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Choosing the Perfect Walt Disney World Hotel · Ear Scouts Podcast

• Rob: In this episode of the Ear Scouts podcast, we are talking hotels at Walt Disney World. This is absolutely one of the most challenging decisions people make when they're planning a trip, and we're going to go over all of the pluses and minuses of the different tiers and go over what you might find when you stay at one of those different tiers. We got a lot of tiers to talk about from value to moderate to deluxe, so let's get to it. Hi ho everybody, this is Rob with Ear Scouts coming to you from our makeshift studio here in Celebration, Florida. Also with me here in Celebration, as always, is the other half of Ear Scouts, Eric. Hi ho, Eric. Erick: I hope everyone Rob: Eric is going to be keeping up with the live chat over on Patreon because our friends on Patreon are joining us live as we record each and every episode. If you'd like to join them, head on over to patreon.com forward slash Ear Scouts. And you can even stick around for the Patreon exclusive after party that we do after the recording of each show. also joining us from the great state of Indiana is our resident Disney trivia guru, Quizmaster Craig. Hi ho, Craig. QMCraig: Hi, hello everybody. Great to be here. Rob: Welcome back. You were just at Cedar Point, right? QMCraig: Yes, went there for opening of Hollow Weekends. Had a great time. It was nice and scary. The rides were scary. Everything was scary. And I'm ready for a little not so scary in a month. Rob: Nice. Well, welcome back. Good to good to be with you. Also joining us from the great state of Connecticut is our friend and the host of Jessica Scraps on YouTube. Jessica. Hi ho, Jessica. Jessica: Hi hello everyone, good to be here. Rob: So and Jessica, you were just at you were doing like a Lego thing. It was like a Jessica: I was doing a Lego thing. Our local brewery did has done and did this this weekend a Lego event where you buy a Lego set and you build it at the brewery and hang out with a bunch of other people of all ages building Lego sets. that may have been my happy thought. So I might have to come up with another one. But it's okay. It's okay. I'll come up with another one. But now you're gonna get two happy thoughts from me. Rob: so sorry. There we go. Jessica: But I will QMCraig: Yeah. Jessica: say if you get a chance, just buy a Lego set. We decided it's a great date night and it's just it was so much fun. and it was a lot of other couples doing Legos and beer. So Legos and beer doesn't get better. Rob: Nice. Well, we've got a lot to talk about with today's topic, so we probably should just jump right into it. Jessica, if someone is brand new to Disney World Hotels and they don't know that this tier system exists, can you give us a quick rundown of what the tiers of hotels are as Disney classifies them before we get into more details? Jessica: Right. So there are three main level of tiers, and that is value, moderate, and deluxe. Now, deluxe includes DVC and DVC Villas. So let's start with value. Values the lowest, deluxe is the highest, moderates in the middle. the things that really change when you go from these hotels are the style of room. So all of the values are basically what I like to call motel style rooms. So they're gonna open to the outside. They're kind of in blocks. the amenities and the inside furnishings of those, you're still getting Disney theming, but they're gonna be the lower level. Bathrooms are going to be smaller. That's a big thing. The footprint of the rooms are going to be smaller. In addition, the values don't have a formal sit-down restaurant. and I think that's really important to know. They do have a cafeteria So then when you move to the moderates, you have slightly bigger rooms, better beds, better amenities. I will say I've noticed a a big step up in the bathrooms. The bathrooms, the size of the bathroom, the quality of the towels, those kinds of things. You do see a quite a big jump from value to moderate, in my opinion. You also start seeing some quick service restaurants. You start seeing couple maybe table service restaurants. And we're going talk about a few specific ones later. We start seeing a little bit bit more quality. There are some of the moderates that have and I'm thinking specifically of of one that actually has rooms that open not to the outside but actually to the inside. So we've we're starting to get and we're having all kinds of animals too, aren't we? QMCraig: You Jessica: We're starting to get just a better quality of room. I will say The biggest jump though is that deluxe jump. So the jump Rob: Mm-hmm. Jessica: between value and moderate, it's not that much. the largest jump is for to the deluxe hotels. In general, you're gonna see the largest change in quality when you get to the deluxe hotels, both in the accommodations, which most of them open to the inside. So now you're in a classic hotel type room. You're going to have much better amenities in the actual room itself. Larger rooms, you're going to see better bathrooms. Most have two sinks. You're starting to see that jump in quality inside. But that's just that's just the rooms itself. The actual hotels, when you hit that deluxe level, that's when you're talking about over-the-top theming, the best restaurants, the best bars, the best lounges, sometimes entertainment inside the resorts. these are just the higher quality experience from staying there. So when you Think about the value moderate deluxe. It's more than just a place to sleep and take a shower. It's about the overall experience. And I think that's the thing that people don't realize when they say, why would I pay this much versus this much? It's just a place to sleep. We're gonna talk about some of the reasons you might want to do that because there are really a a large difference. Now, the one thing I haven't talked about, and we'll go into more detail, is the Outdoor activities. So at the foul you level, there are really cute pools. Really cute pools. And they have the same movies on the green. They have little things for the kids to do, those kinds of things. At the moderate level, you get themed pools. You get pools with more activities. And you also get more activities outside. But at that deluxe level, you get over the top theming of pools, you get water slides, you get splash pads, you get, you get everything. So I think the other thing to think about is if you have kids that are gonna want to have these outdoor activities and you cannot, you cannot go between pools. So if you're staying at a value, you can't go use the deluxe. Same thing if you're staying at deluxe, you can't really go use the pool at a value if there was a pool at the value that you really loved. I I don't know. Rob: Yeah. Jessica: But I just wanted to say that as well. Rob: Disney has these very I I feel like it's some sort of internal logic that they've created to sort of create little things that they just do differently at each tier. One of my favorites that's so random, if you stay at a value resort, you're going to have the little fake creamers, the little like non-milk creamers and with your coffee. When you stay at a moderate resort, there's going to be real milk. Not half and half, but real milk sitting out and Then when you get to deluxe, there will be the milk and the half and half. another one I think is like you mentioned this with the the water slides. Water slides happen at the moderate level. You start to get the water Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: slides, but if you're value, QMCraig: Okay. Rob: you're not going to get water slides. So there are lots of little things that you'll notice when you s when you stay at these different tiers. But but the big yeah, QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Yeah, we're going to be getting into a lot of those. Rob: but the but the biggest The biggest thing that you're gonna notice is the change in price. And so Craig, you were kind enough to go through and do some price research today. Tell us on an average time of year when what what the prices look like. QMCraig: Yeah, so I just want to do just a quick price comparison within each tier group to see like what is the most expensive hotel within that group and what is the least. I had a hard time finding a like just a weekend where everything was available. So I had to all the way into June. I looked at the second week in June and hardly anything was available. Everything was hundreds, almost a thousand dollars in the deluxe resorts. I went a week earlier and Everything was available and a whole lot cheaper. So that's one thing to realize. Try changing your dates as well. If you are looking for a better price that sticker shot gets you consider a different time as well. so this is I just did the average price per night for a three night stay over weekend, June 3rd through six. That's a Thursday through a Sunday. And I'm just looking at the most basic rooms available at each resort to compare them. So in the value resorts, the high was Art of Animation, the Little Mermaid rooms, which is just a regular room. They also have suites of Art of Animation. We will talk about that some more real soon. So the high end was $318 for Art of Animation for just the basic room. The low is All-Star Sports for just $211, which... Jessica: This is per night, correct? QMCraig: Yes, this is the average cost per night over a weekend. like the Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night costs are all different. It's going Jessica: Mm-hmm. QMCraig: to be more expensive on Fridays and Saturdays. So this is just a just again, just to Jessica: Mm-hmm. QMCraig: get an idea of where the more expensive places are and what's cheaper. Rob: And this is without any of the promotions that might run between yeah, yeah. QMCraig: Yes, this is perfect rack rate, no discounts. That's another fun thing we can talk about. So moving on to the moderates, the highest is $341 at Caribbean Beach. Not surprising, they do have Skyliner access, which again, we will go into. The low is just $305 at Coronado Springs, which if you're paying attention is actually cheaper than the art of animation, the Little Mermaid room art of animation. So again, just something else to look at because you might think you're saving a lot of money, but you might actually be better off saving more money at a moderate. However, when we go to the deluxe, that's very rare that you're ever going to find anything cheaper than Rob: Yeah. QMCraig: the lowest rumen of deluxe. So. The high and the deluxe, not surprisingly, it was the Grand Floridian. the high was $845 average per night for that weekend. The low, surprisingly, it was Animal Kingdom Lodge at the Jumbo House Deluxe Villa, which is a DVC room. that was only $498, so it was just under $500. The interesting thing I found with this was the Grand Floridian, the standard hotel room is the price I gave it, 845. The Deluxe Villa, which is a very similar room, was actually more expensive. Opposite at Animal Kingdom, where the standard hotel room in Jumbo House was more expensive than the DVC. again, just you guys gotta check everything. Just slight differences. I think that's probably because the rooms and Jamba house are smaller. I think they're just a little bit smaller. And also those do not conclude a Savannah view. Again, that's the most basic view. So yeah, you've got pretty good range there from $211 to $845 a night. And this is a pretty low that those are lower numbers for sure. I think throughout the year, from what I was able to glean, Rob: but those are also the prices before any discounts. And and this is a thing that, QMCraig: Exactly. Rob: you know, we're gonna talk a lot about details in this show that are gonna help you decide which which tier you wanna look at specifically, maybe which hotel in that tier you want to look at for your trip. But we were just talking about this before we started the show. I think hotel selection is probably the most challenging thing to do. without having a real conversation, because it matters so much what the preferences are of your group, you know, the ages of the folks in your group, you know, what your plans are while you're at Disney World, all these things are gonna really impact what is the perfect resort for you. And that's where if if you're brand new to all this, you know, maybe consider talking to one of the travel professionals, the the folks that that do Disney specifically, they should not be charging any more. You'd be paying the exact same price that you pay if you book directly through Disney, if it's a legitimate, you know, Disney certified travel planner. And the difference is though, they're going to, they're going to keep an eye on this stuff that Craig is talking about. When are the periods where what you're looking for is cheaper? They can find that for you more easily than you're going to be able to find it yourself. And even better, The promotions are going to change as you get closer to the date. And those travel professionals can keep an eye on that and they can book you basically the better rate if it comes up between the time you booked it and the time you're staying. So that's just, you know, I mean, we're not affiliated with any travel planners, but you know, just we do recommend if it's all brand new to you, it's worth considering working with a travel planner for those reasons. But with that said, let's let's continue on with we're we're talking specifically about Disney World hotels. You might have noticed we haven't been talking about staying outside of Disney World. And there's a reason why we chose that, because well, number one, we gotta fit this show into a specific Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: period of time. And if you open it up to all the hotels in Orlando, we'd be here forever. But but really there are some reasons that we recommend staying inside the bubble. and and so Craig, why don't you start us off? What is your number one reason or the first reason you would share for why people should focus their search on a Disney World hotel specifically? QMCraig: Yes, and that is you get a lot of perks. like early booking windows for dining. You get to start reserving to dining at 60 days out. You've got a seven day window for lightning lanes before your first day. That's good for the rest of your stay. So if you're arriving on a Thursday the week before, you can make your lightning lanes and you're staying till the next Thursday. You can make it for that entire week. So Rob: And same with those dining reservations too, right? Soon as your first day of availability, QMCraig: Yeah. Rob: you're good to book for the whole visit. QMCraig: Right, for the whole length of stay. There's early entry where all resort guests get to get into the park a half hour early before any non-Disney resort guests. They also have evening hours at select parks on different days, usually only Epcot and Magic Kingdom. And it's like one day a week for each. And that offer is only good for deluxe resort guests, but it's a two hour. Extra hours, it really is extra Jessica: Mm-hmm. QMCraig: hours. So that's a really nice one. You also get free parking at all the resorts and all the parks if you're staying at a Disney resort because that's not cheap either. For the summer, they have free water parks on your arrival day. So if you arrive and you don't want to spend a park ticket, you can freely go to a water park and spend some time there while you're waiting for your room to get ready. so many I'm sure I can't even think of all of them but does anyone have any extra to throw in there? Rob: yeah. Th if if you're doing a package, meaning you're gonna add ho you're gonna add park tickets plus your hotel room together, that also means that you're gonna get some complementary mini golf at the different mini golf, you know, you're gonna you're gonna get luggage tags. Some v but Jessica: Luggage tags luggage tags everyone very fun luggage tags. Don't diss the luggage tags. Rob: Jessica, I want to toss to you for for your first reason, but I also want to ask our friends on Patreon, let us know in the chat what are the reasons that you like to stay specifically. at Disney World Resorts, if you do like to stay specifically at Disney World Resorts. But Jessica, what's your first reason? Jessica: well, before I give my first reason, I just do want to say if you're listening to this and you're thinking I'm really trying to make a decision about staying in the bubble, staying at Disney, staying off Disney, I will just remind everyone, if you're new to the podcast, episode three of the podcast was a full hour long discussion of whether or not you should stay in the Disney bubble. Today we're giving you our top three of each of us kind of ideas. That was a full hour. So I do highly recommend going back to episode three and listening to that, the Disney bubble episode. but I do want to mention the packages and the specials and all of the things that Disney does. it in the end, and I'll just say I'm right now I'm going through this. My daughter and her friends are going to Disney. And in the end, the package deals that Disney has, when you package together the tickets and the room and And you can actually have then the discount. And if you have a Disney Plus membership or a Disney Visa, all of these things, if you include that and you think about the fact that you don't have to Uber back and forth or rent a car, it ends up, it's affordable to stay on property. it's, you know, even at a moderate perhaps, it's affordable to stay on property. It's almost as equal to what you're getting staying at an offsite hotel. So I know there Disney kind of gets a stigma of being, super, super expensive. And it is expensive. But I do just want to say that staying at the Disney property, if you really don't discount it, do the math. Actually sit down and do the math. And they've done, particularly lately, lately, and you guys know I'm the big believer in talking about this, some of the deals they did on tickets, some of the deals they did for the tickets in the rooms for military families, for for the summer. have been so good that it almost makes it difficult to stay off property from a price perspective. Rob: Yeah. And and the other thing too, if you're looking at off property prices, read the fine print because almost all of these hotels have, you know, resort fees. Even when you're looking around, you're like, I'm not sure what I'm paying a resort fee for. Like, that's for the internet access. of course. You know, and it's they'll have parking fees. And then you're also, if you're driving, you have to pay to park at the parks. I'm not saying that you can't get a better deal outside of Disney World. You absolutely can, but just Be careful and do the math and make sure that that you're comparing apples to apples. Because as Jessica said, in many cases, Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: you're not really saving money by staying off. But the one I want to talk about is ease of transportation. And for me as a local, whenever I do a staycation at Disney World, I have my car, obviously. I live here. I never I I will go to great lengths to avoid getting in my car because I love The fact that Disney is just going to take me wherever I need to go. That I can, I can just enjoy the journey there. I can be, you know, reading a book or doing something else. Or even if I'm, if I'm taking the Skyliner, of course, it's beautiful, you know, to see you as you fly over Disney World. but I just I think that Disney transportation is, yes, this is something that you can have access to if you're not staying on property. You can use Disney transportation to go from park to park, for example. But there is just something nice about not ever having to worry about I-4 or Disney traffic, you know, which which can some times of the year, especially when they're doing road work, get pretty crazy. You don't have to deal with any of that. You just enjoy your vacation and someone else is gonna drive you and take you where you need to go. And and also there's something, you know, when you're on Disney transportation, even if it's just the bus, there's A lot of times Disney music playing and there's always little announcements about, you know, the resort and things that you're getting excited to go do. I don't know. I I I find Disney transportation to be part of my Disney World experience. And when I'm in the bubble, I want to stay completely in the bubble. So that's a big thing for me. Eric, what are we hearing on Patreon? What are our friends there saying about why they stay on property? Erick: so Dennis was mentioning that usually the largest discounts are at the deluxe hotels. they are the most expensive, yes, but usually highest discounts. Rob: Mm-hmm. Erick: Mm. for Bethany one of the important things to stay in like in Disney property is just the transportation to the parks. And for Melissa, there is nothing like the vibe of the Disney bubble. And for Jamie, she says, I like staying in the Disney bubble. I want to forget the outside world exists. Rob: Yep. And that's it. I mean, and and I just I just want to say, tacking on what I was saying about transportation, we stayed at Universal recently, and we had to take a bus to get to Epic Universe from the other Universal hotel. And it's like all of a sudden you're passing like Denny's and like Exxon. And like I don't Jessica: Ha ha ha. Rob: I was just like, I don't, I feel like I'm I feel like I'm back in the real world. And And it made me appreciate that much more how you really are when you're inside Disney World, it's pretty insulated. I mean, you're always feeling like you're in you're you're in vacation mode. You're in a resort. Craig, QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Rob: what is your next reason that you like to stay inside the bubble? QMCraig: Well, I just want to talk about the big intangible that we like to call Disney magic, which is something I get intangible and something different to everybody. But if you felt it, you know what it is. And just like what Rob was talking about with transportation, as long as when you stay in the bubble, you know, even getting on a bus, you're still in that magic. You still feel that magic. And even if I've stayed on property and had a car driving. takes you a little bit out of that magic, even though you're still in Disney World just getting through. Rob: Ha ha ha. QMCraig: Rob was not kidding with that. But yeah, I've stayed off property recently, mostly just to get some research about this topic. And yeah, as soon as I got off property and having to drive through Florida and through Orlando, it's just like, And that was close. It wasn't like I had a long drive either. But definitely, it's a totally different, it's a whole new world. Let's put it that way outside of the Disney bubble. Rob: Yes. Jessica: Mm. So QMCraig: So yeah, mean, there's Rob: Yeah, that's a funny way of putting it. QMCraig: so again, it's just the magic is different to everybody, but as long as you're there, you're in it. Rob: Yep, I completely agree. Jessica, what's your next reason for staying in the bubble? Jessica: So I'm gonna go back to expenses, and that is when you stay at a Disney resort, you can actually use your room charge to charge in the parks. So you can have all of your expenses in one place. if you're budgeting, that's really handy. you can do it on a magic band. So you don't have to bring your full wallet with you everywhere. If you have kids and you want to give them some autonomy and let them go out, you can give them a magic band and they can charge with a pen to the magic band. And you can do that from the all the way from the All-Stars all the way up to the Grand Flirty. Rob: my next one, there's that there's a lot of caveats to this one, but I don't want to intend to say that this is universally true, but as a rule, you will find that cast members at Walt Disney World tend to be friendlier, more helpful, you know, more they're in that Disney, you know, mindset that that makes it all feel so magical. more often than not. And especially when you're talking about the more affordable options, if you're if you're choosing to stay off property to save money, a lot of times the the associates that you're going to deal with there maybe not as focused on giving you an entirely magical experience. And that's something that I do love about even the value resorts, even at the all-stars I've had cast members that just go so far above and beyond. And that's one thing I appreciate about staying on property. Now, again, I there are absolutely amazing associates at some of these other hotels. I'm not trying to say that you won't find great customer service at other places in Disney World. And you might occasionally run into a cast member who's having a bad day. It's not universal, but when you take it as an average, right? When you take it, your odds are you're gonna have much more pleasant service. When you stay on property. Eric, before we move on to the next section, do we have any other reasons from our Patreon family that they like to stay on property? Erick: everyone is just talking about how they like to be immersed in the Disney bubble and just like free transportation and also what you just mentioned about like how good the service tends to be in the in the parks. Well, around Disney property. Rob: And I'm glad to hear that like the things that we're saying it it's it's what everyone's who who comes a lot is also thinking. Craig, what's your final reason that you like to stay in the bubble? QMCraig: Well, and this is an old perk that is slowly coming back, and that is the luggage transfer system that they have from Orlando International Airport. Now it started out, it was just Southwest Airlines and Pop Century Resort has since expanded. It's now all of the value resorts, all the all stars are animation, pop century and also Caribbean Beach. And it's also not just Southwest, it's now United and American Airlines as well. And what the service does basically, they give you ahead of time if you plan on using this, you'll get luggage tags that you put on your luggage. And you just check your bags at your home airport as usual. And instead of having to wait to pick them up in baggage claim, they're going to be gathered up, picked up and transferred to your resort and into your room. So everything is ready for you. Sometimes it's a good thing, sometimes not. depends on, I think I generally did not use it depending on what time I was getting there. And if I needed to get my luggage right away, I would have rather waited for it. But when it works, it's fantastic. It really is an easy perk. just, again, you lose your bag and then you never even have to deal with it again until you're in your room. So a big one, hopefully that will continue to. grow and hopefully they'll also bring back free bus transportation, but I'm not holding my breath on that one. Jessica: Mm. Rob: Well, I think it's if if you're one of those families that you want to go right to the park and you're gonna stay at the park until the park closes, that's when that service is just, you know, QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Rob: magic because you don't need your you don't need those bags, right? You just you don't have to worry about it. It's just you know, you're you're on vacation mode immediately. So I'm glad that's coming back. Jessica, what's your final reason that that you like to stay inside the bubble? Jessica: Well, actually, this is something that happened while I was with Rob last last time we were together. And that is in general, the dining at Disney resorts and Disney hotels is still the high caliber of allergy friendly dining, no matter if you're at the All Stars Quick Service or if you're at Steakhouse 71. And as someone who has a food allergy, It's really nice to know that if I come back from the park and I just go to my, you know, my local quick service and I say, I can't have any mammal, please. I will know that I'm not getting mammal. Rob and I went to dinner off property and they, even though I read the menu, they still served me something that had bacon in it. And it was all over it. And luckily I saw it, but I had a couple pieces because I was and I was like, this tastes really good because it I don't eat bacon. QMCraig: You Jessica: That was a problem for me. And I noticed the bacon, but that would never have happened to me at a Disney property. And I think even the best restaurants off property don't really care. No, no, they don't not that they don't care. They don't take as much effort to protect people with allergies. And I just that level of of dining at all is really important. And that's something you just get better on the bubble. So if you've got kids that need gluten-free, if you've got a a grown woman that needs no pork, those kinds of things, it's just really important. And I think that's a huge benefit. The dietary needs of your family, Disney does well. Rob: Yeah, agree. so let's let's move on to the different categories of resorts. And to our friends on Patreon in each of these sections, we're gonna talk about value, moderate, and deluxe and share some reasons that you might want to choose that category. So help us out if you have some suggestions to throw in, add those into the chat and we'll be checking in with Eric to hear those. Jessica, why don't you start us off by just sharing what are the value resorts? Jessica: Okay, so the value resorts are all-star movies, all-star music, and all-star sports. I know this will shock no one, but those are three different resorts themed to Are You Ready? Movies, music, and sports There's also art of animation, which is themed to the animation of Disney, Impop Century, which is themed to the different decades. So 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s. We do want to put a special mention, although it's not technically a value resort. The campgrounds at Fault Fort Wilderness are priced like the value resorts. So we're just gonna kind of put a special mention here. They're technically part of the deluxe, but they are priced. Much better. And however, they are campgrounds. So all the things we said about hotel rooms don't apply. You actually have to bring a way to camp. QMCraig: You have to bring your own room. Rob: Well the yeah. The Jessica: You have to bring your own room. Rob: the cabins are considered sort of they get the deluxe perks because they're D V C. But the camp Jessica: That's right. QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Right. Rob: sites themselves d they do do get the same perks as the the correct. Like just a regular they're considered like a value. And Jessica: stain on property, but not deluxe. They're not considered deluxe. They're just considered value. Rob: and they also did make a change recently. it used to be that you could have an enormous number of people staying. At a single campsite, and they would all get the perks. that has changed. So just heads up on that if that's something you used to do. it's a more limited number. But let's go ahead and start with the the the reasons you think people should pick a value resort. let's start off, Craig, and share. What are some of the reasons that people might have that that would cause them to maybe be a good fit at a value resort? QMCraig: Well, yeah, one of those is the fact that Art of Animation Resort also has family suites. Actually, it's mostly family suites and they can hold up to six adults. So when you're spreading that cost among six adults and you can also get a an infant. So six adults and one infant. So that's definitely can be a big cost saver if you have a family of six or a group of six. So you have that you have the room to spread out. it's going to be cheaper in the long run. definitely don't discount that for sure. Rob: And the car suite specifically, they're all all these rooms are getting redone right now, just so you know that's a renovation that's happening. But even before the reno, those car suites are some of my favorite rooms in all Disney World. And I can't believe it's a value property. So yeah, don't sleep on those for sure. my first reason is if you're planning to spend all of your time in the parks, a lot of folks, especially if it's your first time coming to Disney World and you're just You've got one day for each park, and that's just what you're gonna be doing from sun up to sundown. And it doesn't make sense to spend a whole lot of money on your resort because you're gonna hardly ever see it. And the moments you do see it, you're gonna be too tired to enjoy it. So I'm putting this in the value category, but what I'm really implying is just the the cost of the resort. Cause as we discussed earlier, there are some cases where you can get a really good deal at a moderate level, and in that case, do moderate. But I'm just saying in terms of your budget, if you're gonna be in the parks, don't don't spend your budget on the room. Jessica, what's your your first reason that a a value might be good for a group? Jessica: I want talk specifically about pop and art of animation, and that is the Skyliner access. I think the fact that we have good transportation to two of the parks from a value resort make these two more than value. It it just elevates them to the next level. So if you're okay with the motile style and you're the smaller room and you don't need a sit-down restaurant, these give you everything you need because they give you the Skyliner. And I think that's a huge perk. Rob: Yeah. Eric, what are we hearing on Patreon? What do people say is a good reason to pick a value? Erick: from Jules, as an out of state anal pass holder, the price of the values and some moderates make it possible to do more frequent trips and unexpected trips. for Diana was sharing that like that's me, all day in parks, so I stay pretty much exclusively at all starts Melissa. Baller Resorts don't have an international bus loop and a line queue for the bus, making it better than most moderate and Lux Resorts. QMCraig: That is one thing I liked about Pop Century. I will agree. Jessica: yeah. A hundred Rob: Yeah. Jessica: percent. Rob: But the downside to not having an internal bus loop is if you're staying far away, you've got to walk Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: a really long way to get to the buses. Jessica: Well, and that's the thing we haven't really talked about is some of these some of these you your room choice can determine how many extra steps you get at night and in the morning if you're doing that bus. It's can be QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Jessica: a it can be an extra half mile. It's exciting. Rob: Craig, what is your next reason that people might want to consider a value resort? QMCraig: Okay, so as someone who has been doing family vacations to Florida since the 60s, Jessica: Ha ha ha. QMCraig: one of the things I do like about the values and the moderates, because they are motel style, and they have like the the doors that go out to the hallway, like the outdoor hallways, that kind of just says Florida to me. So that's kind of an intangible personal thing. But aside from that, they have these really cool, enormous decorations for each of the buildings. So like at Pop Century, we have the different decades. So in the 80s, we have huge Rubik's cubes and an enormous Walkman. Art of Animation is enormous King Triton and Ursula statues in front of the Little Mermaid rooms. I could go on and on, but these icons are beyond Instagram worthy. They're really, really cool. So that is one of the fun things, especially if you've got little kids, you know, they're going to love the enormous cartoons brought to life. Rob: You know, and I love how you couch that in kind of you know, the the there's something it's almost like a roadside attraction feel, right? Like an old school QMCraig: Yes, yes. Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: like motel roadside attraction feel that they've brought to the values that you don't get as much at any of the other tiers. I agree. QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Rob: so my next one is kind of random, but if you really like a firm mattress, the way that they basically separate the tiers in terms of the quality of the mattress, in my experience, has been the firmest, like the least plush is going to be value. And then you're going to get a little bit more plush at, you know, the the moderate. And the deluxe is where you're going to get the sort of nice pillow top, you know, sink into it kind of a mattress. all of them as a whole, Disney is on the firm side, you know, all all the resorts are. But if you're looking for the firmest mattress, value is going to be your pick. also any of the resorts that have the Murphy beds that come down from the wall, those mattresses tend to be on the firm side as well. So that can be a practical reason you might want to pick a value over the others. Jessica, what's your final reason for considering a moder? I'm sorry, a value. Jessica: So this is kind of a plus and a minus, and I'm just gonna be completely honest about that. But the value resorts tend to be where there are a lot more younger children. And one of the reasons why school groups, you know, cheer groups, a lot of groups sometimes end up at these places, but it is so kid friendly. You're gonna see a ton of kids running around. You're gonna have more kids to play with in the pools, you're going to have The theming, the cafeteria is so kid friendly. The food at the cafeterias, the experience, the the tables, everything is just it is made for groups of children. The the big sport, I'm gonna say sports ball, the big areas where you can play and just run around on what looks like a football field. it's just super fun. Those kinds of things, like it's roadside attraction, but whether it is the little mermaid or the car suites or it all-stars, even when you're in there, just the bright colors, they seem more kid friendly in a lot of ways. There is no swanky lounge that you don't you're gonna make your kids be sh quiet in. The, you know, the the lobbies are meant to be loud and boisterous and they've got music playing and there's stuff going on. It feels more like a kid location. So I I'll just say that. And if you've got kids and you want kids, now we've stayed as just two adults and we're not bothered at all. We were not bothered at all by the whole thing. So it doesn't mean you can't stay without the younger kids. But if you have younger kids, sometimes these value resorts are exactly what you need to let them be kids on vacation. Let them run around and be with other kids and have fun. particularly if you if you like a lot of kids and the swimming pool area, it can be super fun to watch. Rob: Yeah. I'm gonna add one little thing to that. You mentioned that there can be groups of kids, like school groups and things. I find that that is the most true at the the All-Stars. I mean, it Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: can happen. That can happen at any resort. I'm not saying it's unique to All-Stars, but I feel like every time I've stayed at All-Star Sports, there's been cheerleading and sports teams there. All-Star Music, you surprise, surprise, big fan resort for the marching bands and marching bands and the choral groups go stay at All Star Music. All-Star movies. I guess there's probably not a a specific draw for a particular school group at the movies, but it it's just the price means a lot of a lot of those groups go there. Eric, what is the the the final things we're hearing from Patreon before we move on to the moderate category? Erick: Grace, she was mentioning that she loved that little mermaid room, but it was very far away from everything. from Kristin. Staying at the Skyliner Valley Resort during a holiday week can be a really long wait. I stay at Pop Century during Thanksgiving weekend and it was an hour wait in the morning before early entry. Rob: Yeah. That that is a good we didn't really mention this because we're kind of talking about the reasons you would want to consider a location. The downside to values, it's more people. It's just there there are a lot more people vying for the same resources like buses. so if you're not a fan of crowds, that's that's a problem with the value. before we move on to moderates, though, I thought it'd be great to just go around and share. What are your what's your favorite value resort or your favorite couple value resorts? Jessica, why don't you start us off? What's your favorite value? Jessica: My favorite by far is Pop Century. and one of the things I I didn't talk I talked a little bit about it, the food. We really had some good food at that cafeteria and I was kind of pleasantly surprised. We had breakfast, lunch, and dinner there and was presently surprised. I didn't expect to have the kind of food that we had at a value resort. And Pop Century is great. We've We loved it. now I will say we are rental car people and that's contentious on this podcast. I'm the outlier, I think. But we were in the fifties building and we just parked right next to it and drove everywhere and it was super easy. Didn't have to use the bus, got everywhere we needed to go. and really liked that. Didn't have the long walk. So pop century all the way for me. Rob: All right. Craig, what is your favorite value resort? QMCraig: I'm going to agree and say Pop Century for a lot of the reasons Jessica mentioned and also because it's the only one I've actually stayed at. I have visited the other ones, but and I, of Animation looks incredible as well, but I would only be staying in the Little Mermaid rooms, which again, Jessica: Mm-hmm. QMCraig: as you said, is pretty far away and they are a little more expensive than the Pop Century rooms. again, just because that's their own place I'm staying, I'm going to have to say Pop. Rob: Okay. My favorite is definitely Art of Animation. just because I love the vibe there. I mean, just the walking around that resort, especially the cars themed area, which I mentioned before. those cars rooms, but even not just the rooms, just walking around outside that area. It just has such a vibe and it it feels very well themed. I think it's the best theming It's better than the theming at some of the moderates and deluxes, to be honest with you. that cars area. So Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: art animation is my favorite for that but Eric, what is your what is your favorite value resort that you stayed at? Erick: I'm with you. art of animation i is my f favorite. The main reason is just like I I think it's very immersive and I really like like the car's area. Rob: Yeah. And it's funny because I think I'm not a fan of the car's movies really. It's not like one of my favorites, but it's just the vibe there is is awesome. All right. Well, let's let's move on to moderates. And I do want to ask our our friends on Patreon, we'll check in at the end. Just l let us know what is your absolute favorite resort at all of Disney World. And we're gonna look at that at the end of the show. So be sharing that with us. but let's move on to the moderates and Jessica, why don't you start us off by letting us know what are the moderate resorts? Jessica: So the moderates are Caribbean Beach Resort, which is a very large sprawling resort that has different buildings named after different Caribbean hotel Caribbean Islands or Caribbean Islands, however you want to say it, tomato, tomato. But it has that. It is on the Skyliner, so that's a a plus for the Caribbean Beach Resort. Coronado Springs is sort of is one of their event resorts. So it actually has like an event space. And it's a little bit farther out, but it has a tower, and then it also has buildings that have that are different names. and Coronado has is a Spanish themed, so surprise, surprise, it does have a section for the three caballeros. So it's well themed. I'll just say that. Then Port Orleans has two resort, French Quarter and Riverside. French Quarter is I'm gonna call it the boutique, it's the boutique resort. It's very small. It has less rooms. is kind of themed to the French Quarter in New Orleans. And then Riverside is much like Caribbean Beach. It has multiple rooms and it has more more of a classic Disney resort feel, themed towards the kind of the riverside area of the southern part of America. It does have a s bayou, yeah. Rob: It's like the bayou, yeah. Jessica: but Riverside has the sit-down restaurant, French Quarter has the jazz club and the beignets and a quick service. Currently the beignets are getting the jazz club's getting refurbished but or it's about to get refurbished. But typically if you want to have a sit down meal, you have to go to Riverside. So they kind of treat those as one hotel. Rob: And and that's the one of the rare resorts where you can use both pools. You can hop the amenities between those resorts. So if you stay at one, you get to enjoy everything for both, and you can walk everywhere to both resorts. there's also a boat that will take you between the two if you'd like that as well. well, Craig, why don't you start us off with the first reason someone might want to consider specifically looking at moderates? QMCraig: Yes, if you and your family are big pool people and you like to spend a good amount of time hanging out at the resort pool, which a lot of people do, the difference between value and moderate is pretty huge. Value, they're basic kind of square. There's a few exceptions, but and they are themed. They are definitely themed. But like one of them is themed to a computer laptop. So it's a rectangle. Rob: Yeah. QMCraig: It's, Rob: Right. Jessica: I love that pool. I love that pool. Rob: yeah. QMCraig: and, but yeah, once you get up to the moderates, they are really cool. Like the one at, Port Orleans French Quarter, it's got this huge sea serpent. we had the best time in that one. The pools at Riverside also great. the bigger resorts like Caribbean beach and, Port Orleans Riverside and Coronado have a lot of quiet pools as well. That's one thing I wasn't crazy about with Port Orleans French Quarter is they only had the one pool. But we were able to just trot up to Riverside and use one of theirs and we didn't feel like being in a big feature pool. So and the difference between the moderates and the deluxes, it's not nearly as great. I would say there are some moderate pools that people would prefer over some of the deluxe pools. I'm just going to throw that out there as well. Rob: Yep, for sure. And the other thing, I think my biggest gripe about pools at value, they're just swamped with people. I mean, it's just there's, QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Rob: there's, it's gonna be, you're gonna feel like you're you're crowded in the pool there, which I rarely feel that way at a moderate or deluxe resort. all right. well, Jessica, what is your first reason that group might want to consider moderate specifically? Jessica: Well, it's because QMCraig: Hehehe. Jessica: they do feel less crowded. And I think they're also usually less noisy. So even if there are a similar number of children, it just seems like they're spread out more. and they're just a little bit more relaxed than those values. And you know, that's that can vary if If you have the cheerleading event at the Coronado Springs, it's not gonna be less crazy than the All-Star Sports. But in general, I would say the moderates are less crowded and they have a little bit more space and you just feel a little bit more relaxed when you're going there than you do in the Nevalue. Rob: Yep. my sales pitch for moderates is if if amenities matter to you, right? If if that's something that's really important to you in the hotel that you stay at, moderate is the biggest bang for your buck. Cause you're you're not going to get quite all the amenities that you're going to get at a deluxe resort, but you're going to get a lot more than you get at the value, and you're going to get it at a pretty sweet price point. So it's it's it's like amenities on a budget. And I agree with Craig. When we're talking amenities, we're talking things like the pools, some of the pools, like that, that the pool at at Coronado Springs, that's one of my favorite themed pools in all of Disney World. And it's a moderate resort. the pools at Port Orleans are very different and both very cool in different ways. So, but the other amenities, like we Jessica mentioned, plushness of the towels and just the all the little the little detaily things. I generally if I can get a stay cation at a moderate for close to the same price as the the value, I'll almost always go moderate. So QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Rob: it just because of these little things. so Craig, what is your next reason that someone might want to specifically narrow down to those moderate resorts? QMCraig: So kind of like if the pool is really important to you, if restaurants are important to you, Jessica: Mm. QMCraig: moderates blow the values out of the water. I think overall the food courts are better. I might get a little blowback on that, but they have sit down restaurants that they don't have the values. So after a long park day and you want to sit down and have a nice dinner and be waited on, you can do that at the moderates. Port Orleans French Quarter does not have one, but again, it's just a quick walk up to Riverside. And some of these restaurants are really, really good and people should not be sleeping on them. We did boat rides twice when we were staying there because it was so good. Toledo at Coronado Springs, one of my favorites, one of the best restaurants on property, I think arguably. I have not done Sebastian's Bistro, but I've heard really good things about that as well. Rob: It's good. Yeah. QMCraig: yeah, if food's on your list of high priority things, the moderates will definitely be at other values. Rob: My next big thing, and this is this is really probably my biggest tip about both moderate and value. If you can change your budget with what you're spending on the room and end up with a longer stay, especially if that's at the moderate tier, because the moderate tier is a more comfortable tier generally for a longer stay, it is going to be a a Game changer for your visit because if it's a difference between having four days and you're going to do one day in each park and you're not going to have a break anywhere and you're just going to go, go, go, go, go, that's what you have to do in order to afford the deluxe resort. Whereas if you stayed at moderate, you could spend the same amount of money and have a full week. it's going to be night and day. I mean, it's just your your stress level. your ability to actually unwind, you know, from time to time to actually enjoy your vacation and not feel like you're always behind and rushing and trying to to make sure you get to do those things that you missed out on the day before. And it is a very chaotic vacation when you don't have enough time to do all the things you want to do. And I think Even though you won't get quite the same luxury things that you would get at those deluxe hotels, you're gonna feel like you had a more relaxing vacation if it means more time. So I just think look at that and and keep that in the equation that you know, if you have a limited amount of time to come, then that's a different story. But if if you could be here longer by saving money, it's worth looking at. Jessica, what's your your last suggestion for? Looking at a moderate specifically. Jessica: So specifically the Port Orleans hotels, if you're doing a Disney Springs heavy trip. So instead of like a park heavy trip, if you're doing a Disney Springs heavy trip. So if you have events, we've had an event at Disney Springs, or we have people that are really into the restaurants or you know, going to see Circuit Soleil show, those kinds of things, this is really the best bang for your buck to be at because you're at some of the other ones we're talking about are the deluxe ones and they're more expensive, but the Port Orleans to be able to Take the boat over to Disney Springs and enjoy Disney Springs and take the boat back. If you're planning on doing a lot of Disney Springs nights, we did this during the holiday season last year, and it was wonderful because every night we could go, we could get a couple of the Christmas trees on the Christmas tree stroll. you could do you could do that or you could go and have a cocktail after dinner. It really it expands your ability to go do things. And and I'll just say, particularly now when they're checking I checking room reservations, there's a lot less people going to fridge quarter. it makes it even easier, I I've heard. So we love the ability to ride those boats over and go and get a drink and come back to the hotel. It was just wonderful. So a big shout out to the Port Orleans hotels for that. It also is One of the most r romantic pictures I have of John and I is on that boat with the with the all the the Disney Springs in the background, taking a picture at night. It's just yeah. It's just one of the best kind of end your night events is to take that boat and just kind of hang. So ten out of ten for Port Orleans, if you're gonna do Disney Springs events. Rob: Eric, what are we hearing from our friends on Patreon? Erick: Jules was suggesting about going to Sebastian's because it's delicious and you can get the bread pudding at the pool bar and bring it back to your room to watch Golden Girls and eat it in bed, if that's your thing. This from Carisa question. Has how how does the noise between rooms vary between moderate and the logs resorts? I have heard that noise is bad due to due to thin walls that values of often and it's definitely better at the locks. Rob: Is it better at deluxe? QMCraig: I would say it depends more about your next door neighbor than it does on the actual Jessica: Yeah, QMCraig: resort. Jessica: exactly. Rob: Mm-hmm. Erick: Your upstairs name War too. Rob: I will say this though. The reason deluxe can seem better is because most of them don't open to the outside, Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: especially those all-stars. Man, I can I feel like every time I stay at an all-star, there's at least one moment in the night when a large group of teenagers or, you Erick: People. Rob: know, goes by Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: the room outside and they're just yelling at each other. And it's just, The noise is coming from outside more than the room next door. but the next door noise is all of them. Sad to say. Yeah, I've never noticed that one's better All right. Well, before we move on to deluxe resorts, let's talk about our favorites in the moderate category. Jessica, what's your favorite moderate resort? Jessica: My favorite is Coronado Springs, for basically two reasons. the number one reason is the food. I think the food at Coronado has it's a Mexican feel. They have multiple restaurants that are amazing. I just think that it has some of the best food we've had at Disney. the second is the vibe. It's it's my vibe. And sometimes you'll find a hotel that just clicks with you. That vibe, the three caballeros, the theme, the Spanish, the tiling, the the decorations, it's it just it speaks to me. you know, and we've actually we've actually tried to get the same lights for one of the rooms in our house. I mean, that's just that's just the way we are. So that's just and I think one of the intangibles we haven't really talked about yet is sometimes a resort just speaks to you. Coronado Rob: Yeah. Jessica: speaks to me. So that's it's just the one that I love the most. Rob: Yeah. Craig, what's your favorite moderate? QMCraig: Well, I'm to have to kind of agree with Jessica, but I haven't stayed there. But I have visited Coronado and I'm the same way. It's like the whole vibe, the decor, just the Jessica: Mm-hmm. QMCraig: general fashion of the especially the casino tower is Jessica: Mm-hmm. QMCraig: fantastic. But I am still going to have to go with Portolines French Quarter mostly because of the size. It's smaller. It's intimate, has one bus stop. It doesn't have all the amenities, but Riverside is just a short walk away to get. more pools, a sit down restaurant, different things at the food court. So I'm going to go with French Quarter. Rob: All right. I agree with Jessica. My favorite is Coronado. we actually did a video you can see on the the main channel where we we did a value resort and moderate resort showdown. and Coronado came out on top. Dining man, because Coronado is a a convention center hotel, they have so many dining options, all the way from sports bar. To what we were talking about before, Toledo upstairs, which is like fine. I mean, it feels like you're in a it's it's not technically fine dining, but it feels like elevated the way you're in a fine, and the food is excellent. but there's just so many different dining vibes. There's the three rivers, is that it's three rivers what's called? yeah, there's three bridges. Thank you. Three Jessica: Three rivers. Three bridges. Three bridges. Yes, QMCraig: Three bridges. Three bridges. Rob: so you got you've got three bridges out on the water. If you want to do waterfront dining, I mean it's just you know, the the only the only downside I will say it's not my favorite quick service. and also most of the restaurants, including the quick service, are third party there, which is unusual. Mostly usually at the resorts you're getting everything Disney. That one's very third party. But the there's just there's so many great options. The pool, there's a Mayan pyramid. Like right by the pool. I mean, it's just so cool. I love walking around. If you're there, take some time to walk around the different areas of that resort because each area has its own distinct feel Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: and vibe. And as everyone, as both Craig and Jessica have mentioned, Destino Tower, there are many times when I mix up my memories from Riviera and the Destino Tower because Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: they're They're really in some ways comparable, in my opinion, in terms of just the the feeling inside there. And and Riviera is many people's favorite deluxe resort. So there's a lot to love about Coronado, and it's a good deal. It's usually affordable if there's not a convention in town. Eric, what is your favorite of the moderate resorts? Erick: I cannot decide between Coronado Springs and French Quarter. I think both of them like have unique things. so I I would choose I would choose both. Rob: Yeah. And Disney, if you're listening, how crazy is it that one of these resorts is the hub for the Skyliner and it did not get picked by anyone as their favorite moderate. Let's those rooms just need they need an overhaul. They really need an upgrade. If if the rooms were better at at Caribbean Beach, there's a lot of good things about that resort. If the rooms were upgraded, I think that would be a contender. But until that happens. There's a reason why no one picked Caribbean Beach. all right, let's move on to our final category, deluxe resorts. And there's a lot of deluxe resorts. So maybe we'll just sort of go through the list and we'll talk about some of them in the end when we pick our favorites. Jessica, what are the deluxe resorts? Jessica: So I'm going to kind group these into where they are. So the first category of deluxe resorts are I'm going to say near Magic Kingdom, and they're on the monorail loop. And that is the contemporary, the Polynesian, and the Grand Florian. These are the kind of the core, the key, the first three. then adjacent to the monorail loop, near Magic Kingdom, are both Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness that can be reached via boat to Magic Kingdom. You then have the ones that are Walkable or boatable to Epcot, which are and Hollywood Studios, Beach Club, Boardwalk, Yacht Club. You then have Riviera, which is reachable via Skyliner to Hollywood Studios and Epcot. Then Animal Kingdom Lodge, which if you listen to our D23 episode or is my it needs a skyliner, it needs something, but Animal Kingdom Lodge is out on its own. And then you have the two DVC style resorts that are near Disney Springs, which are Old Key West and Saratoga Springs. The title of most of these giveaway the theming. So this should QMCraig: You Jessica: not be surprising what all of the themes are. But if QMCraig: you Jessica: you are listening to this and you have a specific question about one of these that we don't cover, please put it in the question in question for podcast and big huge letters, and we will Definitely come back to it, but I think the titles of each of these resorts kind of give it away. Rob: Yeah. Leave leave your question in the comments on one of our YouTube videos or over on Patreon at patreon.com forward slash Earscouts. Craig, what is your number one reason that someone should just narrow their search to the deluxe resorts? QMCraig: Mm-hmm. And it's location, location, location. Now, as far as transportation goes, as we've talked, like Caribbean Beach has this is Skyliner hub. So that has some great transportation. But as far as walking to a park, you don't you only can state a deluxe to get that kind of perk. Like you walk to the Magic Kingdom from the Floridian, the Polynesian and the Contemporary. You can walk to Epcot and Hollywood Studios from the Boardwalk Beach Club, Yacht Club. Rob: Jessica, what is your reason that someone should really narrow down to deluxe? Jessica: Say an adults only trip, the bars, the lounges, the feel of the deluxe resorts. At almost every deluxe resort I can think of, There is just a feeling of you're there with your friends at a lounge. the amenities also, and I I said the bathrooms earlier. I will just say as multiple adults trying to get ready in a hotel room, the deluxe bathrooms are just better. So if you're taking an adults only trip and you wanna kind of splurge, I would splurge and go deluxe if you can. And I think that's just one of the best things. And the the lounges and the bathrooms were the big reasons for me. Rob: for me, I would say my biggest reason to s to say narrow down to deluxe, if the resort itself is going to be a huge part of your vacation, if parks are in your mind kind of on on the same level as your resort in terms of importance, deluxe is probably going to be the way to go. I mean, it's it's just these resorts are destinations unto themselves. And you know, a a lot as as a local, I will a lot of times make a dining reservation. In fact, last night we went and ate at Jico just to kind of hang out at Animal Kingdom Lodge for a little while. I mean, these resorts are so spectacular in some cases that that they are they are destination, vacation destinations in their own right. So if that's important to you, that having that resort experience. Deluxe is probably going to be the way to go. and it's gonna be worth the money to to upgrade. Eric, what are we hearing over on Patreon? Any reasons that people have shared specifically about deluxe resorts and why they choose those? Erick: From Bernadette the Pools 2. The Logs are great. Storm Along Rob: pools. Erick: Bay was epic for my kids. from the Colangelo Henkel family, to me the best deluxe resorts have the type of inspiration that make you feel as if you're in a special vacation all its own while it's still having a Disney vibe at heart. Jules, Rob: Agreed. Erick: location with the exception of Animal Kingdom Lodge. I love our stay there, Jessica: Mm-hmm. Erick: but dust bus rides were way worse than anywhere anywhere I have stay. Rob: it's a long way out for the the Animal Kingdom Lodge, but it is it's a lovely resort. There's a lot to to to speak for it. Erick: For again, one more thing I love about the poly is the boat transportation. After a long day or a midnight after a party night, it's amazing to just take a relaxing boat right back to the resort. Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: Yep. So again, really kind of the things that we just were talking about, location, transportation options, and the resort feeling like a destination unto itself. I mean, that's that's I think what what we're hearing from from Patreon as well. Craig, why don't you talk about your next reason to specifically look at at deluxe? QMCraig: Mm This is more of a tip. If you really want to stay at deluxe and that sticker price has just got you way too shocked, look into DVC, Disney Vacation Club rentals. I'm not going to go into the specifics, but it is a great way to save money. There are websites. It's perfectly safe. It's perfectly legal. You can save a lot of money. And we will talk about that on a future episode as well in more depth. Another is just as buying DVC. When I first bought in 1999, I was staying at Porter Leans Riverside at the time. And that's when I first learned about it and doing the math is like, so for less than what I'm paying to stay here, I could stay at the boardwalk in a much nicer room. So it just made sense. You just have to be willing to commit to a lot of Disney vacations. So if But again, that was a no-brainer for me, probably a no-brainer for a lot of people listening, but definitely something to consider if the sticker shock is just too much. Because there's no way I would ever be able to just pay rack rate and stay at the Deluxe as often as I do. It's because of DVC that I get to. Rob: Jessica, what's your next reason that someone might want to just narrow focus on those deluxe? Jessica: And this is kind of it's nostalgia, it's it's a vibe, but if there's a resort that speaks to you and this is your if you're listening to this and you're planning your once every five year Disney trip or your once-in-a-lifetime Disney trip, the splurge is worth it. If you remember going to the Polynesian or to the Grand Floridian with your family as a little kid, and it the splurge is worth it. If if you look at the contemporary and you think, I want to be where the monorail is. I wanna I wanna be in the building that the monorail goes through. Cause I think that would be so cool. The splurge is worth it. In some cases, these hotels, Wilderness Lodge, you know, that they're just they have a vibe and a feeling and it's worth it. If you're like some of us and you're annual pass holders and you're going all the time, maybe the splurge isn't worth it. But there's a lot of times that splurge is worth it. And I just, I just think that you've gotta you've gotta think about that. And if it's nostalgia, a memory, it's worth it. QMCraig: Yeah, I would agree with that and I would suggest you know if again the sticker shock is too much consider a split stay. You know, stay at Rob: Mm-hmm. Jessica: great idea. Yeah. QMCraig: a value, stay at a value and then move to a deluxe. Jessica: Mm-hmm. QMCraig: Definitely go from the lower to the higher. Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: Ha ha ha. QMCraig: You want your experience to to climb, especially and even then like I know if I'm going to spend a week at Disney, I'm going to be park focused on those first few days when and if I'm staying at a value, that's fine so. Jessica: Mm-hmm. QMCraig: And then by the end I'm to rest, enjoy my resort. Rob: And you know, the the this idea of if a resort speaks to you is kind of a perfect tie-in to my my last point that I kind of want to open up for us to discuss more broadly. But I think that one thing that confuses some people who are seasoned travelers who don't regular come to Disney World, they think a deluxe resort is equivalent to a luxury resort at, you know, like the four seasons or something like that that you would find in a in a big city destination. And I do think it's important to know it's it's not gonna be equivalent to a luxury resort. What you're paying for is placemaking, it's it's character, it's the feel of the location and it's not necessarily the the you know thread count of the sheets. You know what I mean? I'm not saying that they have bad cheats, but it's not, you know, I I see a lot of people in comments who come to Disney World Deluxe Resorts and they have this mindset that it's going to be like the Ritz-Carlton or the Four Seasons. Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: I personally would oftentimes rather stay at Wilderness Lodge, which is my favorite. We'll talk about a little bit our favorites, but I'd rather stay at Wilderness Lodge than at the Ritz-Carlton. But I also know I'm realistic, I'm not gonna get, you know, whatever it is, a thousand thread count Egyptian cotton sheets, and there's not gonna be someone holding the door for me at every single, you know, place I pass through. but having said that, what you do get from a deluxe resort is what Disney does best, which is storytelling, immersion, the sense that you've traveled to another world entirely. And that's why, you know, Jessica mentioned when she went through that list, you can tell from the sounds of these names what these resorts are about because they're all about something. And that's what makes the deluxe resorts special to me. we went to Animal Kingdom Lodge yesterday because I wanted to be in that vibe. I wanted to feel like I was traveling and I wanted to go step outside and see zebras and giraffes. And that's just It's magic. I mean, that's what it is. The deluxe resorts have more Disney magic than the others. And if that's important to you, that's worth considering. But I do want to throw that open because I know when we mentioned that before, a lot of you you both had some some thoughts about that. the the the difference between deluxe resort and a luxury resort. QMCraig: yeah, I've had the pleasure to stay in some like really nice luxury resorts too. But yeah, it is totally different. You're totally right about the place making and where you the immersion of like, it's like taking a vacation within a Disney vacation, you know, I'm going to the Magic Kingdom, I'm going to Epcot, I'm going to Germany, I'm going to France, and I'm coming home to the Polynesian. Come on. That's great. Jessica: I mean I do think the the key to remember is you're still at a theme park. So you're gonna K cup coffee pods, and you're gonna get a little bit better toilet paper, but not the greatest toilet paper. You're still gonna get towels that have been gone through ten thousand times a day, it feels like, you know. It it's still a theme park hotel. it is a great theme park hotel. But there's still kids in the lobby running around in their swimming suits and it's still it's still got Chef Mickey's throwing stuff in the air or, you know, the the kids at the at the Snow White dinner at Wilderness Lodge, you know, screaming in excitement about dopey. All of that's happening around you. And that makes it great, but that means it's it's not like going to the four seasons in New York. You know, it's not the same thing. thing. Rob: Eric, before we move on to our favorite deluxe hotels and hear the favorites of our friends on Patreon, are there any specific reasons that that folks gave that they like to stay at a deluxe tier resort? Erick: From Kate and she said we paid for theme park view at the contemporary during Halloween season a few years ago and it was worth every penny because we got to see all the Halloween party fireworks when we came back from the other parks. Rob: Yeah, that's very cool. Erick: Bernadette said that they actually loved to do the split stays. They did AOA and Judge and Judge Club because of the pools. Rob: All right. Well let's move on to our what is your favorite or in this case there's so many. it's fine if you have a couple of favorites. What are your favorite deluxe resorts, Jessica? Jessica: Well, my favorite deluxe resort overall, and I brought my mug, is the contemporary. I love the contemporary, I love the nostalgia of the contemporary, I love the food of the contemporary, I love the feel of the contemporary, but mostly I love being able to walk to the Magic Kingdom after and walk home from the Magic Kingdom and not have to get on that monorail. It's a big deal. I just love it. And not have to get on a ferry, not have to get on a boat, just walk. I love the ability to go from my hotel room, see the parade at at two or three or whatever time it is, and walk back. I just I just think that's great. a very close second would be Animal Kingdom Lodge because I do really like being able to see the animals. I like the food there, I like the atmosphere there, I know we've talked it's so hard to get to. And I'm if Animal Kingdom Lodge, I have to have a rental car. I can't I can't take the buses. The longest bus I've ever had is Animal Kingdom Lodge to Animal Kingdom Resort. That's the longest bus I've ever taken QMCraig: Hehehehehe Jessica: at Disney World. so Rob: Which I'm just gonna throw out there. I've actually never had that I've always found it's it's super fast to get to Animal Kingdom from Animal Kingdom Lodge. So I I Jessica: no. Rob: guess I've just been lucky. QMCraig: Hmm. Jessica: Yeah, but Animal Kingdom launch would be my would be my close second. I will preface this with there's a lot that I haven't stayed on in this stayed at at this category. I'm staying at the boardwalk for the first time in October next month. So we'll see how I feel about the boardwalk. So but in general, I'm more of a if I'm gonna stay close, I'd like to stay to Magic Kingdom. So I think the contemporary is winning for that. Rob: Nice. Craig, what are your favorite deluxe resorts? QMCraig: Okay, so I'm going to first of all, just pick my favorite resort area and that is the Epcot Resort area with the Boardwalk Beach Club, Yacht Club, and also Swan and Dolphin for that matter. I just love the vibe of that I could stay at any one of those and be very happy. Now as far as an individual resort, it's got to be the Polynesian for me. It's I just love it. It's beautiful. The grounds are incredible. It's so immersive. The new island tower is another huge Jessica: Mm. QMCraig: favorite. I could stay there every single time. Even their quiet pool, I love. And the restaurants, cetera. So, yeah. It's hard to choose between the Upcut Resorts and the Monorail Resorts, but it's going to be the Polynesian if I had to pick one. And probably Beach Club Villas if I'm going to pick one just because I like the pool better at Yotton Beach than I do at Boardwalk. Rob: Yeah, for me, my number one, I'm wearing the ears from Wilderness Lodge, QMCraig: You Rob: especially if you are at Disney World during the holiday season. So from Thanksgiving until New Year's, any time during there, Wilderness Lodge is bar none my favorite holiday resort. It's just it it has the feel of one of those, you know, great historic. National Park lodges, but on a much grander scale. I mean, you walk into that lobby and it's just these huge kind of it almost feels like you're surrounded by redwood trees, you know, that make up the structure of the lobby. And it's just beautiful carved, you know, artwork. Everywhere you look, there's a fireplace with rocking chairs. And at Christmas time, there's a huge Christmas tree. But the other thing I love, the DVC wing, specifically the Boulder Ridge DVC wing, that's a wonderful place to hang out. They have this really it's called the Carrollwood Pers Pacific Room. It's I call it Walt's train room because they actually have one of Walt's actual train cars from the train that was in his backyard. It's it's huge. but they have that there in that room and you can just sit by the fireplace on the couch or now now they've changed them to all to rocking chairs, but these plush rocking chairs and half hot cocoa, I love it. I just love that vibe. But I will say a close second is what Craig said, which is the Epcot area resorts, because number one, it's just it's so nice to walk. into Epcot or just easily you can you can also walk to studios from there. I mean there's a the walking path it's a longer walk but you can do it. but also the pools at Yachtan Beach it's not even close. They are the best pools of any Disney resort by far. now there is going to be a new resort opening next year that you should look at if you're coming next year. It's the Lakeside Lodge and that pool is going to have a very It's kind of a lazy river. It looks like it's going to be an amazing resort. So we might have a new favorite next year. But as of right Jessica: No sé. Rob: now, the Epcot, I say Epcot Area Resorts. If you pool is important to you, Yacht and Beach. But if not, I don't my heart is always with boardwalk because it's just so it's so wonderfully weird. Boardwalk, QMCraig: You Rob: the lobby, it's it's like it's like you step back in time, but with David Lynch as your interior designer, I mean, there's just QMCraig: Ha Rob: There's so Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: much like there's these chairs beside the fireplace. They're called nanny chairs. They're actually historic. They're a real thing that existed when you did carousel rides back in the day, but they are so creepy. There's this model of a hotel that is an elephant. It the hotel is an elephant, and there's little rooms Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: inside the elephant. You see people peeking out. It's weird. And I love that weirdness of the boardwalk. and then an honorable mention for for Animal Kingdom as Jessica mentioned. But again, it's so hard. It's so hard with the deluxe for me to narrow it down. But Wilderness Lodge is my number one. Eric, what about you? What are your picks for for deluxe? Erick: It's easy. Wilderness Lodge, a hundred percent. Especially Christmas time. it's cosy, it's unique. I love the smells over there as well. it's just during that time like it's very quiet. You have the chance to just be by the lake and enjoy watching the firewor fireworks as well. I really enjoy it a lot. Rob: Well, this is the big moment. We've asked our friends on Patreon. You've I know you've been kind of keeping a tally. what was the most mentioned favorite resort from our friends on Patreon? Erick: So actually there's a tie from Beach Beach Club, Riviera, Caribbean Beach and the Poli. Rob: All right. Well that's a pretty broad mix there too. QMCraig: and that's that's what I was kind thinking when we talking about all these. It's like there's not a single resort that I would not want to stay at again. There's never been like, I'm not going to do that again. I've never stayed in an All-Stars. I will put it that way. Rob: Mm-hmm. Well, all star sports, I'm done, but Jessica: Well QMCraig: Yes, you're right. I will add that. Jessica: You know, that last that last day at Riverside was not great for me, but I might have to have it re tried again, but it'll be a bit. Rob: Okay. But I was interested to hear so Caribbean Beach was on I I was just bad mouthing Caribbean Beach a little bit. I I love Caribbean Beach. I'm not I just don't like the rooms themselves. I think the rooms feel motel ish and and they don't feel as upscale as the other moderates. But We'll just really quickly I'll swing some of the praises of Caribbean. They have great food. Sebastian's is great. They've Banana Cabana, I think is the name of the the the bar there. They have great bar food. The quick service is is amazing. The vibe is great at Caribbean Beach in terms of the outside of the resort. There's a lot to like about Caribbean Beach. And of course it's the hub for the Skyliner, which is Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: huge. It's just for me, it's the rooms. all right. Well, thank you all so much. We're going to chat more about hotels and whatever else everyone wants to chat about in the Patreon exclusive after party in just a moment. But first we have a hotel themed question of the week. Jessica, what is our question of the week this week? Jessica: So Keisha from Patreon asked, I'm staying in art of animation for the first time soon. I'm not familiar with staying on property. I hear people talking about making room requests. What can I request for the room? And I will say on Patreon, when people answered her question, it was divided into two categories. So we should probably do the same thing. And that is there are room requests about where you can request your room to be at different hotels. So we should discuss kind of that. And then there are room requests, as in what are some of the things you can get requested for your room? So Rob: Yeah, yeah. Jessica: those are two different things. So I'm gonna start with the second, as a caveat to some of the things we said before, I do want to mention that except for the deluxe DVC rooms, the other rooms, moderate and value, only have the new room coolers. They do not have actual refrigerators. So if you have medicine or if you have milk for children, those kinds of things, and you need an actual refrigerator, you may be able to request it. If they do not have one that they can bring to you, you may have to take your medicine or your milk to the concierge and they have a refrigerated section they can actually store it in for you that you can get access to. 24 7. So I did that is one of the things you can request is a refrigerator. They will not guarantee it. Crib and pack and play are another two things that you can request if you need it. those are also things that they can't guarantee, but it's been a very, very long time since I've had some heard somebody not get the pack and play they needed from Disney. So those are a few of the things that you can actually request. For your room specifically. I've heard people request fans. I don't think they have a lot of fans anymore, those kinds of things. But the refrigerator for medicine specifically and pack and play in cribs. So did I forget anything in that category? Rob: I think that there are some specifics that you can request at certain hotels. Like, well, you you can do you can do like decorations for your room. I think at most of the hotels. yeah, Jessica: I wasn't yeah. Wasn't thinking about that kind of stuff. Yeah, sorry. Rob: but you can you can you can request. I mean, these are things you have to pay for. So I don't know if that's what Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: we were talking about, but you can request That like and you'll see it sometimes. It's someone's birthday, and there'll be all these kind of birthday decorations all over the window when you come in. You know, that's something that that can be requested. you can also request if it's a birthday, like a cake to be in the room when you arrive, things like that. I think that's at all the resorts. but I think on the other side, I think this is what I heard when she was asking that question was in the app. if you check in using the app, there's a room request drop-down menu. QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Rob: and that changes from resort to resort, and it changes sometimes depending on the timing. Because I've gone to the same resort and in some time, sometimes I've seen other options in the drop down that aren't there. I don't know if it's because they Jessica: Mm-hmm. Rob: ran out of whatever that option was and so it doesn't show up anymore, or They just decided to not honor that request at that time. I don't know, but it does change. So that's a hard one to answer because it's just you just have to look and see what's in there. But I did some research on this because of the question, and I learned something. There's a chat feature in the app, and you can actually chat and ask for almost anything. Doesn't mean they're going to give you whatever it is that you asked for, but you can ask and say, I loved room 417 last time we were there. Can I get 417? You know, whatever it might be, we it's really important to us to have a water view. Can we, you know, if you paid for a for a type of room that can include a water view, you could request that. But those are things that are gonna be specifically usually through the chat or by calling the resort hotel. but it's always worth checking that drop down when you do your check-in QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Rob: on the app just to see what's there. Cause it can be. Sometimes it can be like my favorite. If you see corner room, request a corner QMCraig: Yes. Rob: room, beautiful Jessica: Yes. Rob: views usually in those corner QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Rob: rooms. And they also sometimes have more space. So that's always a good request when you see it. Jessica: They have things like high room, low room, near elevator. They they've QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Jessica: they have all kinds of those things. the other thing you need to do in the chat is if, for example, let's say Craig was going and I was going and we had two different reservations, but we wanted to be close to each other. In the chat, we could tell them, can you please link my reservation with Craig's reservation so we could be close to each other? if you're traveling with your family, you want to be able to in the chat link those reservations so you can be close to each other. That's something else you could request. So room location, those kinds of things. I do want to be clear, you can't request to get pixied. This pick you don't you can't request an upgrade, a free upgrade. And I think people get confused between the difference in room requests and room types. So I I just think we should clarify the room requests you make, you're gonna request a room within your room type. So if if you've paid for a resort view room, if you get a corner view, you're gonna get a corner view that views the resort. You're not gonna get a corner view that views the castle. so room request does not override you get what you paid for, kind of a process. And I think QMCraig: Mm-hmm. Jessica: I have seen Rob: Unless it's a surprise and delight moment, which can happen. Jessica: Unless it's a it's a it can, but QMCraig: Right. Jessica: you should never expect that and not in the Ear Scouts groups, but in other groups I've seen people get really, really upset that well I I I asked to be pixie dusted and I wasn't pixie dusted. Please don't do that. Please don't do that. Rob: Ha ha ha QMCraig: Don't do that. Rob: Yeah. And and this is another thing that I I should mention. When you do the drop down, there's gonna be a checkbox that you can say, prioritize having my room ready over my requests. Unless I really need my room early and I know I really need it early, I always leave that unchecked because I usually want my requests, especially if I'm staying more than a day. I want, you know, that. Having that request honored is going to be a better deal for me than having my room a little bit earlier. Another thing I will say, this you can't guarantee this, but if you check in in person after having put in your requests and stuff on the app, I do find that sometimes, number one, you will get your room a little bit sooner. And number two, I don't know if this is just happenstance, but I feel like we've usually gotten our requests honored more frequently when there's a human looking at the inventory, looking at your requests and finding something that, this just came. yeah, I can put you there. Like it it's just it it's not guaranteed you're gonna get it. I'm not saying that it will happen, but in my experience, if you do both, you put in the requests first. And then you go and physically check in when you arrive, you have a little bit better chance. And of course, be very kind and polite to your cast members always, everywhere you go. but you will find that you'll get better service when you know you're you're being pleasant and it's you know happy for everyone to have a good experience together. So be polite to the cast members. That's important. Well, with that, we're gonna share our thing that will make everyone smile, our happy thought, because we like to end every episode with a happy thought. Jessica, I I I the beginning of the show, I spoiled your happy thought that you had planned. Do you have a do you have an alternate happy thought to share? Jessica: I I do have an alternate happy thought. for those of you that are scrapbookers, this has been Scrap Tember. So this will air after September, I think, is over. And Scrap Tember is the month where we do one video a day on our YouTube channels celebrating different kinds of scrapbooking prompts. And I gained almost a hundred followers. And for QMCraig: Hmm Jessica: my channel, that's huge. So Rob: Wow. Yay. QMCraig: That's awesome. Jessica: Really exciting. It is typically the month of the year that I gain the most followers. So it was really exciting to see that. But this is we're we're filming before it's over, but I've made every single day so far. So it's exciting and I've really enjoyed Scrap Timber. So shout out to Scrappy QMCraig: You Jessica: Sisters Oz. They are two sisters from Australia who run this and it's awesome. It's my one of my favorite months of the year. Rob: Awesome. QMCraig: awesome. Rob: Craig, what is your happy thought this week? QMCraig: Well, real quick, right now, my happy thought is I have two cats that don't get along and they're by the right three feet from each other and they're not hissing or fighting each other. So I'm really happy about that in this very moment. they Jessica: Mm-hmm. QMCraig: just saw each other. Anyway, no, my happy thought, very personal. I've been on a health journey. I'm type two diabetic I just got more blood work done. my A1C is still normal with with no drugs. But I also got rid of my blood pressure medicine. Because my blood Jessica: wonderful. Rob: Yeah. QMCraig: pressure has dropped because I've lost enough weight. The way I found out there they go. I don't if you all heard that hiss but yeah, Rob: Okay. QMCraig: they're going at it. Anyway, so yeah, to the way that I found out that I needed to lower my blood pressure medicine was not good, but the outcome is great. So I'm very happy about Rob: That's wonderful news. Very, very glad to hear that news. Eric, what is your happy thought this week? Erick: Mine is that actually took place yesterday, when we were in Animal Kingdom. and we were riding Kilimanjaro Safaris. it started raining, like pouring rain in the middle of the safaris and it was a completely completely different experience. The animals were just chilling out and it looked incredible. also we saw like lining falling like very close to where we were, and for a moment we thought someone was just taking a selfie with Flash. And all of a sudden, like, holy smokes, we we heard the the thunder. and it was an incredible, interesting ex experience right there in the Safaris. Rob: It was it was scary. It was it was a thrilling safari, I'll say that. Yeah. Erick: yeah. Rob: I it we talked to the cast member who was guiding the safari, and did you know that Kilimajar safaris does not go down for lightning? It is I I was shocked. And and as Eric said, the lightning was like very close to us and very loud, and they don't go down for that. well, my happy thought is that it is almost time. In fact, when this airs, it's gonna be days away from our second ever Walt Disney World Jamboree. and this was something that was just started. lots of folks on Patreon were like, We should all get together. We should do something, we should all come to Walt Disney World at the same time and do something. And at the time I was like, Well just can't imagine that people are gonna, you know, change their vacation plans or plan a vacation specifically around just, you know, because your scouts is going to do something. But I was like, okay, well we'll we'll do something. We'll do it. And it was like we we just kind of planned it at the last minute last year. And so many people came. And it was just, it was amazing and we had so much fun and we we're about to do it again. So If you're if you're hearing this and you're gonna be at Walt Disney World from October 9th through the 12th, you can find out more on our Patreon page, Patreon.com forward slash Ear Scouts. but my happy thought is that we're making the final plans now for what we're gonna do with this jamboree, and we're gonna have so much fun, and I can't wait to see all of you. it's gonna be a joy. So thank you to everyone who is already RSVP'd and can't wait to to hang out together and we'll of course be talking about our adventures in a future podcast episode. until then, however, I hope everyone has a wonderful week filled with lots of happy thoughts. We'll see you again real soon.