I know it’s February now, but I wanted to tell you about two fun events that my family and I were able to enjoy over the recent Christmas holiday break. One of them is the annual Christmas tree display at Disney Springs in Florida.

Disney Springs is the shopping and entertainment district of Walt Disney World. Each year they decorate the place with a bunch of Disney-themed trees scattered throughout the complex. You can pick up a map of tree locations and apply stickers to the map identifying where trees are located and then show the completed map to an attendant and receive a pin-on button.

The event is free in that parking is free and there is no admission charge to the shopping complex. What you do with your money after that is up to you! Here are the photos that I took of the various (18) trees.

The Lion King tree is themed according to the Broadway musical. Baby Simba can be seen being held up by Rafiki’s arms at the top of the tree. There are also African plants and prints adorning the tree and masks which are reminiscent of the masks worn by actors in the musical.

The Disney Vacation Club tree offers a nod to the resort’s time share properties and various vacation-related ornaments. The tree is festooned with red poinsettia blooms, Mickey themed snowflakes, and plaid ribbon. In addition to articles of luggage and a golf cart, you can see ornaments listing some of the DVC properties including Boulder Ridge Villas at Fort Wilderness, Old Key West Resort, the Villas at Grand Floridian, and a 3-D model of a Fort Wilderness cabin.

Of course, this tree stroll is all about Disney’s plan to separate you and as much of your money as possible. Not to be left out, Disney Cruise Line sponsored a floral topiary model of its newest cruise liner, the Disney Treasure.

This tree is themed after Disney’s animated movie Coco, which is a musical story tied to the Latin celebration of the Day of the Dead. Miguel’s guitar is featured prominently near the top of the tree, right under the skeleton of Hector and a heart-shaped family portrait. The orange flowers decorating the tree are the Aztec marigold.

The red and white polka dot bows and red bows with yellow buttons are the clues to the them of this tree – Minnie and Mickey Mouse. Lots of Mickey ear ornaments adorn this tree along with the bows.

The bright, primary colors of the decorative paper chains adorning this true are just one of the many clues to its theme. You can also spot a red-starred bouncy ball, a green dinosaur, little green aliens, a red and blue rocket, and several Potato Head characters. Yep, this is the Toy Story tree.

Flowing blue ribbons, seashells, tropical orchids, and a crazy chicken identify this tree with the movie Moana.

Since I’ve kind of given up on Disney for the most part recently, I haven’t been to see any of their recent material, including Wish, which is the movie that this tree is based on. I guess it is about a girl who wishes on a star and something or other, and the tree is decorated with chemistry set items, a spell book, and woodland creatures….

From the raven at the top, followed by a decrepit clock, this tree quickly reveals itself as a tribute to the classic Disney theme park ride The Haunted Mansion. The murderous bride, floating candelabra, and flying carpet round out the decorations visible in this photo.

The Disney Annual Passholder tree is shown here. It is decked out with mocked-up vacation photos, lots of Disney ear balloon shapes, and the passholder icons with a Mickey Mouse inside a “D”.

I’ve never been much of a Tim Burton fan and even though this movie was made 20 years ago, I’ve never seen it. This tree honors the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas. It’s quite colorful with lots of Halloweeny and Christmasy images combined.

I will admit to having seen a couple of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, but am not a big fan of them either (sorry). Groot is the standout character which helps identify this tree.

Are those stormtroopers peering out of this tree? This is the Star Wars tree. It has mini Jawa heads and ornaments painted with various Star Wars spacecraft on them. I think that red thing might be the end of a light saber on the other side of the tree. Oh, and C3PO is perched up there on top!

Seasons Streamings? Yep, this is another money vacuum tribute called Disney Plus, with the streaming service logo plastered up on top.

Yet another recent Disney movie I haven’t watched is Encanto. Sorry I sound so cynical. I really used to be a major Disney fan, but they’ve lost their attraction to me in recent years. My politics / cultural sentiments and theirs have diverged! That’s not a comment specific to this movie, of which I know very little. I watched the first ten minutes of it and just wasn’t interested.

I felt that this tree was pretty subtle. The light blue, crystalline white, and orange carrot decorations mark this as the Frozen tree, another Disney movie that I actually did enjoy some. Do you want to build a snowman? Those carrots, I guess, represent Olaf’s nose.

Yet another movie that I haven’t seen is The Princess and the Frog. This tree had some New Orleans theming with purple, fleur-de-lis ornaments, beads, instruments, and food items.

The biggest tree (sorry I got the top cut off) was the Town Center Tree. This one is decorated in more traditional style than most of the others.

It’s always an enjoyable time (albeit crowded) walking around Disney Springs, and having the tree scavenger hunt makes it have a fun focus that doesn’t break the bank!