Gingerbread Express Elevator

One of the coolest things I've ever seen starts the way most fairy tales do:

"Once upon a time many holidays ago, Santa trudged his way through Chicago snow.  He made his way to Trump Tower, but without a chimney deliveries took hours."  The good elves at Trump Chicago wanted to give Santa a helping hand so they created a "slight mess" in order to "build The Gingerbread Express!"

Daniella Rinaldi is the Pastry Sous Chef at Sixteen who thought of the idea for The Gingerbread Express and she has only been there for two months!  What started out as a joke between Daniella and her peers turned into an awesome realty--"the first and only gingerbread elevator in the world."  "I wanted people to go in and feel like they were in another world.  How often do you get to feel like that?" Rinaldi shared when I asked her about the Gingerbread Express.  Not enough, was my response.

People visiting the Michelin-rated restaurant on the sixteenth floor will have the most enjoyable journey to the North Pole!  You can smell the sweetness as soon as you enter the lobby.  The Gingerbread Express is edible and made from:

308 lbs of gingerbread dough
942 gingerbread bricks
222 lbs of frosting
178 lbs of sugar
103 lbs of chocolate

I now know what drew Hansel and Gretel to the witch's cottage.  I just kept riding the Gingerbread Express because I couldn't get off.    Luckily, Trump International Hotel & Tower and Sixteen do not have any witches to worry about.  Only great service and fantastic food will greet you upon your arrival.

On your ride up--or down--you will have a fantastic view of the Kitzbuhel Alps in Austria while singing along to the festive music.  You might want to admire the custom train speeding by over your head!

Or, you can warm your hands by the faux fire in the fireplace.

The best and most important thing about the Gingerbread Express is that it is dedicated to the patients and families at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and you can leave your donation at the front desk because the Holidays are really about loving, sharing and giving!

Whatever you decide you must stop by and just experience the holiday magic the amazing Food & Beverage team created.  You will not regret it!

And I went back to my hotel happily ever after--and full.