ORLANDO, Fla. — During Disney World’s holiday season, the giant gingerbread house at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa is a popular attraction.

Thousands of pieces of gingerbread, candy and other decorative items are used to create the structure.

And it takes a team of about 30 culinary staff decorate and assemble it.

But once the holiday season is over, what happens to the gingerbread house?

Well, it doesn’t go to waste. Turns out, Disney “disposes” of it by feeding it to bees.

A video shared on TikTok explains the whole process. 

“After we break down every piece of cookie, candy and cute chocolate character, each gingerbread display is dismantled and brought to our tree farm,” a Disney chef says in the video. “There, local Florida bees get to feast on sweets until every bit is gone.”

Doing this helps keep the bee population fed during the winter months, when food sources are harder to find, Disney said in a post on its official blog.

Disney started this type of recycling program 10 years ago after noticing the bees were attracted to the sugar on the display.

“We decided to bring the display pieces to our Disney tree farm and lay them out in our field to give the bees a chance to collect sugar on the wooden structures,” Barry Stockwell, a planned work specialist with event decorating support, said in a post on the Disney Parks Blog.

(Courtesy of Disney World)

Just after the holiday season ends, the team gets to work removing all the gingerbread from the wooden structures. What’s left behind are sugar-coated wooden pieces—a perfect treat for hungry bees.

After the bees have done their thing, the wooden structures are washed and reused for the holiday season.

Disney World helps the bee population in other ways. The resort also has pollinator-friendly gardens across its property.