Resort Hotels ~ Opinions on Best/Worst

[ponytreegirl]

I thought it would be interesting to get a cast member opinion on what are the best and worst hotels on property.

I know that there is a lot of personal opinion involved in deciding what is good or bad, so I wanted to limit it to discussing: a.) Hotel that sticks best or worst to its theme; b.) Best value for what you are given; c.) Best overall guest experience.

My own experiences are as follows:

Our first stay on property was at the All-Stars. It just so happened that it was also during Cheer competitions. If only someone had told us! It was horrible. Based on this, this is has turned us off completely from the Values. We will never stay at one again. Yes, it was that bad.

Our second stay was at the Caribbean Beach. We loved it. Great theming, great cast members, great everything. Negatives: The roof in the dining hall leaked all over every time it rained. Talk about making the place look unkept!
Also, it was a rather long walk to the food and bus station in the rain. This particular trip, it rained for days!

Our third stay was at Port Orleans, before it was joined with Dixie Landings. It was back when they still had a restaurant. This was FANTASTIC. Great size of the resort, beautiful, great restaurant and dining hall, lovely stroll along the river, and so much more. The only drawback is that if it rained, you would be stuck getting wet just to get to food and the bus.

Our last stay was at Wilderness Lodge. Wow, what a place. The christmas decorations were lovely, the whole place was just phenomenal. I think if we were to stay somewhere again, if we did not opt to try something new, we would stay here. The girls (20 months and 4.5) loved the whole place, especially the pool area and watching the light parade on the lake. Not to mention the cast members who left us towel animals and did their best to bring a bright smile to our faces every day.

So, my top choices would be: Port Orleans (without kids) and Wilderness Lodge (with kids)

My bottom choice would be: All Stars

Any cast members wish to share their own experiences or opinions? If you had the money and the time (both not likely working at Disney, I know), where would you stay and why?

[Main Streeter]

If you had the money and the time (both not likely working at Disney, I know), where would you stay and why?

Grand Californian DLR. It's elegant & their bar is absolutely beautiful. Warm dark wood is so highly polished throughout. Grand Californian is magnificent during Christmas.

[dktc0821]

Granted I'm a little biased since I used to work in resorts but my favorite is Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. We call it DAKL for short (discliamer: I did open the resort and it is where I met my wife.) :D:

It was designed by the same architect who did Wilderness Lodge and Grand Californian. So it has that "jaw drop" lobby like WL has. the themeing is very good and all of the furniture in the resort was actually made in Africa and shipped over (don't ask about the insurance policy on that one!) Plus it has large African art collection displayed around the resort and of course the animals out on the savannahs.

The restaurants are good too. Boma is a buffet that does breakfast and dinner and Jiko is full service that does dinner only (kind of like Artist Point at WL). If you like wine both of the restaurants have an almost entirely South African winelist.