Monday was our first day exploring outside of Fort Wilderness. After a breakfast at the newly renovated Trail’s End Restaurant where we both had a very tasty and very filling Egg, Bacon & Cheese Croissant with Potato Barrels ($8.99), we hoofed it over to the boat dock where we boarded the Magic Kingdom boat.

Always a pleasant ride past the Bay Lake shoe tree near where River Country used to be. According to this website, “originally the tree was the final resting place for the shoes of retiring Cast Members. Now the tree is reserved for the shoes of the retiring Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake boat skippers.  It is their way of saying “See you real soon” on their final day of employment at Walt Disney World.” What a special tribute to those retiring!

Another fascinating feature along the boat ride is that Walt Disney World is home to the FIRST ever “water bridge”.

Connecting Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon, outside of Magic Kingdom, a roadway runs underneath the waterway. It was designed with aesthetics in mind because Disney did not want the beautiful views of the waterways, resorts, monorail and Magic Kingdom in the distance, broken up by a bridge with cars traveling over top. Seeing cars travelling on the road and disappearing underneath the waterway from the boat was pretty cool!

Disembarking from the boat after going through Security, at the Magic Kingdom entrance, we spent a few minutes snapping some photos, then we hopped on a launch to head across the lake to one of our favorite resorts, the Grand Floridian Hotel.

Although we’ve visited the hotel during the holiday season before, the decorations never get old!  Exquisitely decorated in the middle of the lobby is the majestic 44 foot Christmas tree adorned with 65,000 lights and Victorian style decorations. Stunning! Interested in seeing how the tree is put up, check out this You Tube Video.

Near the rear entrance of the lobby was the life sized, 7 foot tall and 12 foot wide, Victorian style gingerbread house, adorned with white chocolate, candy canes, edible snowflakes, sugar poinsettias, and featuring 25 hidden Mickeys (we never found any).

Along the porches are more decorations, all hand-painted by the Grand Floridian Bakery team including an 85-pound chocolate Santa, nutcrackers, toy soldiers, and snowmen.

It takes approximately 500 hours to bake the over 10,000 pieces of gingerbread, three days to construct it and 480 hours to decorate. Wow! Here’s a video of the construction of the house from a previous year which happened to be its 20th anniversary:

Not just for show, Cast Members actually work inside the house selling freshly baked gingerbread cookies, brownies, fudge and lots of other delectable goodies. Besides the house and the tree, add in the brightly colored red poinsettias bordering the perimeter of the lobby and Christmas carols playing in the background, how can anyone not be in the holiday spirit? Bah, humbug Scrooge is banned here!

To someone like me who’s not particularly good at or fond of baking, I’m was awestruck when reading the list of ingredients required to create this masterpiece: 1,050 lbs. of Honey, 140 pints of Egg Whites, 600 lbs. of Powdered Sugar, 700 lbs. of Chocolate, 800 lbs. of Flour, 35 lbs. of Spices, and according to this website, “tons of creativity and a bit of Disney Magic and Pixie Dust!”

Maybe I don’t like baking because I’m missing those last few ingredients! Sure would love to see how large the bowls and baking pans are! Ever wonder what happens to all that gingerbread once the season is over? Check out this fascinating article and video. Leave it to Disney!

Wanting to see what was happening at the Polynesian Resort, we headed out to walk along the trail between the two hotels.

After we passed by the Wedding Chapel, there was a no trespassing barrier blocking the path, apparently due to the construction of a new Disney Vacation Club wing between the existing Polynesian Village Resort and Disney’s Wedding Pavilion, currently slated to open in late 2024. Oh well, guess if we want to see the Polynesian, we could only do so by hopping on the monorail or driving over. Since it was getting late, we decided to wait to do that another time.

Wilderness Lodge was another favorite resort that we always enjoy visiting. In fact back in 2012, we had taken an interesting tour of the lodge – totally fascinating. To take the tour which is given every day, you do not need to be a guest of the lodge, just show up at 9:00 a.m. at the Grand Fireplace.

So another visit especially during the holiday season was a must do. Wow, another stunning enormous 60 foot tall, beautifully decorated Christmas tree standing in the middle of the lobby! This article documents how the tree is put up in the wee hours of the night!

Being in the mood for some holiday cheer, a stop at the rustic Territory Lounge was in order, a yummy Espresso Martini for me and a Northwoods (Bulleit Rye Whiskey, House-made Rosemary Syrup, Citrus Juices, Maple) for Rob. Luckily we were able to catch the boat back to the campground around 10:00-ish.

An added bonus was that no sooner had we boarded the boat the Magic Kingdom fireworks began. Apparently they had been delayed until 10 p.m. (instead of 9:00 p.m.). Totally awesome!

A perfect ending to a perfect day!

More photos are available here.