Annual Easter Egg Display at the Grand Floridian

Right after the winter holiday season has ended and the gingerbread house display at the Grand Floridian is cleaned up, the pastry chefs at Disney's Victorian-style deluxe resort start thinking about Easter. It takes between three and four weeks of planning, crafting, and hand-painting to create the Easter Egg Display at the Grand Floridian — which shows up around 45 days before Easter begins.

The fun and colorful display features many different Disney characters and locations — all painted and sculpted into Easter eggs. These' aren't small fragile creations like Fabergé or Imperial Eggs, but much larger 16-20 inch tall eggs that can weigh as much as 12 pounds! Why so heavy? Because technically, all the eggs are edible! The eggs are made from various digestible elements like modeling chocolate, fondants, sugar florals, royal icing, colored cocoa butter (that's used like paint) and sculpted sugar pieces. You can't really smell the display like you can smell the gingerbread around the holidays — but pastry chefs wouldn't be working with anything other than modeling chocolates and fondants so — it's probably true.

The display is shown in the spacious Grand Floridian lobby and is free and open to guests staying at the resort — and to the general public as well. I really enjoy planning a lunch in any of the Seven Seas Lagoon restaurants, taking a little ride on the Monorail over to the Grand Floridian after lunch, and browsing through the Easter Egg Display each year — and seeing what fun new things the pastry chefs have come up with.

That is what makes the Easter Egg Display at the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa one of the reasons why we like this place!

If you would like to see more photos from this popular seasonal event at the Grand Floridian — click here and jump right to our photo gallery page.

If you're getting off the Monorail, one of the first things you'll see that would provide some indication that the Easter Egg Display is happening — is this little white fuzzy rabbit sign.



The Easter Egg Display covers about half of the Grand Floridian's lobby. Looking down from the second floor, there are a couple of elements right about where the piano player is (near the bird cage on the left) and there's an actual Disney pastry chef on the right hand side (near the elevator cage) who's actively working on one of the eggs!



It's fun to see how they get some of the very detailed elements onto the eggs. All of the artist's "paint" is on the left side of the photo below — and you'll notice it setting on a "keep warm" surface (like a portable stove top). That's because the colors that she's painting with are actually colored cocoa butter, and it has to be warm in order to stay in a liquid state.



At the very back of the lobby, there is a "snack kiosk" which sells Easter themed cake pops, crispy treats, and a couple of cookies. Considering how walking around and getting to view all the eggs is a "free" activity — I'm fine with the existence of a snack kiosk  You don't have to purchase anything, no one is going to force you into the line — but buying a little treat at the shop is a good way to let the bean-counters know that you appreciate the display each year.





Way back when (probably two decades ago now), the Easter Eggs started out as just that… they were traditionally shaped eggs that were themed and hand painted on the outside — with different Disney characters, attractions, or locations. This Sword in The Stone (1963) Egg harkens back to that traditional style... when the Easter Egg Display at the Grand Floridian first began.




The eggs can feature some very detailed scenes from Disney animations. It's incredible to think that the egg here is molded chocolate and all the paint used is colored cocoa butter.



Some of the eggs even contain costume and drawing notes like this Snow White animator's egg.





After a couple of years, the structure of the eggs started getting a little more elaborate — like this year's The Princess and the Frog Easter Egg. The whole top front of the egg was cut off to reveal a "shoebox" scene of sorts — where different design elements are stacked to make up the scene. Even the base that's holding the egg upright gets some little design flourishes like lilies and cattails sticking out of the blue water.



Even more creative liberty was taken with these mini baby eggs lined up in an egg carton (they haven't "hatched" yet… that's why their eyes are closed). Even the egg carton is made out of modeling chocolate. Everything in each of these egg display pieces has to be edible!



Every now and then, you'll find a non-egg element, in various nooks — like this Peter Rabbit. That might be Benjamin or Bouncer behind Peter — and probably either Flopsy or Mopsy behind and to the right.





Some eggs include really detailed extra elements, like the cliff rocks and a unicorn mini-van in this egg from Pixar's "Onward". Including the unicorn van, is a brave decision!




Some eggs are extremely decorated, like this flaming red egg from Disney's Elemental. You can tell there's still an egg in there but the detailed flames must have taken quite a bit of time to paint and position around the egg.



Oh no, it looks like this one hatched… and it's a Baby Dragon!



There's a couple of eggs, that are a little hard to see initially — like the one inside Daisy's house. (Kind of like, the little old lady that lived in a shoe… this is Daisy's egg shaped house.)



Some of the little elements in Daisy's front yard are pretty amazing too, like these little bunnies.



And even Daisy's little poodle… which might be Bellla… maybe?





The Kakamora (coconuts) from Disney's Moana even make their way into this large Easter Egg display.




There's even a nod to the past in egg form — the popular Main Street Electrical Parade is remembered with the Elliot Egg Float from Pete's Dragon — complete with lights and everything!



Which brings me to a final egg (but there's more in our photo gallery) this Alice in Wonderland egg has so much detail in every element.



Keeping in mind, all of this is made out of modeling chocolate or fondant, the detail in the clockwork gears is amazing, and even down to Alice herself sitting on that mushroom with the faced flowers beside her.







There's a Cheshire Cat comfortably hanging out in the bottom of the clock egg… and you can even see the texture of his fir.



Sitting on top of the egg is the white rabbit, holding a pocket watch, with a tiny geared ascot around his neck and almost impossibly small spectacles atop his tiny nose!

To see even more Easter Eggs from the
Grand Floridian's display, check out the photo gallery page.

In recent years, the pastry chefs over at the Contemporary Resort have gotten in on some of the Easter Egg fun too — they have their own display… which usually has a slightly different theme than the one here at the Grand Floridian. The display itself has been moved around a bit, because a security check-point has gone up where the display had been located. Now on the main (bottom/lobby) floor of the main building… the eggs have found a home near Steakhouse71.

All in all — the Easter Egg displays at the Contemporary and the Grand Floridian make for a really fun half-day outing. If you add in a lunch reservation (which makes getting past the parking lot guard a little easier) — you'll get a nice meal and some really fun creative Easter decor to look at while you walk around two very safe resorts. Once you get into one of the buildings, you can ride the Monorail between the Grand Floridian and the Contemporary — making this an all-indoor, air conditioned activity as well. These are just a few of the reasons Why We Like This Place!