X-Entertainment.com X-Entertainment.com A Proud UGO Affiliate
My dying wish is for an owl/camel hybrid, which I call camowl.
« [Main Index] »

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 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.

Chestnuts roasted by puttysan @ 03/24/2006 8:41 PM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by starwenn @ 03/24/2006 9:06 PM

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

Chestnuts roasted by doc bong @ 03/24/2006 9:16 PM

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.

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

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

Chestnuts roasted by Rhino @ 03/24/2006 10:25 PM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by Ben @ 03/24/2006 10:29 PM

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

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

Thanks for all of the suggestions, everyone!

Kinda still leaning towards the Polynesian.

Chestnuts roasted by Matt (#1) @ 03/24/2006 11:11 PM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by squee4242 @ 03/25/2006 12:29 PM

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".

Chestnuts roasted by kidneyboy @ 03/25/2006 4:23 AM

http://allearsnet.com/

Chestnuts roasted by xero @ 03/25/2006 10:43 AM

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

Chestnuts roasted by Rhino @ 03/25/2006 11:13 AM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by Xenophobe @ 03/25/2006 11:16 AM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by Lori @ 03/25/2006 11:26 AM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by Lost Lenore @ 03/25/2006 1:14 PM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by squee4242 @ 03/25/2006 1:15 PM

yerr, nothing going on here yet, huh?

time to go shopping!!

Chestnuts roasted by kidneyboy @ 03/25/2006 2:46 PM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by violetdied @ 03/25/2006 3:19 PM

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

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 03/25/2006 3:27 PM

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 )

Chestnuts roasted by squee4242 @ 03/25/2006 5:14 PM

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!

Chestnuts roasted by kidneyboy @ 03/25/2006 5:26 PM

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

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 03/25/2006 5:57 PM

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!

Chestnuts roasted by kidneyboy @ 03/25/2006 6:17 PM

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

Chestnuts roasted by b-rownd @ 03/26/2006 3:49 PM

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.

Chestnuts roasted by serpentor @ 03/27/2006 7:07 AM

Add A New Comment!


This entry was posted on Thursday, March 23rd, 2006 at 10:36 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.