Posted by
//Disclaimer: I am not a food critic and I don’t know what I’m talking about//

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: Christmas at Disney World! It’s at this time each year that the most magical place on earth gets just a little more magical with the addition of holiday touches everywhere you look. One of my absolute favorite parts of a Disney Christmas is the gingerbread! Last weekend my husband and I headed over to the Magic Kingdom to have dinner and ride all three mountains and on the way out we decided to stop by the Contemporary Resort for gingerbread.

Each year in November resorts around Disney property create incredible displays from gingerbread. The Contemporary Resort builds a two-dimensional castle (this year the theme was Frozen, shockingly), while two others go for three-dimensional structures. The Grand Floridian is the most impressive with its massive gingerbread house, made even cooler by the fact that the house is an actual store that sells gingerbread! Over at the Yacht Club Resort you can find a giant carousel made of gingerbread that’s nearly life-size!

While I’ve always known that gingerbread can be purchased at each location, it wasn’t until this year that I realized each resort has a very different recipe for their gingerbread. I made it my mission to get all three and try them out!

As you can (maybe) see from the ingredients list, they each have slightly different ingredients and, presumably (based on the order of ingredients), recipes. I didn’t know how many different ways gingerbread could possibly taste, but I set out to test each one. For science!

Exhibit A

First up was Olaf, the gingerbread shingle from Disney’s Contemporary Resort. This little guy is what the gingerbread castle is made of and I expected him to be fantastic for obvious reasons. The first thing I noticed was that this gingerbread shingle was really hard to break. It was super flexible and took a few tries. This gingerbread was very dense and tasted very strongly of ginger. (It was almost tangy.) While it was okay, I don’t think I’d buy this one again. I like my gingerbread to be a little less spicy.

Exhibit B

The next gingerbread I sampled devoured came from Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. This is what the entire gingerbread house/shop is made out of and it’s amazing to see in person! While this gingerbread is the plainest of the bunch, don’t let it fool you! There’s a thick slab of dark chocolate on the bottom that makes it even more delicious. The first thing I noticed about this one is that it smells just like the cookies my relatives send from Germany (you know, these). It was much less dense and had a much more cake-like texture. It was also a little sweeter and much less gingery than the first! I’ll definitely be going back for more of this one.

Exhibit C

The last gingerbread shingle I had to hunt down was at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort and I really had to hunt. Instead of being sold at the gingerbread carousel, this one can only be found in the Marketplace, a small store off the lobby. The Yacht Club’s gingerbread is much, much thinner than either of the other two and it’s also the sweetest. There’s a sweet glaze on top and a thin layer of chocolate brushed on the bottom. There’s also a white chocolate Yacht & Beach Club logo over much of the top. The ginger in this one was definitely overpowered by the sweetness, not that I’m complaining. This one was also the least bang for your buck. I’ll probably buy another one though, because it’s already gone.

So there it is, folks. I purchased and ate three different types of Disney World gingerbread just for you. If I had to rank them, the Yacht Club gingerbread would be my favorite (because sugar) and the Contemporary would be my least favorite (because spice). I see more Disney food projects in my future…

Do you prefer your gingerbread full of more sugar or spice? 
What’s your favorite holiday treat?
Let me know in the comments!





label