I became obsessed with Walt Disney World resorts

[kavalkada]

The title says it all. While planning our thee day trip to Disneyland Paris next year I stumbled upon dfb on YouTube and became obsessed. I blame AJ from dfb 😀, I fell in love with her voice.
Everything was fine while I was watching just park videos. They looked lovely, but too crowded and frankly too complicated to navigate with long lines and Florida heat.
But then one day I stumbled upon Port Orleans French quarter resort video and it was love at first sight. I have seen that video dozen times already and each time I see it I am more in love.
And then I made a mistake of checking other resorts. Apart from few budget resorts, they all looked amazing. It looks like visiting different country every day.
I'm an early riser and every morning while everybody else sleeps, I am at Florida. I would like a vacation just visiting resort after resort, riding monorail and skyliner and boats, eating lovely food, resting by the pool, reading a book. I don't have to visit any of the parks. I mean, I have kids, so parks are a must, but you know what I mean.
Florida trip is for me once in a life time thing so I have plenty of time to plan and save (planning is sometimes better then the real thing).
Can anyone else relate? But me with your Disney world plans and experiences.

Like another poster above we also bought into DVC whilst staying at a budget resort (pops century) and have not regretted a penny of it. We've stayed at animal kingdom, beach club, bay lake, old key west - oh and aulani In Hawaii and the one in California. We went once for Christmas and did a monorail decorations crawl - stopping for drinks and a mooch in all of the monorail hotels. It was awesome.

We went this Easter and Disney need to rethink the fast pass removal as the queues were too long but it's such an amazing place to be and you can work round the queues once you understand how they work and when you can get on them without a three hour wait.

I have a family member who is well off and loves disney (only florida, hates all the others sadly). Have paid for us to go several times. This last time 3 weeks at universal and then villa near WDW. Had a good time and all but its not the heaven you're painting it to be.

Maybe I'm jaded but I've been to the resorts and they aren't all that. Been to much much better but you do get overcharged and poor quality at theme park hotels so they are much better than your standard theme hotel.

Universal is great.

Being up at 7am to genie plus and pay for ride access at disney is shit.

It is so expensive, which is fine when you aren't paying for all your own trip, or you're loaded. Anyway, tonnes of lovely theme parks in Europe so I'm going to some of those to keep DC happy now. Mine really had a great time but not worth the ££££.

i love the French quarter such a nice hotel with a peaceful walk to the riverside one of my favourites

I love Florida, my fave place in the world. I think I have been around 15 times but I do have family there so was lucky to go a lot as a child. We just took DC for the first time this year and it was even more magical. We stayed off site for most of the time at an aparthotel which we found ideal, we only went to Disney for five days though. I would probably do a Villa and drive if I was going for any longer period of time - I don’t think we could afford to stay on site. I have stayed on site in the past and love the Swan and Dolphin resort near the boardwalk. We treated ourselves to one night there this time and it’s a beautiful hotel even if you’re not bothered about Disney. The views of the Epcot fireworks were magical! I would book again as soon as the plane landed if I could!

Honestly yes the resorts are as lovely as they seem 😂

I think you and I would be fabulous holiday buddies. You have just described my ideal holiday.

I absolutely adore Walt Disney World!!! I can't wait to take my kids when they're a bit older. There's so much more too it that just the theme parks which I think a lot of people over look.

I agree. There is nothing that voice couldn’t sell. She sold Florida to me and I never thought that could happen.

No, I’m not loaded, far from that. It would be once in a life time trip for us. Thank you for reality check.
I agree there are plenty of lovely theme parks in Europe. One day I plan to go to Efteling in combination with Amsterdam and Europa park in combination with Strasbourg.
Nexr year we’re going on our first trip to DLP, staying for two nights and three days. I can’t wait. It will be wonderful just to walk to the park in the morning and return at night without using shuttle. This doesn’t seems to be possible in Florida. Even the most expensive hotels are not in walking distance of all parks.

We are going next spring staying in Coronado springs resort. I've been to California Disneyland many times but this will be our first visit to Florida. It seems a lot more intense planning is needed!!!

MASSIVE Disney fan here. I was incredibly lucky as a child to go many times with my parents. I have also in more recent times been twice with my partner and really hoping to take our son in 2024. I adore French Quarter. It's a fantastic size (some moderate resorts as they are named are huge) and so peaceful and relaxing. I feel I am a bit of a Disney nerd when it comes to WDW so very happy to answer any questions!! Summer is insanely hot. September is a nice temperature but rains a lot with storms. May we have found a perfect time so far. My parents have also been in November and enjoyed it but missed the heat a bit. Crowd levels unfortunately are always an issue so you need to go with that in mind. We always do park for opening, stay for a couple of hours then come away after lunch when the crowds ramp up. Have lots of rest days with no parks too. There is a fantastic shopping/dining area separate from the parks that is always being upgraded.

Very happy to answer any questions! It's my favourite topic 🥰

WDW nut here too! It is my happy place. Have been 8 times now, 3 times with the kids and this year was the easiest as they’re older now (14 and 12).

We did a villa this year which was fantastic. Booked through VRBO.

I also splurged out and surprised everyone with 2 nights in the beach club resort. It was fabulous. So handy for HS and a 5 min walk to our private entrance to Epcot! I felt like royalty ha ha!

My ultimate dream is to retire to Florida, then I can go visit Disney on a whim! I’ve been all over the world to some really amazing places but nowhere tops WDW for me!

Before you go to sea world and discovery cove (if that's part of the plan) have a look at their animal welfare records. How they're kept is brutal and the equivalent of keeping a whale or dolphin in a swimming pool for it's entire life. It looks lovely and shiny to visitors but those places are abhorrent.

@FMSucks oh the Boardwalk resorts are just the absolute best. Location wise you really can't beat them and stunning hotels 🥰

I have few questions. If I stay in French Quarter how may I use monorail? Do I have to go to Magic Kingdom and then hop to monorail? Am I allowed then to exit at Grand Floridian or any other resort on the monorail or you can not do that? And while planning I have noticed they do not have hotel breakfast like hotels in Disneyland Paris have, in hotel lounge all you can eat. I’m not sure if I’m right. For French Quater I see they have restaurant with a la carte menu. I have many more, but I do not want to drown in questions.

@kavalkada no the monorail only goes around the Magic Kingdom resorts (as well as to the Transportation and Ticket Centre with a change of line to Epcot). You would be very welcome to go any Disney hotel on public transport. It's one of our favourite bits - resort hopping! We love to go to the different bars and restaurants and just look around. If you take a car you need to pay for parking at hotels but doesn't sound like you will do that.

No there is no breakfast option so to speak so it's either pay as you go, room service or using a dining plan. I know they stopped the dining plan over Covid but we always got it as part of our deal "free dining" (obviously it isn't technically free but it's worth it if you can get it in a deal).

Ask away! :)

@kavalkada every hotel has at least one dining location. The "value" resorts tend to only have quick service (where you go up buy the food and sit down, like fast food sort of). The moderate and deluxe have at least one sit down restaurant each and a bar each at least

We went this January, it has always been my dream so we splurged!
We did stay in All Star Music and I think the All Stars are getting a bad rep here. I really wanted to stay immersed in Disney magic and it was just me and DH so didn't want a villa, AS was the only way we could afford the holiday and make the most of all the experiences. It was amazing!! No they're not as fancy as other hotels but our room was just recently refurbished and beautifully themed, the bus service to parks was perfect and just every single part of Disney is gorgeous including All Star 🥰

Weather wise it was a bit rainy and chilly on some days but sunny on others in Jan/Feb. I found that perfect as we just layered up and never got too hot.

Highly recommend splurging on the pre/post fireworks dessert party where you stand in the gardens for the fireworks but have a sweet buffet before or after.

@Rosebud1302 - yes loved grabbing A bite to eat and watching the entertainment in the evening! It was always something I wanted to do and saved my butt off for it!

We’ve been five times. We stay on site every time. I’m looking forward to the teens having their own children so that we can take them!

I love WDW. We’ve been quite a few times over the last 25 years. We’ve stayed in apartments, villas, and hotels on and off site. They all have their pros and cons. On-site, we’ve stayed in the Polynesian, our favourite, six times, the Contemporary, and Saratoga Springs, and later this year we’re staying at the Grand Floridian.

My family call me a Disney ninja, because of all the planning I do! It’s a bit different this year though, no dining plan, and Disney Genie instead of fastpasses, but we’ll enjoy it whatever!

I enjoy the vlogs by Spoonful of Sugar, they make me feel like I’m actually on holiday there!

Ooh - I'd not heard of SpoonfulOfSugar! I know what I'll be binge watching this week...! Thank you!

I'm the planner in our relationship and have a spreadsheet with everything lined up for our next trip. DH appreciates the planning that's gone in to it and realises it needs to be done, but still will sometimes "helpfully" make some suggestions about doing something which would ultimately mess up the entire plan!

He has learned the particular look that I give him in this instance, which means he immediately stops talking and never mentions it again, while I then curse him internally and spend far too long looking at the plan trying to figure out how I can actually fit his suggestion in anyway...!

We haven't been for about 9 years, so going later this year we've got loads to catch up on. I think we're going to need a holiday to get over this one as although I have got some "off" days planned and a few later starts we're doing Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios (might splash out on the Express passes and do both in a day to save us a day), Busch Gardens AND Kennedy Space Centre. 8 things in 14 days doesn't sound too bad, but we try and avoid the parks on weekends as it's busier, so it ends up being 8 parks in 10 days but with weekends off!

@kavalkada French Quarter just has the food court. The sit down restaurant is (from memory) at Riverside which is a walkaway.

Disney encourage you to walk around the hotels. Looking around them is what they want!

I often leave Magic Kingdom to go to one of the monorail hotels - I have stayed at Contemporary and Grand Floridian and eaten at Polyonesian. I also like visiting the Boardwalk hotels (often when walking between Epcot and Hollywoo Studios).

If you buy a drink cup at your resort it is valid at all resorts so you can stop for a drink break

Without the free dining plan, I personally wouldn’t pay the rates Disney charges for room only, it’s such a ripoff! You’re far better off renting DVC points off an owner, you get to stay at a deluxe resort for the same nightly rate as a value, you get access to extended evening hours, you get more space than a standard hotel room along and parking is still free (at resort and at the parks). PM if you want more info.

I do love Florida and the parks but think that Universal is much better value in terms of hotels. The Disney ones though convenient are very overpriced. Our last stay we stayed at the Universal resport right next to Volcano Bay and it was cracking. Booked one night at a deluxe as well to get two days of Express pass.