Resort 'memory lane'

[Lisann]

Resort memory lane...

I remember when my father took all of us to the Polynesian in October 1971. Yes, when the resort opened. There was a lot of green in our room (green bamboo wallpaper, I think...hahahaha!).

And...how my mother didn't like the price of the rooms, she thought they were too expensive. Okay, picture this, in a very Southern accent...."Bill, I can't believe we paid $52 a night to stay at the Polynesian". Bill, of course, was my father. He was so proud that he could take his family to the Polynesian and to enjoy Disney for a couple of days. I just returned from the Poly two weeks ago...I saw him everywhere. Miss him bunches.

We won't see those prices ever again.

 

[clapton]

I remember the first time I walked into the CR in 1973! Amazing seeing the monorail going through the hotel! To this day I get that same feeling every time I'm at the CR!

 

[Babsy]

Remember the double decker buses that used to carry people around World Showcase?

 

[lanejudy]

I remember characters coming to the resorts for a meet & greet in the mornings.

 

[SuperJ]

I grew up in central FL and WDW used to run FL resident specials during the "low" seasons for $99/night. During the late 80s and early 90s, we were able to stay in the Poly, Contemporary, GF, YC/BC (once it opened), and Wilderness "cabins" (I think they were called trailers then). The cabins and YC were our favorites because they held our family of 5 - we'd do the Cabins for weeklong trips because we could buy our groceries/bring lunches and for weekend trips we'd stay in YC because of it's close proximity to Epcot (oh how I miss Horizons, original Imagination, World of Motion, Body Wars, and just overall how much better it used to be) and the amazing pool complex (and when we weren't staying there, we would go swim back when pool hopping was permitted. i miss that too!). We also always went to Beaches and Cream for sundaes at least once. And because we were there during off-season, the parks were EMPTY. I rarely recall waiting for anything except maybe Space Mountain and Dumbo. We could get there at rope drop, do pretty much the entire park by 3, and spend the evening at the pool. Or, if we wanted to see fireworks, we'd do the reverse. I remember several times when I rode things multiple times in a row and they didn't even make us get out of the car/boat - they'd just let us stay in and go around if we asked. Sadly, all of that is gone and never to return I think, but my siblings and I have the memories and know how fortunate we were to live nearby and be able to have all those memories.

 

[KnittingMom]

Do you have any memories of Disney resorts that are now history?

Let's share for fun!

I'll start!

I remember when the GF had real towels instead of paper towels in the public washrooms off the lobby.

Remember the resort 'atlas' given out when you checked into the Beach Club? It had every room number on every floor listed! So convenient!

Also remember the glass trees in the CR? They were cool! How about the 'Dixie cup' trees out front?

What memories would you like to remember fondly?

If you could bring one thing back, what would it be?

I remember the "key to the world" card we got with our resort stay in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005. I loved being able to park hop on a single price point. I remember a cast member explaining the "key to the world" card when we were leaving AK for lunch and planning to come back and asking how to do that. He said to me, "Lady, that's the gold star entrance. You can go anywhere you want and come back as often as you want." Since we had arrived with no plans at all except to have fun, it was great! On our last day, we went to the bus stop and took the first park bus that came by, figuring we could say goodbye to another park after lunch, whichever came by then. I now plan carefully to save money by not park hopping, and some of the spontaneous fun is lost.

 

[KnittingMom]

Do you have any memories of Disney resorts that are now history?

Let's share for fun!

I'll start!

I remember when the GF had real towels instead of paper towels in the public washrooms off the lobby.

Remember the resort 'atlas' given out when you checked into the Beach Club? It had every room number on every floor listed! So convenient!

Also remember the glass trees in the CR? They were cool! How about the 'Dixie cup' trees out front?

What memories would you like to remember fondly?

If you could bring one thing back, what would it be?

I would bring back breakfasts in the moderate resorts' sit-down restaurants. Our first meal on property was breakfast at Boatwrights after an early morning flight while waiting for our room to be ready and before we went off to the parks. We were exhausted, and Mickey pancakes made us realize that "We were finally in the World." I'm convinced that all three of those restaurants should be doing character breakfasts. Pirates of the Caribbean at Shutters would be loads of fun, and Frozen characters could be featured at the Boat at Boatwrights. Each moderate resort has thousands of rooms, and could likely fill breakfast reservations from their own guests. Might not work quite as well at Coronado Springs, with its convention goers, but if I would try it at the other two moderate restaurants.