17 Facts & Secrets of 2022 Holiday Decor at Disney World

Every year the four theme parks, more than 30 hotels, and other areas across the 40-square-mile Walt Disney World Resort are transformed into a holiday wonderland. Glistening with colorful lights, festive decorations, and Christmas trees galore, the resort is full of holiday magic, ringing in this festive season like nowhere else. Learn seventeen fun facts about the holiday decor at Walt Disney World below. 

Holiday Décor  

1 – Across the 40-square-mile resort, there are 29 “Icon Trees” that are between 15 and 70 feet tall. Another 596 trees range from two to 14 feet tall. Stars and toppers for trees can be up to seven feet wide and weigh more than 200 pounds.

2 – The largest tree is 70 feet tall. Located at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, it weighs more than 33,000 pounds and has 1,200 individual branches. The tree is decorated with 16,000 lights and more than 200 custom light-up ornaments.

3 – In total, Christmas trees throughout the resort feature more than 12,000 branches and are made from more than 110 tons of steel. Decorating all those trees takes more than 15,000 oversized ornaments and 260,000 lights.

4 – The 65-foot-tall Magic Kingdom Park Christmas tree, adorned with dazzling lights and ornaments, welcomes guests to the park where they’ll discover favorite attractions featuring special holiday overlays, Disney characters dressed in the spirit of the season and seasonal entertainment.  

5 – Nearly 5,000 garlands are hung throughout Walt Disney World Resort. Together they cover a distance of nearly nine miles.

6 – More than 1,700 wreaths are installed each year, many elaborately themed to their location including one on the front door of Haunted Mansion at Magic Kingdom Park and even a five-foot façade wreath on Sunset Boulevard at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

7 – Disney Springs is the location with the most décor – nearly 2,000 individual pieces, including trees, garlands, ornaments and other festive details.

8 – All of the holiday materials and installations are managed by Walt Disney World Holiday Services. The team consists of 50 year-round cast members. Another 90 seasonal cast members join the team each year.

9 – Holiday-décor Installation begins Halloween night and is complete by Thanksgiving.

10 – Holiday Services maintains, installs and removes more than 40,000 individual pieces of décor each year.

11 – The team decorates 780 locations at 41 different properties. In addition to Walt Disney World theme parks and resort hotels, locations include Disney Cruise Line ships, as well as the line’s terminal in Port Canaveral and its private island, Castaway Cay, in the Bahamas. The team also decorates Disney’s Vero Beach Resort and Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort.

Gingerbread

12 – The life-sized gingerbread house at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa is made with more than 10,000 individual gingerbread shingles. Disney bakers spend more than 500 hours baking the gingerbread and another 480 hours building and decorating the house.

13 – The Grand Floridian gingerbread house is made with 1,050 pounds of honey, 700 pounds of chocolate, 600 pounds of sugar, 35 pounds of spices and 800 pounds of flour.

14 – Disney’s Beach Club Resort features a life-sized gingerbread carousel in the lobby. Sharp-eyed guests can find 21 hidden Mickeys on it – one for each year it has appeared in the hotel.

15 – The gingerbread giraffe at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge is seven feet tall, the same size as an actual baby giraffe. This year’s display also includes a new, life-sized baby zebra that is also made of gingerbread.

16 – Disney’s Contemporary Resort displays a 17-foot tall gingerbread Cinderella Castle decorated in celebration of the Walt Disney World 50th Anniversary celebration. The castle was built with more than 4,000 gingerbread bricks. Five-legged goats on the display are an homage to the towering mural in the resort’s Grand Canyon Concourse. Eleven goats represent the 11 years that the castle has been displayed.

17 – The gingerbread display at Disney’s BoardWalk Inn features a gingerbread version of the BoardWalk Deli. Made with 21 gallons of honey, over 500 total pounds of flour and more, it took Disney bakers 200 hours to decorate.