Christmastime at Walt Disney World means magic, beautiful decor and of course, larger-than-life Gingerbread Houses. We love the life-size Gingerbread displays every year. The Grand Floridian house that doubles as a sweet shop is hands down our favorite, but Beach Clubs Carousel comes in a close second.
Every bit of the displays are edible but of course, after being on public display for weeks no one eats them after the holiday season ends. We wondered what happens to these incredible displays after the holidays are over. The answer was heartwarming, wholesome, and surprising.
Rather than just waste all of that food (the Grand Floridian uses 600 pounds of gingerbread, 600 pounds of powdered sugar and 250 pounds of fondant for their display alone), Disney has come up with an eco-friendly way to use the sugary confections after they are done with them. The answer? Pollinators! According to Green Matters, Barry Stockwell, Planned Work Specialist with Disney Event Decorating Support said, “10 years ago, when performing our annual gingerbread display cleaning, we noticed bees were very attracted to the sugar on the displays after deconstruction. We decided to bring the display pieces to our Disney tree farm and lay them out in our field to give the bees a chance to collect the sugar on the wooden structures.” After the bees have had their fill of the sugary goodness, the wooden structures are washed Clean to be used again another year.
This is a win-win. Disney disposes of all of those edible decorations the pollinators, bees in particular, have food during the lean winter months where they are at serious risk of starvation. In the United States the bee population has dwindled to alarming rates which is a serious concern considering bees and other pollinators are vital to human survival. With the bee populations declining around the world, Disney has made it a mission to provide pollinators with even more habitat and resources through pollinator-friendly gardens located across property. This winter time treat is just the… icing on the cake!