100 Different Rooms

“I’ve long said that Dave has the absolute best Disney resort room information I have found!” –Didi Marie, DIStherapy

As of yesterday, with the review of our latest stay in a Royal Room published, I am at one of those rare moments where all of my hotel reviews are up to date, and I thought to step back a bit and reflect.

(I still have some updating to do in my general overviews of the hotels, but for the first time in a year and a half I have no backlog of stays to finish writing about.)

Over the course of my August and September 2014 visits to Walt Disney World, the total number of Disney World-owned different accommodations I have stayed in and published about crossed more than 100.

This matters because universally the weakest parts of most Disney World guidebooks and websites are their material on where to stay.

One person staying repeatedly in all the rooms and in all their major variants is the only way to develop a complete, consistent, up to date and accurate picture of the hotel options and their strong and weak points.

Reading and copying other people’s experiences just won’t cut it, and those whose approach depends on this—even some of the most famous out there—routinely publish howlers and generally get too many things wrong.

Even having your own team of reviewers doesn’t work well, as they can’t compare across their own direct experiences the way a single reviewer can, leading them to miss floor plan nuances or even major differences.

Consistently good and up to date material on the Disney hotel options is rare because it takes major, multi-year commitments of time, attention and money.

Luckily, I have been able to create the time, Adderall helps with the attention thing, and you—because of your support of the various sponsors and interest in the various ads on this site—create the money that in turn I spend trying to keep this hotel material great and up to date.

I’ve now stayed in 103 different Disney-owned accommodations at Disney World, plus even more non-Disney options.

This includes

• 22 value resort rooms and family suites, with my most highly recommended value resorts Art of Animation and Pop Century in the lead with 5 and 8 stays respectively
• 25 rooms at the moderates, led by 7 in Port Orleans Riverside and 6 at my top-ranked Caribbean Beach
• 24 stays at the deluxe resorts, led by 5 at the Contemporary and 4 at the top rated (but under major refurb) Polynesian
• 29 different DVC rooms, mostly Two Bedrooms Villas–the best to review, as they show features of One Bedroom Villas and Studios as well–but where they were not bookable, a One Bedroom and a Studio, led by top ranked Villas at the Wilderness Lodge with 6 stays
• Stays at 3 different campsites at Fort Wilderness (my 3 stays in the Cabins are counted among the moderates.)

Moreover, in a push that I can’t imagine doing again—it was too demanding and exhausting–I stayed in and reviewed 38 different Disney-owned rooms since August 2013, for a couple of different reasons

• I did multiple visits over the period–first to test various features of the new FastPass+ program and then later to see and review new stuff like the Festival of Fantasy afternoon parade,  Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, the Anna and Elsa Meet and Greet, the Frozen Sing-Along, and the reopening of Festival of the Lion King–so of course had to stay somewhere during those tests and visits
• There were openings and major refurbs that had to be attended to—for example, the Villas at the Grand Floridian and Four Seasons (not a Disney hotel) opened, and the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge and the Grand Floridian completed and Caribbean Beach began major refurbs.
• It took me a while, but I finally realized how much the camera in my iPhone 4 has decayed, so I got a new camera and with it took the opportunity to stay in, re-shoot, and re-review a number of rooms. (Still on the list for re-visits for better photos are Pirate rooms at Caribbean Beach, exteriors at Coronado Springs, a Two Bedroom Villa at Old Key West and the Nemo suites at Art of Animation—I’m booked in these, plus both room types at Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort, during my November and December trips).

What’s next after November and December? Well, I hope 2015 will be a lot easier than the 17 months that will end in December 2014 with their 42 Disney rooms (and 4 non-Disney rooms) in 14 visits…

I haven’t entirely figured this out, but 2015 for sure will bring visits to the new Polynesian DVC offerings, and re-visits to the Beach Club and Coronado Springs after their expected refurbs!

Plus I also do requests…

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