Welcome to my
All Things Disney Page!
I am including links to great Disney web sites, information about traveling
to the parks, and my personal experiences.
Great Disney Links:
www.disney.com (links to all of the parks)
www.americanexpress.com (White Glove deals for cardmembers)
www.disneyananet.com (Collectibles)
www.oocities.org/Hollywood/Lot/8897 (I like this one because it has great "stuck" stories from WDW)
www.disneytrips.com (This is a really great site - if you can't find it here it can't be found!)
www.mickifan.com (Clipart and backgrounds)
The one thing that I don't like about WDW's site is that it never gives any in-depth information. For instance, the last time we visited, we were given a room that had a terrible view and was in the building the furthest away from the buses. When we asked to have the room changed, they told us that we should have specified what we wanted when we made the reservation. The problem is, however, how do we know what we want when we don't know what's available?! This kind of information does not appear on their site, in any of the guidebooks that we read, or is offered by the people at central reservations.
So, I am hoping to provide some real information here on hotels, the parks, and the secrets that you never hear about!
Rating Scale: | to | | | | |
Choose a Theme Park:
Downtown Disney (Pleasure Island, East & West Side)
Hotels:
We have stayed at a bunch of the WDW hotels including the following:
The Wilderness Lodge:
This was my father's favorite of the Disney hotels. The ambiance was terrific and the location was fairly good for getting around. The rooms, however, are probably the smallest of any of the "deluxe" hotels. We had four people in the room (they told us that the room comfortably held four) but we all agreed that two was really the capacity. If you go for the great views, there aren't too many available here. The rooms on the end of each floor have a great view overlooking the lake, but you have to walk a fairly significant distance to reach the elevators. (I wouldn't suggest this for older folks or people with very small kids) We had a room that looked inward (the hotel is in a U shape) toward the other side of the hotel with the pool below us. I have to admit, this was really awful, as they keep the pool lights on for a good part of the night (they come right into your window) and the people in the pool can be loud until 10-11pm. The "woods" view is quite nice and very peaceful. If I stayed there again, I would definitely choose this.Hotel:
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| | |Recommendations: "woods" view and only two people per room.
Old Key West (Formerly known as the Vacation Club):
If you have a big group or more than two kids, this is defiantly the way to go. We had the two-bedroom villa that had two bedrooms, both with full baths, a living room with a queen pullout, a fully stocked kitchen, a laundry room (washer, dryer, ironing board), and a Jacuzzi in the Master Bath. It was very convenient to all of the parks and it had a great boat ride to Pleasure Island (very romantic!). The rooms are beautifully decorated and the layout was well thought out.Hotel:
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| | |Recommendations
: None of the views are really spectacular, so save your money.The BoardWalk Villas:
This was supposed to be the same principal as Old Key West. They have studio, one, two, and three bedroom villas that have kitchens. I have to admit, after staying at the Old Key West, it was a big disappointment. We reserved the two bedroom, which turned out to be the one bedroom with a door leading to a studio. They layout was really awful, and the rooms were much smaller than those at Old Key West. The décor was probably the biggest let down - it was really institutional looking. I don't think that I would ever stay there again, but I have heard really good things about the BoardWalk Inn, so I may give that a try. The location was fantastic though - you could walk right into the back entrance of Epcot (right between Canada and France) which was great for getting out of Illuminations. MGM was only a short boat ride away and the shops on the BoardWalk were a lot of fun.Hotel:
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Stay at the BoardWalk Inn. If not, don't reserve a ground floor room and even though the lake view in tempting, the BoardWalk goes until 2 am (its very loud) and the lake view rooms are right on the BoardWalk. The best bet is the garden view with a nice view over the canal to MGM and the Swan and Dolphin Hotels.The Grand Floridian:
We recently stayed here on our honeymoon. We paid extra for a lagoon view (so we could watch the fireworks in the MK) and requested a third floor room with a king bed. (We did mange to get everything except the king bed) I have to admit, for what we paid for the room, it was the biggest disappointment of all the hotels. The service was first class and the choice of restaurants was wonderful, but the room was small, the view obscured by a very large tree, and the location was only so-so. This was the first monorail resort that we stayed at, and that was definitely on of the best features of the hotel. It was quick and convenient to get to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. The monorail was always on time and usually empty! Getting to MGM or Downtown Disney was another matter all together. It took over ONE HOUR to reach the GF from Pleasure Island and MGM. When we asked why it was taking so long, we were told that due to the addition of the Animal Kingdom, they could not add more buses to the park, so they just doubled and tripled the service of the buses to the existing parks, leaving buses available for Animal Kingdom. For example, coming back from Downtown Disney's shopping - the bus stopped at Pleasure Island, Disney West Side, Blizzard Beach (until 6pm), Wilderness Lodge, the Polynesian and finally the GF. In the morning, by the time the buses stopped for us to go the MGM, they were already full with people from the Polynesian and the Wilderness Lodge. We had to wait for two buses to pass before we could get on!
Hotel:
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Not a "fun" hotel for kids - definitely for adults and honeymooners! Skip the expensive view rooms - we had to go on to the beach to see any fireworks due to all of the VERY large trees that obscure most of the lagoon views.Polynesian Lodge:
We are staying here in November, so I'll report back then!