If you’ve ever been to Walt Disney World ® between mid-November and early-January you know the Orlando theme park doesn’t spare a single garland, ribbon or twinkling light for its annual holiday decorations. But do you actually know to what extend Disney ® goes to create this gorgeous winter wonderland? Here are some fun surprising Disney ® Christmas facts you won’t believe:

• There are an astonishing 1,300 decorated trees throughout property.

• The Cirque du Soleil building (La Nouba) at Downtown Disney West Side spreads the holiday cheer with a wreath 25 feet in diameter

• 10 miles of twinkling rope lights go into the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Disney’s Hollywood Studios ®.

• It takes 150 semi-trailer truckloads full of decorations to decorate 24 resorts, 4 theme parks, Downtown Disney and other Disney ® locations.

• 15 miles of garland strung and 1,314 wreaths hung throughout the World Disney World ®.

• There are 300,000 yards of ribbon and bows hung on Christmas trees throughout the property.

• 8.5 million lights light up Walt Disney World Resort ®.

• 98 percent of the lighting used for holiday décor is LED and only 2 percent is compact florescent.

• 11 countries decorate for Holidays Around the World at Epcot ®.

• Candlelight Processional at Epcot ® welcomes more than 800 performers each night

• There are also more than 200 guest choirs that sing during the entire run of Candlelight Processional

• Magic Kingdom ® proudly displays a Christmas tree with a base 26 feet wide.

• The 70-foot-tall tree in Disney’s Contemporary Resort entrance lobby features nearly 35,800 white LED lights

In addition to the wreaths, lights, ribbon and garland, Walt Disney World ® also cooks up some pretty festive treats during the season including a 16-foot-tall gingerbread house located at Disney’s ® Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. The giant gingerbread is baked with a whopping 1,050 pounds of honey and involves more than 160 hours of decorating!

Guests at Disney’s ® Beach Club Resort can marvel at the life-size gingerbread carousel featuring ponies made of chocolate and fondant, giant candy cane poles, handcrafted poinsettias and hand-painted portraits of popular Disney ® characters. Disney ® pastry chefs also cook up snow flurries that fall form the sky during Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom ®.

And if you’re taking a Disney ® cruise this season get ready for a festive trip out to sea as Disney’s ® newest ship, Fantasy is adorned with 931feet of garland, 66 sprays, 27 wreaths, 38 trees ranging from 2 feet to 20 feet and more than 17,000 individual LED lights – 11,000 of which are on the 20 foot tree in the lobby.

To experience the incredible holiday magic look for Walt Disney World ® tickets right here on Best of Orlando.

Now that we’re in the holiday mood, we are ready to start spreading Christmas joy with BestofOrlando’s 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways! And what better way is there to start our exciting Twitter Giveaway than with tickets to the SkyCoaster for our thrill seeking audience! The SkyCoaster is located at FunSpot in Kissimmee (about 5 minutes away from the Walt Disney World ® Gate,) and can be described as a free falling swoop experience 300 feet in the Orlando sky. To win TWO tickets to the SkyCoaster, be one of the first 15 fans to Tweet @BestofOrlando “I want to ride the SkyCoaster at FunSpot!” using the #12DaysofXmas. Please read our Terms and Conditions, and Good Luck!

Follow us on Twitter, we’ll be giving out tickets to Great Orlando Attractions every weekday until Christmas!

Orlando, FL – 12/07/12