and festive. I loved how each area (park, country, hotel) has its own theme interpreted in different ways for the holidays. Very inspiring!
Of course if I want my house to look anything like some of my favorite Walt Disney World decorations this Christmas, I'd better get to work...now!