What is the most Disney Feeling Resort?

[ddbowdoin]

Hey all... just returned from a trip and now starting to look into planning something else. This last trip was my very first time on property. I must say... I was disappointed with the Beach Club.

1.) very well themed
2.) convenient location
3.) amazing pool

All great things.... but, to me and this is my opinion the resort lacked the Disney feel. People here have mentioned you always feel like your are surrounded by the Magic but I just didn't get that. I felt like I was back home in New England. Expensive rooms, high brow guests.... I just didn't enjoy it.

What is a hotel that just has that amazing Disney feel...

Thanks for weighing in!

 

[Lucille]

It's so strange to me that so many people mentioned the Contemporary. I've never stayed there (never will) but based on pictures of resort grounds/rooms...it's easily my LEAST favorite. I just think it's so ugly. And not Disney-like at all to me.

 

[Disneydreamer23]

probably because the monorail comes right through, when you walk out of your room you dont walk out side you can look right down and see charcters breakfast etc and see mickey minnie and all the gang, they have 2 very large gift shops another eating place and a great view! ive never been there either but I ate there

 

[roadtripper]

To me Disney's job is to take you to a place and/or time you could not normally be part of. If I can go to New England rather easily and find a hotel similar to Y&B Club than I don't really feel that Disney has "plussed" my experience that much. The pool is killer, they did a great job there, but doesn't quite make me feel like a pirate or fisherman might feel back in the day.

The boardwalk part of the Boardwalk makes me think about when I was a kid on the old boardwalk at the Jersey shore and they used to have mini golf on every roof and games for kids in the middle, much more kid oriented than it is now.

POR takes me to the deep south and a more relaxed style of living, lush greenery everywhere, living along the river, etc.

AKL obviously makes you think you're on the savannah, a view that most of us will never see in our entire lives, only drawback is that the staff is very American, wish AKL was a bit more like Africa in AK.

The Contemporary has a very stoic feel to it. That is, I don't get any specific feelings at all from it. To me it doesn't scream Disney, even with the monorail.

Poly is themed very well. Takes me to Hawaii, a place I may get to one day but not for a long time.

 

[kittybubbles]

I too have often wondered what people meant when they would say things like 'the Swan/Dolphin doesn't have that Disney feel to it'. I just feel it does have a theme and it shares the Boardwalk area of Disney's EPCOT hotels. I do think Disney does do a great job at theming to the area the hotel should represent (the Keys, New Orleans FQ, a wilderness lodge....). Heck, I feel Animal Kingdom Lodge is an extremely unique experience.

But I assume what I think of and what the OP is really getting at is that something along the lines of the new Animation section by Pop will have a 'Disney' feel. I think All Star Movies is close to that as well as Pop (some characters represented around property and such. I imagine the Monorail line hotels since you see the monorail and think of Disney or maybe Wilderness since you can see the boats heading to Disney.

Anyway, I guess I am not sure why people bring the lack of a 'Disney feeling 24/7' as a negative against Swan/Dolphin....

 

[Mikester71]

Have ONLY stayed at Pop, four times in fact, and loved it every time! We have never heard anybody in the rooms on either side of us during any of our stays, and that is going during peak season. This past trip in March, we were put in a connecting room with a family we didn't even know (thankfully there are locks on both rooms) and we still didn't hear a peep out of them. We are only in our room to sleep, so maybe 8-9 hours tops. And we all LOVE the theming and the fact that they have some of the best bus service in WDW and the fact that they have 3 pools and a large cafeteria. Even if my wife and I end up going back next year by ourselves, both of us still want to stay at Pop. We could spring and stay at one of the higher up ones, but why bother really. We would rather spend that money on other things down there and to use towards our off property excursions!

 

[roadtripper]

For some of the resorts; such as the Contemporary, GF, Boardwalk, Y&B Club, the location is part of the experience. Being within eye sight of the parks adds to the theme as a whole so the actual resort doesn't have to go as far to create a Disney feeling. The view and the proximity to the action gives you the feeling. The Allstar and Pop Century resorts seem to have the best Disney theme to me, but location warrants that they must feel more Disney than others.