It’s TIIIIIME!

We’ve waited a whole year to see Disney World’s transformation for the holidays, and it’s finally starting to get real. While Magic Kingdom’s been busy decking the halls with wreaths, garlands, and Christmas decor we’ve had our eye out for a few other grand spectacles we’ve come to know and love. And now it seems that keeping an ever-so-close eye on some construction nearby has finally paid off for us in a sweet way!

It’s a BIG day for Disney holiday enthusiasts everywhere but especially if you’re visiting Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort. For days now we’ve watched as the annual lobby gingerbread house was being constructed ever so carefully and now it seems that our patience has finally paid off! As of November 6th, the gingerbread house is FINALLY open for business!

It’s become a tradition dating back decades (25 years to be exact) for the bakery chefs at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort to put out a massive gingerbread house in the center of the lobby at the hotel. Not only does it LOOK like a life-size version of a house you might build at home, but it’s actually MADE of real gingerbread pieces, too! It’s also crafted with dozens of hidden Mickeys and Minnies…

…characters in the window sills…

…and several other festive elements that bring smiles to our faces every year! This year the chefs opted to make trees themed in various Disney animated characters and that’s a scavenger hunt all of its own to see how many you can find and name!

But, the best part of all isn’t that we just get to smell the wafting gingerbread in the air of the hotel lobby, it’s that we actually can walk up to the window and order a few treats as well.

Each year, we’ve come to anticipate some creative treats to order from the lobby gingerbread house and so we hopped in line to order a few of the staples. The line gathered around the gingerbread house with some folks that we stopped to talk to telling us they’d been waiting since 7AM for the house treats. After a quick group photo of the chefs and leaders, it was time to officially open the line for orders!

If it’s your first visit, or you’re not quite sure what you’re ready to order before heading into the line, there is a menu board on the side of the house for you to look over and get an idea of what you’d like to try out.

Of course, if you find yourself hung between a few options and still looking to narrow down your choices, you can always ask the Cast Members working inside based on your taste preferences. Since this isn’t our first rodeo with the lobby gingerbread house, we decided just to grab a few of the classics that are typically offered year after year. We picked up a gingerbread shingle and the gingerbread ornament!

To give you an idea of what’s in store, let’s talk about the shingle first. This is a single gingerbread shingle like what you’ll find on the roof of the house where the top side is made of gingerbread while the bottom is coated with chocolate. This one cost us $11.99.

When we say coated in a layer of chocolate on the underside of the treat we mean it!

Once we broke the shingle in half you could really see the spongey but resistant consistency of the gingerbread that makes up the majority of this treat.

If there’s one thing we’ve come to know (and love) about these gingerbread treats, it’s that their recipe is consistent year after year. If you had this one last year, it’s going to taste just the same but, for those who might not be as familiar, there’s definitely a more prominent ginger taste to them with a few notes of honey. They’re a bit stiff (probably because they’re not super fresh — we imagine these would need to be produced well ahead of time since they’re pretty popular), and while the inside of them is a bit softer, its general vibe on the outside might come off as stale.

The bottom coating of chocolate adds just the right sweetness to the treat as well as a bit of a crunch when you bite into it and it peels off but this is a treat we’re going to recommend purely for nostalgia and not solely because it tastes absolutely wonderful.

Then we moved on to the stunning gingerbread ornament! This beauty is made out of a piece of gingerbread cut into the shape of a house and decorated with colorful icing and a chocolate Mickey and will cost you $13.99 to snag for yourself.

Now, if you thought the gingerbread shingle was a tough bite to swallow you’ll probably want to pick this ornament up for display purposes only. We could certainly tell that this piece of gingerbread was made a bit denser (probably to double as an ornament to display and last all season long) and it would be much harder to break, bite into, and ultimately chew.

Overall we felt like these treats were pretty basic yet classic snacks and we have to admit we were a bit disappointed in the menu offerings this year as they didn’t look like there was a wide variety of unique treats to try out as we’ve experienced in years past. However, we also do realize that if you’re stopping by to visit the gingerbread house, you’re likely there to take in the display and a few pictures expecting super tasty treats.

We’ll be covering all of the gingerbread displays popping up all over the Disney World hotels so be sure to stay tuned with us as they’re revealed for more!

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Do you plan on stopping by the hotel gingerbread displays on your trip to Disney World this holiday season? Tell us why or why not in the comments below!

The post NEWS: Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort Gingerbread House Is NOW OPEN! first appeared on the disney food blog.