Disney Advice – Hotels

We recently spent a week at Disney World, and I thought I would share some advice if you’re planning to go.  The most valuable advice I can give is to stay at a Disney hotel or resort.   For numerous reasons, Disney resorts can’t be beat, as much as beach vacation rentals sound appealing.  Now, I know you’re thinking ”C’mon!  At those prices?”, so I’ll give you our reasons. 

Due to the number of visitors, any trip to Orlando is going to mean standing in line for practically everything.  Stand in line to check in with the airline, stand in line to rent a car, stand in line to get on a  ride, stand in line to go to the bathroom, and you get the picture.  So, obviously, not standing in line equals more time to do the fun stuff.  Plus who likes to stand in line with small children?  How about maneuvering a stroller through those zig-zag lines, while pulling luggage, and a tired preschooler?  No, thank you.

Disney has begun the Magical Express Service for their resort guests.  Magical Express is a fantastic service, where Disney provides charter bus service from the Orlando airport to your resort and back to the airport.  This is part of your resort package.  Disney will send you luggage stickers that you attach, at home, that indicate which resort you will be staying.  Once you check your bags with the airline, you do not see them until they arrive at your room (usually 2-4 hours after you land).  Once you land, you check in with Disney then board a bus that takes you to your resort.  This saves so much time and money!  The last time we went to Disney, we rented a car and car seats.  The car did a wonderful job of getting us to the resort and back, and sitting in the parking lot for five days.  What a waste of money!  With the Magical Express Service, you do not have to rent a car, or hire a taxi to get you to the resort.  The airport is about thirty minutes from Disney, so a taxi could get pretty expensive.  You don’t have to wait at the baggage carousel, then drag kids, luggage and yourself to the parking garage to find your rental.  And, you don’t have to pay to have the car sitting in the parking lot.  If your flight schedule worked right, you could actually be at one of the parks that afternoon. 

While the Magical Express Service is great, it’s not our biggest reason for staying in a Disney resort.  But, it also has to do with buses.  Each resort has it’s own bus service that constantly drives through the resort, to a particular park, and back to the resort.  Covered bus stops are located throughout the resort (ours was about two blocks away), and the bus stops at each one before heading to it’s destination park.  Buses arrive about every twenty minutes.  It is so easy to catch a bus, ride directly to a park and you’re there in 10-15 minutes.  Then you can come back to your resort for a meal, nap or swim, and head back to the park for more fun.  Or, if you have a park hopper pass, you can go to an entirely different park.  Suppose you chose to not stay at a Disney resort.  After loading everyone into your car, and driving to the Magic Kingdom, you have to wait in line to get into the parking lot.  Once you find a parking spot, you wait for the tram to come and get you.  Then, you are driven to the boat launch, where you wait for the boat to dock so that it can take you across the lake to the main entrance of the park, where the buses have dropped of their passengers.  I’m not sure where you get your tickets, but it could be another line.  So, that’s easily one hour just to enter the park grounds and get to the actual park entrance.  But, if you were smart and stayed at a Disney resort, you would already be in the park because you took the bus, and your room key is also your entry ticket to the park.  How cool is that?

Our reasons for staying at a Disney resort are not limited to the buses, exciting as that  may be.  Because there are six of us (we always take Gram!), we cannot fit into one standard hotel room.  Rather than booking two rooms, we opt to stay at the Old Key West Resort.  Old Key West is part of Disney’s Deluxe Villa Resorts level of accommodations.  We stayed in a two bedroom, two bath condo.  Not only does this allow all of us some extra room, but it has a complete kitchen.  Let’s just say that Disney’s vegetarian options are not that wide ranging.  There are only so many meals of pizza or pasta with tomato sauce that a person can take.  So, we took a taxi to a local grocery store and bought a week’s worth of groceries.  This was a huge money-saver!  A twenty ounce Coke in a vending machine is $2.50!!!  Ice cream for six was almost $40.  So, while you may pay more for your hotel room, you can save on your food budget.  We had planned meals that were easy to make, so no one would have to spend our vacation cooking.  However, if you go shopping, do not go to Goodings.  Most items were twice as expensive as normal, their selection was very limited, and some things went bad before we could eat them.  Bugs with your pasta, Madam?  Ewwww! 

I prefer the Old Key West Resort over the other resorts in this level because of the architecture.  The entire resort is made to look like a small town in the Keys.  Rooms are broken up into smaller building with about twelve units rather than one gigantic building.   The sidewalks are made with beach sand, so they have shells in them rather than gravel.  The concrete around the pool areas have shell impressions.  Disney is masterful at incorporating small details into everything. 

Finally, staying in a Disney resort allows you to participate in Extra Magic Hours.  These rock!  Each day, one Disney park has extended hours for resort guests only.  Sometimes it’s an extra hour in the morning, or a couple hours extra in the evening.  This is the best time to ride rides, because there are practically no lines.  The parks are less crowded and more enjoyable.  You can then head back to your resort for lunch as the park starts to get  crowded.  Thursday was early morning hours at the Magic Kingdom.  We were able to ride ten rides that morning!  Most rides you can just walk right on.  No lines. Let me say that again:  No lines!

Recently, Kim wrote a post,  Walt Disney World Special Offer for U.S. Military regarding discounts at Disney resorts. Or, try Walt Disney World for other offers.  Be sure to check them out!  For those of you in the frigid northern parts like us, just take a couple minutes to stare at that picture.  Doesn’t it look nice and warm?  Before you know it, you’ll be planning your next vacation!  Take me!  Please?? Please?

Tweet