As I mentioned on the previous blog, the ultimate way to stay when holidaying in Florida is in one of the resort hotels. It just makes the holiday a different experience. As there are a lot to choose from, I wanted to mention a few of my favourites. Hopefully, these will help you when planning your Florida holiday too. For this blog, let’s talk Disney….
Which Disney hotel?
As a child, I was fortunate enough to be taken to Florida many times, but there is one trip that still stands out the most, and that is the first time we stayed in a Disney resort hotel, the All-Star Movies Resort. Now this hotel is in their ‘value resorts’ category. So, the cheapest of their properties. But I don’t know any other 3 star hotels that have giant Dalmatians, Herbie: The Love Bug, Woody and Rex staring down at you, to make you feel the size of an ant. Not forgetting Mickey Mouse himself, in the sorcerer’s outfit jetting water across the pool. I can still remember the WOW that I kept saying walking around and taking it all in. The hotel features do not stop there. The Mighty Ducks is another themed pool which takes you back to an old classic movie too. We liked the World Premier Food court, (it has food stations named after famous theatres), as it meant everyone in the family can choose whatever they preferred. From pizza, pasta, hot dogs etc! We got the refillable drinks cups too, so it meant my brother and I could happily fill up at the drink’s stations around the hotel. I must also mention the movie nights as they were so fun! Again, as a child, it just felt like such a unique experience to watch classic Disney films at The Reel Spot under the stars! Lastly, every day when we came back to our room, we loved to see what our cleaner had done with our towels. I will not ruin this surprise too much, but it was a highlight of our stay here!
There are 5 hotels in the value resort category – the other 4 are:
Disney’s All-Star Music Resort – with giant instruments, piano and guitar shaped pools and even Donald Duck rocking out at the pool.
Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort - five larger-than-life themed areas celebrating American football, baseball, basketball, tennis, and surfing. Goofy will be hanging out near the pool trying to squirt you too!
Disney’s Pop Century Resort – a 20th century celebration, with a giant phone Mickey Mouse, giant football tables, yoyos, jukeboxes and even Mowgli and Baloo too!
Disney’s Art of Animation – with touches from classic Disney animation films, like Finding Nemo at the pool and characters from Lion King around the resort, plus incredible themed suites to really step into the movies.
The next hotel category is Moderate. These are Disney’s 4-star properties. And again, there are 5 to choose from:
Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort – Reminiscent of Spanish Colonial Mexico, it has 4 pools with one featuring a 5 story Mayan pyramid, colourful plazas, and Spanish-style haciendas in a relaxing, desert-style setting.
Disney’s Port Orleans – Riverside – With the setting being rural Louisiana of the late 1800’s, you will find the Sassagoula River to take a boat journey or better still relax on a horse-drawn carriage around the resort, all whilst dining on the southern style cuisine around the resort.
Disney’s Port Orleans – French Quarter – with 2 themed pools and one even featuring a fire breathing dragon slide, boat trips along the Mississippi style waterways, Southern hospitality throughout all makes the stay resemble the ‘Big Easy’.
The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort – Ideal for larger families, with six-person woodland cabins, plus 2 swimming pools, a white-sand beach, horse riding trails, boat and bicycle rentals, fishing, hay rides, camp fires and sing-alongs under the stars.
My favourite moderate hotel is the Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort. With the mix of palm trees, white sandy beaches and hammocks to give that beach vide, 5 island villages around the Barefoot Bay lake and easy to get to the Disney parks, it really does have it all for us. We love the beach life, the park like and the outdoor life and so with extra touches such as the nature trail, bike rentals, six swimming pools with waterfalls and slides, its such a good family resort and I am sure you can see why a favourite of ours. Plus they now have the Disney Skyliner Transportation – the new gondola system to take you to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. You do not get the ‘Disney’ character theming here like in the Value hotels, (although you can upgrade to a pirate room like Pirates of the Caribbean), but you really do get everything you could want from a holiday and more.
If however you would like even more luxury on your hotel, then the next category is the Deluxe range of 5* hotels. These include:
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge
Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
Disney’s Beach Club Resort
Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
Disney’s Contemporary Resort
Disney’s Boardwalk Inn
Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa
I have never had the pleasure of staying in these hotels, but I have visited a few of them.
Disney’s Contemporary Resort is a stop on the monorail from Magic Kingdom and Epcot. So, we have disembarked here to experience Chef Mickey for breakfast. It is the place to be for an incredible Character Breakfast experience. With an all you an eat buffet (and it is very tasty indeed) and a great way to meet Mickey Mouse and friends up close for the best photos! We have also eaten at this hotel for dinner at the award-winning California Grill on the 15th floor. Here you can take n breath-taking views of Magic Kingdom Park and its spectacular fireworks show. I would highly recommend both experiences, as they really do make for memorable moments!
We visit Disney’s Boardwalk Inn every trip. It has the 1940's elegance at this Atlantic City-styled Resort, with a boardwalk entertainment complex and lake to admire. We usually hire the family cart style bikes to cycle around the lake and take in the sights. Then buy food/snacks from many of the food stalls around whilst of course checking out the multiple shops too! We have often caught live music or entertainment including magic shows when we are here. Always a lovely way to spend an evening after a busy day at a park.
Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa is the flagship hotel. It is beautiful. We have dined here a few times, one of them was another character breakfast, this time with Alice in Wonderland, Mad Hatter and Mary Poppins at breakfast. As it is situated on the Seven Sea Lagoon, it is an iconic location and we have also rented jet skis and boats from here too. It takes my breath away every visit due its stately elegance and outstanding service. Next visit, I would like to check out the spa and afternoon tea 😉
The last category to mention is Disney’s Deluxe Villa Resorts. If you're travelling in a larger group and are looking for more space, luxury and the ability to self-cater, the Disney Deluxe Villas are perfect for your holiday. There are 9 to choose from:
I have not stayed in one of these but thought would mention so you can see all the options that Disney provide. I have tried to list them in price order so Saratoga Spring generally being the cheapest but also one of the most popular. They offer 2-bedroom villas sleeping up to 8 and even a treehouse villa sleeping 9! Which is great for bigger families or those would like the family to have their own rooms. The Animal Kingdom Lodges look incredible too. With Savannah view from all, and the 2-bedroom villa sleeping 9, it’s a unique experience for sure.
All the Disney hotels are of course located close to the Disney parks. They offer free in resort transportation, free wifi and early access to the park reservation system too.
So after writing this blog, I am now off to look up prices as I am now even more desperate to get back there again soon! Check out https://www.attractiontickets.com/en/hotels/walt-disney-world-resort-hotels?utm_source=TheWalterWays&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=blog
for more information and of course please do feel free to shout with any questions 😊
Next blog will of course be...which Universal resort hotel to stay in?
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