For the 19th straight year, the Disneyland Resort Central Bakery team has come together to build a massive gingerbread house for the ballroom scene in Haunted Mansion Holiday. Since the Haunted Mansion just celebrated 50 years of spooky existence at Disneyland Park, the designers used that as their theme.
The gingerbread house took six Cast Members 13 days to put together using 30 pounds of gingerbread, 120 pounds of frosting and icing, 75 pounds of powdered sugar, and 140 pound of fondant.
The structure stands 10-feet tall and has 15 “residents” made of gingerbread cookies that are anywhere from 24 to 30 inches tall.
Tim Wollweber, an associate art direct for Disney Parks and the designer of this year’s gingerbread house, says that this year’s design was a challenge:
“We tried to keep it as faithful to the Haunted Mansion itself so guests could immediately get that it’s the mansion, and know that it’s a heartfelt ‘dead-ication’ to it.”
Wollweber said it was all about the familiar details:
“We have lantern bits in there, doors where they generally would be found, green iron work in there…we’ve never really done that before.”
Wollweber adds:
“More than any of the other designs we’ve done, this one is a great labor of love that pays tribute to what’s been around for half a century. This is our congratulations for haunting a place for 50 years and we are happy that people still love it.”
Haunted Mansion Holiday opens today for Halloween Time and continues through the holidays before finally closing January 6, 2020.
Source: Disney Parks Blog
Tom is the host and producer of the DIS Unplugged: Disneyland Edition podcast, plus Disneyland Editor of The DIS. He enjoys traveling with his wife and teenage son. At this point, their favorite destination is Alaska, with a FIFTH cruise there planned for the Summer of 2019. In his spare time he volunteers with Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts, and help found his son's former Cub Scout Pack. His favorite Disneyland attraction is Space Mountain.
