DWparadise
Member
I spent a year at Disney World!
I've been going to Disney World for over a decade. During that time, I had to endure 14 hours of traveling one way, and it never seemed to be enough - no matter how long I stayed, I always wished it was longer. So last year, I decided to do what I always wanted. I moved to Disney World with the kids for a year. I found a luxury apartment complex in Celebration with a gym and a pool, and 10 minutes drive from Hollywood Studios. The rent for my 3 bedroom unit was $2647 per month including TV and internet, plus about $120 utilities. I had lake view. I lived across the street from Publix the grocery store, Regions the local bank, a UPS store for Amazon returns, a bike shop for my son's bike repairs, and a large number of restaurants and hotels. My husband flew over one weekend a month to visit us, being that he loves to work and hates Disney.
So, I spent 14 months, the length of my lease, going to Disney World nearly every day.
First and foremost, I got the Florida local annual pass, which costs half of what I used to pay for a 10 day tourist pass. I've always coveted the cheap local annual pass, and I finally got it! It was amazing, to be able to go to the parks without calculating how much time I've left, and just go whenever I wanted! Back when I was a tourist, I could only go during the 3 weeks I spend at Disney World. But now, there was no end, there's always tomorrow! It was an incredible feeling.
What I remember most about the annual pass is when I received it at the Guest Relations at Epcot, my favorite park. The CM who worked with me was young, beautiful, and extremely enthusiastic. She was more excited than me to hear that I moved to Celebration and was now getting the annual pass for the first time. She was practically jumping up and down, smiling broadly, and congratulated me time and again how wonderful it was for me to move to Disney World. It was worth the annual pass just to see how happy she was. So I showed her my proof of residence from Toho Water Supply. I didn't have a water bill yet, but Toho had a specific option on their website where they could email me a proof of residence, just so that I could get the local Disney annual pass. Was that cute or what?
So I was granted annual passes for me and my family. Every day, we got up, I took care of household needs such as buy groceries at Publix and feed the family breakfast and lunch, then go to Disney World. We eat dinner there and return around 9 pm. So we saw Disney World all year, during Christmas, the various festivals of Epcot, and in cold and heat. Mostly heat, of course. We went through Hurricane Milton, when various booths in Epcot was nailed to the ground, something I'd never seen them do before. We were caught in several lightning storms, but not as many as one would think, about 4 total for the whole year.
The most notable thing I should mention about the early months is how sick I got. Before moving, I hadn't gotten sick for several years, including the covid years. The moment I arrived at Florida, I was sick once a month for 4 months straight, and each time I got sick, I was laid up for 2 weeks. My kids also got sick, though not as much as me. But eventually I got over it and no longer got sick monthly, and I was good to go to Disney World!
Each day, we would go to a park for a couple of hours, then go eat at a hotel food court or restaurant because it's much quieter. Riviera's food court is known to be the best, but it is also very crowded as a result, so I solved the problem by eating there early, around 4pm, when they still have lots of seating. They have fantastic burgers, vegetable skewer, tomato soup and hummus. And if you go upstairs at the lobby bar, they sell incredible desserts. Topolino's Terrace restaurant has the most beautiful restrooms in all of Disney World. It's worth eating there just to use the restrooms! Contemporary's food court has fantastic burgers, steak sandwich, and vegetable flatbread. They also have self serve soft icecream. French Quarter has their famous beignet donuts, but also this lesser known shrimp po boy sandwish that I love. Animal Kingdom Lodge also have great burgers, but their food court is usually not crowded, and they have killer air conditioning that will chill you to the bone if you sit there too long. The Grand Floridian has an awesome caprese sandwich and even colder air conditioning. My 9yo son calls its food court "the freezer."
We love the Disney hotels as much as the parks, and once a month, we spent a night at a hotel for which we got the annual passholder discount, which made me feel very special. We stayed at most of the hotels, (we've stayed at them before when were were tourists). It was magical especially at the Grand, where we got a free upgrade to Theme Park View and watched the fireworks from the balcony. The room was remodeled, and looked even better than before, just stunningly elegant. At Boardwalk Inn, I discovered this secret garden and quiet pool that I didn't notice during past visits because there's a trick to getting there: you have to take a specific elevator down. At Coronado Springs, I couldn't sleep one night at 3am and walked around the lake. It was so beautiful, seeing the main building brightly lit and reflected in the glassy lake, and everywhere I looked, there wasn't a soul in sight, I was the only one there. It was absolutely quiet and magical. At Caribbean Beach, we got a free upgrade to a preferred room, which was very nice because we got caught in a rainstorm in Epcot and my son was soaked up to his chest, despite wearing a raincoat.
When my husband visited once a month, he complained about the heat and the humidity and decided that he would never retire to Florida like normal people do. I took him around Disney World, and he criticized everything. Nevertheless, he took pictures of the mirror ceiling in the lobby of Coronado Springs. Even he couldn't deny how stunning that place looks. And he admitted that the tomato soup at Riviera was the best tomato soup he's ever had. After he got home, he tried to replicate the recipe and claimed that he succeeded.
Eventually, the 14 months disappeared one day at a time, and I made sure I didn't miss a day of going to Disney World during our last days. There was only 2 months left! Only 1 month left! Only 2 weeks left! The last day!
I am now back home. My husband is happier that he doesn't have to do such a long, horrible monthly flight anymore. I am more relaxed now that we don't have to go to Disney World every day and can actually take it easy. So I spent about $2800 a month for 14 months, which isn't that big of a deal compared to many other Disney guests. There is this one person I read online who stayed at the Riviera's 3 bedroom suite for 2 weeks at $3000 per night. She complained about not having a chopping board in her fully equiped kitchen. And she never got the chopping board either, even after complaining to them for 2 weeks.
Now that I've been home for a few months, I miss Disney World already, so I booked my next Disney trip for next month, just for a week, at Coronado Springs. It's probably better being a tourist rather than living there because living there means Disney World is just the local park, rather than the dream vacation. I find myself appreciating my home much more now. I can now live a normal life and go to Costco and Walmart and visit the downtown library, and go on bike rides on my local bike trail. I couldn't do that when I lived in Celebration because I didn't have the time! I had to go to Disney World! Why am I going to Costco when I could go to Disney World instead?
Nevertheless, if I had the chance, I want to live another year at Disney World. I found this new apartment complex with gym and pool that's less than 2 miles, 8 minutes from Disney Springs. I can walk to Disney World from there. In fact, I walked there once from Disney Springs. It will probably never happen, but one can dream!
I've been going to Disney World for over a decade. During that time, I had to endure 14 hours of traveling one way, and it never seemed to be enough - no matter how long I stayed, I always wished it was longer. So last year, I decided to do what I always wanted. I moved to Disney World with the kids for a year. I found a luxury apartment complex in Celebration with a gym and a pool, and 10 minutes drive from Hollywood Studios. The rent for my 3 bedroom unit was $2647 per month including TV and internet, plus about $120 utilities. I had lake view. I lived across the street from Publix the grocery store, Regions the local bank, a UPS store for Amazon returns, a bike shop for my son's bike repairs, and a large number of restaurants and hotels. My husband flew over one weekend a month to visit us, being that he loves to work and hates Disney.
So, I spent 14 months, the length of my lease, going to Disney World nearly every day.
First and foremost, I got the Florida local annual pass, which costs half of what I used to pay for a 10 day tourist pass. I've always coveted the cheap local annual pass, and I finally got it! It was amazing, to be able to go to the parks without calculating how much time I've left, and just go whenever I wanted! Back when I was a tourist, I could only go during the 3 weeks I spend at Disney World. But now, there was no end, there's always tomorrow! It was an incredible feeling.
What I remember most about the annual pass is when I received it at the Guest Relations at Epcot, my favorite park. The CM who worked with me was young, beautiful, and extremely enthusiastic. She was more excited than me to hear that I moved to Celebration and was now getting the annual pass for the first time. She was practically jumping up and down, smiling broadly, and congratulated me time and again how wonderful it was for me to move to Disney World. It was worth the annual pass just to see how happy she was. So I showed her my proof of residence from Toho Water Supply. I didn't have a water bill yet, but Toho had a specific option on their website where they could email me a proof of residence, just so that I could get the local Disney annual pass. Was that cute or what?
So I was granted annual passes for me and my family. Every day, we got up, I took care of household needs such as buy groceries at Publix and feed the family breakfast and lunch, then go to Disney World. We eat dinner there and return around 9 pm. So we saw Disney World all year, during Christmas, the various festivals of Epcot, and in cold and heat. Mostly heat, of course. We went through Hurricane Milton, when various booths in Epcot was nailed to the ground, something I'd never seen them do before. We were caught in several lightning storms, but not as many as one would think, about 4 total for the whole year.
The most notable thing I should mention about the early months is how sick I got. Before moving, I hadn't gotten sick for several years, including the covid years. The moment I arrived at Florida, I was sick once a month for 4 months straight, and each time I got sick, I was laid up for 2 weeks. My kids also got sick, though not as much as me. But eventually I got over it and no longer got sick monthly, and I was good to go to Disney World!
Each day, we would go to a park for a couple of hours, then go eat at a hotel food court or restaurant because it's much quieter. Riviera's food court is known to be the best, but it is also very crowded as a result, so I solved the problem by eating there early, around 4pm, when they still have lots of seating. They have fantastic burgers, vegetable skewer, tomato soup and hummus. And if you go upstairs at the lobby bar, they sell incredible desserts. Topolino's Terrace restaurant has the most beautiful restrooms in all of Disney World. It's worth eating there just to use the restrooms! Contemporary's food court has fantastic burgers, steak sandwich, and vegetable flatbread. They also have self serve soft icecream. French Quarter has their famous beignet donuts, but also this lesser known shrimp po boy sandwish that I love. Animal Kingdom Lodge also have great burgers, but their food court is usually not crowded, and they have killer air conditioning that will chill you to the bone if you sit there too long. The Grand Floridian has an awesome caprese sandwich and even colder air conditioning. My 9yo son calls its food court "the freezer."
We love the Disney hotels as much as the parks, and once a month, we spent a night at a hotel for which we got the annual passholder discount, which made me feel very special. We stayed at most of the hotels, (we've stayed at them before when were were tourists). It was magical especially at the Grand, where we got a free upgrade to Theme Park View and watched the fireworks from the balcony. The room was remodeled, and looked even better than before, just stunningly elegant. At Boardwalk Inn, I discovered this secret garden and quiet pool that I didn't notice during past visits because there's a trick to getting there: you have to take a specific elevator down. At Coronado Springs, I couldn't sleep one night at 3am and walked around the lake. It was so beautiful, seeing the main building brightly lit and reflected in the glassy lake, and everywhere I looked, there wasn't a soul in sight, I was the only one there. It was absolutely quiet and magical. At Caribbean Beach, we got a free upgrade to a preferred room, which was very nice because we got caught in a rainstorm in Epcot and my son was soaked up to his chest, despite wearing a raincoat.
When my husband visited once a month, he complained about the heat and the humidity and decided that he would never retire to Florida like normal people do. I took him around Disney World, and he criticized everything. Nevertheless, he took pictures of the mirror ceiling in the lobby of Coronado Springs. Even he couldn't deny how stunning that place looks. And he admitted that the tomato soup at Riviera was the best tomato soup he's ever had. After he got home, he tried to replicate the recipe and claimed that he succeeded.
Eventually, the 14 months disappeared one day at a time, and I made sure I didn't miss a day of going to Disney World during our last days. There was only 2 months left! Only 1 month left! Only 2 weeks left! The last day!
I am now back home. My husband is happier that he doesn't have to do such a long, horrible monthly flight anymore. I am more relaxed now that we don't have to go to Disney World every day and can actually take it easy. So I spent about $2800 a month for 14 months, which isn't that big of a deal compared to many other Disney guests. There is this one person I read online who stayed at the Riviera's 3 bedroom suite for 2 weeks at $3000 per night. She complained about not having a chopping board in her fully equiped kitchen. And she never got the chopping board either, even after complaining to them for 2 weeks.
Now that I've been home for a few months, I miss Disney World already, so I booked my next Disney trip for next month, just for a week, at Coronado Springs. It's probably better being a tourist rather than living there because living there means Disney World is just the local park, rather than the dream vacation. I find myself appreciating my home much more now. I can now live a normal life and go to Costco and Walmart and visit the downtown library, and go on bike rides on my local bike trail. I couldn't do that when I lived in Celebration because I didn't have the time! I had to go to Disney World! Why am I going to Costco when I could go to Disney World instead?
Nevertheless, if I had the chance, I want to live another year at Disney World. I found this new apartment complex with gym and pool that's less than 2 miles, 8 minutes from Disney Springs. I can walk to Disney World from there. In fact, I walked there once from Disney Springs. It will probably never happen, but one can dream!