Mickey Blog Meets Pastry Chef Jeff Barnes at Contemporary Resort Gingerbread House
Our MickeyBlogger paid a visit to Disney’s Contemporary Resort yesterday where the Gingerbread creation is finally up in all its splendor! We had the unique opportunity to chat with Pastry Chef Jeff Barnes who was at the property signing merchandise!
As always, the Gingerbread castle in the grand lobby of Disney’s Contemporary Resort does not disappoint.
Pastry Chef Jeff Barnes was on hand yesterday (November 18th from 11 am – 1pm) to meet guests and share knowledge about what it takes to bring these incredible seasonal creations to life.
This year’s Gingerbread creation celebrates Disney World’s 50th Anniversary with an adorable recreation of Cinderella Castle along with elements from the beloved “it’s a small world attraction.”
Here are some awesome facts about the Gingerbread House:
- This is the 11th year for the Contemporary Gingerbread House
- 111 pounds of gingerbread spice was used.
- 51 pounds of chocolate were used
- 11 five legged goats can be found hidden in the design (more on this in a minute.)
- It took 11 days to bring this creation to life.
- 67 lbs of modeling chocolate were used
- The Gingerbread Castle measures 17.6 feet tall by 25.4 feet wide.
- 88 lbs of rolled fondant were used
- 611 lbs of sugar was needed
- 43 lbs of royal icing were used
- 439 jars of honey were needed for the recipe
- 511 eggs were used
- 101 pounds of flour was required
- 11 gallons of milk completed the recipe
One of the fun aspects of the Contemporary Resort Gingerbread creation is the hidden 5-legged goats.
Inspiration for this scavenger hunt of sorts comes from the 5-legged goat that is incorporated into mural in the lobby created by Mary Blair.
As you can see from the signage below Mary Blair created the 90 feet tall mural which was made with 18.000 hand painted tiles which are all fire glazed. One of the themes that was important to Mary to convey in her design was that nothing made by man could ever be perfect.
Mary created the five-legged goat to demonstrate the imperfection.
To pay tribute to the famous goat, you’ll find several hidden throughout the gingerbread display.
Half the fun is seeing how many you can find during your visit.
We mentioned that Chef was there to sign merchandise. As you can see from these images there is a pop-up shop adjacent to the gingerbread display.
During our visit, the shop was selling limited-edition pins and ornaments.
There was also a variety of sweet treats available. This is the place to go to pick up gingerbread roof tiles!
As you can see from the signage above, alcoholic drinks were even on offer as well as frozen hot chocolate.
Check out our chat with Chef Jeff below.
A huge shoutout to MickeBlogger Tori Emerson for sharing this footage with us!
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