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03/23/2006: 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. E-mail me!

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Discussion Thread: 92 comments

I live in Orlando, and cohabitated with two Disney employees for a year, so I’ve spent a ridiculous amount of time at the parks, and playing at the hotels. (Every WDW hotel has a pool complex, and everyone of them has a different waterslide. It’s a game to get to all of them.) My favorites are Boardwalk, Animal Kingdom Lodge, and Comtemporary. Don’t plan on staying in the "main" Contemporay building, though. It’s very expensive. Polynesian is nice, too, but the ones that don’t appeal to families as much are better. Expect a LOT of screaming brats at Pop Century or any of the All Star resorts, since budget-minded families stay there. I don’t know how the bus system works, I always drove, but no hotel is THAT far from any of the parks.

Ghosted by puttysan @ 03/24/2006 8:41 PM EST

Despite having been born in Florida (Ft. Lauderdale), I haven’t been in Disney World since 1990. We stayed at the Fort Wilderness campground, probably because it was the cheapest on-site accomadations at the time and my sister is a horse nut, so being in the woods made her happy. I remember the "cabin" we stayed in being more like a basic hotel room in a trailer and it taking forever to get to MGM and Epcot; other than that, the last thing on my mind during that trip was where we were sleeping.

How long has it been since I was in Disney World? Tommorowland still looked like a bunch of 70s hotels, River Country was open, and the Disney-MGM Studios was heavily promoting the live-action "Dick Tracy" in shows and merchandise. We actually have some great pictures documenting all of the above; my favorites are the ones of my sister and I pretending (I was about 12 then and she was 11) to drive the golf cart Dad rented to get around Fort Wilderness.

Ghosted by starwenn @ 03/24/2006 9:06 PM EST

is it me or does disney world seem like a gigantic cartoon prison?

i went to disney land a couple of times as a kid but i dunno, i guess i never really got into it. i was happy enough with six flags but more into the water parks (wet n wild)

plus they used to force us to watch those awful live action disney movies (old yeller, mary poppins) and the boring cartoon ones (bambi) in grade school which i think burned within me a deep resentment of disney from a young age

Ghosted by doc bong @ 03/24/2006 9:16 PM EST

Dear God, I just watched the worst movie ever made. I dare someone to rent Dark Harvest 2 and sit through the whole movie. I triple dog dare you.

I’m still in shock.

Ghosted by Matt(#2?) @ 03/24/2006 10:22 PM EST

Conversely, I just got home from watching Inside Man. I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was actually worth my time.

Ghosted by Rhino @ 03/24/2006 10:25 PM EST

Having worked at almost all of orlando disney hotels and having read as far as I know every article you have on this site (I once sat and typed in every number from 1-1000 in the html to try to read them all) here’s my expert suggestion. Spend a night or two at Pop Century (that place kicks ass) and spend the other half at Ft. Wilderness. It’s these really cool cabins tucked in fake woods that your woman would probrably love.

Ghosted by Ben @ 03/24/2006 10:29 PM EST

I’ll have to check that movie out, Rhino. I’m currently cracking up at these reviews that I’m reading for the movie I was just talking about: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0451109/usercomments

Ghosted by Matt(#2?) @ 03/24/2006 10:39 PM EST

Thanks for all of the suggestions, everyone!

Kinda still leaning towards the Polynesian.

Ghosted by Matt (#1) @ 03/24/2006 11:11 PM EST

All these comments have shown me that I really effing need to go to DW. I’ve been wanting to get to California Adventure since DL is giving out two-fers but all this stuff sounds soooooo much cooler.
(I understand family style dining as communal bowls everyone shares from, which is cool at home…but with strangers? If that’s the case at the Polynesian…ick. My finicky germaphobia and antisocialism are outraged.)
Glad to hear Inside Man is good, I’ve been dying to see it since I saw the trailer before Kong. I love a good heist movie.

Ghosted by squee4242 @ 03/25/2006 12:29 PM EST

kingklash nobody knows what the hell I’m talking about when I do the golf clap.

Has anyone ever read the book "Thank You For Smoking" the one the movie is based on? Or anything by Christopher Buckley? Good stuff, my fave is "Little Green Men".

Ghosted by kidneyboy @ 03/25/2006 4:23 AM EST

http://allearsnet.com/

Ghosted by xero @ 03/25/2006 10:43 AM EST

Ah, the Saturday morning lull on X-E… The calm before the storm.

Ghosted by Rhino @ 03/25/2006 11:13 AM EST

Matt – I’m a NY’r, I also have been to Disney about 8 times. I also lived in FL for 5yrs. I have stayed at

The Conteporary, The Polynesian, the Port Orleans. And the one I’m going to recommend to you.

I am recommending you stay at the ROYAL PLAZA http://www.royalplaza.com/

it is a hidden jem in downtown disney. Fair prices – about the same as the rest but nicely redecorated – and basicly your just gonna sleep in it, and maybe grab a coffee on your way out to the parks. Shuttles come every 10 minutes all day / night – so why pay the extra for the disney crap.

This is on disney property yet a more adult place. I highly recommed it.

Ghosted by Xenophobe @ 03/25/2006 11:16 AM EST

Add me to the ranks of "never been to a Disney park". I was born and raised in Virginia and have never lived more than 45 minutes away from a theme park (Kings Dominion just outside of Richmond and Busch Gardens in Williamsburg.) We didn’t have a ton of money, so there was no way my parents were going to spend 4x as much to go to a theme park just because it had Disney characters. My dad got to go to different Disney parks for various conventions. There’s something so mean about coming home and showing your kids your pictures from Disneyland.

Ghosted by Lori @ 03/25/2006 11:26 AM EST

Anything but an All Star Resort! If you think the grounds look cool, then visit the hotel and walk the grounds. The rooms at them (I had relatives who stayed there and we visited for the day once) are really small and when I was there, shabby. Really. Plus, Pop Century doesn’t just have cool things like Rubik’s cubes. You could get stuck in the wong with a giant cell phone for stairs and a twenty foot tall "Waaazzzz Uppp?" pasted on top of the roof.

If you want something midrange, Carribean Beach or Port Orleans (cartoon gator statues!)
Rates Depeding, for a little More, you can stay at Animal Kingdom lodge and see giraffes, african cattle, birds, gazelles and things out your hotel window). They have night vision goggles to view the critters at night too. You don’t have to be a hotel guest, either. You just show up. Its little extras that really are fun. If you want to be a total nerd at AKL, you can go around for a day doing kiddy crafts and you get a bead for each activity.

Ghosted by Lost Lenore @ 03/25/2006 1:14 PM EST

It’s so weird to hear so many who’ve not been to Disney since I’m used to how it is here in So Cal where it’s the go-to destination for band trips, grad night, etc.

Ghosted by squee4242 @ 03/25/2006 1:15 PM EST

yerr, nothing going on here yet, huh?

time to go shopping!!

Ghosted by kidneyboy @ 03/25/2006 2:46 PM EST

Every time I’ve gone to Disney World, I stayed in the Contemporary, cos the mono goes through it, which is terribly convenient. I’m all about convenience. They have an arcade, too. I mean, I’m sure the other hotels have arcades, but if I remember right, this one was decorated with pink neon lights. It’s just a game room until you add the pink neon lights–that’s what makes an arcade. And it had skee ball. Which I’m also all about.

Ghosted by violetdied @ 03/25/2006 3:19 PM EST

Whenever the X-E Theme Park and Resort opens up, I might just live there from the start of Summer until Hallowe’en.

Ghosted by kingklash @ 03/25/2006 3:27 PM EST

X-E World would be like the Who Framed Roger Rabbit of theme parks…just a melange of pop culture icons and genres smashed together into one awesome package.
(note: no idea if "melange" is a real word, but it sounded good :D )

Ghosted by squee4242 @ 03/25/2006 5:14 PM EST

melange is a real word…and I’m pretty sure you used it in just the right way.

Junkie XL had a song called "Cool Melange" that was pretty good. That was before Elvis made him change his name to JXL…damn dead Elvis!

X-E World would be incredibly hard to get a room at…that’s for damn sure! I would want to sleep in the Skeletor room!

Ghosted by kidneyboy @ 03/25/2006 5:26 PM EST

The Darth Poop suite would have a turn-down service featuring ChocoDiles and Baby Ruths, unwrapped and placed lovingly on your pillow.

Ghosted by kingklash @ 03/25/2006 5:57 PM EST

but really, what kind of people want to sleep in a Darth Poop suite?

only the X-E kind!!

What about the Green Bamboo Peanut Room? A room shaped like a peanut, in bamboo, green, and decorated with Bamboo Peanuts all around!

Ghosted by kidneyboy @ 03/25/2006 6:17 PM EST

I haven’t been to disney world in ages, and I’m kinda looking to go back after seeing this: http://www.meaningofplus.com/videos/Donald-Duck-Nazi.jpg

And this: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5809480155676785259&q=disney

Ghosted by b-rownd @ 03/26/2006 3:49 PM EST

I work at disney world’s fort wilderness but can reccomend either pop century or polynesian as awesome resorts, the former is cheaper but the latter has direct monorail connection.

Ghosted by serpentor @ 03/27/2006 7:07 AM EST

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.

Ghosted by Rebecca @ 03/27/2006 7:34 AM EST

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!

Ghosted by Rebecca @ 03/27/2006 7:53 AM EST

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.

Ghosted by porchlight @ 03/27/2006 9:23 AM EST

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.

Ghosted by porchlight @ 03/27/2006 9:23 AM EST

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.

Ghosted by porchlight @ 03/27/2006 9:23 AM EST

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

Ghosted by porchlight @ 03/27/2006 9:26 AM EST

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

Ghosted by kingklash @ 03/27/2006 11:37 AM EST

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!!!

Ghosted by purplegirl247 @ 03/27/2006 2:43 PM EST

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.

Ghosted by Mike @ 03/27/2006 3:27 PM EST

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…

Ghosted by Rebecca @ 03/28/2006 4:14 AM EST

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.

Ghosted by Astroboy @ 03/28/2006 10:34 AM EST

Thanks AGAIN for the input, everyone!

Ghosted by Matt @ 03/29/2006 9:54 PM EST

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.

Ghosted by KJ in NJ @ 03/30/2006 11:25 AM EST

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

Ghosted by Jason @ 03/31/2006 12:26 PM EST

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!)

Ghosted by Jason @ 03/31/2006 12:30 PM EST

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

Ghosted by nancytribe @ 04/11/2006 7:44 PM EDT

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

Ghosted by charlie will @ 03/30/2007 4:55 PM EST

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