Disney Resorts: On the Verge of Ordinary

[Tom P.]

Beautifully stated.

One of the things that was groundbreaking about WDW was that the resorts were immersive experiences just like the parks. What is the point of staying on property and paying premium prices except to be immersed in high-quality narrative design - the hallmark of Disney - throughout your whole vacation?

The real test will be: Are guests going to pay as much for Gran Destino and the like, or will they select the fully themed resorts instead when they're at the same price point Hopefully, we will see room rates at Gran Destino, etc., drop after a while, indicating that guest demand is in the direction of immersive environments. Maybe that will change Disney's decision-making. If not... this will be yet another thing that benefits Disney in the short run and damages its overall quality and uniqueness in the long run.

I think Gran Destino is a bit of a unique animal, though. It was specifically designed to meet the needs of business travellers, specifically convention attendees. That's why it's a more traditional hotel tower, for example, rather than being spread out like a traditional Disney resort. Disney wasn't thinking about the average vacationer when they designed that resort. Of course, anybody can book there, but your average vacationer is not the market that they were designing for.

Given that, I'm not sure you can glean anything about the way Disney resorts are moving in general based on the design of Grand Destino.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I think Gran Destino is a bit of a unique animal, though. It was specifically designed to meet the needs of business travellers, specifically convention attendees. That's why it's a more traditional hotel tower, for example, rather than being spread out like a traditional Disney resort. Disney wasn't thinking about the average vacationer when they designed that resort. Of course, anybody can book there, but your average vacationer is not the market that they were designing for.

Given that, I'm not sure you can glean anything about the way Disney resorts are moving in general based on the design of Grand Destino.

The criticisms of Gran Destino are not in regards to its typology. Convention attendees desire certain amenities, not a specific or inconsistent aesthetic.

 

[Tom P.]

The criticisms of Gran Destino are not in regards to its typology. Convention attendees desire certain amenities, not a specific or inconsistent aesthetic.

That may all be true, and you can criticize Disney for the design choices they made on Gran Destino. My point, though, is that I think Disney tried to design something with the "look and feel" of a traditional hotel that a business traveler attending a convention would be used to. Therefore, I'm not sure you can extrapolate the design choices they made out to other resorts.

FWIW, I have not been to Gran Destino, but from what I've seen, I really like the look of it. The lobby area, in particular, is very impressive. No, it doesn't scream "Disney" in its design but, then again, neither does the Grand Floridian. It still feels very upscale and I think the business crowd will be pleased with it, which is what Disney was going for.

For anyone who hasn't gotten a look at Gran Destino, The DIS has a nice vlog with a complete tour of the resort, including the guest rooms, available on YouTube:

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Well said! The design of the resorts has been a pet peeve of mine for some time now - at least the resorts in the American parks. Why can't we have magical, cool-looking DISNEY hotels like the one in Paris?

View attachment 392548

Instead, we mostly get hotels that look like office highrises. Lame!

That hotel is over 25 years old. It opened around the same time as Wilderness Lodge, Yacht Club etc. It's from a different era of Disney hotel design. Some later examples during Eisner's time as CEO:

Hotel MiraCosta (Tokyo DisneySea) opened 2001

Disney's Grand Californian Hotel (Disneyland Resort) opened 2001

Disney's Hollywood Hotel (Hong Kong Disneyland) opened 2005

The last great designed Disney hotel was again in Hong Kong, Explorer's Lodge which opened in 2017 (though it obviously borrows from both AKL and Aalani (also a nice hotel)

Why Disney can't do better in Florida with the money and talent on hand, I don't know. Even the Shanghai Disneyland hotel is bland and boxy on the outside, despite the nice interior.

 

[lazyboy97o]

That may all be true, and you can criticize Disney for the design choices they made on Gran Destino. My point, though, is that I think Disney tried to design something with the "look and feel" of a traditional hotel that a business traveler attending a convention would be used to. Therefore, I'm not sure you can extrapolate the design choices they made out to other resorts.

FWIW, I have not been to Gran Destino, but from what I've seen, I really like the look of it. The lobby area, in particular, is very impressive. No, it doesn't scream "Disney" in its design but, then again, neither does the Grand Floridian. It still feels very upscale and I think the business crowd will be pleased with it, which is what Disney was going for.

For anyone who hasn't gotten a look at Gran Destino, The DIS has a nice vlog with a complete tour of the resort, including the guest rooms, available on YouTube:

Disney was not losing convention business because people were surprised to be at Disney. The problem with Coronado Springs was it’s organization and amenities, not its style. The hotel also already had a more traditional form that could have been used as a conceptual basis for the tower instead of very non-traditional aesthetics such as surrealism and Catalan Modernism.

Gran Destino is not unique. Rivera is similar in that it is a rather non-descript tower with a long list of supposed stylistic influences. Reflections’ art shows many of the same concerns that were expressed in regards to the art of those two towers. The Grand Floridian Villas and Bay Lake Tower also share a lot of the same criticisms.

 

[Bronson55]

"But building is tower and tower is bad!"

View attachment 390323

 

[bluejasmine]

I find the generalizing of the WOD and the resorts so sad, the thing about Disney that you loved was the over the top theming and we choose to stay in WDW resorts not only for the convenience but to stay in the Disney bubble, its becoming not quite so much of a Disney bubble anymore, not that Im gonna stop going or anything but I do yearn for the way it use to be.
We have always stayed outside of disney the day before we check into our Disney resort and enjoyed Disney Springs and our first stop was always WOD with its over the top theming and we knew and felt like we were HOME at DIsney. Now DIsney SPrings is like almost any other outlet.. Except for Trend D, Co Op, Kitchen Store, Christmas Store and Arribas Bros..

 

[Movielover]

 

[Tomi-Rocket]

With the opening of Gran Destino, the upcoming Riviera Resort, Reflections Lodge, The Cove and the ongoing homogenization of guest room and restaurant interiors (Wilderness Lodge, yacht club, Beach Club... ) Disney has thrown in the towel with signature “Disney” iconic resorts.

With building profiles and architecture redundant of the “outside world” Disney has done a 180 on the very reason guests flock to their premium priced hotels - they are unique, with themed public areas and some with guest room interior design that continues the hotel story. True, some of the rooms were lackluster when compared to the public areas, but they usually had touches and moments of Disney.

With the current “paint the world white” HGTV approach, we are being flooded with generic contemporary design that could be an airport Marriott or Omaha Hilton.

The newly stripped-down rooms are a sad statement for Disney Resorts and erode the brand one room at a time.

One cast member told us, “the new look is the result of guest comments and research.” Believe me, when design is driven by research we will all pay. If this is the case, Disney will forever be chasing their tail.

I’m not sure where it ends.

I agree. You couldn’t pick out a Disney room from any other hotel now. It’s not from research, it’s from current execs who have no imagination and their only concern is the almighty dollar. I’m hoping Disney will someday have execs who actually love Disney and turn it back around to all the Disney touches that you used to find at the resorts.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

On the flip side, consider the GF. Instead of a generic, upscale Floridian joint - it's becoming a themed wonderland, with the refurbs (i.e. Mizner's Lounge and Citricos) currently under way. Obviously too early to tell, but I think these are totally wrong for the GF, but it's Iger's baby, so...

 

[DisneyNorthFan]

The variety of opinions on this thread highlight the difficult balancing act Disney must pull off.

I personally love highly immersive and themed resort environments, but with modern/clean/up-to-date room interiors with a basic amount of themed flourishes to continue the design. I've found lots of places that accomplish this - especially since the room refreshes started. Caribbean Beach is a great example. Yacht Club is also great, in my opinion. And when I want a Disney theme, AoA works really well. These resorts all now have "clean" rooms that are still part of highly themed (or decorated, in the case of AoA) environments. I could quibble and ask for more touches in the room, but I can appreciate why they landed where they did. Clearly those on this site skew much heavier to the "want heavy Disney touches in the room" ... and even here you see people happy with the cleaner approach ... so it stands to reason that with the much larger group not on this site, the skew to "minimalist" rooms is even stronger.

The fact that "resort hopping tours" are a thing suggest Disney has really created some wonderful environments. We've spent weekends at Disney without ever going to the parks and just spending time differently at various resorts - dining, riding the monorail or other water transportation, recreational activities (bikes, boat rentals), and sightseeing (savannah at AK, stables at WL, boardwalk entertainment). There's not been a draw to do this at very many resorts outside of Disney - no matter how nice the resort.

I do have concern about the new resorts being constructed - but I'll give some latitude for Gran Destino (convention audience) and Riviera (DVC). If a new traditional resort is built without the themed environment of old, which unfortunately is probable, I will find fault with management moving in that direction.

 

[Robbiem]

An open atrium like one found at the Contemporary was very very modern at the time. Very impressive to guests in 1971, as they'd never seen anything like it. In fact, it was less than three years earlier that the Hyatt Regency in Atlanta open and it was the world's first open atrium hotel. Granted, that facet of it is not impressive anymore (though the monorail running through it is). However, it has become a classic and symbolizes WDW too many.

The GF, on the other hand, is a direct ripoff of the Hotel Del Coronado in California. So it's not exactly an original or Floridian theme. However it's a very distinctive bit of architecture for the area. The lobby is nothing like the one in CA and is distinctly Disney. Rooms are pretty dreadful now, though (even refurbished).

The new Coronado and Riviera towers are essentially stylistically indistinguishable from the Hilton Bonnet Creek, the Waldorf or any other recent hotel builds in the area. Just tall boxy buildings with some flourishes. Seems like they were going for cost and efficiency in building, more than anything else.

When it opened he contemporary was meant to represent America (the hotels were planned to cover the seven seas in theming) and had a south western theme hense the mural, plastic trees and Grand Canyon concourse name. Granted this was internal and subtle but was an early attempt to create a non park themed environment

 

[Praying Mantis]

I totally have enjoyed every themed resort lobby I have stayed in and I have enjoyed the fact that my room that I came in each day was clean and made up just enough so I could turn down the bed sheets, turnout the the lights, and close my eyes and sleep comfortably that night. The next day the shower works and I have hot water and the bathroom is clean and I can get ready to start my next day in the parks.

 

[Beacon Joe]

With the Riviera and Reflections, they have gone way past being on the verge of ordinary.

Perhaps, this is a brilliant forward-thinking strategy to capture the business (in ~10 years) of the people that flock to living and shopping in those lifeless and generic "town-centers" that have popped up around the US. The next step? These new, generic resorts will feature piles of "Bird" or "Lime" scooters thrown onto lawns, cluttering walkways, or tossed next to the entrances of generic pseudo-industrial warehouse-themed coffee shops featuring fake Edison lights.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I could quibble and ask for more touches in the room, but I can appreciate why they landed where they did. Clearly those on this site skew much heavier to the "want heavy Disney touches in the room" ... and even here you see people happy with the cleaner approach ... so it stands to reason that with the much larger group not on this site, the skew to "minimalist" rooms is even stronger.

This notion of “heavy touches” only works if theme is conflated with stuff. There are subjects and stories that are Inherently less ornamental if that really is what the market desires. In the case of Gran Destino, the resort was already a template for a simpler aesthetic, there was no need to add into it a bunch of other stuff that is not at all simple or minimal and then try to water it down. Riviera is similar, it is an entirely new hotel and they chose Beaux Arts as the alleged style of the tower. If you know your clients want something simpler, cleaner and more minimalist then a quick image search should show you that Beaux Arts is not the right choice. Instead of going with something that works with these goals we get a tower with obviously fake Mansard roofs in some random places. Heavily themed and clean minimalism are not contradictions. Surrealism and clean minimalism are a contradiction. Gaudí-esque Catalan Modernism and clean minimalism are a contradiction. Beaux Arts and clean minimalism are most definitely a contradiction.