Christmas in January

Christmas may have passed, but hopefully it's not too late for you to enjoy some photos of the decorations in Disney World from my trip! If you love Christmas lights and decorations, I highly recommend taking a trip to Disney in Florida around the holidays - it's never too early to start planning! You don't even need to step foot in the parks - all you need to do is visit the different hotels and check out their beautiful Christmas trees and gingerbread creations and you will be filled with the holiday spirit!

The tree in my hotel's lobby with huge sailboat ornaments, perfectly befitting of the Yacht Club's theme:

The tree at the Yacht Club's sister property - the Beach Club - is below. The trees at the Beach Club and Yacht Club were truly beautiful, but they pale in comparison to the trees at the resorts with multi-story lobbies. I've stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and the Wilderness Lodge during the holiday season and the trees there are truly breathtaking. The Grand Floridian's tree and life-size gingerbread house are said to take the cake when it comes to the most impressive hotel decorations, but unfortunately, I only visited that hotel for brunch on the last day of my trip when all the Christmas decorations were already gone!

A closeup of all the ocean-themed ornaments on the Beach Club tree:

The chocolate and gingerbread carousel at the Beach Club made with, among other ingredients, 96 pounds of flour, 50 pounds of chocolate, and 100 pounds of icing! (For pics of all the Disney resorts' gingerbread creations, check out the Disney Food Blog.)

If you do visit the parks, the Osborne Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Hollywood Studios is a must-see! All the buildings in the park's New York and San Francisco street sets are covered from head-to-toe with Christmas lights that "dance" to the music with "snow" falling from the sky. This was my second time seeing the lights "dance" and the show was as impressive as ever.

Finally, Cinderella's Castle in the Magic Kingdom. The lights give the impression that the castle is literally dripping with icicles that subtly change color every so often from soft purple to pink and blue.