One of our FAVORITE (and free!!) things to do in Disney is to visit Disney resorts. Every year that we go, we always block out at least one day to go around and “resort hop”.  Our favorites, and the ones we visit most often, are the Deluxe Resorts surrounding the Seven Seas Lagoon, right next to Magic Kingdom. Our trip this Christmas was no different. Actually we were even more excited about seeing the resorts this visit because we knew that they would be all dressed up for Christmas!

On the third day of our trip we met up with our friend Grant. I met Grant while working as an actor for Student Life the summer of 2007. He now lives in Orlando and works for Disney in between other acting gigs. It was nice catching up with an old friend, while sampling all of the Disney Christmas décor. Our first stop was The Grand Floridian. I was so excited, because there they had the life-sized gingerbread house!!

Yes, all made out of REAL gingerbread!! It smelled sooo goooood! 🙂

So cool! The lady out front was giving a tutorial on how to make your own gingerbread house.

Check out this blog and the video of them building the house!!

I love these boys.

The lobby. What a tree!

Next, we hopped the Monorail and cruised over to Disney’s Contemporary Resort.  There they had a huge gingerbread tree!! (I’m beginning to see a theme. I think Disney likes gingerbread…)

Complimentary Holiday Treat station for resort guests!

After looking around and grabbing an iced coffee from Contemporary Grounds, we decided to take a boat over to the Wilderness Lodge. Now I do not consider myself an “outdoors” kinda girl. I like staying clean, I love temperature control, and I do not, repeat, DO NOT like bugs! All that being said, it is really ironic that the Wilderness Lodge is one of my favorite resorts on property. My family and I have stayed there a couple of times and I just love the cozy feel of a log cabin tucked back in the woods. You don’t even feel like you are in Disney World when you are there. You feel like you are on a relaxing mountain retreat. So maybe the Wilderness Lodge is my kind of “wilderness”. I’ve never seen a bug there. It’s the outdoors, Disney princess style.

The lobby. These pictures do NOT do it justice.

View of the resort from the pool. And yes, there were children swimming. In December. Makes me say, "Where are their parents??"

After ooo-ing and ahh-ing over the Wilderness Lodge, we got back on a boat to the Contemporary where we caught another Monorail to the Polynesian. The Polynesian is my husband’s favorite resort…and where we dream about renewing our wedding vows one day.

Christmas wreath, Polynesian style!

A view of the lobby from upstairs.

Once we walked around the Polynesian a bit, we had to say our goodbyes to Grant because he had a stilt-walking workshop to get to (how cool is that!?!).  Tim and I stayed because we had made (drum roll please) reservations at the Kona Cafe!!

The Kona Cafe is one of our top choices in Disney Dining. We have eaten breakfast and dinner there in the past. We never leave hungry or disappointed…and their coffee is amazing! Just saying. We shared the Teriyaki-style New York Strip followed by the Kilauea Torte. Yum-o!

Well, only one day left on our Very Merry Jolly Holiday! Keep a lookout for DAY 4!