Please Rate the "Atmosphere" of the DVC resorts

[Maistre Gracey]

Is it just me, or is a true hoity-toity type at WDW kind of like someone on a beach in a tuxedo?

Indeed! And I think I saw one at GF!

MG

 

[JerJan]

Indeed! And I think I saw one at GF!

MG

You did and this is his picture He's not only CREEPY he's also Hoity-Toity!

 

[jiggerj]

You did and this is his picture He's not only CREEPY he's also Hoity-Toity!

Arrgggh! I had visions of Sean Connery as James Bond until I saw this!

 

[Maistre Gracey]

You did and this is his picture He's not only CREEPY he's also Hoity-Toity!

YES! THAT'S HIM!

 

[CarolMN]

Is it just me, or is a true hoity-toity type at WDW kind of like someone on a beach in a tuxedo?

Naaahhhh - that's just an escapee from a wedding party. Can't blame a guy for preferring the beach to the Wedding Chapel (or so I've been told, LOL)!

 

[lllovell]

Maybe it has to do with your family situation as well. I have young ones and the thought of "sshhh" "sit properly please" "use your good manners" with little kids that were tired from a day in the parks is what I see if we stayed at the GF. I consider my children very well behaved (but I guess most parents do - even the ones with less than perfect angels ), but I would not stay at the GF right now even if it were free. I want us all to be able to enjoy our vacations together!

So, if you mean hoity toity in that your family isn't comfortable there, then I can see GF being on that list. I have not visited any other resorts except SSR and OKW (walked on the Boardwalk once), but those two are very comfortable to my family! We have visited ALK and the Poly along with most moderates and they all feel great to me for families. Just the GF gives me an "adult only" vibe.

 

[gopherit]

Well, my DH would probably define it like this:

Hoity-Toity (hoy' tee - toy'-tee): An indication of a resort's presumed elegance factor, which is inversely correlated to one's ability to carry one's own luggage in said resort without being accosted by tip-garnering bellmen.

<a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008_ZNxdm801YYUS' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/7/7_6_5v.gif' alt='Vacation 1' border=0></a>


(I, in turn, find the HT factor is also directly proportional to the embarrasment I feel as DH tries to avert the aforementioned baggage staff... )

<a href='http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb008_ZNxdm801YYUS' target='_blank'><img src='http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_18_5.gif' alt='Bag Head' border=0></a>

So, on THAT definition, plus the "How comfortable do you feel in the lobby in your bathing suit" metric that someone else mentioned, and we would rank as follows:

RESORT HT FACTOR

OKW............ 0
SSR............. 1
VWL............ 4
BCV............. 7
BWV............ 10

Mind you, I normalized the data so that it would encompass the full breadth of the 10 pt scale. So how hoity-toitied out (HTO) do we feel when we are at, say, BWV (our max on the HT scale) ? Well, I admit it, something about all that glass and brass makes me less comfy... Kinda like I'm visiting a museum -- constantly having to tell my kids not to touch, and wiping off their fingerprints, LOL, while DH tries his best to slip past valet radar. Quite a contrast from the steel-drummin', Yo Mon, we don't even get our bags out of the car 'til we feel like it attitude at OKW.

I found BCV to be a bit more laid back than BWV in contrast. Maybe that's because we had a ground-floor room over on the far wing very near the parking lot and hence my DH could easily "excercise" his option to self-valet.


I think it's not a matter of chilly snobbery -- it's just a matter of what you like. If you are laid back and not into full service hotels, going to a posh all-frills place makes you feel all wool and a yard wide. Not unlike the way someone who relishes the pampered touch might feel confused if no one offered to assist them with their bags at OKW or SSR. We like to have a casual vacation -- some like to have a pampered vacation. Doesn't make you snobby -- just means you're not in your own "patch of heaven".

 

[Terry S]

I have never found any Disney resort to be hoity-toity. Hmmmm, maybe that just means that I'm hoity-toity, and therefore don't know the difference?

Anyway - I think the AKL is laid back. No hoity-toity there at all for me. So if you think they are hoity-toity, then I guess my opinion doesn't matter on the others.

I am with Kathleena on this one I don't think that any of the resorts at WDW are hoity-toity, either that or I guess I am hoity-toity. Okay, okay so I am a snob.

 

[SueOKW]

gopherit - - well said!

and my dh is just like yours! The self-valet factor is a big issue! Get a load of this - for our honeymoon his uncle put us up at the Harvard Club in NYC, but since we extended the stay we had to move to another hotel - can't remember where or what - dh said - oh - it's only a block away - we don't need to take a cab..

i think we walked about 8 blocks schlepping our bags...

 

[CHOPR]

and my dh is just like yours! The self-valet factor is a big issue! Get a load of this - for our honeymoon his uncle put us up at the Harvard Club in NYC, but since we extended the stay we had to move to another hotel - can't remember where or what - dh said - oh - it's only a block away - we don't need to take a cab..

i think we walked about 8 blocks schlepping our bags...

Sueokw, We men just like to do things for ourself Some women (my wife ?) just call it cheap>
On the hoity-toity factor--- I'm a little confused--DVC resorts are family oriented ,right? We may visit some uppity places at times ,but my kids can tear up that hoity -toity feeling in a milli- second We can be in that nice quiet BWV lobby with all the brass and high ceiling (good for carrying sound) and hear , very loudly I might add, "but he hit me first!!!!" with the 3rd one crying for a cookie. Now, what's that rate on the HT scale?

 

[gopherit]

We men just like to do things for ourself Some women (my wife ?) just call it cheap>
On the hoity-toity factor--- I'm a little confused--DVC resorts are family oriented ,right? We may visit some uppity places at times ,but my kids can tear up that hoity -toity feeling in a milli- second We can be in that nice quiet BWV lobby with all the brass and high ceiling (good for carrying sound) and hear , very loudly I might add, "but he hit me first!!!!" with the 3rd one crying for a cookie. Now, what's that rate on the HT scale?

I guess my understanding was that the OP wasn't questioning how hoity-toity we DISers are -- but rather, whether we feel like we are in Hoity-Toityville when we are in a Disney Resort, and if so, which resort and to what degree?

If you don't feel a hoity factor, I don't think it means you ARE hoity, LOL, as some suggest! I think maybe you folks are just self-confident enough to say, Hey -- wherever I am, that's where I belong! Phooey if ya don't like it! Probably a very healthy attitude. Me, I'm too worried about whether the bellman thinks we're infringing on his job, or if the valet thinks we're dodging him because we just don't trust him with our car. Mind you, DH and I were hardly scraped out from under a rock yesterday (it was at LEAST a FEW years ago!) We are educated, dual-career science folk working in a Fortune 100 company -- we ain't The Donald (Trump or Duck) but we aren't eating canned corn on a curb either. I think kids make the "hoity" come out more in a resort sometimes -- I don't feel the hoity as much when I stay in a nice place on business, but if I think, Hmmmm, what would it be like to bring the kids here? I am immediately struck by how UNcomfy that would be! Throw in my valet-impaired hubby -- and give me a paper bag please.

Sometimes I just can't help but whistle that old Sesame Street song to myself...

"One of these things just doesn't belong here, one of these things just isn't the same...."


For example -- when we pull up to the BWV and my 3 little urchins who, God luv em, have been traveling in there for hours with various vestiges of prior snacks stuck to their car-stiff bodies, come tumbling out onto the pavement along with all 57 of our slippery plastic Wal Mart grocery sacks, I feel like turning to my DH and saying, "Gaaaaahl-leee, Hon! You go on ahead an' unload the buggy whilst I take the young'uns out back and check out that ceeee-ment pond!" (I'm sure our West Virginia license tags would only add credibility to the performance...)

 

[CharlesTD]

From what we have seen and experianced.

OKW very large and very quiet IMHO retirement complex feeling.

VWL to quiet and far to dark for my taste.

BWV lots going on lots to see and do great nightlife and activites all the time.

SSR not stayed there yet but from the visit very large great pool excellent location to DTD and all it offers like activiteis and nightlife etc.

BCV never stayed there but it looks quite posh and far to snobby and that is not our taste we have no plans to ever stay there.

 

[idratherbeinwdw]

Interesting comments here. I have stayed at the GF and felt uncomfortable with the (to my perception) snooty atmosphere. I feel totally comfortable at BWV. Never once have I felt out of place walking through the lobby in shorts and tank top. The resort does have an elegance to it, agreed, but, at least to me, it's a homey sort of elegance. YMMV.

 

[JABEAR]

gopherit, your verbal skills are outmatched only by your infectious humor. I love it and can relate with your husband 100%. BTW, your first post was dead on. I think the HT factor isn't as noticeable w/o the kids. With them and it is shhhhhhhhh, stop it, if you do that again...... Kids know the perfect time to act like kids. I think the OP mispelled Hoity Toityness. I don't know for sure, but isn't it Hoity Toitiness?

For those of you content with saying things like:

stuck up
stiff
snobby


Take a deap breath and repeat after me:


HOITY TOITY



btw, I love you guys. keep 'em coming.

 

[jade1]

I feel bad for anyone that allows other peoples actions (HT) to affect their impression of a Disney Resort while on vacation. We could care less what other folks do at Disney resorts (mostly because in general everyone has been very nice and polite when we are at "ALL" Disney Resorts) because it doesn't affect us. We are on vacation having fun enjoying ourselves at the happiest place on earth.

 

[lllovell]

I feel bad for anyone that allows other peoples actions (HT) to affect their impression of a Disney Resort while on vacation. We could care less what other folks do at Disney resorts (mostly because in general everyone has been very nice and polite when we are at "ALL" Disney Resorts) because it doesn't affect us. We are on vacation having fun enjoying ourselves at the happiest place on earth.

Maybe you are missing the point that goforit and I were making about families. Its not about what other's THINK so much as I recognize YOUR rights to have a great vacation too and won't allow my children to misbehave in some way that might effect those around us.

I would not be comfortable at the GF with small children, but would love to stay there with hubby alone (maybe in 22 years when all the kids are gone ). Its not that it makes me uncomfortable, but it requires a certainly level of manners that 3 and 5 year old little boys might forget from time to time and I don't want to feel like I have to constantly remind them. What you are probably picturing is rowdy children that are intentionally bad. What I am trying to describe are small children that are VERY excited to be at WDW and also have been cooped up in a car for FAR too long, etc.

This is also why, for my family, we choose OKW and SSR currently as our "favorites". The decor of SSR is much more formal than OKW, but the feel of the resort is very similar somehow. I dont have to worry about the boys squealing in the halls and waking up someone that might be sleeping. I don't have to worry about them picking up something sitting in the lobby that is "cool" and perhaps dropping it. I don't have to worry that you are on a quiet no-kids weekend and don't want to have to deal with mine (although they are cute little buggars )

I am not assumming you DON'T think of others while on your vacations, but sadly we live in a MEMEMEMEME first world these days. I am trying to teach my children that there are times when you put yourself first, but that you should not let your behaviors effect those around you MOST times. Do your own thing, but please don't step on my toes and understand that we are trying hard not to step on yours too. So, for now, we stay where I am comfortable staying with them. When they are older, we will stay other places (or we might love our current places too much to change, but at least we will have the option).

Laura

 

[kathleena]

A quick Google comes up with the following definition from the Snope Urban Legend website:

Claim: The expression "hoity-toity" comes from the French words haut toit, meaning "high roof."
Status: False.
Example: [Berlitz, 1982]
The expression "hoity-toity," for "pretentious," comes from the French haut toit -- high roof -- from which the pretentious looked down on the literally "lower" classes.
Origins: In common speech, "hoity-toity" is an adjective used with disdain to refer to the pretentious, those who put on a show of pretending to possess refinement and sophistication (similar to "highfalutin"). So, some people naturally assume that such an unusual expression, referring to the cultured (even if they are falsely so), must itself have a cultured origin -- in this case a French-language reference to the upper class.

The real definition:

"Hoity-toity" has nothing to do with French (or the French), however. The expression comes from our penchant for creating rhyming phrases such as "loosey-goosey" or "helter-skelter," and in this case its base is "hoit," a 16th century verb whose meaning is "to play the fool" or "to indulge in riotous and noisy mirth." ("Hoity-toity" was more commonly used to describe those who engaged in thoughtlessly silly or frivolous behavior before it became more of a synonym for "pretentious.") Attempts to find the word "haughty" an ancestor of "hoity-toity" are equally specious.

Last updated: 31 July 2001


So, going on this definition - I can emphatically say that I am not "hoity-toity" as I never, ever in my entire life have ever even remotely been described as "to play the fool" or "to indulge in riotous and noisy mirth."

Exception granted to the time I was in a play and I had to act the role of a hoity-toity woman, but even then, the reviews were not stellar (well, they didn't mention me anyway), so I doubt I pulled it off successfully.

So, being not of hoity-toity origin or attitude, not being able to convincingly protray a hoity-toity in my previous acting life, I amend my previous post to say that my opinion is indeed valid and does count because I could definatly pick a hoity-toity out of a crowd if I needed to.

Witness the many events of "riotous and noisy mirth" on these boards!


That's my story. I'm stickin' to it.

 

[jade1]

Maybe you are missing the point that goforit and I were making about families. Its not about what other's THINK so much as I recognize YOUR rights to have a great vacation too and won't allow my children to misbehave in some way that might effect those around us.

I would not be comfortable at the GF with small children, but would love to stay there with hubby alone (maybe in 22 years when all the kids are gone ). Its not that it makes me uncomfortable, but it requires a certainly level of manners that 3 and 5 year old little boys might forget from time to time and I don't want to feel like I have to constantly remind them. What you are probably picturing is rowdy children that are intentionally bad. What I am trying to describe are small children that are VERY excited to be at WDW and also have been cooped up in a car for FAR too long, etc.

This is also why, for my family, we choose OKW and SSR currently as our "favorites". The decor of SSR is much more formal than OKW, but the feel of the resort is very similar somehow. I dont have to worry about the boys squealing in the halls and waking up someone that might be sleeping. I don't have to worry about them picking up something sitting in the lobby that is "cool" and perhaps dropping it. I don't have to worry that you are on a quiet no-kids weekend and don't want to have to deal with mine (although they are cute little buggars )

I am not assumming you DON'T think of others while on your vacations, but sadly we live in a MEMEMEMEME first world these days. I am trying to teach my children that there are times when you put yourself first, but that you should not let your behaviors effect those around you MOST times. Do your own thing, but please don't step on my toes and understand that we are trying hard not to step on yours too. So, for now, we stay where I am comfortable staying with them. When they are older, we will stay other places (or we might love our current places too much to change, but at least we will have the option).

Laura

My reply was not at all directed at you Laura, you have some good points and I appreciate that you care about others on vacation, but most folks (including us) do keep a close eye on thier kids manners. But we really DO NOT care if you have your kids at a Resort with halls (We expect it) even if they are screaming and having a good time. If everyone with kids avoided resorts with halls it would be a very sad Happiest Place on Earth. GF-okay I may see what you are saying (although if its free I recommend you stay there anyway) but BCV and BWV are always packed with kids-ITS AWESOME, not hoity toity!

 

[lllovell]

My reply was not at all directed at you Laura, you have some good points and I appreciate that you care about others on vacation, but most folks (including us) do keep a close eye on thier kids manners. But we really DO NOT care if you have your kids at a Resort with halls (We expect it) even if they are screaming and having a good time. If everyone with kids avoided resorts with halls it would be a very sad Happiest Place on Earth. GF-okay I may see what you are saying (although if its free I recommend you stay there anyway) but BCV and BWV are always packed with kids-ITS AWESOME, not hoity toity!

gottcha!

(just so you know - my tone wasn't negative at all about your post either...its hard to tell sometimes here. )

 

[idratherbeinwdw]

My reply was not at all directed at you Laura, you have some good points and I appreciate that you care about others on vacation, but most folks (including us) do keep a close eye on thier kids manners. But we really DO NOT care if you have your kids at a Resort with halls (We expect it) even if they are screaming and having a good time. If everyone with kids avoided resorts with halls it would be a very sad Happiest Place on Earth. GF-okay I may see what you are saying (although if its free I recommend you stay there anyway) but BCV and BWV are always packed with kids-ITS AWESOME, not hoity toity!

I'm with you Jade. While I wouldn't want kids causing destruction in ANY resort, "kid noise" should be expected, and hopefully understood at all the WDW resorts (as long as it's not a time where most folks are asleep). I would resent, say a toddler running around and being wild if I was eating at Victoria and Albert's, a restaurant geared towards adults. But all the DVC resorts are family oriented, and anyone expecting quiet in the halls in those resorts during normal waking hours is asking a bit much IMO.