When was DW's first on-site resort built??

[rotlex]

The Golf Resort soon followed, after which there was a long dry spell until 1988, broken only by the opening of the Village Resort in the mid seventies.

Does anyone remember how difficult rooms were to book then? A friend told me he waited almost a year in advance for a non-peak season room in the Contemporary!

I remember my mother having to make reservations a year out for the Golf Resort. We couldn't even get INTO the Poly or Contemporary "that close to our vacation date", LOL.

 

[sotoalf]

For those of you old enough to remember: adjusting the rates for inflation, were the Disney resorts in the late seventies and eighties that expensive? My mom got a great Florida resident deal at the Polynesian in 1987: $99 in August, which wasn't a terrible amount of money even then. Is this why they were so popular?

 

[Phrank40]

I don't remember exact rates but I do remember my mind set in the early 80s was you would never catch me spending over $100 for a hotel room even at Disney. $100 seemed outrageous. I was still use to the $29.95 a night motel rooms for fraternity beach weekends, my acceptable degree of lodging quality was somewhat lower than today.

Phrank

 

[fatherfolke]

The idea of having a number of themed resorts was always part of the plan. You can see this in a lot of the sketches and drawings from the time. Tikiman's website has some excellent materials on the original plans for the area surrounding the lagoon.

It's interesting to look at the building of as many resorts as possible now as a "no-brainer", but at the time, there was certainly considerable risk in doing that. The hotel industry was pretty well established on the coasts, and part of the reason for the selection of Orlando was that it was fairly easily accessible from the tourist destinations already on the map. And as opposed to today, a visit to the Magic Kingdom in the early days could easily be accomplished in a half to three quarters day, what with the ticket system and all.

But as has been correctly pointed out, the more the resort expanded, the more Disney needed to come up with ways to keep people on site; water parks, Pleasure Island, mini-golf, and now Magic Express. On the one hand, Magic Express certainly fills a competitive need, but on the other, if it discourages some from renting a car, it creates even more of a "captive" audience.

Anyway, as someone who has had the opportunity to go numerous times since it first opened, I am always amazed at the level of expansion, and it remains one of my favorite places on the planet - which explains why my family and I are returning in August!

 

[sotoalf]

I don't remember exact rates but I do remember my mind set in the early 80s was you would never catch me spending over $100 for a hotel room even at Disney. $100 seemed outrageous. I was still use to the $29.95 a night motel rooms for fraternity beach weekends, my acceptable degree of lodging quality was somewhat lower than today.

Phrank

My parents paid $35 a night in 1972 at the Contemporary...their honeymoon! WDW had only been open a couple of months. They simply drove to Miami right to the Contemporary, no reservation!

 

[tnkr_bell]

I was born in FL and lived there until I was 10 and can rember several trips to WDW. I was actually talking to my parents a couple of months ago and they said that the CR cost them $25 a night. I really have just a few vague memories, but I do remember staying at the CR and eating breakfast in a cafeteria area. I also remember do some sort of Treasure Hunt experience at the Poly with my sister.

My clearest memories are from staying at Ft. Wilderness when I was probably 8 or 9 with some friends of ours. We thought we had seen our parents on the train so we got on, but once we realized it wasn't them we jumped off while the trian was moving. Ahh those were the days. LOL I also remember them showing 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, because I thought it was boring and left. At that time I think it was $14 for a camping spot.

 

[spiceycat]

the first rooms shown to Roy were unacceptable - they were smaller and only had double beds. He was told that most places were designed for 3 people.

he say that Disney would have at least 4 and wanted to plan for 5!

Disney was one of the first to have queen beds instead of double beds.

I really appreciate that!!!!

yea grandmother pay what $69 per day for our last visit during summer. mother claimed that the first trip was $39 per day.

makes me wonder why I stopped going to WDW..... I just though it cost more.

 

[sotoalf]

The Disney Inn had one of the better on-property restaurants in The Garden Gallery. Terrific French fried ice cream!

 

[SlightlyGoofy]

We stayed off site the first time we went but then stayed at the Club Villas and they cost about $100 a nite. It was a lot of money but worth it to have more room to stretch out and have a tiny kitchenette. I well remember those tiny bathrooms though. One Mickey Bar too many and I would not have fit!

I was thrilled, and still am, about all the on site housing options they have now. Just wish they had more REAL suites for families.

Slightly Goofy