Outside the Parks - A Guide to Visiting the Resorts of WDW pt. 1

EVERYBODY that goes to Walt Disney World visits the four theme parks.  A lot of those same people visit the two water parks, Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach (particularly in the summer).  One of the most missed treasures by those that aren't actually staying in them are the resort properties that make up Walt Disney World's 25,000+ accommodating rooms.

The last time that I was at Disney around Christmas, my mother took us to a few of the resorts to look at the Christmas decorations.  I love Christmas time for a number of reasons, but the decorations are on of the big ones.  I intend to do the same decorations tour that I went on previously, but expand on it.

This post is not an advertisement about staying in the resorts - you won't find any information about pricing or what the rooms are like.  This post is an exploration of the common areas of each of the resorts, and what makes them unique - so much so that you'll want to visit!

(A quick note - all of the photos in this post are (c)Disney.  No infringement intended)

Disney's All-Star Sports, All-Star Movies, and All-Star Music Resorts

               

The novelty in these resorts is in the oversize-ness of EVERYTHING.  Each section of each resort is themed appropriately (at AS Sports, there's a football section, a basketball section, etc.) that coincides with the overall theme of the resort.  The pools are fun to see too - particularly the piano pool at AS Music.  Each of the resorts has a themed food court where the food's pretty decent.

Disney's Pop Century Resort

This resort is particularly fun for adults who grew up in the 60's, 70's, 80's, or 90's (scary we can call people who grew up in the 90's adults...).  It's themed similarly to the All-Star Resorts, but with some twists - each section is themed for a different decade, with oversized pop culture icons in each one.

Disney's Art of Animation Resort

This is one of the newest resorts in the Disney portfolio, and I've never actually seen it, so naturally, it's one of my first stops.  The best I can tell, it is similarly themed to Pop Century and the All-Star resorts, with the focus being Feature Animation.  Each section is apparently themed with a different movie (I know one section is the Little Mermaid).

Disney's Port Orleans Resort - Riverside & French Quarter

Honestly, I've never visited these two resorts.  From what I can gather, they are styled after turn-of-the-century New Orleans, similar to the movie "The Princess and the Frog" - except the resorts have been around a lot longer than that.

Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort

This resort was one of the first resorts after the original three opened.  It is styled after a brightly colored, tropical island paradise.

Disney's Coronado Springs Resort

This resort is styled around the turn-of-the-century gold rush march towards the west.  Modeled after the Mojave homes of the southwest, it also is home to one of WDW's convention centers.  There is an INCREDIBLE food court in there, with different types of food from around the world that you can mix-and-match.

We'll explore the other half of the resorts in pt. 2!

A Stranger in a Strange Land

As a kid, I never was very concerned with what into our trips to Disney - deciding where to stay, how we were going to get there, which parks to go to which day.  With regards to all of those things, my siblings and I were at the mercy of our mother (the time-share queen) and our father (the unofficial chauffeur).  We just got in the car when we were told and taken wherever we might be going that particular day.

For this trip, though, I'm totally on my own with every aspect of the trip - from planning to booking to scheduling where I want to go.  It's a little tedious, but so far, I've kept the trip reasonable.  Here is the method that I have used thus far to keep myself from going insane.

                                                                                                             

Step 1:  When was I going to go?

I knew before I even started planning my trip that I wanted to go for at least 10 days, maybe even 2 full weeks.  I looked at a few different times of year, including late May (before the kids get out of school for summer), early June, and early December.  I decided on early December for a few reasons:  1) I may take college courses in the fall, and my trip would come right after finals ended; 2) I'll be there before kids get out for winter vacation; 3) the Christmas decorations will already be up; and 4) my birthday is three days before Christmas, so this is kind of a birthday present to myself.

I work a full-time job at a hotel, but aside from having to take the time off work, I really could go any time of the year I wanted.  I know the best times to go are from the week after New Year's through President's Day weekend, and from the beginning of August to late September, but those two times of the year wouldn't really work for me, which I'll explain in the next step.

Step 2:  How am I going to get there?

This one was a no-brainer for me - I have some frequent flier miles that expire at the end of 2013, and it just so happens that I have enough to purchase my plane ticket to Orlando and back.

Previously when I've tried to plan trips, I've considered renting a car, which comes out to about the same price from where I live.  The only real problem/consideration with that was 16 hours alone in the car (if I were to drive straight through) and two extra added days to my trip.

Step 3:  Where am I going to stay?

This is the biggest decision when planning this trip - the dreaded question...ON-PROPERTY or OFF-PROPERTY

dun...dun...DAAAAA

Of course, I'm teasing with how dreaded it is, but still it's a tough decision to make.  I've always wanted to stay on property (one of these days, I'll stay in a suite at the Grand Floridian...), but was this the time to do it?

I started by looking at the three value resorts - Disney's All-Star Movies, All-Star Music, and All-Star Sports resorts.  The perks of staying in these resorts would be endless - Extra Magic Hours (where you get to enter a select park each day an hour before it opens), so much Disney "fluff" that it makes your eyeballs hurt, the benefit of having your park ticket and room key in one card, ease of transportation between the resort and the parks, and the list goes on and on and on.  When it came right down to it, though, I had to ask myself...what are you going to do in the hotel?  Spend half of every day watching TV while the parks beckon from afar?  NO!  You need somewhere to take a shower in the morning and sleep at night.  That's why I decided on an off-property hotel (not to mention paying about half as much per night).

The off-property hotel I'm (hopefully...I haven't made my reservation yet :-/) staying at has a free shuttle to Disney, and has a bed and a shower - those are really the only three things that one would need for a trip to Disney.

So there you have it, my first three big steps to planning my trip - When am I going, How am I getting there, and Where am I staying?  Now that those fun ( (-__-) ) logistics things are out of the way, I can start planning for the real fun!

An Introduction...

I'm planning a trip for this December, and it will be the first time I've gone to WDW all alone. I've gone several times in the past - with my parents and siblings, with my high school choir. The last time I went was in the Spring of 2006 (almost 8 years ago!) when I was 18 - this year, I've decided to gift myself a trip with the help of some American Airlines frequent flier miles that expire at the end of the year.

There are a few reasons I want to take this journey. The first is that I've always loved Walt Disney World - even as a child and teenager. The next is that over the course of the last 8 years, I've followed blogs on the progress that the resort is making, and I want to see these changes for myself.

Leading up to my trip, I will explore more issues that I encounter with the planning, the logistics, and the overall spirit of my trip. I've looked through a lot of blog posts by Moms talking about planning their trips around their kids - what about the grown ups!  We need the love too!  I hope that my trip will not only be inspirational for other singles, but also for any adult who thinks that a trip to Disney is just for families with kids.

Join me on my journey!