Remembering the Disney Inn

[peedeejones]

I stayed with my husband and daughter at The Disney Inn on my first trip to WDW as an adult. I remembered we paid a pretty steep price for being 1993. It was about $185 a night and that was before I knew a thing about AAA discounts or promotional codes. I remember it being a very clean resort but there was NOTHING to do outside swimming in the Mickey shaped pool and golfing. There was only one sit down restaurant on site, no food court and a teeny tiny gift shop.

The next year, my eyes were opened to the rest of the World and we stayed at Dixie Landings with a discount code.
Still, I miss the fact that we can't go back and visit out "first time" resort at WDW.

Anyone else want to take a trip down memory lane and tell their tales from the Disney Inn before it became Shades of Green?

 

[minnie61650]

We stayed at the Disney Inn in 1987.
The rooms were large, the grounds were beautiful.
We had a ground floor room with a patio overlooking the golf course.

It was just a short bus ride back to our rooms so we enjoyed returning from the parks for an afternoon swim.

The pool bar did have snacks and a grill. The children loved the hamburgers at Disney Inn. Back in the 1970s and 1980s it was very hard to find any hamburgers severed in the parks.

There were only two parks open in 1987, the MK and Epcot.

Buses did not run directly to the MK. They would drop us off at the TTC where we could get a monorail to Epcot or take a ferry or monorail to the MK.

I miss not being able to return there also

 

[Disney grandma]

When our family stayed there in 1981 it was the Golf Resort. We absolutely loved it and couldn't believe how large the rooms were. We had a top floor room with a view of the pool and I'm sure we didn't even pay $100 per night. The Magic Kingdom was the only park open but our children loved going to the Poly and going out on the boats, and our family enjoyed just relaxing and enjoying the pool when we weren't at the MK.

 

[Demosthenes]

I loved the resort as a kid. It had the largest standard rooms on property (in my mind they were more like mini-suites than standard rooms). The resort had a loose Snow White theme, and I spent many diamonds and rubies in the Seven Dwarf's Diamond Mine themed arcade. I loved the restaurant. It was kid friendly, but also was one of the only restaurants on property that my dad liked to eat at. In those days, WDW had some really bad food! The one thing I didn't like was the transportation. You took a green and yellow flagged bus to the Polynesian or a green flagged bus to the TTC to get anywhere. At the end of the day, it took FOREVER to get to the hotel.

 

[krbq]

Before the Poly and CR had laundry facilities, we used to go to the Golf Resort to use theirs. DH loved the restaurant -- I think it was called the Trophy Room. Later we stayed there after taking the cruise, and were impressed with the relaxed feel of the resort (it was the Disney Inn by then). The grounds were beautiful and the rooms were spacious and nicely decorated. After the military took over we stopped by one day and were disappointed that the landscaping had been neglected and the lobby wasn't decorated at all. It didn't seem very Disney and we were so sorry to see that it had been so poorly maintained. I hope they've brought it up to standard again, but we've never gone back to see.

 

[SueEllen]

Didn't the Disney Inn close in late 1992 (or was it early 1993) to become Shades of Green? We stayed at Shades of Green when it first opened in Feb of 1994 and I thought the Disney Inn had closed about a year sooner.

Those rooms at the Disney Inn were indeed the largest standard room on property, and it was quaint there. I liked overlooking the golf course, and we walked over to the Polynesian to take the monorail to the Magic Kingdom.

Sue Ellen

 

[shoes99]

French fried ice cream. We loved ordering it. It had a corn flake crust. One year we ate Thanksgiving dinner at the restaurant. This was a long time ago.

 

[minnie61650]

French fried ice cream. We loved ordering it. It had a corn flake crust. One year we ate Thanksgiving dinner at the restaurant. This was a long time ago.

Oh ! We loved that French fried ice cream.
It was the best!
I can almost taste it now.

 

[lkneller]

my memories of the Disney Inn are wonderful. Our room was the prettiest of any Disney property we ever stayed in. The room was also very large. The pool area was also very large and pretty. We really liked the restaurant buffet. And our very favorite memory was walking the path to the Poly in the evening enjoying the sweet smell of the flowers and the sounds of the tree frogs and crickets. Oh how nice to remember...

 

[brutus]

I stayed there as a kid when it was the Golf Resort. I remember how big the rooms were and the noce restaurant. I also remember...(someone help me here)... there were several fountains in the pool that my sster and I loved to play in.

Does anyone remember fountains? I seen to remember they were tall (for a kid) and made of stone maybe???

 

[minnie61650]

I stayed there as a kid when it was the Golf Resort. I remember how big the rooms were and the noce restaurant. I also remember...(someone help me here)... there were several fountains in the pool that my sster and I loved to play in.

Does anyone remember fountains? I seen to remember they were tall (for a kid) and made of stone maybe???

I remember them.

 

[Jcricket Fan]

The Disney Inn was our first stay at WDW and I took a picture of the sign when we were leaving...it was of Sleepy holding a lantern. Very cute! I remember the resort being very quiet with lots of lush landscaping.

Colleen

 

[minnie61650]

Here is some info I found on this Website:

http://waltdatedworld.bravepages.com/id120.htm

Presto! Chango! The Golf Resort becomes the Disney Inn!


The Golf Resort opened in December of 1973 and originally had 125 rooms. It was located near the Palm and Magnolia golf courses between the Polynesian and the then-unbuilt Grand Floridian. The Golf Resort was known for its Magnolia Room (later Trophy Room) restaurant, where the signature dessert was French Fried Ice Cream. The Player's Gallery was the cocktail lounge that overlooked the Magnolia course. Perhaps to appeal to more than just golfers, it became the Disney Inn in February of 1986 and was remodeled to have a Snow White theme. Another 150 rooms were also added at this time.
The rooms of Disney Inn were located in one of two 3-story wings behind the lobby area. Each bed in the room had a quilt and the furniture was made of oak. Floral accents rounded out the decor.
Dining options included the Garden Gallery, which focused on "American Cuisine". The lounge adjacent to the Garden Gallery was called The Back Porch. The Diamond Mine was the snack bar and the Sand Trap was the poolside snack bar.
In addition to the nearby golf courses, guests could play at the Diamond Mine arcade, swim in the two pools, or play tennis on one of two courts.
Shopping options included The Pro Shop and Gifts and Sundries. Small meetings could be accommodated in the 1,024 square-foot Summer Room.
In February of 1994, the Disney Inn was leased by the U.S. Government for military personnel and the name changed to Shades of Green. ...........

 

[disneyfan6301]

In 1991 my husband and I spent our honeymoon at The Disney Inn. It was wonderful. The rooms were huge! We remember the bus system was run by colored flags and you had to go through the TTC to get anywhere the monorail didn't go. We miss it and the thought of not being able to spend an anniversary there is sad.