Gingerbread Houses for Christmas 2024 at Disney World: Opening Dates, Menus & What’s New!
Gingerbread houses are being built at Walt Disney World for Christmas 2024, with brand-new and returning lifesize displays in the resort hotels and EPCOT (plus one at Disneyland in California!). This post covers opening dates & details and the full food & drink menus for each.
Before we dig in, it’s worth mentioning that as of November 1, decorations are already starting to go up at both Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Magic Kingdom is now partially decked out for the holidays with garland, wreaths, and displays. In the next two days, the Christmas tree will go up and Jingle Cruise tours will depart daily! Likewise, decorations are already going up all across Disneyland and Disney California Adventure.
Officially, both coasts kick off the holiday season next weekend. That’s when entertainment and substantive seasonal offerings begin, for the most part. But the parks are already looking and feeling festive, and you’ll hear sounds of the season. For everything you need to know about the holidays, see our Ultimate Guide to Christmas 2024 at Walt Disney World and Ultimate Guide to Christmas 2024 at Disneyland Resort.
As always, gingerbread houses are one of the things already going up ahead of this year’s holiday season. These lifesize edible displays are a staple of holiday festivities at Walt Disney World and Disneyland, and are quite the sight (and scent!) to behold. After months of hard work and creativity from the talented culinary teams, these displays are brought to life before our very eyes and are well worth the visit to the parks and resorts.
Some of these displays have returned for Christmas for more than 20 years, like the Gingerbread House found at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, which is celebrating its 25th Anniversary in 2024! Others are making their debut for the very first time this year, or are significantly different than their predecessors.
It’s no surprise visiting these works of art has become a tradition for Walt Disney World and Disneyland fans, Cast Members, and generations of families. With plenty of hidden details, and maybe even some hidden Mickeys, you can easily come back again and again to experience these gingerbread creations.
With that out of the way, let’s take a look at the full food menus and opening dates for the gingerbread houses on both coasts…
Let’s start in the park, where foolish mortals are welcomed to a gingerbread display unlike any seen before. Found within the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, a few ghosts have made room for a dazzling display this season. The Haunted Mansion Gingerbread House has been materializing for guests of the attraction for more than 20 years from Halloween to the holidays. It’s also been up since summer, so this house is already over halfway through its run of two holidays (and several seasons) colliding.
Jack Skellington plays Sandy Claws as he and his friends have transformed this beloved attraction into Haunted Mansion Holiday, inspired by “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.” This gingerbread house, which changes every year, is the centerpiece of the attraction.
The 2024 Haunted Mansion Holiday Gingerbread House features Halloween Town’s resident mad scientist, Dr. Finkelstein, who has been hard at work with his trusted assistant Igor to bring his Gigantic Gingerbread Zombie, Lil’ Franky, to life. This haunting holiday offering is comprised of 60 pounds of gingerbread, 50 pounds of powdered sugar, 10 pounds of egg whites, 30 pounds of rolled fondant, 10 pounds of chocolate, and 2 hidden Mickeys. Take a ride on Haunted Mansion Holiday to see it for yourself before the attraction goes down for refurbishment in mid-January 2025.
Opening on November 22, 2024 is the Gingerbread House at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa. The lobby of Disneyland Resort’s flagship hotel will be home once again to one of its best holiday classics: the “Grand” Gingerbread House.
This giant gingerbread replica of the hotel is a holiday highlight and a can’t-miss stop in the lobby. Standing 7 feet tall and 12 feet wide, the structure is created from more than 600 pounds of gingerbread, 600 pounds of powdered sugar, 250 pounds of fondant, one pound of pixie dust, and features 25 hidden Mickeys!
The Christmas 2024 creation in the lobby features a gingerbread replica of Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel and Spa with none other than Chip ‘n’ Dale in their pajama attire seen in Mickey’s Holiday Pajama Party Breakfast and Brunch at Storytellers Cafe.
Grand Californian Great Hall Cart Menu:
- Gingerbread Cookie
- Christmas Cookie
- Mickey-shaped Poinsettia Cookie
- Holiday Crisped Rice Treat
- Sweet Potato Loaf Treat
- Holiday Cinnamon Bun
- Macaron Box
- Cookie Box
- Eggnog (Also available with Bailey’s Original Irish Cream Liqueur)
The Grand Californian Great Hall Cart will offer these holiday items from November 15, 2024 through January 5, 2025.
Heading over to Walt Disney World Resort, we’re stopping by Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa for their life-sized Gingerbread House, which is already under construction and will likely be in nearly-finished form over the weekend or by early next week. This fan-favorite tradition is celebrating its 25th Anniversary, and will officially be open starting November 6, 2024.
As you explore the various details of this incredible edible display, you’ll find white chocolate candy canes, edible snowflakes, sugar poinsettias, and an 88-pound white chocolate Santa. The gingerbread itself is baked with 1050 pounds of honey, 800 pounds of flour, and 600 pounds of confectioners’ sugar. The decorations feature 700 pounds of chocolate and feature over 10,000 pieces of gingerbread. The team spend over 500 hours baking the gingerbread and 480 hours bringing all the dazzling details to life.
To celebrate the 25 years of holiday tradition, there are 25 hidden Mickeys scattered throughout. There will also be a limited-edition collection of 25th anniversary merchandise including a pin, ornament, cookie jar, magnet, tumbler, t-shirt, and more available for purchase to commemorate your holiday memories.
Grand Floridian Gingerbread House Menu:
- Gingerbread Mickey
- Gingerbread Shingle
- Stollen Bread
- Brownie Pop
- Gingersnap Cookies
- Gingerbread House Ornament
- Gingerbread House
- Gingerbread Cookie Bags imported from Germany
- Gingerbread Loaf
- Peppermint Bark
- Grand Floridian Gift Box featuring assorted fan favorite treats, including a Santa Gnome Hot Cocoa Surprise, exclusive to the Combo Box
Walt Disney World notes that because parking at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa is limited to guests with hotel and dining reservations, those visiting this sweet holiday display will need to park at the Transportation & Ticket Center and take the resort monorail.
Disney Tourist Blog notes that this is nothing new, and is a standard operating procedure at almost every resort, year-round. It’s odd that they didn’t include such an asterisk for the Contemporary, which is always the most “locked-down” resort, and the lack of such a note is going to lead some fans to conclude they can park at the Contemporary. They cannot. Honestly, you’re playing with fire if you try to park at any of these resorts. We’d highly, highly recommend resort transportation for all of them!
Taking the monorail over to Disney’s Contemporary Resort (which is how you should get there), you’ll find that the hotel’s gingerbread display is back in the Grand Canyon Concourse for its 13th year led by Pastry Chef Jeff Barnes!
Walt Disney Imagineers have designed this new overlay for Christmas 2024 inspired by the Cinderella Castle Dream Lights. Wait, WHAT?! Walt Disney World teasing the Cinderella Castle Dream Lights is an odd thing to do, unless…is the display returning for Christmas 2025?! (Photos are from last year–presumably, it’ll look a lot different this year.)
The Contemporary Bakery team has been hard at work creating this display that stands over 17 feet tall and 25 feet wide. It’s made with 613 pounds of sugar, 1013 pounds of flour, 113 pounds of gingerbread spice, 51 pounds of chocolate, over 4,000 castle gingerbread bricks, and plenty of pixie dust! Don’t forget to search for the 13 hidden Mickeys and the one and only, 5-legged goat. You can also purchase limited-edition pins, cookie jar, and holiday ornament here, too!
Disney’s Contemporary Resort Gingerbread Display Menu:
- Linzer Cookie
- Caramel Apple Cake with Gingerbread Streusel
- Chocolate Hazelnut Log
- Pistachio Cranberry and Cherry Cake
- Santa Peppermint Hot Chocolate Tart
- House-made Christmas Tree Butter Cookie
- Winter Berry Freeze (Alcoholic floater available)
- Frozen Hot Cocoa (Alcoholic floater available)
Disney’s Beach Club Resort continues its classic Holiday Carousel gingerbread display. The life-size creation has been at the resort for 23 years and it actually moves. Each holiday season, the horses are decorated to a different theme. For Christmas 2024, the characters from “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” will be brought to life by the talented Yacht and Beach Bakery. This yuletide celebration is masterfully created with chocolate, sugar, and fondant with hand-painted characters and handcrafted gingerbread shingles and snowflakes adorning the carousel.
This is done with a whopping 432 pounds of honey, 200 pounds of icing, 100 pounds of eggs, and 2024 pieces of gingerbread, not to mention the creativity and enthusiasm of the bakery team. Be sure to keep an eye out for the 24 hidden gold Mickeys placed throughout the display. To take a piece of the memories home with you, there’s also a limited-edition pin, cookie jar, and holiday ornament available, too.
Walt Disney World has not provided official dates for the Beach Club Holiday Carousel gingerbread display. Nor have they indicated whether the Yacht Club Lighthouse that debuted last year will return. This lack of info is, oddly, normal when it comes to Y&BC. Usually, the displays at Yacht & Beach Club are among the first to go up and are done by mid-November. We’ll be on the ground at Walt Disney World next week, and will pop into both resorts to check things out!
Disney’s Beach Club Resort Gingerbread Display Menu:
- Linzer Cookie
- Spiced Orange and Cranberry Bundt Cake
- Gingerbread Macarons
- Hot Cocoa Brownie
- Hannukah Sugar Cookie
- Stollen
- Gingerbread House
As we keep going around Crescent Lake, we arrive at Disney’s BoardWalk Inn where their display is shore to impress starting November 12, 2024. This creation is a miniature version of some of your favorite spots found along the BoardWalk itself, including the BoardWalk Deli, which is home to none other than the BoardWalk Inn Bakery team.
This display is beautifully created with details that look just like the showplace of the shore, but just in a smaller and sweet form. This year, there’s also a limited-edition pin, cookie jar, and holiday ornament available for purchase to bring the gingerbread magic home with you!
Disney’s BoardWalk Inn Gingerbread Display Menu:
- Holiday Mickey and Minnie Sugar Cookie
- Mickey Caramel Corn Cookie
- Gingerbread Loaf
- Gingerbread Shingle
Let’s go on a tasty adventure to Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge where you’ll find one of the most adorable giraffes and zebras around. In the Jambo House lobby starting November 24, 2024.
This can’t-miss ginger-affe, fittingly named Ginger, and baby zebra, not-so-fittingly named Debra (unless it’s meant to be dough-bra?!), are made with a combination of gingerbread, sugar dough, and modeling chocolate. In fact, the giraffe stands near 7 feet tall. New this year, there is a limited-edition pin, cookie jar, and holiday ornament inspired by Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge available for purchase.
For some tasty bites to enjoy on this holiday safari, the team has also whipped up some tasty items, including the Gingeraffe Cookie and specialty cocktails.
Speaking of lodges, for guests taking a trip to Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, you’ll find a delicious selection of sweet treats nestled in the lobby. Starting November 21, get in the holiday spirit with bites like:
- Dark Chocolate Bar
- Cheddar Gougère
- Molasses Crackle Cookie
- Cookie Box
Finally, we head into the lone park at Walt Disney World that has a giant gingerbread display: EPCOT.
EPCOT will be home to a brand-new creation starting on November 29, 2024 – Gingerbread Spaceship Earth. This offering in CommuniCore Hall will feature Spaceship Earth in gingerbread form. The EPCOT Festival Team and Walt Disney Imagineering have teamed up with the talented EPCOT Pastry team to create this 8-foot-tall gingerbread display, which took over 160 hours. It even will light up and dance to music throughout the day.
The sphere itself is made up of almost a thousand handcrafted gingerbread triangles to mirror the iconic attraction. There are 240 pounds of honey dough, 100 eggs, 100 ounces lebkuchen spice, 55 pounds dark chocolate, and 100 pounds royal icing. For a final Disney touch, there are 11 hidden Mickeys to represent the 11 countries of the World Showcase.
Walt Disney World has not yet indicated whether the normal ‘Distinctly Patriotic’ gingerbread display is returning to the American Adventure. This has been a staple for years, and recreates some classic monuments in America and EPCOT alike with gingerbread versions of the Lincoln Memorial, Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, and more.
While we hope that the American Adventure display does return (because the more gingerbread, the better!), we’re really looking forward to Gingerbread Spaceship Earth and think that it’s smart of Walt Disney World to put something–anything–into CommuniCore Hall to give that place some personality. After the debacle during Food & Wine, this is a good course-correction. Our hope is that CommuniCore Hall actually serves as an engaging and entertaining hub during the 2024 EPCOT Festival of the Holidays. We’d love for this space to be put to good use, and not just be a glorified food booth, seating spot, and merchandise kiosk!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
YOUR THOUGHTS
What do you think of the Walt Disney World and Disneyland gingerbread houses? Have a favorite? Looking forward to visiting any/all of these once they open? Planning on ordering anything from the food menus? Excited to see more of these edible displays for Christmas 2024? Do you agree or disagree with our assessments? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
what is the best route to see all the gingerbread displays and transportation
One of our favorite activities to do since we love here! Can’t wait to do it again this year!!!
WOW to the Cinderella Castle Dream Lights teaser is right! If they come back in 2025, my heart will sing!
So, if I want to tour around to see all these gingerbread houses, but can’t park at the resorts, how do I do this? Park at Disney Springs and bus over to each resort? Staying at SSR. They don’t have busses from one resort to another, do they?
We’d recommend following the outline here: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/disney-world-christmas-decorations-tour/
They do not have resort-to-resort buses, so you’ll need to use transportation from the parks or Disney Springs. That outlines a fairly efficient way to do that. Good luck!