Grand Floridian opens its life-sized Gingerbread House for its tenth year

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Image by Fraochsidhe via Flickr

Guests traveling to Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa this Christmas will be able to witness the spectacle that is the life-sized gingerbread house as it celebrates its 10th anniversary.

Each fall the house is built in the lobby of this luxury Walt Disney World hotel and it is decorated almost entirely with edible materials. The entire construction is carried out under the watchful eye of Executive Pastry Chef Erich Herbitschek.

This year’s house now has pride of place in the lobby and will be available to visiting guests from 10am through 10om every day through to the end of December.

This spectacular house is not just for show either, its a working bakery shop where cast members sell delicious treats including gingerbread ornaments, lollipops, Christmas cookies, Stollen bread, miniature gingerbread houses and chocolate Disney characters to name but a few. Items suit all wallets ranging from $2.50 for a cookie to $75 for a signature box of chocolates with truffles.

To give you an idea of the sheer size of this thing it takes Grand Floridian cast members more than two months and 840 hours of labor to produce, cut and bake the 5,089 “shingles” used to decorate the gingerbread house. And of course no Disney house would be complete without a few Hidden Mickeys thrown in for good measure!

If you fancy making one of your own at home this Christmas here’s some of the ingredients you’ll need:
• 1,050 lbs. of honey
• 800 lbs. of flour
• 600 lbs. of chocolate
• 600 lbs. of powdered sugar
• 180 lbs. of apricot glaze
• 140 pints of egg whites
• 35 lbs. of spices

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