Disney hotel or Four Seasons?

FSU Girl

DIS Veteran
Joined
Oct 20, 2016
Has anyone stayed at the Four Seasons at Disney? I'm planning a trip for our 1st wedding anniversary and trying to figure out what hotel to stay at. I had wanted the Contemporary but it's sold out for the week. I was looking into other deluxes that are either Magic Kingdom or Epcot resorts. I then started thinking of maybe staying at Four Seasons. On their website they said they still get extra magic hours and 60+ fast pass. I don't like that they only valet, it doesn't list the cost does anyone know? Are the buses to the parks reliable? I'm worried we'll feel too far away from everything and the hotels I was looking at for Disney are walkable to a park. Any suggestions?
 
I've posted about the Four Seasons a lot here so you can click on my profile and read my reviews - in a nutshell, I think it's head and shoulders better than any Disney hotel. To answer your specific questions yes, you still get EMH and 60 days FP, I don't know the cost of valet, the buses to the parks are extremely reliable and they publish a schedule every day. Four Seasons is on another level and their pool complex alone is so amazing that you might not even care if you go to the parks while you're staying there. We usually do a BC/YC/Four Seasons split stay, which is something else to consider. That really is the best of all worlds. Good luck!
 
I've posted about the Four Seasons a lot here so you can click on my profile and read my reviews - in a nutshell, I think it's head and shoulders better than any Disney hotel. To answer your specific questions yes, you still get EMH and 60 days FP, I don't know the cost of valet, the buses to the parks are extremely reliable and they publish a schedule every day. Four Seasons is on another level and their pool complex alone is so amazing that you might not even care if you go to the parks while you're staying there. We usually do a BC/YC/Four Seasons split stay, which is something else to consider. That really is the best of all worlds. Good luck!
Thanks! I'll check our your reviews. Do you know if they have a hotel fee like Swan and Dolphin does, I forget the actual name for it. The hotel does sound really and and a perfect spot for a romantic 1st anniversary trip. We are already doing a split stay with Universal so I'd rather not move our Disney hotels around and just stay put somewhere.
 
No resort fees and their cheapest room, the Four Seasons room, is often cheaper than many Disney Deluxes' cheapest rooms, and the FS room and bathroom are much nicer. Also, there is a quiet/adults only pool, with excellent food and beverage service, so it's perfect for an anniversary trip! Oh, and you can use the (excellent) spa facilities even if you don't book a treatment.
 


No resort fees and their cheapest room, the Four Seasons room, is often cheaper than many Disney Deluxes' cheapest rooms, and the FS room and bathroom are much nicer. Also, there is a quiet/adults only pool, with excellent food and beverage service, so it's perfect for an anniversary trip! Oh, and you can use the (excellent) spa facilities even if you don't book a treatment.
Do they have reasonably priced quick-service type food? I'm interested, but am comparing this to a club level WDW resort stay, and hope everything we eat at FS wouldn't be crazy expensive. We don't need a lot of fancy meals on a theme park resort vacation- we just want to eat. Thoughts?
 


They have a quick service type place, Lickety Split, it has salads, sandwiches, gelato - prices are on par with Disney, maybe a little more $. PB&G (Pool Bar and Grill) is what you get if you order at the pool and they also have a table service section - that has salads, burgers, entrees, probably in the $10-30 range, depending on what you order.
 
The Four Seasons Resort Orlando really is in a class all to itself. AAA rates hotels based on set criteria. Out of the 27,000 hotels they inspect, only 0.4 percent are award the AAA Five Diamond rating. In the United States, there are only 85 hotels/resorts that earned the AAA Five Diamond Rating in 2019. Of those, only 10 are in Florida. And, the Four Seasons Resort Orlando is the only Orlando-area property with that distinction.

AAA page showing their rating:
http://www.aaa.com/travelinfo/flori...lando-at-walt-disney-world-resort-223721.html
I once worked in a hotel that attempted to earn a AAA Five Diamond Rating. As such, I know A LOT about the review process. Although it's impossible to remove subjectivity completely, the reviewer uses very clear-cut items to rate all aspect of the hotel/resort. And all of those items are known to the property ahead of time, so there's no surprises.

It's been many years, but these are examples of how hotels are judged. All interactions are broken down into yes/no answers. For each area (Front Desk, Housekeeping, Concierge, etc), the property must get a pre-defined number of "yes" responses in order to earn the rating.
  • Was the phone answered in X number of rings?
  • Did the Front Desk Representative use the guest's name during check-in?
  • Did the Front Desk Representative offer to assist the guest in making dining reservations during check-in?
  • Did Housekeeping Staff acknowledge guests with a smile or greeting when passing them in hallways?
  • Did the Concierge inquire about dietary restrictions prior to making a restaurant reservation?

As I noted, the Four Seasons Resort Orlando really is in a league of its own in terms of hotels/resorts in Orlando.

That said, AAA rated Four Diamond properties are also great. Only 6.3 percent of the over 27,000 properties inspected earn that designation. In the Disney World area, that list includes all of Disney's Deluxe Resorts as well as: Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek, Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, Orlando World Center Marriott, Waldorf Astoria Orlando, Walt Disney World Dolphin(*), Walt Disney World Swan, and the Wyndham Grand Orlando Resort Bonnet Creek.

For Reference:
AAA Five Diamond Hotels/Resorts for 2019 (pdf): https://publicaffairsresources.aaa.biz/download/12991/
AAA Four Diamond Hotels/Resorts for 2019 (pdf): https://publicaffairsresources.aaa.biz/download/12988/
 

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