Category — q. Reviews

This is the second page of this review. For the first page, click here.

MORE ON DISNEY’S GRAND FLORIDIAN RESORT

There are currently 8 official Disney owned and operated deluxe resorts at Walt Disney World.

In their recommended order for first time family visitors, they are

1. Polynesian
2. Wilderness Lodge
3. Animal Kingdom Lodge
4. Contemporary
5. Grand Floridian
6. Beach Club
7. Yacht Club
8. BoardWalk Inn

Many of these also offer Disney Vacation Club (“DVC”) studios and villas, all for rent to the general public–see this for more on the Disney Vacation Club resorts.

A DVC property at the Grand Floridian will open in late October 2013. I’ll post a review of it in mid-November.

ROOMS AT DISNEY’S GRAND FLORIDIAN RESORT

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OVERVIEW: DISNEY’S GRAND FLORIDIAN RESORT & SPA

Our most recent stay confirms that Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort is the fifth best deluxe resort at Walt Disney World for first time family visitors.

You can have a wonderful visit at any Walt Disney World resort hotel.

However, this site recommends that first time visitors to Walt Disney World who can afford it should stay at Disney’s Polynesian Resort, a deluxe resort, and that those who can’t should stay at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, a value resort.

(It also suggests that first time visitors should avoid the moderate resorts, while noting that these resorts are wonderful for visits after the first. See this for why.)

Compared to other Walt Disney World owned and operated resorts, the deluxe resorts are distinguished by having (on average) the most amenities, nicest views, best dining options, best transport options, largest rooms, best service, and highest prices.

Among the deluxe resorts, Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, a monorail resort, has a lot of positives.

It is the third most convenient of the Disney World resorts, bested only by the Contemporary and the Polynesian.  The quality of dining at the resort is unparalleled. The overall architecture, and its associated Victorian detailing, is as delightful as is to be found at Walt Disney World.  Standard rooms–at ~440 square feet–are bigger than those at any other Disney-owned resort except for the rooms in the newer part of the Polynesian.

Its Disney Vacation Club offering, The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa (reviewed separately at that link), is also marvelous.

On the other hand, it has perhaps the least kid appeal of any Disney-owned resort at Walt Disney World.

It’s the only Disney World resort with a restaurant (Victoria and Albert’s) that does not allow younger kids, and the only Disney World resort whose largest, most central pool (the Courtyard Pool) is not also the pool designed to most appeal to kids.

The kid-appealing pool, the Beach Pool, with waterfalls and a slide, is smaller and isolated on the south side of the resort.

The architecture and Victorian detailing, delightful to adults, will have no special appeal to most kids.  And the interior decorating scheme–the floors, walls, public furniture, paintings and such–will have little appeal to kids either.

Adults will recognize the decoration as typical of international high-end hotels that do not wish to risk for even a moment appearing stylish.  Those with comfortable elderly aunts will recognize the decor as well.

It’s not that kids aren’t welcome; kids are completely welcome (well, not at Victoria and Albert’s) and will have a ball here.  Rather, it’s that there’s next to nothing about the architecture, detailing, and ground plan of Disney’s Grand Victorian Resort and Spa that reinforces that welcome and makes the resort feel kid-appealing.

The resort is not stuffy or snobby–see Preston’s comment and my reply here–it’s just not that kid-appealing.

(See this for much more on resort distinctions by price class–value, moderate, deluxe, etc.) [Read more →]

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MORE ON DISNEY’S BEACH CLUB RESORT

The Beach Club is one of 5 (or 7, if you count the Disney Vacation Club resorts separately) resorts within walking distance of Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

(Boats also go to the both; most take the boat to the Studios–no faster than walking, but easier.)

These resorts–the Beach Club, Yacht Club, BoardWalk Inn, Swan, Dolphin, and the DVC villas at the Boardwalk and Beach Club–share a number of strengths thanks to their location. [Read more →]

This is the third page of this review. For the first page, click here

THE THEMING OF DISNEY’S BEACH CLUB RESORT

Disney’s Beach Club Resort opened in November 1990, and in 2009 completed a major renovation.

According to Disney World’s website, the Beach Club Resort is

“a New England-style Disney Deluxe Resort, shaded by broad oak trees and lapped by the gentle waters of 25-acre Crescent Lake.”

The theming is meant to evoke summer beach houses and old-fashioned sea-side vacation resorts.

The Beach Club, its sister resort the Yacht Club, and the nearby BoardWalk Inn were all designed to water-side themes by Robert A. M. Stern, a noted architect who was deeply involved in multiple properties during the Michael Eisner years at Disney.

Stern’s website notes that the Beach Club is “airy in expression. It is modeled on the many Stick Style cottages and resorts that could be found in towns like Cape May, New Jersey.”

STERN, EISNER, AND DISNEY WORLD HOTELS [Read more →]

This is the second page of this review. For the first page of this review, click here.

MORE ON DISNEY’S BEACH CLUB RESORT

There are currently 8 official Disney owned and operated deluxe resorts at Walt Disney World.

In their recommended order for first time family visitors, they are

1. Polynesian
2. Wilderness Lodge
3. Animal Kingdom Lodge
4. Contemporary
5. Grand Floridian
6. Beach Club
7. Yacht Club
8. BoardWalk Inn

Many of these also offer Disney Vacation Club (“DVC”) studios and villas, all for rent to the general public–see this for more on the Disney Vacation Club resorts.

ROOMS AT DISNEY’S BEACH CLUB RESORT

[Read more →]

WALT DISNEY’S ENCHANTED TIKI ROOM

I review rides only when they are new or after they have changed, on the theory that first time visitors ought to try them all and hence don’t need reviews.

(For those without the time or energy to try them all, there’s a
comprehensive guide to Disney World rides and attractions here and also a list of Disney World rides that might be skipped here.)

The Tiki Room has re-opened after a fire with a number of changes.  These changes improve its presentation and bring it closer to Walt Disney’s original vision.

As an homage to that vision and to nostalgia, the name of the ride has had “Walt Disney” added to it–sharing that honor with Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress. So it’s now “Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room.”

[Read more →]