Day 3 of Hibiscus & Holly At The Poly 2017, the latest of my Disney Trip Reports, is here! Today we visited 7 Resorts to see the Disney Christmas trees and decorations! We will end up visiting all of them by the end of the trip! This was our main goal for this holiday – to see all the Christmas trees and decorations that we could! Plus it was so much fun to see all the different resorts too.
The Trip Report Index tells you a bit about the planning of this trip, as well as some info about me and my family (the Cast Members!) In short you have me, Michelle; Steve, my husband, and Liam, my son. It also, of course, has the full list of days for Hibiscus & Holly At The Poly 2017.
Day 3: Disney Resort Christmas Tree Trail Part 1
Art of Animation / Pop Century / Caribbean Beach / Old Key West / Port Orleans French Quarter / Lunch at Sassagoula Float Works & Food Factory / Port Orleans Riverside / Wilderness Lodge / Dinner from Captain Cook’s
December 9, 2017
My trip reports are photo heavy! I include single images, or smaller galleries – either way, pages may take a little longer to load depending on your internet connection speed. You can click on gallery images to enlarge them. I don’t include all the photos I take, but you will be able to find all of the images from Hibiscus & Holly At The Poly 2017 in my Flickr Collection of albums from this trip. To see just today’s extra photos, you can view this Flickr Album.
Hibiscus & Holly At The Poly: Trip Report Index | Pre-Trip Report | About Us
Some days are split into several parts; please use the page numbers at the bottom of the post to continue reading.
As soon as we booked this trip to visit Walt Disney World at Christmas time, I decided that at the very top of the agenda was to visit all of the Resorts to see all of the Disney Christmas trees, as well as their decorations. I also wanted to make sure that I got a map from every resort too. I plan to scan them and add them in – so will update when I do!
Of course we wanted to see the decorations at the Disney Parks and at Disney Springs – but it was the Resorts I really wanted to check out the most. We have visited a fair few Disney Resorts over the years for dining reservations, but not all; so I thought this was the perfect opportunity!
On Disney’s website they list their current Disney Resort Hotels at 25; however, 11 are DVC Villas, so remove those, and also the Campgrounds and Cabins at Fort Wilderness (which we didn’t visit). Add back in the DVC Resorts that are also regular Disney Resorts too… *counts on fingers* …that’s 18 Disney Resorts that we visited, which is essentially all of the current ones (minus Fort Wilderness, oh and plus Bay Lake Towers)… with me?!! I hope so!
On the first of our Disney Resort Christmas Tree Trails, we visited: Art of Animation, Pop Century, Port Orleans French Quarter, Port Orleans Riverside, Old Key West, Caribbean Beach, and Wilderness Lodge.
I figured the best way to do the Disney Christmas trees and decorations tours would be to devote a section to each Resort. Some resorts we only did a quick passing through (for one reason or another) and others we either stopped longer to grab some food, or to look around the Resort a bit more.
Each Resort had its main Christmas tree – of varying sizes – you know which one it is because of the Happy Holidays sign next to it. Some Disney Resorts had two or more Christmas trees dotted about. In addition there were garlands, and wreaths; and some had decorations in their stores too. It was amazing to see how very different, and well themed all the decorations were.
Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
Our first stop was Disney’s Art of Animation Resort – a Disney Value Resort. We stayed here for a night back in 2015 when on our Halloween In The Wilderness trip, before we became DVC Members.
Be surrounded in the artistry, enchantment and magic of Walt Disney and Disney•Pixar movies. Stay at a Disney Resort hotel that invites you to explore the storybook landscapes seen in such classics as Finding Nemo, Cars, The Lion King and The Little Mermaid. From delightfully themed family suites to wondrously detailed courtyards, Disney’s Art of Animation “draws” you and your family in to become a part of some of your animated favorites. – Walt Disney World
Even though we only spent one night here, we really liked it, and thought it was a fun Disney Resort for families. The whole place is bright and colourful, and as you can imagine, their decorations were the same!
I loved that the tree was white with brightly coloured baubles as it reminded me of our tree back home in England. Ours doesn’t have quite as many ornaments, but it won’t be too far from it after a few more holidays to Disney!
Aside from the abundance of baubles, nestled in amongst the branches were animation sketches (Art of Animation remember – clever theming!) which I thought was a lovely nod to the name of the Resort.
The garlands and wreaths hung around were also white with brightly coloured baubles, and even the shop – Ink & Paint had some decorations too. Naturally, whilst in said shop I did a spot of Disney merch shopping… we bought some pins, some tins of Disney Coffee and Cocoa, a Genie mug, and a few sweet treats to take home as gifts.
Liam popped into Landscape of Flavors – the Resort’s Food Court – to fill up his Resort Mug; and we then said farewell to Art of Animation. We didn’t bother to look around the Resort because of staying here in the past.