By the co-author of The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit 2020, the best-reviewed Disney World guidebook series ever.

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Category — q. Reviews

Photo Tour of an Island Building Room at the Hilton Buena Vista Palace, Disney Springs Resort Area

For the first page of this review of the Hilton Buena Vista Palace, see this.

PHOTO TOUR OF AN ISLAND BUILDING ROOM AT THE HILTON BUENA VISTA PALACE

The Hilton Buena Vista Palace in the Disney Springs Resort Area has two groups of accommodations buildings.

One is a connected set of mid and high rise towers, where you will find “Tower rooms.” I have a photo tour of a Tower room at the Hilton Buena Vista Palace here.

Island Building from Above

The other is a connected set of three mid-rise buildings, each with an atrium, collectively known as the Island Building.

The Island building offers rooms with either two queen beds or one king bed, and a bunch of suites.  The combination of design and structural choices made means that some layouts are unusual. The image shows a floor of one of the three buildings.  The spaces marked with a blue dot are king rooms, the green dots are queen rooms (although the one at bottom center is drawn incorrectly–I know because it’s the room I stayed in), and the unmarked spaces are suites.

Because the building dimensions create a space too short for a standard bath layout and two queens as well, many–perhaps all–Island two queen rooms have the bath offset into the next-door suite space, and the closet turned 90 degrees from what you will typically find in a hotel room.  My room was one of these.

As you enter the room, the bath is on one side, the closet around the corner on the other, and the beds and living area dead ahead.

The divided bath has an outer space with a sink on one side…

…and a table with a coffee service and some open storage on the other.

A closer view of the coffee service.

Beyond these is a full bath in its own space…

…with another sink on one side…

…and the tub/shower combo and toilet on the other. The harper eyed among you will note the shower curtain is missing. A quick call to housekeeping resolved this issue.  Odd things happen in hotels…

Back out to the hall, and then into the room and around the corner, the closet is in an unusual spot…

…but is otherwise unremarkable.

The closet is at the side of one of the beds, as you can see from this shot taken from the back of the bed side of the room. There’s plenty of clearance, but the lightest of sleepers might be annoyed by its placement if they are in the closer bed compared to having the closet more isolated in the entry of the bath space, as is more common. Although I suppose if one is that light a sleeper then one would have been already awakened before the closet even came into play…

Anyway, here’s the bed side from the entry part of the room.

A closer view of one of the queen beds.

A bedside table is between the two beds, with a shelf you could use for stuff.

Further on this side of the room, in a fun angled section, you’ll find this easy chair. The top comes off of the small round table on the right, and what remains then functions as an ottoman–a clever touch.

The other side of the room has a dresser, mini fridge, desk, and a small bench.

The TV side from the back of the room.

The dresser has a large TV above.

The three drawers are deep, and probably have enough space for the four people this room will hold.

Next to them is a cabinet with a safe above and mini-fridge below.

I did not measure the safe, but my book is 6″ by 9″, so you can see it is large.

The mini fridge.

Next to the dresser is this desk.  It’s main component is a rolling table that can be repositioned in the room for other uses–for dining, or to play games.

Beyond the desk is this small bench.

The balcony is accessed from a door in the triangular part of the room…

…and is itself triangular.

Island building room views vary.  Mine was a lovely view of the pool–but led to a fair amount of pool noise leaking into my room.

Pool view rooms are also near the elevators in these buildings, and there was also a lot of noise that leaked through the entry door to my room–not just from the elevator, but from folks on all  floors of the building, with their noise echoing up through the atrium. I can’t recommend a pool view room in the Island building for those who can’t tolerate a fair degree of noise.

Otherwise, these are pretty good rooms.  The Palace is the only one of the Disney Springs Resort Area hotels whose standard rooms have both balconies and divided baths, making them the most livable rooms for families. At ~385 square feet, this room is as big as or bigger than most Disney Deluxe rooms.

Island rooms at the Hilton Buena Vista Palace are (generally) closer to the pools and to Disney Springs than tower rooms here, but are further from the rest of the amenities at the hotel.  They seem to sell at a bit of a discount compared to tower rooms, but be prepared to deal with some noise.

AMENITIES AND DINING AT THE HILTON BUENA VISTA PALACE

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January 3, 2019   No Comments

Photo Tour of a Garden Room at the Wyndham Garden Lake Buena Vista, Disney Springs Resort Area

For the first page of this review of the Wyndham/Wyndham Garden, see this.

PHOTO TOUR OF A WYNDHAM GARDEN ROOM

The Wyndham Lake Buena Vista in the Disney Springs Resort Area has two different accommodations buildings, which are marketed, kinda, as two different hotels.  (Both share the same check in desk and all other amenities.)

  • The 232 “Wyndham” rooms are two queen (or one king) offerings accessed from interior corridors in the main mid-rise tower.
  • The 394 “Wyndham Garden” offerings–about two thirds of the total– are two full bed (or one king) rooms in five story buildings, with rooms accessed from exterior corridors.

I have a photo tour of a tower room at the Wyndham here. The photo tour on this page is of a Wyndham Garden room.

Wyndham Garden rooms are in many ways comparable to Disney’s value resort rooms, with exterior access, no balconies, full beds, and a single sink in the bath. However, their bedroom space is appreciably larger than that in Disney’s value resort rooms, and they have some other amenities uncommon in the value resorts, so they end up being more livable than those.

One side of the Wyndham Garden room has a table and two chairs, and two full-sized beds.

A closer view of the table and chairs.

The bed side from the back of the room.

A closer view of one of the full beds.

There’s a bedside table between the beds with an open cubby below…

…and a storage drawer above.

The other side of the room is dominated by a dresser and a mini fridge.

The TV side from the back of the room.

The dresser has a small-ish 38 inch TV above.

Its four large drawers provide plenty of storage for the four people this room will hold.

Above the drawers on one side is a cubby, and on the other is this safe. I did not measure it, but my book is 6″ by 9″, so you can tell that the safe is quite large.

Next to the dresser is an enclosure with a mini fridge inside…

…and a coffee service above.

The divided bath is at the back of the room, and is separated from the rest of the space by a sliding door.

The first part of the bath has a sink…

…with these toiletries.

Next to the sink is a closet.

Inside the closet.

In their own room on the other side of the sink you’ll find the tub/shower and toilet.

These Wyndham Garden rooms are not as nice as the Wyndham’s tower rooms, and some will miss the queens in those rooms in particular.  But unlike those rooms, they have a divided bath, making them more family friendly, and they can be quite a bit less expensive.

At ~290 square feet, these rooms are larger than Disney’s value resorts, but smaller than its moderate resorts.  Bath sizes are comparable to those at the values, and the living area is about 30 square feet larger than the values, and 15 square feet smaller than the moderates.

All in–excepting the full beds, which are being replaced with queens at the values (Pop Century is done, and All-Star Movies about half done)–these rooms are more livable than Disney’s value resorts, and a step below its moderates.

AMENITIES AND DINING AT THE WYNDHAM LAKE BUENA VISTA

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January 2, 2019   No Comments

The Disney Springs Resort Area Hotels

In 2018 the hotels of the Disney Springs Resort Area–third-party owned hotels at the far southeastern edge of Disney World property–for the first time began offering access to two of the most valuable Disney World perks–access to FastPass+ at 60 days, and access to Extra Magic Hours.

Eligibility for these perks has been extended at least through December 31, 2019.  Because of these new perks, I started paying more attention to these hotels in 2018, and stayed in them and their various room types eleven times in 2018. (I had already stayed in some of them half a dozen times in prior years, but not with a view to reviewing them.)

I’ve already published almost 20 pages on them based on my 2018 stays, but have not completed my reviews of any (I started with rooms and the pools, as these are the most important factors for most of you).

However, because many people have now begun planning their 2019 visits to Disney World, and these hotels are much more attractive with these perks than they used to be, I thought it would help you to bring to one page links to what I have published so far.

As I publish more about these–I kinda hope to finish everything by the end of January–I will add links to this page!

The hotels are listed in alphabetical order.

The B Resort & Spa

The Best Western Lake Buena Vista

Doubletree Suites by Hilton Orlando

The Hilton Buena Vista Palace

The Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista

The Holiday Inn Orlando

The Wyndham Lake Buena Vista

All of these hotels are weakened by their location and their transportation. But, in general, in terms of room quality and size, you have the potential to save some real money on them.

I’ll have much more to say about comparative strengths and weaknesses after I complete all my missing material. But among them, the best choices are the Hilton Buena Vista Palace (tower rooms only) and the Hilton, followed by the Wyndham (tower rooms only).  The Best Western and the Doubletree Suites by Hilton are the weakest.

Note that Kelly, the long-time travel agent partner of this site, can book you a room in any Disney or non-Disney hotel.  Contact her using the form below!

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December 30, 2018   2 Comments

Photo Tour of a Deluxe Queen Room at the Best Western Lake Buena Vista, Disney Springs Resort Area

(For the first page of this review of the Best Western, see this.)

PHOTO TOUR OF A ROOM AT THE BEST WESTERN LAKE BUENA VISTA

The Best Western Lake Buena Vista in the Disney Springs Resort Area has been purchased by Drury, and redevelopment, including another tower, is planned.

Right now the redevelopment is largely bulldozed dirt…

Until the new tower comes on line, rooms in the Best Western in the Disney Springs Resort Area are in an unusual three sided tower with reverse curves.  As a result, many of the rooms get an outline with angles and curves. Among them you can find large rooms with one king bed, two queens, and also two queens with a sleeper sofa.

This last, called a “deluxe queen room,” sleeping six, is what I stayed in. Regular queen rooms are largely similar, but lose the sofa bed and the alcove that you find it in, putting a wall with a straighter line and table and a couple of chairs here instead.

At the entry, you’ll find a wall on one side and the closet and bath on the other. (I’ve probably seen uglier carpets, I guess, but can’t think of any right now.)

The bath and closet area has the space to be a divided bath, but is not.  In place of a second sink, you’ll find a simple counter instead. Note the hair dryer mounted on the wall…

…and the coffee service.

A divided bath is always easier on family visitors, and is a near necessity for a group as large as the six people this room can fit.

Across from the counter you’ll find this mirrored closet.

One side includes a safe so large that I did not even bother to measure it. Note the luggage rack folded up back in the closet, and the extra bedding for the sofa bed above.

The other side of the closet includes an iron and ironing board, which may make me look fat.

Beyond these is the bath.

Bath toiletries offered.

The tub-shower combo.

Back in the main area of the room, one side has two queen beds and an easy chair.

The bed side from the back of the room.

A closer view of one of the beds.

A small bedside table includes a storage cubby.

An easy chair is back between the beds and the balcony. It rotates, making it almost as fun as Journey into Imagination With Figment.

The other side of the room has a desk, dresser, and in deluxe rooms a sofa bed, and in regular rooms a table and chairs.

The TV side of the room from the back.

A closer view of the desk.

The dresser has a TV above and a mini fridge inside. I measured the TV as a 37″ diagonal.  That’s pretty small these days.

The three good-sized drawers are likely fine for smaller families, but not enough for the six people this room can be booked for.

The mini fridge.

Deluxe queen rooms come with a sofa…

…that folds out into this bed. I got this bed as 72 inches long by 60 inches wide. It likely once had a 5 or 6 inch deep cushion, which has been beat up over the years into something closer to 4 inches, but it was surprisingly comfortable–I had no trouble sleeping on this sofa bed.

Even with the alcove at this point of the room that the couch fits into, when open, the foot of the sofa bed gets pretty close to the foot of the queen bed over here. My book, as the best-reviewed Disney World guide book, ever, looms large over the universe, but is in fact just 9 inches long–giving you an idea of how little space there is here.

Beyond the couch is the balcony.

Balconies are rarer in these Disney Springs Resort Area hotels than they ought to be, so it’s great that the Best Western offers them.  Some balconies have a distant view of the fireworks, others the lake (and construction) and others Hotel Plaza Boulevard.

The geometry and layout of these Best Western rooms makes them very wide–more than 14 feet at most points I measured.  It also makes it probably a fool’s errand to calculate their square footage, but even so I got this room as having on the order of 400 square feet.

At that size, these rooms are larger than most Disney World deluxe rooms.  And the balcony and easy chair are nice adds to the room. But the absence of a divided bath and/or an extra sink makes it hard for me to recommend this room for larger families. Couples and three person families should do fine.

AMENITIES, DINING, AND THE POOL AT THE BEST WESTERN LAKE BUENA VISTA

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December 2, 2018   No Comments

Amenities at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort

(For the first page of this review of Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, see this.)

AMENITIES AT DISNEY’S CARIBBEAN BEACH RESORT

In early October 2018, Disney’s Caribbean Beach resort (mostly) emerged from an almost 18 month long construction project that has greatly improved the layout and usability of the resort, and added new and easier-to-access amenities.

Since then, the new Disney Skyliner gondola system has opened, adding fun transportation options to Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and in December 2019 the new next door Riviera Resort will add more easy to access dining options.

The entrance to Caribbean Beach is now off Victory Way…

…near Jamaica.

Note that this is also where the hub of the Disney Skyliner is located, with line to Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and Pop Century/Art of Animation.  A second Skyliner station, between Aruba and Disney’s Riviera Resort, is on the Epcot line.

 

Anyway, if you are driving, turn right the entry, then left at the next intersection, and look for Old Port Royale on your left. The old stand-alone check in location, the Custom House, is no longer in use–simplifying things considerably.

Returning visitors might be confused by a  bit of village renaming–the old Trinidad South is now plain Trinidad, and the old Trinidad North is now Barbados.

Old Port Royale now has a port cochere.

Also in this area is bell services…

…and. for your departure, airline check in.

Not all carriers are served here, but if you are using one of them, and on your last day heading to the parks and then to the airport, it can be handy to first check in for your flight and drop your bags here.  Note that this is a tip-based service. (Note also that the Magical Express is a totally different operation.)

Inside you’ll find this bright hallway…

…with on the left a poster highlighting a couple of activities at Caribbean Beach.

On the right you’ll find the gift shop…

…and the grab and go shop and food court. I’ll get to the gift shop in a minute, and the grab and go shop,  food court, and all other dining at Caribbean Beach are covered in detail here.

Further down on the left you’ll find the check-in area. You may be served from the line itself…

…or at a series of desks.

You’ll also find a table with powerpoints…

…and beyond it a kids’ waiting area.

Multiple other seating options are in the lobby area.

Back towards  the port cochere on the other side you’ll find the gift shop.

You’ll find here gifts, clothes, souvenirs, snacks, drinks and sundries.

Just outside is the pool. The main Caribbean Beach pool is covered here, and the minor pools in Caribbean Beach’s villages are covered here.

Outside by the lighthouse you’ll find a pool table and a foosball table.

Back towards the pool, on the way to the bridge between Old Port Royal and Jamaica and Aruba, is a seating area from which you can see some of Epcot’s fireworks show. Not a substitute for seeing these in the park, it’s still a fun option to have.

Caribbean Cay Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort from yourfirstvisit.net

On the bridge you’ll find Caribbean Cay…

…with a lot of nice private seating areas on one side and several play areas on the other.

You’ll find on the other side a sand play area…

…a playground…

…and an astroturf lawn…

…which gains games in the evenings…

…just before the evening movie is is shown here.

All Disney transport to Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom is via buses.  Folks going to Epcot or DIsney’s Hollywood Studios can take a bus or the new Skyliner.

Each village has its own bus stop, and there’s another at Old Port Royale.

Once you are settled, check the map.  At Aruba and Martinique a different bus stop than “yours” may be closer to your accommodations building–for some Aruba buildings, the Jamaica stop is closer, and for some Martinique buildings, the Old Port Royale stop is closer.

The Skyliner goes to Epcot and the Studios from the hub at the bottom left of the map, closest to Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados.  Another stop, on the Epcot line, is accessible at the top of the map.  See this for more on the new Disney Skyliner gondola system.

DINING AT DISNEY’S CARIBBEAN BEACH RESORT

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November 27, 2018   4 Comments

Dining at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort

(For the first page of this review of Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort, see this.)

After a lengthy refurb, permanent dining options reopened at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort in early October 2018. In total, dining at Caribbean Beach is now second best the best among the moderates, after Coronado Springs, and will get even better with the December opening of the next-door Riviera Resort.

Dining at Caribbean Beach now includes snacks and such at a grab and go in Centertown, quick-service dining at Centertown and the Spyglass Grill in Trinidad, and table service in Old Port Royale at the re-imagined bar Cabana Banana and at next door Sebastian’s. More table and quick service options are in the Riviera.

Taking the Caribbean Beach offerings in reverse order…

SEBASTIAN’S BISTRO AT DISNEY’S CARIBBEAN BEACH RESORT

The waterside table service venue Sebastian’s Bistro is open for dinner. The menu is here, and you can also see the dinner menu above (lunch here is no longer an option).

Sebastian’s Bistro is a small, informal place…

…with dining in two rooms.

The food has a Latin/Caribbean flair to it, and my server warned me that since it was all made in house to order, it might come out slower than at other Disney World table service restaurants

The service, by the way, was delightful at both my meals here. At my first I started with a crab cake. My parents lived between Baltimore and Annapolis for more than 30 years, so I am qualified to judge a crab cake, and this was as good as any I have ever had. As a nice plus, the greens were in sufficient quantity, and dressed, to serve as a small salad.

My entree was the jerk chicken, an enormous serving even before you go to the beans and rice it was served on.  It was fine–I’d recommend it to anyone who likes barbecued chicken.

At my second meal, with Josh and Erin, the table got Jamaican meat pies and Caribbean pull-apart rolls as appetizers. The meat pies I was indifferent to, but the rolls with their sauces were terrific.

I got the Crab-cake topped burger, which is an indifferent combination–a burger, with a crab cake on the side, would be a better choice.

Josh got the Jerk chicken, and Erin the Grilled sustainable fish of the day–another huge portion.

There’s next to no theming–kids looking for Sebastian will need better eyes or better luck than I had.

But even so, overall, Sebastian’s is a great choice for folks staying at Caribbean Beach, and is closer to being destination dining than the table service offerings at any of the other moderates except those at Coronado Springs.

Here’s the review from our book, The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit 2020

BANANA CABANA AT DISNEY’S CARIBBEAN BEACH RESORT

Banana Cabana, which does double duty as the general bar and poolside bar at Caribbean Beach, opened at the same time.

Much improved over its previous instantiation, it’s now a place where you can comfortably sit and toss back a drink or two…

…while also dining.

At least one evening, there was live entertainment on the walkway between Banana Cabana and the pool…

…and perhaps more broadly enjoyable, there’s also a refill station for refillable mugs on the same walkway.

While I did not try it, the geometry of Banana Cabana suggests that guests seated at the far end, away from the bar, likely will have distant views of the Epcot fireworks.

THE CENTERTOWN MARKET AT DISNEY’S CARIBBEAN BEACH RESORT

The Centertown Market is the principal quick service venue at Caribbean Beach.

Unlike many other quick services at the moderates and values, with their multiple ordering stations…

…all ordering at Centertown Market is done from a single point.

With your meals ordered and paid for, you then pick a table and put this thingy on it.

Tables are both inside (and thus air-conditioned)…

…and outside.

Cast members will then bring you your food and drinks on one of these rolling carts.

If you get your food to go, you’ll go to a dedicated window for it once your thingy goes off–there’s also a dedicated window for mobile orders, which I highly recommend if you are walking from your village to the Market–order your food on your walk, pick it up when you arrive.

The new process cuts multiple steps out of the old process, especially for families that commonly went to several stations, one after another, before they ended up with all their food. But it does make the wait between order and delivery much more visible, so it may well feel long–especially to those without a stopwatch.  My waits for my three meals were six minutes or less each, but more complex orders, at busier times of the day, may see longer waits.

All told though, you will spend less time from entering the order line to getting your food than you would at almost any other value or moderate food court.

There’s also an extensive condiments set up…

…and a station for drinks. (There’s two more freestyle coke machines and some more coffee reservoirs out of view to the right.)

I tried two dinners:

…a bowl that I ordered with beef, rice and beans, and ranch sauce (5 minutes from completed order to delivery)…

…and then tacos…

…with fruit salad (6 minutes from completed order to delivery).

All were fine–fast, fresh, hot (except the fruit), and tasty. The rice and beans base for the bowl needs more beans. I would also have appreciated more sauce options for the bowls–on offer is Chimichurri, Garlic Ranch, Chipotle, and Cilantro-Lime Tofu Crema– but other than those points this is an adequate offering, better than most.

Bowls are also on offer at breakfast, and I was tempted to have one, as I am so three-years-ago-trendy, but instead had the Centertown Market equivalent of the “Breakfast Platter” (those with frequent stays at the moderates and values will know exactly what I mean)…

…the “American Breakfast.” Three minutes from completed order to delivery. This was nice–fresher and hotter than what you’d get at many other Disney food courts (the scrambled eggs, for example, were properly silky, rather than dry), and with particularly fine bread.

It’s missing the waffle you’ll find at the buffet-style stations that serve Breakfast platters, but those in the know avoid waffles from a buffet-style service anyway–you want one made in front of your eyes.

You can find the full Centertown Market menu here.

THE SPYGLASS GRILL AT DISNEY’S CARIBBEAN BEACH RESORT

The Spyglass Grill is the other quick-service option at Caribbean Beach.

It opened in Trinidad in March 2018, and I have a full review here.

It offers an interesting and well-received, though limited, menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  It does not have a lot of capacity, and is a bit of a hike from areas outside of Trinidad.

But it’s a handy option for those staying in the otherwise distant-from-food Pirate Rooms in Trinidad.

THE CENTERTOWN MARKET GRAB AND GO VENUE AT DISNEY’S CARIBBEAN BEACH RESORT

The grab and go offering at Caribbean Beach opened with the other new dining venues. The menu for Centertown Grab and Go is here,

Here you can get the kind of refrigerated and shelf stable items that other food courts offer on shelves and cold cases in the back.

Some more of what’s on offer here.

THE MAIN FUENTES DEL MORRO POOL AT DISNEY’S CARIBBEAN BEACH RESORT

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November 26, 2018   3 Comments