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Help Me Go To Disney World K THX.

Yay, another week almost in the can!

So, I think we've decided to go to Walt Disney World at some point this year. I haven't been there in ages, and could spend the next decade recollecting my obsession with getting Chip and Dale to eat bacon with me, but I'm actually here to ask you for help: Which resort should we vacation at? I've been researching all night, and I can barely even narrow it down. I'm obviously digging their Pop Century Resort, what with all of its giant Rubik's Cubes and shit, but that seems to be on the lower end of the spectrum -- maybe we should just save that for a day trip. The Tiki lover in me wants to hit the Polynesian Resort, but I'm a little turned off by the idea of family style eating. The woman seems into all of the wilderness-related resorts, but I'm not sure we'll be able to stomach five nights of that. I know, I know -- the park is the main attraction, but I'm all about a good hotel. If you've had any fairly recent Disney experiences, please share 'em in the comments. Would love to get some ideas from people I can trust. I can trust you, right?

New article or two coming this weekend. Hope you'll be around for the SNT. I think I'll be.

Posted by Matt on 03/23/2006. E-mail me!



Discussion Thread: 92 comments

I wish I would’ve seen this thread on Thursday. I’m a Disney "expert" of sorts… I’m slightly obsessed with anywhere that has robotic pirates and presidents. Anyways, my advice is to NOT stay at the Pop Century or the All Star Resorts. They’re adorable hotels, but they are frickin’ loaded to the brim with kids. If you can afford to and can find rooms, my advice is the Contemporary resort since it’s posh, closest to the Magic Kingdom and who doesn’t love a hotel with a monorail running through it? If that’s not your style, any of the Deluxe resorts are awesome. The Moderate resorts are nice, but some of the rooms can show their age a little. For the deluxe, Animal Kingdom is cool because you can see safari animals just outside your room and the lobby has a huge beautiful picture window for viewing. The Polynesian is also beautiful and will give your vacation a more "tropical" feel. You just kind of have to decide what kind of vacation you want and then pick the hotel that matches.
Definitely stay at a Disney hotel because the benefits are awesome. You get earlier and later park hours, you can get stuff you buy at the park sent to your room so you don’t have to lug it around, and they have free "magical express" so you don’t have to wait at baggage claim and then your luggage just magically appears in your room when you check in.

Chestnuts roasted by Rebecca @ 03/27/2006 7:34 AM

Some other tips for your Disney vacation: make reservations for restaurants as soon as you know when you’re going. Even if you want to eat at a restaurant that doesn’t look like you’ll need reservations (unless it’s "fast food" obviously) make reservations. And if you book a "Fantasmic Dinner Package" they’ll arrange it so you get priority seating for the Fantasmic show. Also this site http://allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm has menus from all the restaurants which will make your reservations a lot easier. Another site, http://www.disneyworldtrivia.com has a lot of good advice about WDW in their forums and lots of trivia and secrets to get you impatiently excited to go.
Sorry if this is too much information, didn’t mean to write a guidebook here. I’m going in 27 days and I can’t wait! Hope you have an awesome trip, Matt!

Chestnuts roasted by Rebecca @ 03/27/2006 7:53 AM

DO NOT STAY AT THE POP-CENTURY HOTELS! we stayed at on the music ones last year and it was terrible. 15-20 minute waits for buses that were about 15 minutes from the park. terrible food selections at the "grill". you will notice that all of the food keeps you taking regular highly-compacted dumps to keep you from missing any money-spending opportunities. Our bathroom had actual shit splatters on the wall in FRONT of the toilet on the music themed wallpaper- also, ray charles had a doobie drawn in on his picture. stay in one the "real" resorts if you can.
Finally, mission:space in epcot is awesome.

Chestnuts roasted by porchlight @ 03/27/2006 9:23 AM

DO NOT STAY AT THE POP-CENTURY HOTELS! we stayed at on the music ones last year and it was terrible. 15-20 minute waits for buses that were about 15 minutes from the park. terrible food selections at the "grill". you will notice that all of the food keeps you taking regular highly-compacted dumps to keep you from missing any money-spending opportunities. Our bathroom had actual shit splatters on the wall in FRONT of the toilet on the music themed wallpaper- also, ray charles had a doobie drawn in on his picture. stay in one the "real" resorts if you can.
Finally, mission:space in epcot is awesome.

Chestnuts roasted by porchlight @ 03/27/2006 9:23 AM

DO NOT STAY AT THE POP-CENTURY HOTELS! we stayed at on the music ones last year and it was terrible. 15-20 minute waits for buses that were about 15 minutes from the park. terrible food selections at the "grill". you will notice that all of the food keeps you taking regular highly-compacted dumps to keep you from missing any money-spending opportunities. Our bathroom had actual shit splatters on the wall in FRONT of the toilet on the music themed wallpaper- also, ray charles had a doobie drawn in on his picture. stay in one the "real" resorts if you can.
Finally, mission:space in epcot is awesome.

Chestnuts roasted by porchlight @ 03/27/2006 9:23 AM

sorry for the triple post. but i triple mean it.

Chestnuts roasted by porchlight @ 03/27/2006 9:26 AM

Now there’s a photo essay for somebody! "Unexpected Graffitti at Walt Disney world." Glad someone left the porchlight on.

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 03/27/2006 11:37 AM

Man, oh, man, I wish I could’ve gotten in on this action when it was actually relevant. I’m a Florida native, and a current Orlando resident, so I’ve been to WDW at least 10 times a year for my whole life. *sighs contentedly*

I agree with the "value resorts are nice, but only for awhile" mentality of the other posters. Wildnerness Lodge was great, and they have (or at least, used to have) Marshmallow roasts and old-time cartoons to watch in the evenings.

You should definitely take advantage of all the "staying on Disney property" perks. And don’t DON’T drive your car at all once you get on property, because parking pretty much anywhere but Downtown Disney is $9 bucks a pop, and if you’re already paying up the wazoo to stay on site, you might as well wring gas money out of the Mouse.

I’m so exited that Matt will be so close for a brief period of time! Yeah, I won’t see him at all, but it just seems like such a momentous occasion!!!

Chestnuts roasted by purplegirl247 @ 03/27/2006 2:43 PM

My girlfriend and I went last year, but because we had spent 5 days in Tampa first (which was bloody awesome) we had a rental car so we stayed at a hotel on highway 192 (about 10 minutes from most of DisneyWorld). Having the rental car turned out to be perfect, and we spent a lot of time driving around when we weren’t at the parks.

Our monorail DID get stuck at the Polynesian for about a half hour and it looked like a really nice hotel.

Other stuff that was awesome: Sea World; Pirate’s Cove mini-golf (yarrrgh!); Contemporary hotel looked really nice, as we walked through it; the fireworks show; driving around in Celebration (although everything was closed)

Stuff that sucked: Our lunch in Cinderella’s castle; dinner at the Californian Grill (on the top floor of The Contemporary); Most of my pictures didn’t turn out because I’m an idiot.

Overall, a pretty useless post. Enjoy your trip though.

Chestnuts roasted by Mike @ 03/27/2006 3:27 PM

Some other info about Disney. I don’t know when you’re going, but I think both the Polynesian and Contemporary are having their rooms updated so there might be some construction. If you can get to Disney World this weekend apparently they’re shooting for America’s Funniest Home Videos and on the 3rd they need 450 extras in Animal Kingdom and on April 5th they need 1200 extras for the "Big" show. I’m assuming this is like the season finale type thing. Also on the 6th they need 400 extras for a shoot about their new ride Expedition: Everest. I think it would be super fun to see what goes on when they tape stuff. I wish I could go!
Oh! And Pirates of the Carribean is out of commission for a while because they’re adding a Johnny Depp robot pirate and other stuff to make it more relevant to the movie. Sad, because I love me some pirates. Hope this helps. And that you still read the comments…

Chestnuts roasted by Rebecca @ 03/28/2006 4:14 AM

Just got back from Disney in Orlando this week.

Satyed at the Animal Kingdom Resort. Way cool- giraffes right outside the window and the lobby is amazing…

But if you’re into retro the Polynesian looks pretty much as it did in the 70′s and the luau dinner is fun… in a "how is this still going on" sorta way.

Chestnuts roasted by Astroboy @ 03/28/2006 10:34 AM

Thanks AGAIN for the input, everyone!

Chestnuts roasted by Matt @ 03/29/2006 9:54 PM

Just went to Disney last May. Stay at a Moderate Resort. Pop Century will be flooded with kids and is a lower priced resort. I’ve stayed at the Polynesian and it’s closest to Magic Kingdom but far from all the others. Its the higher priced resort. Where I stayed last May was moderate so you don’t get the shitiest or the most expensive. It’s called the Caribean Beach Resort. It’s the only one that has a beach besides Polynesian and its located in the middle of most all parks. It’s priced moderate has the beach island feel and is private.

Chestnuts roasted by KJ in NJ @ 03/30/2006 11:25 AM

Hey Matt,

I live in FL and go to WDW often. While the Disney hotels are fine for the themes and all, I found that the best deal in the area is the Royal Plaza Hotel. The rooms are ten times better than POP century and even better than the Wilderness Lodge. I’m talking large rooms that were recently renovated with Jacuzzi tubs. Deluxe shit for less than the moderate Disney hotels and it is realy close to the parks. They have their own bus too. It is definitly worth looking into. I’d stay there again over any of the Disney hotels. Check it out here:
http://www.expedia.com/pub/agent.dll?qscr=dspv&htid=16964&itid=152985297&from=i

Chestnuts roasted by Jason @ 03/31/2006 12:26 PM

Hey Matt, me again (see above).

The hotel I’m talking about is the same one Xenophobe mentioned above. I read his post after making mine.

Seriously, that place is your absolute best bet! It is really close to the parks, and within walking distance to Downtown Disney (which has a great LEGO store!)

Chestnuts roasted by Jason @ 03/31/2006 12:30 PM

People who don’t like the Polynesian are high. It’s completely trippy and cool.

Chestnuts roasted by nancytribe @ 04/11/2006 7:44 PM

will and i have been married 50 years 2009. even with some illness we are going to beach complex to celebrate and to epcot. we will celebrate one year early in case. so you see,you never outgrow disney world and all its surroundings. charlie & will

Chestnuts roasted by charlie will @ 03/30/2007 4:55 PM

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