Walt Disney World Hotels

[Thetagirl218]

I agree that the Wilderness Lodge rooms are really cramped especially if you choose to have a bunk bed inside! That was the last Disney hotel I stayed at, so I will have to compare the Riverside room to its size next weekend! However, I loved the theme of the hotel and the fact that there was a water shuttle to the Magic Kingdom! You could also hop on the Monorail to Epcot and that was always fun! A little tip, you can ask to ride in the front of the Monorail! Sometimes you have to wait, but it is usually not that long! They used to have people running it when I was a little kid and they would tell you all about the hotels and fun Disney trivia. I think they have phased out the driver, but it is still a great view in the front!

I don't remember much about the Polynesian except that I was very little, they left gold chocolate coins on the beds (I thought that was so cool!), you could see the fireworks from the rooms, and you could walk to the front Disney gate. By front gate I mean the one everyone comes in to take the ferry or monorail to the main park. I think you can walk to the actual park from the Contemporary. Just a note, apparently they have built a new hotel called the Bay Tower with Suites right new to the Contemporary.

I have a lot of friends who go stay at the camping grounds bring there own campers. if you have one, 50-60 bucks plus a hook up fee is not that much! I have heard the cabins are nice for large families are two small families sharing! They have a small kitchen (I think). They are also just a short walk from the Wilderness lodge so you can also use the water taxi to the park.

I have apparently stayed at the Disney Institutes a bunch of times when I was little (so my parents inform me), but it has changed names a bunch of times over the years and I have no idea what it is called now. I remember it looking like an apartment complex from the 80s that had a bedroom and a living room.

Does anyone know of any Disney hotels that have closed or changed over the years? I am such a history buff! lol!

[deadbear80]

The very first time we went to Disney World in 1984 (I was four...so that was 25 years ago!!) we stayed at the Contemporary. The fact that the monorail went through the hotel was so cool to me as a youngest. I would just stand and watch it for a while go in and out (I also apparently wouldn't get on one that wasn't pink or purple!).
I don't know if they still have it, but back then they had a movie theatre there that showed a Disney movie (we saw Peter Pan which at that time hadn't had it's 'every 7 year run' yet so I had never seen it--remember those days when they all still came out in the theater???).
We went in February--that is REALLY the best time to go. It was cold (there are pics of me in sweats and a vest) but there were virtually no lines. Much to my parents' chagrin we rode "It's a Small World" 3 times in a row!

I went to Disney World another 3 times (1986, 1988, 1992) in October while my Dad had business but stayed off-site where his meetings were until...

2007 when I convinced my folks to go back there for my 'last Winter Break ever' while I was in my last year of Law School. We stayed at the Boardwalk Inn. It is across the lake from the Yacht Club/Beach Club. You can take a Water Taxi to Epcot or walk (it wasn't far) and they had bus service to all of the other parks and the Animal Lodge. I was impressed by the Disney bus system--very easy and almost always on time!
We loved the Boardwalk Inn; we had a suite that was very nice and it had a small kitchen in it so that we were able to buy some groceries (they had a convenience store on the Boardwalk; wasn't too expensive) to have breakfast in the room or a snack. The Boardwalk itself had a couple of cute shops and a very nice restaurant (The Flying Fish) that my Dad loved. My parents were always a little critical of Disney food from our first ventures and were pleasantly surprised by that restaurant as well as the one in the Animal Lodge that we went to (not the buffet, the other one; I can't remember the name of it). They were both fantastic! I highly recommend the Boardwalk especially if you don't have little kids who need to spend most of their time at the Magic Kingdom. We did all of the parks, but many times walked over to Epcot for dinner as the way you walk into Epcot from there was to be near all of the International restaurants.