Walt Disney World has introduced the refurbishment timeline and revealed the brand new Birdcage Foyer Bar Coming Quickly to the Grand Floridian Resort. With this, there are impacts to the visitor expertise and choices on the flagship resort, extending via Christmas 2025. One such affect is not any gingerbread show–this shares particulars and our commentary in regards to the information.
Let’s begin with fast background. A staple of the vacation season at Walt Disney World is the life-sized Gingerbread Home on the Grand Floridian. Final yr, this fan-favorite custom celebrated its twenty fifth Anniversary, and was formally open beginning November 6, after starting development in mid-to-late October.
The edible show all the time attracts a giant crowd of visitors desirous to admire its white chocolate sweet canes, edible snowflakes, sugar poinsettias, and an 88-pound white chocolate Santa. The gingerbread itself is baked with 1050 kilos of honey, 800 kilos of flour, and 600 kilos of confectioners’ sugar. The decorations characteristic 700 kilos of chocolate and have over 10,000 items of gingerbread. The staff spend over 500 hours baking the gingerbread and 480 hours bringing all of the dazzling particulars to life.
To have a good time the 25 years of vacation custom, there have been 25 hidden Mickeys scattered all through the Gingerbread Home at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort final yr. There was additionally a limited-edition assortment of twenty fifth anniversary merchandise together with a pin, decoration, cookie jar, magnet, tumbler, t-shirt, and extra accessible for buy.
If our experiences the previous few years have been any indication, there’s additionally alway large crowds and lengthy traces within the foyer. We’ve come to view the Gingerbread Home on the Grand Floridian considerably just like the Cinderella Citadel Dream Lights: an funding made by Walt Disney World that paid large dividends by way of gross sales–not essentially within the reserving of journeys or resort stays, however through PhotoPass, meals & beverage, merchandise, and extra gross sales.
A go to to the Grand Floridian is a quintessential holiday-time expertise, and it’s one of some must-do stops on our Free Self-Guided Walt Disney World Yuletide Resort Tour. That’s what we suggest doing within the morning earlier than attending Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Social gathering (in the event you decide to try this upcharge) or maybe simply in your non-parks day. It’s one among our favourite issues to do at Walt Disney World, and we make a degree of doing it yearly–together with separate visits to most of the lodges.
As with the opposite monorail loop resorts, it’s additionally straightforward to go to the Grand Floridian the identical day you do Magic Kingdom. Whether or not or not it’s earlier than heading into the park, strolling over on the strolling path for a noon break, or after the park closes (our favourite possibility), it’s definitely worth the detour due to its elegant Victorian decor, grandiose icon tree, and the wonderful gingerbread home.
That’s usually all true, nevertheless it sounds prefer it received’t be the case at Christmas 2025.
Walt Disney World has introduced the next: As a part of the continued enhancements at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, phased updates to the foyer, conference middle and choose areas will start April 14. Parts of the foyer will shut at occasions, and Friends could encounter modifications to their path of journey.
Whereas development exercise can be noticeable throughout daytime hours, efforts can be made to reduce disruptions, and all swimming pools, eating and different facilities will stay accessible. As Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa continues its renovations, the gingerbread show is not going to be accessible throughout the vacation season in 2025.
On its face, this clarification is smart.
Development occurring via late 2025 would undoubtedly affect Walt Disney World’s means to construct the Gingerbread Home on the Grand Floridian. As famous above, that normally begins in mid-to-late October.
So even when the foyer renovations are performed by Veterans Day and the normal kickoff to the Christmas season, that’s nonetheless not sufficient lead-time to have the Gingerbread Home–which is constructed in plain sight within the foyer–performed by then.
There’s additionally the truth that development is all the time topic to delay, and even when the intent is to have the foyer performed by early November and even mid-October, there’s no assure that’ll occur. There are a whole lot of transferring components and a number of groups concerned in bringing the Gingerbread Home to life, so the secure transfer is to easily err on the facet of warning and cancel the fan-favorite show for Christmas 2025. It’s disappointing, nevertheless it’s pragmatic.
Some followers would possibly marvel why Walt Disney World merely doesn’t relocate the Gingerbread Home to elsewhere on the Grand Floridian.
My guess is that it’s a matter of crowds and congestion. That there’s nowhere else that may soak up the visitor visitors that the Gingerbread Home attracts, and even when there have been, that might spill over into the foyer. Individuals aren’t going to return to the resort for the Gingerbread Home within the conference middle or wherever, and not enter the foyer to additionally see its decorations (hopefully there’s nonetheless a Christmas tree).
If the foyer challenge is delayed and development continues to be occuring in November or December that takes a part of the area out of fee, meaning extra individuals crammed into a good smaller space. As a lot as we’d like to see Walt Disney World discover a strategy to convey again the Gingerbread Home for its twenty sixth yr, it most likely comes right down to pragmatism.
Longer-term, I can’t assist however marvel about the way forward for the Gingerbread Home on the Grand Floridian.
My first thought when trying on the Birdcage Bar idea artwork is that the foyer goes to be fairly busy with that plus the Christmas tree and gingerbread home throughout the holidays. The principle constructing is already a mad home throughout the vacation season, and it will simply exacerbate it.
Not solely will this be one more factor that induces crowds within the foyer, however it’s going to focus them. Frankly, I don’t know the way the Grand Floridian goes to have this birdcage bar and Christmas tree and gingerbread home. One thing’s gotta give–or transfer. My guess is that “one thing” would be the Gingerbread Home.
It’s attainable that the Grand Floridian will transfer the Gingerbread Home into a distinct area for Christmas 2026 and past. As talked about, there’s the conference middle and different areas away from the closely trafficked foyer.
However as additionally talked about, all of them lead to the identical points with spillover into the foyer. On condition that, we wouldn’t be in the least stunned if the Grand Floridian Gingerbread Home by no means returns. To be abundantly clear, that is purely speculative on our half. Not even a rumor, and positively not official.
I simply know that Walt Disney World receives lots of complaints from paying visitors in the primary constructing of the Grand Floridian every Christmas about noise and crowds, most of that are guests to the resort. In some unspecified time in the future, I wouldn’t be stunned if these “win out” over the the profitable merchandise, meals & beverage gross sales of the Gingerbread Home. Perhaps the show can be again in 2026, however I really feel like its retirement is inevitable–and possibly by the point Villains Land opens.
One other risk is the Gingerbread Home transferring to a different resort totally. On this case, it wouldn’t be “transferring” a lot as it will be Walt Disney World retiring one show and introducing one other.
This has already began to occur, sort of. For the previous few vacation seasons, Animal Kingdom Lodge has had edible animal shows. These have grown in scale and measurement, however nonetheless will not be “large enough” to justify a devoted journey from most visitors. Introducing an precise Gingerbread Lodge (a la Humphrey’s Lodge from ~6 years in the past at Wilderness Lodge) would tip the scales.
I’m of two minds about this. Selflessly, I’d love extra followers to make the trek to AKL and eventually uncover what’s unquestionably one of many high resorts at Walt Disney World, its large culinary scene, good themed design, and so forth. Selfishly, I really like Animal Kingdom Lodge throughout the vacation season, and recognize how quiet it’s as in comparison with the monorail loop and Crescent Lake Resorts. I’d wish to hold it that means. (I feel it most likely would keep that means given the transportation boundaries.)
I additionally wouldn’t be stunned if Walt Disney World tried one thing related with whichever Disney Trip Membership resorts they’re attempting to promote. Incentivizing visits to Fort Wilderness over the vacation season with a cool show can be savvy because the campground actually shines at Christmas-time. “Oh, by the way in which whilst you’re right here, tour this new mannequin DVC cabin that we’ve conveniently positioned within the Settlement!”
Guests to the Grand Floridian and Polynesian Village Resorts and overcrowding has been a difficulty for some time. We’ve been warning readers about reserving the primary constructing of the Grand Floridian at Christmas for years, primarily based on each our personal detrimental experiences and reviews from others.
Likewise, one among our largest trepidations in regards to the Island Tower on the Poly (apart from how hideous it appears to be like on the surface) is the burden it’ll placed on the resort’s already strained infrastructure. The resort’s DVC level stock just isn’t even shut to totally bought out but, and we’ve already seen a few of these points throughout current visits.
Walt Disney World has tried to deal with the issues with monorail loop resort visitors lately, whereas on the identical time constructing new issues to induce much more demand. That is exactly why they’ve restricted customer parking at these (and different) resorts, restricted Cell Order at occasions, and required wristbands for fireworks viewing.
In the end, there are different measures that Walt Disney World might take to regulate crowds on the Grand Floridian and Polynesian that might assist management crowds and permit the Gingerbread Home to return. One can be requiring keycard entry or confirmed eating reservations to realize entrance to the grounds. That is precisely what Tokyo Disney Resort does with each Toy Story Resort and Fantasy Springs Resort. I’m guessing Walt Disney World doesn’t wish to go that far, particularly since they like to string the needle on the sort of factor (crowds equal income!).
It’s additionally totally attainable that I’m taking my very own psychological comparability of the Grand Floridian Gingerbread Home to the Cinderella Citadel Dream Lights too actually. Within the latter’s case, it’s seeming increasingly more like a ‘short-term hiatus’ offered Walt Disney World cowl for making a seemingly everlasting resolution they knew can be unpopular. For probably the most half, followers can be understanding that the Gingerbread Home isn’t returning this yr, as foyer development is a logical clarification. And if it doesn’t come again in 2026, that’s quiet information, not a recent announcement.
The response can be very totally different if Walt Disney World got here out right this moment and shared that the Gingerbread Home is being completely retired. Right here’s hoping I’m overanalyzing this, being too conspiratorial, and the Grand Floridian Gingerbread Home is again and higher than ever for Christmas 2026!
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YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you consider Walt Disney World cancelling the gingerbread home at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa for Christmas 2025? Suppose it’ll be again at Christmas 2026? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Any questions we can assist you reply? Listening to your suggestions–even whenever you disagree with us–is each attention-grabbing to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
