12 secrets behind Walt Disney World's magical holiday decorations

The holiday-services team provides decor for almost 800 locations across Walt Disney World, the Disney Cruise Line, and Disney Vacation Club Resorts.

This team has typically consisted of about 41 cast members who work year-round and an additional 90 people who seasonally help with all of the decorations.

Thanks to a dedicated decorating crew, the park transforms into a festive wonderland overnight.

After the final Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party of the year, the park swaps out its Mickey-shaped pumpkins for Mickey-shaped wreaths.

Toy Story Land embraces the holidays with a 10-foot-tall Hamm sugar cookie and it also has some fun with sound.

While riding the Slinky Dog Dash during the holiday season, guests can hear jingle bells as each car goes by.

Across Walt Disney World there are 29 custom-created Christmas trees that range from 15-feet to 70-feet tall.

Disney's Contemporary Resort is home to the tallest tree that, at 70 feet, has more than 15,000 lights and over 200 custom-made ornaments.

Disney Springs is 120 acres of shopping, dining, and entertainment — and it's also the largest space that Disney decorates for the holidays.

To spruce the place up for the season, the team uses over 2,000 individual decorations and a 45-foot decorated tree.

One of the best parts of the holidays at Walt Disney World is the nightly lighting of Cinderella Castle.

Throughout the season, the castle twinkles and shines with over 200,000 lights.

The lights are made into custom nets that lay over certain parts of the castle, and each individual light on the strand is tested every year to ensure it hasn't gone out.

For the holiday season, Magic Kingdom gets decked out with about 590 garlands and nearly 150 wreaths.

And, as you may notice, these decorations change to fit the vibe of the area you're in. Main Street USA features classic decor whereas Tomorrowland's festive embellishments are silvery and ultra-modern.

Located near Echo Lake in Hollywood Studios, Dinosaur Gertie towers over the park year-round. But during the holidays she wears a Santa hat that can fit four people inside of it.

Up until recently, Disney's Hollywood Studios was the park with the most minimal holiday decorations.

But over the past few years, the area got seasonal decorations around Echo Lake and they're all designed to be retro, with pale colors and custom designs. For example, the deer statues are inspired by vintage ornaments from the 1950s.

There's a reason Disney's Grand Floridian Resort and Spa smells like gingerbread during the holiday season — the resort annually has a massive gingerbread house in the middle of its lobby.

In past years, it's been 14-feet tall and has taken 560 hours to complete, from baking to construction.

This year, the Cinderella Castle gingerbread display is celebrating 10 years at Disney's Contemporary Resort. Interestingly, it is crafted in the same style as the Mary Blair mosaic that can be found in the resort's atrium.

The impressive house has over 5,000 decorative gingerbread shingles — and a number of hidden Mickeys.

Inside the American Adventure at Epcot, visitors can find a seasonal gingerbread display of the US Capitol Building, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Washington Memorial.

This display, which has hidden Mickeys throughout, is built using over 50 pounds of gingerbread and 20 pounds of icing.

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