Walt Disney World On-site Resorts

(That I've been to...)

Walt Disney World Resorts (Year I stayed there)
Overview	All Star Resorts  - Sports(2006)  - Music(2008)  - Movies(v)	Animal Kingdom Lodge  - Jambo House(2003, 2004, 2006)  - Kidani Village(2009, 2012)	Port Orleans  - Riverside(2003,2011)  - French Quarter(2008)
Art of Animation(2012)	Caribbean Beach(2002)	Contemporary Resort(2011)	Crescent Lake(v)
Coronado Springs(2005, 2011)	Grand Floridian(v)	Old Key West(2010)	Polynesian Resort(v)
Saratoga Springs(2007,2011)	Wilderness Lodge(2011)	"v" means it was only a visit

Magic Kingdom at night from the Contemporary Hotel. I do have to admit, a park view room from the Contemporary is nice...

If you don't count my visit in 1977, the first four times I was at WDW I stayed off-site. My fifth time there in 2002, I stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort, and I never looked back. The advantages of staying on site, far outweigh the difference in cost between a Disney moderate resort and a decent hotel on 192 or International Blvd, especially when considering Annual Pass rates.

I had grown to love the parks after dark, since that's when a lot of Disney's magic happens as they highlight what they want you to see and paint the parks in light. My biggest complaint throughout all my first four trips, was leaving the parks after closing. The throngs of people, the waiting for transportation to get to the parking lots, then trying to escape the lots and deal with the idiot tourists back to the hotel, who would rather look around than actually drive the car.

The Disney transportation system, available to anyone who stays on-property, solved that problem by letting Disney do the driving back to the hotel. I then found that not having to drive at all, as well as the amenities afforded by the Disney resorts, made staying on-site a no-brainer. I've stayed on-site ever since...

Disney currently has four "levels" of resorts; Value, Moderate, Deluxe and Deluxe Villas. (Links are to resorts I've stayed at or visited.)

A Value hotel is the low end room resort. They're priced somewhat similar (when discounted) to a mid-range hotel such as a Best Western or Comfort Inn. They're rather small rooms, around 260 square feet, with minimal amenities. (For instance, no coffee makers are available in Value resort rooms.) The table in the room will hold a laptop, but not much else. Storage is minimal. Value Resorts have no table service restaurants, only counter service. There are five Value Resorts, three of them under the umbrella name "All-Star Resorts".

• All-Star Sports
• All-Star Music
• All-Star Movies
• Art of Animation
• Pop Century

The Moderate level resort is higher priced than the Value hotels, but are larger (314 square feet, and the extra 20% is quite noticeable), as well as a table service restaurant, a larger refrigerator and a coffee maker in the room. There are three (actually four) Moderate Resorts:

• Caribbean Beach
• Coronado Springs
• Port Orleans - Riverside
• Port Orleans - French Quarter

Deluxe resorts are the high-end Disney resorts, with large rooms and indoor corridors. Many of the best restaurants reside in the Deluxes, some of which have spectacular atriums and lobbies. There are currently 10 Deluxe hotels. (Note my hotel groupings are non-standard. They are usually grouped by location.)

The Grand Atrium Hotels:

• Animal Kingdom Lodge, Jambo House
• Wilderness Lodge

The Crescent Lake hotels:

• Beach Club (sister hotel to Yacht Club)
• Boardwalk
• Dolphin (sister hotel to Swan)
• Swan (sister hotel to Dolphin)
• Yacht Club (sister hotel to Beach Club)

(The Swan and Dolphin are not Disney owned hotels, but are almost treated as if they are, with Disney boat and buses servicing the hotels.)

The Monorail Hotels:

• Contemporary
• Grand Floridian
• Polynesian

Deluxe Villas are generally DVC (Disney Vacation Club) rooms, and come in four flavors. Studio Villas, which are nothing more than a standard Deluxe room with a small kitchen area that includes a microwave. Instead of two beds, there's one double bed and a fold-out couch with a table. There are other perks like in-room DVD players. One and two-bedroom Villas have doored off bedrooms with private bath, a full kitchen (dishes, silverware, pots and pans, full size refrigerator with freezer, stove, dishwasher, 10 cup coffee maker, etc.), washer/dryer... all the amenities of home. Finally, there is the exceedingly expensive and hard-to-book Grand Villas, with three bedrooms. I've never even been in one.

There are two stand-alone Disney Vacation Club (DVC) resorts, both of which have blocks of rooms that are rented to non-DVC mortals.

• Old Key West
• Saratoga Springs

There are also a number of DVC Villas built as sister hotels to existing Deluxe hotels:

• Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kidani Village (Built as a sister to Jambo House)
• Bay Lake
• Villas at Wilderness Lodge
• Boardwalk
• Polynesian Villas

There are also a number of DVC Villas currently being built, such as those at the Grand Floridian.

Common elements to all resorts are daily housekeeping (aka mousekeeping), free Wi-Fi, (and as resorts are remodeled and refurbished) wide screen HD (720p) televisions with breakout boxes for composite, HDMI and VGA. There are also swimming pools (one or more, depending on the size of the resort), a video game arcade, an exercise room, and a gift shop. And of course, Disney Transportation to and from the parks, as well as personal and luggage transportation to and from the Orlando International Airport.

Also regardless of resort, your room card is also a charge card. If you're there with a friend, and don't want him/her to have access to your room charge, make sure the front desk issues a card that doesn't have charging privileges. If you bought a package, your room card will also be your ticket media and food credits.

Also worthy of mention are Extra Magic Hours (EMH). Extra Magic Hours are extended park hours for on-site guests only. Early EMH opens a park an hour earlier than for off-site guests. Late EMH keeps a park open three hours past it's normal closing. There is an early and/or late EMH at one of the four parks almost every day. These can be hit-or-miss. Sometimes, I swear the EMH park can get more crowded, some will find the EMH park remarkably empty. Disney will also maintain continuous bus service to the resorts during EMH hours.

There are also elements which are dependent on the level of resort. For instance, there are no in-room coffee makers at Value hotels, 4-cup at Moderates and Deluxe hotels, 10 or 12 cup makers at Villas. (A note about coffee. Bring filters and your own coffee. It will be far superior to anything Disney serves up.)

The Values get small fridges, the moderates, deluxes and studios are larger, and the one-bedroom and up Villas have full size fridges with separate freezer, just like you have at home. The quality of the bedding, towels and even toiletries like shampoo and soap is quite different as the level of resort rises. I think this was a surprise to me at one time, but upon reflection, this is true of the entire hotel industry. Due to the sheer number of rooms in each price category, it is probably easier in execution than I realize.

There is a discussion about Lodging, Room Types, and Seasonal Boundaries under "Brain Dumps" on my Walt Disney World Overview page.

A word of warning. (And not just at Disney Resorts, but anywhere in Central Florida, and any popular tourist spot.) When you get back to your hotel room, there may be several pizza (or other food) delivery flyers that were shoved under your door. (Disney will actively look for these interlopers, and remove them from property.) If you decide to order from one, make sure they actually exist. For instance, on-line reviews or in the local Yellow Pages.

An ongoing scam has been to fake up a flyer, and when you call in with your order, they take your credit card number... And then they have your credit card number. You'll never get any food, but you will get some interesting charges on your bill next month.

Here's a list of resorts I have pictures of...

Walt Disney World today can boast some 27,500 hotel rooms across 26 resorts. It's a staggering large number to support and supply, and they do a pretty good job at it.

You can investigate everything via Disneyworld's website. You can compare rooms, see which rooms are available, prices and reserve rooms in a few mouse clicks. There are always deals to be had.

---

Help!

About This Site

Contact Me

©Keane Arase. All rights reserved.