It's only a place to sleep
Of all the things going on for this trip, one item has somewhat bothered me: my resort. This past year of Disney shenanigans has been as much about seeing if Disney trips are something I would enjoy (I do), and then eventually finding my "home" resort. It's been a bit of a slow process. In the not-quite-one-year that I've been going to Disney, I've stayed at a few different resorts and have kept some pretty good mental notes on them. These are the places that I have stayed so far:
- Wyndham Lake Buena Vista (offsite, but right across the street from DTD)
- Caribbean Beach Resort
- Port Orleans Riverside
- Animal Kingdom Lodge
- Floridays Resort (offsite, but a reasonable drive)
- Polynesian Villas Resort
By the end of this trip, All-star Movies will be added to the list. Not a bad variety for just under a year. These are my thoughts on each of them as I've cultivated my mental notes for future plans:
- Wyndham was easily the one of the worst place I've stayed, not just for Disney, but for most hotels. I got a discounted rate through my work, but by the time the ridiculous parking costs and other fees were tacked on, it would have been cheaper to stay at a Disney resort. I specifically remember looking at POFQ, POR, and SSR for not much more than I ended up paying. I passed on it because it was my first Disney trip and I had no idea if I would even care about Disney. If I didn't enjoy it, I would have been more miserable at a Disney resort and it would have felt like an even greater waste of money. My room at the Wyndham was gross. It was musty and humid. While it was "clean", it just had a vibe of being really dirty that I could never shake, probably from the musty smell. I like to keep my room really cold, but the A/C was limited to how low it would go, so it was uncomfortable to sleep in, and seemed to contribute to the smell. The bed was rock solid hard. It's one of the hardest beds I've ever slept on. I had pain my entire trip from where my body would meet the bed at night. I had a wonderful view of an auxiliary parking lot and the dumpsters. Every morning, just after 6am, I would hear the shrill mechanical sounds of the garbage being compacted down and the banging and clanging of equipment being moved around. My mother and father stayed at the same hotel. Both of their rooms had the same musty, gross, overly humid smell, so it wasn't just one bad room. My dad and his wife ended up leaving a day early because he couldn't stand the room anymore. It was not a pleasant experience, but it really helped me to later appreciate the benefits and small touches of staying on property and that spending a few more dollars pays off.
- Caribbean Beach Resort - I actually feel bad saying this, but I hated it. CBR was a last minute addition to my February trip. I had an extra day and did a very last minute booking because it was available, relatively inexpensive, and was a resort I briefly considered booking for this trip. To be completely and totally fair, the resort itself wasn't too bad. I had the unfortunate luck of being there at the same time as a bunch of excessively loud dance squads and college idiots were there. I also managed to have some of the loudest people in the entire world situated in the room next to me. The room was nice enough, and actually had just about the right amount of a Disney feel for me. It felt adult. The bed wasn't bad, just a little bit firmer than I'm used to. I was on a corner unit, so I had two windows letting in a lot of light. The problem is, it was also something of a high traffic area, so there were constantly people walking around that corner at all hours. During the day, who cares, but at night, with the party people next to me hanging out and walking back and forth, it was maddening. Security came and asked them to quiet down, but it wouldn't last very long. Eventually, they left. So it sounded as if perhaps half the people in that room were just visiting anyway, and not staying. That night really soured me on CBR. I should really give that resort another shot, especially since so many people seem to love it. The building I was in (Aruba, I believe) was a garish pink color, and it just looked run down on the outside. Some of the plants seemed overgrown and untended to. The walls seemed to be paper thin. My fear would be trying out CBR again and getting stuck in Aruba for the second time and it just ruining my trip. Still, I may give it another shot. The price isn't too bad, and the actual furnishings of the room were nice. Once bitten, twice shy though.
- POR was my regular booking for that February trip, and after a miserable stay at CBR, POR was heaven. The CMs were fantastically nice upon check-in. CBR wasn't bad, or anything, they just didn't have the same vibe that I felt at POR, so right away I was starting the day on the right foot. My room wasn't available when I checked in at a little after 10:00am, but the CM found an open room and switched me over immediately. The previous day had me waiting until just after 3:00pm to get into a room, so again, night and day. I booked the Royal Guest Room because it wasn't that much more at the time, and after staying at the Wyndham not too long before this trip, I was acutely aware of the benefit of spending a little bit more money to get a lot more value. It was a gamble that paid off. The room was fantastic, with comfortable beds, a lot of really nice touches, and in a beautiful building. The grounds around the building were well manicured and looked very inviting. Everything about that resort was a night and day difference from the previous night at CBR. I have very fond memories of that resort and have mentally noted it to be a strong contender for my Disney "home". I'm slightly wary that the fondness comes, in part, from the crap experience I had at CBR, but there are too many touches that seem to fall right into my wheelhouse. Even looking back upon pictures now that time has been added in, I appreciate many of the flourishes, from the style of the buildings to the many walking trails, and the many little details that made it feel like a place to have a vacation, rather than a place to keep my bags and lay my head.
- AKL was a treat to myself. I shelled out more money because it was only a one night stay, and it was a birthday gift to myself. It was also my first deluxe resort. There's a lot to like about the resort. The main lobby is amazing. It has a beautiful look and feel to it. It's wide open, and well lit, which I really appreciated. Boma is right there, and I would come to find out that I really, really like Boma. There are safari views as well. My room was immediately ready, which is always pleasant to find out, so I was able to get comfortable right from the start, rather than having to kill time and eventually haul my stuff to my room at a later hour. It just didn't do it for me. The room was alright, if not a little unimpressive. Unlike the lobby, I could never really get my room to get a good amount of lighting. It always felt dark. Perhaps it was all the dark woods and dark colors used to decorate the room. I did rather like the handicap shower. I know that's kind of a strange thing to say, but I just flat out don't fit in most bathtubs, so it feels like a complete waste of space to have a bathtub in the bathroom to me. To have a walk in shower with a seat(!) seemed like the perfect arrangement. I really preferred that setup and would love to have it at every resort stay I have in the future but I would never request it. It feels completely wrong to take a handicap accessible room for my convenience when somebody else may need it out of necessity. I left AKL feeling like something was missing from that resort, and I could never figure out what it was. It just left me unimpressed.
- Floridays technically wasn't for my Disney stay. It was for the next two nights after my birthday at Disney, where I would meet up with friends for a Universal weekend. My expectations were low. I had just stayed at a Deluxe resort on Disney property where I paid the same amount for one night in that smallish room as I paid for two nights in a three bedroom, two bathroom suite at Floridays. I was mentally prepared to take a big step down in quality. The amount I paid was way too low for it to be anything but a roach motel. How completely and totally wrong I was. It was amazing. The suite was massive. The beds were incredibly comfortable. The master bathroom (I claimed it since I did all the legwork and booking for our trip) was HUGE with a beautiful glass enclosed walk in shower and a MASSIVE jacuzzi style tub that I not only fit in, but could have fit two more people comfortably. Guess who took an honest to goodness bath for the first time in nearly 20 years? This happy camper. It felt like a true home. The furnishings were all really nice. It was quiet. It had a decent balcony. It had a washer and dryer in unit, which I promptly used to do my Disney laundry (it rained at disney and I had to change clothes twice). Supposedly there is a shuttle to and from all of the parks in the area, but we chose to pile into my car and just do the drive to Universal, so I don't know how good or bad it is. Regardless. That is easily my Universal home. It's fantastically priced and perfect for larger groups. I haven't stayed in a one bedroom, but if it's anywhere near as nice as the suite was, I'd be remiss to complain. It's just not on Disney grounds, and I really do consider that a very sizable perk for doing any extended stay at Disney.
- Poly was almost a fluke. I didn't intend to go back to Disney after my birthday until October at the earliest. I definitely never thought I would do a multiple day stay at a deluxe. That would be more of a one night special kind of thing, similar to my birthday stay. It just happened to all come together with a really good rate and a desire to go back to Disney as often as I could. Much like AKL, the lobby is beautiful. The scent is very distinctive. I know people really love it, but it's a touch overpowering for my nose. I never felt the desire to stay and look around, rather just a need to move to my destination to give my nose a break. The room was nicer than AKL, though the view sucked thanks to construction, and the carpet was a little more on the well worn side than I had expected. Still, it was nice, and as mentioned earlier, having all of the transportation options to MK was just amazing. At one point I even walked to TTC because it was not even 5 minutes away. You just don't get that anywhere else. There was an unexpected consequence of staying there that I never would have imagined, though. I had major GF envy from staring at the beautiful building architecture and having to stop there for a monorail pickup. There's something amazing about how that resort looks that just reaches into the heart of me. Maybe it's the European style that I really appreciate, or how incredibly clean it looks. Whatever it is, it made me regret not spending the extra $300 not to stay there instead of Poly for my trip, but that feeling passed as my days went on. Back to Poly. It was nice, but also still missing something that would reach out to me. It's a beautiful resort, and I really do understand why so many people love it, but it's not for me.
That brings me to my small potential regret. ASMo was not my first choice for this trip. Originally, it was booked as a stay back at POR, partly to see if I would still love it from a normal room, and partially because I just wanted to go back in general. Things changed when a few unexpected bills popped up that left me a little short on money. My options were to downgrade to a value, drop the
DDP, or flat out cancel. You know my choice. I'm at ASMo now. I've never stayed at a value resort. From the pictures, the decorations seem a little garish. In my head, it feels like it's loud. It's a little too much Disney for my tastes. There doesn't seem to be anywhere near the fanfare of some of the other resorts I've been to, or the other value resorts. It's a bit of an enigma. It's there, but that's about it. I had actually hoped to book ASMu because I heard it's one of the quieter resorts, but it wasn't available as part of the package I booked. It was ASMo or cancel, and I chose ASMo. This will be my first value. It may end up being my last value as well. I'm not super thrilled about the resort, and that's admittedly not fair. I have no experience there. It could be fantastic. It could have that ethereal element that has been missing at other places. Maybe the over the top Disney motif is that thing and I've been mistakenly avoiding it all along. I'm trying to keep an open mind. I just don't have that same enthusiasm that I've had with all of my other trips, and it's coming from my unfair bias against value resorts. It's irrational and crazy, but I've unintentionally set a bar at a certain level that I'm not sure the values meet. We'll see.
And yes, it's completely bats@#t insane to complain about a Disney vacation that hasn't happened yet for a resort I've never been to that could be wonderful. I'm very aware of how dumb that may be.
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