Christmas decorations

Disney’s Art of Animation Celebrates its First Christmas

27 November 2012 by Suzannah Otis Leave a Comment

With such a colorful entrance into the Disney resort family, Art of Animation resort was in my sights to check out for the holidays to see just what Disney had up its sleeve to decorate their newest resort. Being a Value, or Value Plus resort, of course the Christmas decorations will be a little more low-key than say the Deluxe resorts. Still, it was fun to see and the decor definitely fits into the resort’s capture of the animation process.

Like the overall theme of Disney’s Art of Animation, the Christmas decor starts off colorless, like a blank page, with sketches. As you progress through the lobby, color is added and as a fan of rainbow colors and white Christmas trees, I was in heaven! It’s a very fun, colorful display, that just makes you happy. All that’s missing are those fun rainbow candy canes my mom always used to get!

Here is a gallery overview of the holiday decorations and details of Disney’s Art of Animation resort – click any photo to view as a slideshow:

Disney's Art of Animation Christmas twinkling tree

Disney's Art of Animation Christmas — Looking back at the check-in area from Ink & Paint Shop

Behind the Scenes: Wilderness Lodge Christmas Comes to Life Overnight

13 November 2012 by Suzannah Otis 1 Comment

Last evening I stumbled upon the serendipitous event of Disney’s Wilderness Lodge Christmas tree installation. I have never, in all of my years of visiting Walt Disney World, ever seen resort holiday decorations being put up, so it was fun to sit back and watch this spectacle. Of course, it’s easy to assume these overnight transformations happen by magic and pixie dust alone, but as I learned last night, it’s actually a huge, multi-cast member operation full of semi-trucks, cranes, ladders and patience!

Below is a slideshow of last night’s events, which continued into the wee hours of the morning. The whole operation began a little after 11pm and I stayed to witness it through 2am, when there was still quite a bit left to assemble on the tree, but so much had already been pixie dusted too. Enjoy the photos of the process!

Click any photo to view as a slideshow:

Wilderness Lodge Christmas Tree — I couldn’t stay until they were done, but here’s a gorgeous photo of the finished lobby from the talented Tom Bricker.

Wilderness Lodge Christmas Tree Installation — The tree is raised up to get more branches installed

More photos like the last one may be found at Tom Bricker’s site DisneyTouristBlog or on his Flickr account.

Disney Monorail Resort Holiday Highlights

1 December 2011 by Suzannah Otis 2 Comments

It’s a family tradition to do a Walt Disney World Monorail Resort tour during the holidays, and my mom and I did just that this week. Of course we’ll venture back with the rest of the family, and go at night so we can see all the lights, but this was a lovely day and I captured some photos to share here: (click for full-sized photos)

Polynesian wreath — One of the many hanging wreaths at the Polynesian Resort

Looking back across the waterfalls to the Polynesian Christmas tree

Elegant Grand Floridian deer, which light up at night

Grand Floridian gingerbread house — Be sure to look for the golden hidden Mickeys!

GF Gingerbread House sign — A sign in the shop upstairs tells guests to seek out the giant gingerbread house

Grand Floridian tree upstairs — Grand Floridian tree viewed from upstairs

Contemporary gingerbread guard shack-smells delicious in person!

Contemporary tree Mickey Topper — Chef Mickey atop the world atop the Mary Blair gingerbread tree

Contemporary Mary Blair gingerbread tree details

Stay tuned for more posts on the individual resort goodies, starting with the delicious treats offered at the Contemporary Resort. We’ll also visit the Grand Floridian gingerbread house up close, see what the Beach and Yacht Clubs have to share and come back to the Polynesian when their little gingerbread houses are out!