Everyone loves to eat during the holidays. Why do you think gym memberships soar in January? After Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s Eve and other parties people usually find their pants a bit tighter than they would like. But we’re still in 2009 and there is plenty of holiday fun to be had, especially here at the Orlando theme parks. We’ve been blogging about the various holiday events going on at the parks, but in this post we’re going to let you in on some of the sweet treats you can see if you visit some of the hotels in the Walt Disney World Resort.

Over at the Contemporary, one of the hotels closest to the Magic Kingdom, you can see a holiday tree inspired by Disney Legend Mary Blair. The tree is located on the 4th floor of the hotel and measures in at 17 feet high, made completely with gingerbread shingles. Disney has plenty of traditional sweet sculptures during the holiday season, and one of them is celebrating its 10th anniversary! Over at the Beach Club Resort, the life-size edible carousel is celebrating 10 years of pleasing guests from all over the world. The carousel is made of gingerbread, chocolate, and sugar paste. You can buy your own gingerbread house from the marketplace to take home with you. If you’re a fan of Hidden Mickeys, we hear the carousel has 10 of them.

For you Disney pin traders, make sure you head over to the Board Walk for their walk-through Holiday Gazebo. It also has Hidden Mickeys, but you can also purchase a limited edition Stitch pin featuring the gingerbread display. But the most popular sweet sculpture in the Disney resort world is housed at the beautiful Grand Floridian. Here you will find their enormous gingerbread house created from a traditional Austrian recipe. This house has been featured on a variety of travel show specials and is a highlight of the Grand Floridian hotel during the holiday season. It takes 400 chefs to bake everything needed for the house and 160 hours to assemble it. Make sure you explore some of these great edible sculptures during your visit to Walt Disney World.

Walt Disney World has no shortage of incredible souvenirs. From Mickey ears that you can customize with your own signature color and decorations to an extensive variety of pins that you could spend your whole life collecting, the parks have been known for developing some of the coolest collectibles that make park-going even more fun. And in continuation of a tradition that’s endured at the parks for more than twenty years, Disney is debuting its 2009 series of Disney Dollars, the “official currency” of Walt Disney World Resort.

These colorful bills are released every year with a new design, and the 2009 series, which has just been issued, is perfectly matched to go with one of Walt Disney World’s newest promotions, “What Will You Celebrate?” “What Will You Celebrate?” encourages people to head to the parks to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, engagements, graduations, and other life triumphs.

The bills, which come in , , and denominations, all call attention to celebrating with their new designs. On the , Mickey Mouse and Pluto are seen celebrating with a cake, while Daisy Duck and Minnie Mouse grace the in party hats. And on the , Goofy is joined by Donald Duck and Mickey as he blows out the candles on a cake, causing all its frosting to land on Mickey’s face. The reverse of each bill features Cinderella Castle in the clouds with the phrase, “There’s so Much in Life Worth Celebrating.”

Disney Dollars debuted in 1987 as a fun souvenir especially created for Disney-loving collectors. A man named Harry Brice, a silhouette cutter on Main Street, U.S.A. in Disneyland, had the idea for the bills after going to a Disneyana show and seeing how much people loved Disney collectibles. Two series were created at first, one for Disneyland, and one for Walt Disney World, but additional series were added over the years for special celebrations, Disney stores, and other themes like Pirates of the Caribbean. Since their creation, new dollars have been produced every year except in 1992 and 2004.

Money can be exchanged for Disney Dollars at Guest Relations in any of the four parks, as well as at resort front desks. They can also be found at the Guest Relations at Downtown Disney Marketplace and at the information desk at the World of Disney shop. A fun way to teach kids the value of money while at the parks, Disney Dollars never expire and can be used for purchases throughout Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot, as well as on Disney’s Cruise Line, at the Disney stores, and more. However, whatever bills you don’t use can be kept as a unique collectible; like a real dollar, each bill is individually numbered.

Next time you hit the parks and are searching for a unique memento to remember your visit by, check out Disney Dollars. Better than a gift card, you’ll have fun spending or holding on to these little Disney treasures. And be sure to get your Walt Disney World tickets at DWTickets.com, so you’ll have more money left over to convert into Disney Dollars.