On this episode we review the 15 resorts we have stayed at on Disney property and off! We go over some pros and cons of each and discuss our favorite resort!
[00:00:04] And welcome to The Enchanted Mic Podcast. I'm Daniel. And I'm Michelle. And you're listening to episode two of our Enchanted Mic Podcast, where we will be talking about resorts, one of our favorite topics. It's a great topic. Absolutely. We thoroughly enjoy the resorts we stayed at. We stayed at 15 of them, one of them four times, and I think we stayed at four resorts off property. Yeah, we love staying on property. It is definitely a hard
[00:00:31] choice to stay off or on property, and you have to really look at budget and the perks of staying on property, and we choose on. On property, because we do not like the FOMO you feel when you stay off property, but we have, and I think we're actually going to be staying off property again this year at some point. Yeah, we usually do mostly on, and then at least one or two trips off a year if we had to balance out the budget. But there are some really great perks for staying on property. Yeah, which we'll get into. We also, the reason
[00:00:59] why we want to make episode two of this one is because we started ranking all the resorts on our way home after our trips. Right. One through ten, so. But after I get down, we get down with every resort, we'll look at each other and be like, okay, zero to ten, what do you think, you know? And we would take an account, like, theming, theming, location, restaurants, the vibe of the restaurant, or vibe of the resort, pools. How comfortable, yeah. Is there a playground? How comfortable is the bed?
[00:01:25] I mean, and just kind of go over what we thought it was. So it became kind of fun then. And then off that, we decided to stay on every, we want to try to do every single on-property resort. Absolutely. And I mean, when you make your Disney vacation plan, other than deciding when you're going to go, the next most important thing would probably be where you're going to stay. Yeah. I mean, it really can hone in and really expand the magic. I think when you get back to your
[00:01:50] hotel and it's the friendly cast members and a really nice magical theming. And I don't know, there's just something so comforting about it. Yeah. I mean, you're always within, if you're in the bubble, it's Disney all the time there. I mean, when you go through the gates, they say welcome home. Yeah, I know. It's the little things like that that really just make the magic more magical. I don't know if that's how you say it, but we've really enjoyed staying on property. And we have some, a few that we do like off property too, closer to Disney Springs. We really, really love the Disney
[00:02:20] Springs area. That's why Saratoga Springs is our favorite resort so far. So we have made a goal of staying at every Disney resort at some point. We have to stop booking the Saratoga Springs, but it's just a go-to, it's just easy. We absolutely love being able to just go at the end of the park day and go over and grab some dinner, go for a walk, go and enjoy the Christmas shop over there. It's just a really great location for us. We've enjoyed it. Yeah.
[00:02:47] So, but we've decided to do, me and Daniel do a little game when we go out to eat. And we always like to see what is going on at Disney as we have. I'm sure some of y'all can relate to this when you're at work or far from Disney, you want to check the wait times. Always Disney dreaming. So that's right. So we're going to start with Tron light cycle. What do you think it is? Okay. So we're talking about the wait times currently. Okay. So what time is it? Let's say it is. It's 2.30 on a Monday. 2.30 on a Monday.
[00:03:15] Okay. Ooh. After lunch, I'm going to go 90 minutes. No. Lower. Ah, 60? Close. 55. Oh. Oh. That's not bad, actually. That's actually really low. All right. Space Mountain. 45. 35. Oh my goodness. It's a great time to be in the parks. I know. We should be there. Where are all the people? All right. Seven Dwarves Mine Join. 75. Close. 65. Okay. That's still not terrible. It's actually a pretty good time.
[00:03:43] Yeah. So, hmm. Okay. So if you're in the parks right now, it must be a pretty decent day. Must be nice. I know. Yeah. So, all right. Well, let's get started into, we're going to talk about the perks of staying on property. Okay. So one of the main ones is their early entry. Rope drop 30 minutes prior. Get you through security. 30 minutes before rope drop. Yes. Well, yeah. 30 minutes before the park opens up to everybody else. So, you get through security. You get to, you can do two, probably three rides prior to the park opening. Right. Before the lines really get long.
[00:04:13] After that, cruise control. Like you can relax, set up your multi-pass lighting lanes. It's a really nice way to try to get some of those rides or attractions that have notoriously longer waits at a shorter line and try to get that done and move on to other ones. And it's nice to. Yeah. So that's a great, great perk to have. Also, if you stay in a deluxe, you get extended hours after the parks close. Extended evening hours. Evening hours. Yeah. So we've definitely utilized those. We use that the most, I think. Well. We did. We did.
[00:04:43] And then we had kids. Now we do the early entry. Yeah. It's usually from like 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. in Epcot, Magic Kingdom, or Hollywood Studios. Yeah. And so with that, it's amazing because there's very rare times where you can go to the parks and have a very small crowd size. I mean, the crowds are always there, even when you look at the crowd calendar. But. The rides are usually walk-on. Yeah. It's deluxe hours. It's only the guest staying at deluxe resorts. And so it really
[00:05:11] cuts down the crowd significantly. And it gives you a different view of the parks because now you're there at night. It's not as hot outside. Oh, yeah. It's not as hot. So it's well worth the extra price, I guess you could say. Yeah. It's a little bit harder with young kids unless your kids sleep in the stroller. Ours do not. Or you have older kids, which would be nice. Yeah. Older kids are not going. Or if your kids sleep in the stroller, that's, that's, it's a great, it's a great perk to have. Absolutely. So the next one would be the Lightning Lane Passes. If you're staying on property, it is seven days out before your trip starts. You can book it.
[00:05:40] Yeah. The multi-pass. Multi-pass. Yep. And then the off property is three days prior to your trip. It's a huge change because then you can really book some of the bigger ones like Slinky Dog Dash. Is that one on multi-pass? Yeah. I believe so. And we used it last time we went in October for Magic Kingdom and it was actually really good. We loved it. We got to do a bunch of stuff that we usually wouldn't be able to do or wouldn't have the patience to do with a toddler.
[00:06:06] Yeah. It would, it would, it would be dicey. But with the seven days before and, you know, you're always trying to say, is this going to be worth the cost? Because everything ends up being pretty pricey and doesn't it? Yeah. And I think we paid like 22 to $25 a person. Yeah. For Magic Kingdom. For Magic Kingdom. And then Animal Kingdom was 17 per person. 17 per person. So. Yeah. Another thing is you get complimentary parking at the resort or at the parks. So that's nice. We do preferred parking. Yeah.
[00:06:32] So that's an extra 25, that's just $25 since we usually stay on property. Yep. So then you can park, if you do preferred parking, you park so close to the front of the park. Everything but Magic Kingdom. We don't, we don't do preferred parking in Magic Kingdom. Yeah. We've done it once, but it just, you prefer parked at the TTC. So it's kind of. Yeah. Highly recommend a bus. Yeah. For that. A bus or other form of monorail of transportation for that. Yeah. Depending on where you stay. But it's really nice not to, a lot of the, all of the Disney on, resorts on Disney property
[00:07:00] do not have a resort fee and they do not have a parking fee anymore. So. So that's a, that's a huge benefit because when you're staying off property, really you have, it is less expensive, but you also have to look at parking. If you have a car, if you don't, then it definitely is less expensive that way. But then you also have to look at the resort fee. So sometimes resort fees can really get up there. Yeah. Especially if you're staying, you know, more than two, three days, you know, if you're staying five days or a week, that resort fee and parking fee can add up quick. So. Definitely. Obviously another thing is the theming and all the resorts on property. Yes.
[00:07:30] It's all there. So it's amazing. So. Yeah. When you say off property, you're going to get, I mean, there's nice resorts off property, but they're not that Disney magic. They don't have, I mean, when we walk in, like we were talking about when we, one of the little things when you're on property, then when you walk in, they have your name usually on the TV and it says welcome and it says your family name and they play Disney music in the background. With the park time scrolling through. Yes, the park time scrolling through. Yeah. So it's like little, those little things. And then when you, of course, when you drive
[00:07:56] through, it says, you know, welcome home and just little touches like that can make a difference. Absolutely. Also they have the best pools. Clearly all the resorts do. So, and then this year you get on the day you check in at a Disney resort, you get access to the water park for free. Yeah. And that's a great perk. Definitely. I mean, we haven't tried it and we've never actually been to a water park. Well, when I was younger, but nothing like, nothing, you know, recently or in the last decade.
[00:08:26] So hopefully we will try this in April when we go. So we'll see. See how to utilize. So, all right, let's get into it. Let's get into our favorite resort, Saratoga Springs. Ah, that's our favorite. Yep. So we stayed there December of 23. For the fourth time. For the fourth time. Yes. So, um, one of the main reasons is Disney Springs. That's why I was there. Like we were saying. Proximity to Disney Springs is huge. We love going to the parks for a half day, coming home, taking a nap, and then finish out the rest of the evening at
[00:08:53] Disney Springs, walking around and doing some shopping and window shopping mostly. I know, right? It's a quiet resort. I mean, it's, you can walk by the lake. It's not far from Disney Springs, depending on where you stay. And we tried to do the preferred. The first time we stayed, we were in the very last building. Um, that was like a 30 minute walk. So we were like, this is not, this is not for us. This is, this is not walking. You walk in the parks all day. So the last thing you want
[00:09:19] to do when you get to your resort is walk another mile there and back, you know, once you eat, you're tired and you just want a short stroll. So, and the first time we stayed, it wasn't updated. So it was not now everything's updated. I believe that when we stayed, it wasn't in the beds were really hard. It was not comfortable, but we gave it another shot and we did the preferred and we usually stay in Congress park. So that's, that was nice. It's 10 minutes at Disney Springs, if that, right at the back entrance. And we usually have some beautiful
[00:09:47] view, whether it's of the golf course of, well, I don't know if it's a golf course, usually the lake. Yeah. Usually get a courtyard or we have a lake view. So it's been really nice. So there's balconies. So that's what, yeah. Um, some of the downsides, it is kind of far from the parks. Um, you, the buses have multiple stops, you know, if you're coming from the parks back to the resort, um, by a four or five stops. Yeah. That's absolutely true. Um, food selection, artisan palettes. Good. Um, they have a restaurant, but we don't ever go. We've
[00:10:16] never been to it because you go to Disney Springs and you got an abundance of restaurants. Why would you go there when you have like the most amazing restaurants within 10 minutes of walking distance and yeah. And then obviously with all DVCs, there is no daily room service. Yeah. That's something to note too, because I think, I know we talked about this, but I think they might do the trash, but I'm not sure, but, but they do give you like a vacuum and paper plates, paper plates. And they do, yeah, they give you a couple kitchenette type things. They have
[00:10:43] great little things to have like a, um, efficiency. So things that you have, but as far as like full room service. Yeah. And then luggage carts are few and far between just be aware of that. So, but that it is our favorite resort. If we were ever to become DVC members, that would be the one we would make our home. Yeah. It also has a playground too, which, you know, it's, it's really nice. And you have a kiddo at the end of the day and then they take a nap and then they're ready to play again, but you're not quite ready to go back to the park. So
[00:11:11] you can take them down. They have a playground. They have a really nice, um, kids pool too. Kids pool with a little toddler slide. Yeah. A little waterfall. And so the pool is real nice. They have multiple pools. So, um, we just, it's our favorite resort. And if you're in the golf, it's on the golf course. Yeah. I forgot to do the golf. We don't do golf, but if you've. Yeah. And they have the tree house villas, which are further away. So there's We always drive past them. We've never seen them. We never stayed at them, but one day. All right. Let's move on to the contemporary resort. We stayed in this in November of 23.
[00:11:41] I love the contemporary. So, I mean, the main draw to this one is the monorail that goes through it and then the proximity to magic kingdom. Walking is key here. It is amazing. Being able to just get on foot and walk to magic kingdom and bypass buses and monorails. Yes. It's huge. And it's so nice at the end of the day too, when you're at the magic kingdom and you're like, all right, well, let's go home and take a walk or let's go home and get a snack. You're not waiting in line of the monorail or for the buses where those lines
[00:12:09] can get crazy, especially at park close. You just walk right back to your resort and you are there. It's nice. Security check. It's one little security check. You go through it quick. You're not in the long line that everyone else has to go through. I mean, it's an older resort. It definitely shows its age. Yeah. They've updated the individual rooms are much better, but the actual exterior and like the inside parts of it kind of show its age. I think it was futuristic back in the day. So it's like what they thought futuristic was in the
[00:12:36] sixties. It's themed by the Incredibles now. So our last, our room was themed Incredibles, which is awesome. It's a large, large room. The inside of the rooms looks really good and they're huge. I thought the rooms are quite large. Yeah. Very surprised by that. Yeah. They're, they're, they're beautiful. And there's also this, so this is a conference resort. So there's a lot of open spaces down like the escalator. So when you're trying to have a toddler burn some energy, he just ran up and down the hallways and we would ride up
[00:13:04] the escalators, go down the stairs. And then there's, I mean, these hallways were huge. And so he would just, if they're not having a conference, of course he would just run around and it was like, and nobody was there. It was just like this beautiful blank space. Yeah. It was great. And then obviously character dining is there. Chef Mickey's. So that's there. I can't wait to do that. I want to do that. It's all that goes through it. Um, so the pool was, it's okay. It's not, I mean, it's just a normal pool. The splash pad was nice. The splash pad was very nice. The pool I think was
[00:13:31] average. I mean, it's nothing to write home about. The Steakhouse 71. It was amazing. So good. We've been there several times. We've done breakfast a few times and we've done dinner. We do love the brunch there. Yeah. It's very fancy, but it is delicious. Yes. Very good food. So, um, yeah, that, that's a contemporary, which would bring us right into Bay Lake Tower, which is connected to the contemporary. Which is the DVC version of contemporary. It's connected with a bridge on the fourth floor. Now that we say they're
[00:14:00] a good, well, 2022, December of 22. Yeah. So we, we enjoyed that. Um, the bridge is awesome because at night, if you're home with the toddler, you can sit on the bridge. They pipe music in onto the bridge. You can watch the magic kingdom fireworks. That's really cool. That's a really magical part of staying there because you can, you don't want to quite be in the park. So it's kind of past bedtime, but you can just come down to the bridge and they pipe this beautiful music and there's a ton of people staying there with you. So you still kind of get that magical feeling
[00:14:25] because everybody's so excited to watch it. And then the rooms have a little kitchenette, like a galley kitchenette. So it's kind of an interesting setup. That's a, this is the only room we've ever seen set up at Disney like this where it's almost like a galley kitchen. And at the time we went, I was still nursing. Yeah. And so I had, you know, all the pumping and milk storage stuff. And it was really nice to have like a separate area away that felt very safe and compartmentalized to put that there. So it was a nice little area. That is a DVC. So no, no room service. You have to walk to the contemporary to get food.
[00:14:55] There's no restaurants in Bay Lake. If you have a lake view room, you will be able to see the electrical parade, which is nice. We saw a part of it. We did not have a lake view. We did not, but you could kind of see some of it. If you put your head all the way out of the balcony and then just tilted it, you could see some of it. So, you know, so just depends on what you counted it and you can get, um, resort or park view rooms, which are obviously more expensive. Absolutely. We had a parking lot view. Which is fine. Yeah. Which is fine.
[00:15:23] We didn't do the pool there. I think it's just the contemporary pool. I believe. I don't know if they have an actual Bay Lake pool. Yeah. I'm not sure if Bay Lake has a separate pool. So, all right. So our next one is the Polynesian Resort. So this one has... We need to put a disclaimer out there with this one. Disclaimer on this one. So we went in October of 2020. Pretty much height of COVID. Light of COVID restrictions. So I know everybody loves this resort and we really want to love it. We really do. Um, but when we went, it was a very lackluster, very dis... not disappointing, but just kind of like a letdown.
[00:15:53] Yeah. Um, and I don't think it was... Which we kind of knew there had some COVID stuff going on, but they were... Working through... Like they were doing the monorail entrance of the Poly. So we couldn't get on the monorail. They were doing all the monorail. That's right. The entrance of the monorail. So then the monorail was down. Yeah. So we couldn't get on the monorail from the Poly. Had to walk to the TTC. Um, Ohana's was closed. Trader Joe's was closed. The pool was closed. There was no music on the beach to watch the fireworks. And there was very strict mask, um, precautions. So that's one thing with Disney. We went a
[00:16:22] lot during COVID. Um, and... Which was nice because there was nobody in the parks. That's right. It was very... Of course, park capacity was lowered, um, due to the safety concerns, but there was masks. I mean, cast members would walk around. Like if you were inside and we were in the lounge area, cause that was the only thing that was open was the lounge and you, you put your food, your mask on to eat your food or take a drink. They would like make sure you put it up like right away, like right, right there. And they would comment if you didn't. So it was very, um, kind of jarring, but I mean, I understand the
[00:16:50] safety concerns, but it was again, a different experience. Yeah. And we've been there since, you know, to eat or to... Not as, yeah, just to go in. And the vibe is awesome. Like it's fully open obviously, but... They did have Dole Whips. They did have Dole Whips. So that was a redeeming factor. Yeah. That was one thing we... The room was nice. It had the, uh, the two head shower with a waterfall shower head, I believe. Yeah. And it actually, I mean, the interior was really nice. It had kind of those dark, darker woods, darker colors, if I remember right. It had a nice balcony. I think we were on the ground floor for that one.
[00:17:18] Yeah. They would walk out so we could walk out the back door and then kind of head towards the park. So it was nice. Yeah. Sliding glass doors. They had those really beautiful, um, ghasts, tiki torches that are, I mean, it's really beautiful when you walk around. And so that was kind of our, that was, we enjoyed that factor. We'll say some of the other things are a little bit rough. Yeah. Definitely got to try it again. Oh, the other thing is transportation. You could take your boat over. That was really cool too. Yeah. You could take the boat and now you can do the monorail on the boat to get to... And I don't remember if the boats were running when we went there because of the restrictions too. Yeah.
[00:17:47] They might've been, but I can't remember. But you couldn't sit on the beach because I didn't want people crowding. Yeah. We definitely got to redo this one. We do. We do. So those of you who love it, give us grace. We will, we will try again. Yeah. So, all right. So the next one is actually an off, well, not really all property, but it's the Swan and Dolphin. We stayed there in October of 2019. Oh wait, no. Yep. So we did the Swan and Dolphin. So it is a partner hotel and it's also considered a deluxe.
[00:18:15] It is considered a deluxe. Yes. And it's quite expensive. It's quite expensive. It's a Marriott hotel. So if you have Marriott points, you can obviously book a room. Um, it's walking distance to Hollywood studios, closer to Hollywood studios than F-Clock. So it's on the, it's kind of on the board. It is on the boardwalk. Yeah. It's on the boardwalk. It's part of the boardwalk next to the beach and yacht club. And you can walk over there. It's, the rooms are, you know, when we went again, I think there's been some updates since then. But when we went, it was rooms are kind of like standard hotel rooms. I mean, nice hotel rooms.
[00:18:45] Nothing to write home about. Yeah. But they've just recently updated them. They don't have balcony. So most deluxes when you stay on Disney property have balconies. This one did not. Yeah. I remember you were standing in the window. I was standing in the window trying to watch fireworks from Epcot. Yeah. That was awesome. So I think it was the drone show or something that they had or maybe it was new. It was, it was with the, um, the jet skis. Yeah. Okay. When they had it at Epcot, the jet skis. I was trying. So
[00:19:10] I was literally like inside of the window trying to peer out. So, um, yeah, they don't have the balcony, but it's a standard hotel room and it does have, you do have transportation. Yeah. You can do the boat transportation. Yes. The friendly boats. They call them. Yeah. Yeah. And then it has transportation to all the other parts. Via bus or you can walk. There's two restaurants inside. So we ate at the blue suit. Can you get through the, um, Skyliner from there? If you walk to Hollywood Studios. Okay. Okay. Yep. Um, some of the,
[00:19:38] this one does have a resort fee and parking fees. Um, I think I looked it up. Um, it's $50 a day for the resort and then 36 a night for parking up to five nights. Yeah. It's great. Valley is 44. Yeah. So that can add up quick if you stay up to five nights. So, um, no Disney theming, obviously you can't use your magic bands. And that's like one of the, again, one of those little things that just sets off on property when you can use your magic band to open the door. You don't
[00:20:05] need anything else. You've been using it all day to pay for stuff. Yes. You've linked it to your cards. You can use it all day and then just use it to open your door. It just, and then all of a sudden, you know, you can't, which is again, not a huge thing, but it's just those little things. Yeah. But you do get the deluxe, um, extended magic hours at night. You do. Yep. And early, early morning, it does have those perks too. Early morning. But no Disney dining plan with this one. Okay. And you, I guess you do get, it's, it's, I want to say it's a,
[00:20:35] it's a nice, like when you walk into the hotel, you do get a feeling. I don't know if it's that the smell, this smell and it smells so good. And it's really beautiful. I mean, it's absolutely beautiful, but I'm trying to get like, very unique. You don't get the same like feeling when I walk into, you know, like wilderness lodge or, you know, so it's, it's a great one. It's just to me, a very expensive for the same perks. So, um, and that'll take us to the next one, which is right next to it, the boardwalk boardwalk. And we love, we love this one. This one.
[00:21:03] I know there's something so charming about the boardwalk. It's, um, so we stayed there in December of 21. Um, it's in between Epcot and Hollywood studios. You can walk to either one. Um, it's about a mile walk to Hollywood studios closer to, it's a long, it's a long walk. Yeah. It's closer to Epcot. So that's nice. Um, you get the friendly boats if you want to take it. Yep. Friendly boats there. And the boardwalk is a really interesting area. I mean, it's just, it has these, you know, I don't say not Christmas lights, but they have this, you know, the lights
[00:21:32] along the boardwalk and the Surrey bikes. Atlantic city vibe. Yes. That's awesome. Um, boardwalk in particular, what we've really liked about it too, is they have this huge green space. Yes. And it's not sawed. It's the turf. Turf. They have this turf and they, during the day or even in the evening, they do, they can do like a little blow up movie, like a blow up screen with a movie plane. They have, they'll bring out balls and toys. And so my kid, when we would do is,
[00:21:58] Hey, this is a great green area. We can go and let them run around or crawl. The time he was crawling. So it was a great time to hear like go and crawl. Cause you don't really want him to crawl anywhere else on Disney property. No, that's great. They'll bring out a little fire pit and do s'mores during the winter. He likes to do the bubbles that he got in the park and other kids were there too. So it was a really great. Yeah. Making some shops on the boardwalk. Um, we ate at the Italian restaurant, uh, for no, it was really good. I mean, it has at the time it didn't really have good reviews. It has good reviews now, but when we ate there, it was amazing. It was so good.
[00:22:28] I know when I kind of saw it when I did the reviews or listened to the reviews on it, I was like, people really didn't like it, but it was delicious. It was very good. And then flying fish wasn't open at the time. Nope. It hadn't reopened yet. They were still waiting on the reopen. Yeah. So it was we did blue zoo. No, we did that at Swan and Dahl. That's right. It's hard to remember. Those two are so close. Um, some of the things that, that we noticed about it that we didn't really like, it is a deceptively large resort. Our room is at the very end towards Hollywood
[00:22:54] studios. And it felt like it took 20 minutes to get to your room. Like the halls kept going and going. And they were narrow too. They were so narrow. I was like, how big is this resort? I mean, at the end of the day, you're so exhausted and you're like, just looking forward to getting to your rooms. You go up these stairs and we would go and go and it would keep turning and turning and turning. I was like, is it ever going to end? So if you need extra steps, like, like anybody needs at a Disney, but, but absolutely. It's a, it's a large one. So
[00:23:23] I, we, I think if we stayed there again and we would do the preferred room just so it's closer. And we never, and at the time we didn't really see, we didn't check the pools out. We didn't know if there's a playground. Yeah. How's that creepy play? The creepy pool with the, um, the clown. We never checked it out, but I know it's there. I don't know if it's still there anymore. Oh, I don't know. At the time it was. The feature pool is a clown pool. Yes. Um, so. That's funny. So, all right. So our next one, we are going to do, this is the original, the original we did. No, wilderness lodge. No, animal
[00:23:51] kingdom was a lot. Oh yeah. Animal kingdom. Yeah. So yeah, that was our very first DVC rental. Yes. So we've heard about DVC rentals and we'll have to do this on another episode because we do a lot. That's the only way we can afford a deluxe is we rent points and we've had really good success with it. Um, but this was our original rental and what a way to start. I mean, animal kingdom lodge. And obviously the best thing about this is the animals. Um, if you can get a, we got upgraded to the Savannah room. We just, we did it. We
[00:24:18] just did a standard room, which would have been fine too, because you can walk out right out the doors. Um, when you get down to the resort, you can walk out these two beautiful glass doors and they have like this trail where you can walk and see all the animals and it's super beautiful. Yeah. And if you get a Savannah room with a balcony, it's amazing. Walk out on the balcony and you see giraffes and all the animals. Um, it's really cool. It's, it's really neat. It's very individual for that resort, right? Like you can't really experience that anywhere else. So, and then the dining options are
[00:24:47] great. Oh my gosh. The dining is so good. I've never done Boma, but we've done GQ twice. GQ twice. It's awesome. Yeah. And even a little lounge bar there is really nice too. Absolutely. I thought it was delicious. And GQ has tons of wine options too. So if you're like into wine or wine connoisseur, it's, it has thousands. And the theming is amazing. Very, you know, the African hardwood just. Oh, it's well thought out. Yeah. Beautiful. You get to different days. Kind of dark, dark lighting. It's really neat. Yeah. And then
[00:25:14] Christmas time is when we went. And so that's what was made it so amazing. The Christmas tree at Animal Kingdom Lodge is ginormous and so gorgeous. You could sit there. You just want to take pictures and you can't get an element. Probably that resort and Wilderness Lodge are probably the two best at Christmas. Top Christmas. Yeah. For us. And the room at Animal Kingdom, we say in studios, we've not said anything but a studio so far, but this, the studio room I thought was very comfortable. Yeah. It's dark. So it's kind of like this, I don't know. Kind of, you gotta,
[00:25:42] there's a bunch of, look for hidden Mickeys in the wood carved in there. Yeah. I remember the lighting and it was, it wasn't great, but it was kind of, but it was the mood lighting. Yeah, it did. It did. Total vibe. Um, some of the things that, you know, some of the cons of it, it is really far from the parks. Yeah. The main parks, you know, Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studio, Epcot. Right. It is close to Animal Kingdom, so that's nice. Yeah, it is close to Animal Kingdom. And they have transport via buses, but that's the only addition. That's the only addition. Yeah, only transport. Unless you drive.
[00:26:09] Right. The bus is the only way you're gonna get there. So, but, um, yeah, and also you gotta remember these are animals, so if you're expected to see animals every single time, just have expectations. Yeah. You may not see them. But if you say they're long enough, you will see them. Right. You can search them out, but they're not like, I mean, again, it depends on the time of the day and the weather. And you can always walk down the hallways on different floors and they have windows every hundred feet or so. You can look out on different parts of the savannah and you can see them that way too. I know. Well, I remember it was raining recently in February for our son's birthday and
[00:26:37] the park was freezing cold. The one time in Disney, it's freezing cold and it was raining and freezing. And I think I had COVID. So we ended up, we're like, what can we do that's inside? So we went over to Animal Kingdom Lodge and we just walked around the interior and looked out windows at animals. And so. That was awesome. Yeah. He ran up and down the hallways and we got to see animals through the windows. And the lobby is so cool too. Yeah. Beautiful lobby. So. All right. Let's move on
[00:27:01] to the Wilderness Lodge. Now we stayed at this one in December of 2020 when we did our split stay with Saratoga Springs. Right. This is still COVID. So again, everything we said it was just. Yeah. And it improved each month after October a little bit less. Yes it did. So we did our first night at Saratoga, which we hated. Like lackluster. And then we went to Wilderness Lodge, which is amazing. It was like a beacon of light. Yeah. Christmas set up. The big Christmas tree. Beautiful. The tree was gorgeous. Now again, a lot of the restaurants were closed. The only thing that was
[00:27:30] open was the Whispering Canyon, if I remember right. Their quick service was open too, but you couldn't like. They had a limited menu. Yeah. It was limited. So we got breakfast. The only thing we did there was breakfast on the quick service. Yeah. And again, lots of masks requirements. So you, anytime you left your room, if you had to put your mask on like right away or a cast member would get to you. So. And I don't really remember the room. Like. I don't either. I tried to see if we had pictures of it. But the lobby was so. Yeah. The lobby was so. Yeah. The lobby was so. Yeah. The
[00:27:56] lobby was so. Yeah. The room was. I don't remember anything bad about the room. No. I just don't specifically remember. I think the lobby is the centerpiece. Yeah. Absolutely. So. And then the theming. Well, they have this big fire pits too. When you walk in, they have, I mean, inside the lobby, they have huge fire pits. They have the waterfall too. Oh yeah. With the little bridge you walk over and the waterfall goes outside. And then the transportation, you got bus and you got a boat. And we did the boat quite a bit. Yeah. The boat was a really great perk of wilderness lodges. The taking the boat over.
[00:28:24] You walk down this kind of, you walk down a dock kind of through the nature. It's kind of like a nature walk almost. And then you end up on the, on the boat dock and you take the boat over to the Magic Kingdom. It's a different view too. So it's really neat. Any different transportation to Magic Kingdom is nice. So. Yeah. So, I mean, it can be expensive. Very expensive. This is one that's hard to book during Christmas. I mean, if you don't book it. A year out. Yeah. Oh, I guess we can, what, 11 months I think is when you can start booking it. If you don't book that. Or if you're only doing
[00:28:49] one day, you maybe be able to get it. But. Yeah. It's really hard. It's very hard. Even though you're right next to the monorail, there's no monorail access. I know. So. And the rooms, I think the rooms are a little bit smaller. Smaller. So. Yeah. But it's, if you can get it during the holidays, do it. Do it. All right. So our first value resort. Yeah. And this one I really enjoy. Now this is our second value resort. What was the first one? The first one. Yeah. So we did. So this one is also our sports resort. We did this in October of 2023. Yeah. So pretty
[00:29:17] recently. I really enjoyed it. I know people are like, it's, it's probably the least expensive value resort that Disney offers. And I really liked it. I thought our location, we stayed in the surf side. So that was right at the end. It was a building like right at the end. Right next to the pool. Right next to the pool. But also not far from our car. Facing the parking lot. Not the pool. Yeah. Which is nice. Because it can get loud. It can get loud. Ours, fortunately, was not super loud. But their rooms are very small. Very small. Very
[00:29:42] small. They are tight. Tight. Yes. But you can make it work. Yeah. Absolutely. We were right next to the pool bar, which was nice. TVs. You're kind of your standard pool bar. The quick service was awesome. It is built for high traffic, high efficiency. There's tons of food there. Tons of food. Various amount of options. So, I mean, you will not, not have fun. I'm a pescatarian. So it sometimes can be harder, but there was a million different options. Yeah. And then obviously the theming is spectacular. Everything's super sized. Yeah. I
[00:30:11] mean, that is, I mean, value resorts are going to be your high theming, like very in your face. And I love that. Yeah. It had a kiddie pool and it had your normal pool too. So the kiddie pool. I don't think this one had a splash pad. No, I just had that like six inch deep kiddie pool. Kiddie pool. And then it did have like little miniature slides into the pool, didn't it? I don't know. No, it was just a circle. Okay. Just a little circle. The circle. Okay. So. But it was still great. And it was great for the money because you're still getting those early morning hours. It, the room was, we fortunately were on the end piece there. So
[00:30:39] we didn't have a lot of noise. Yeah. However, some of the cons for this. Some of the cons are just, if you do book this, check on the dates for the cheer competitions and. Pop Warner has a big conference here or a big competition here. It will be very crowded and very loud with cheerleaders and football players. So just check on that. Like she said, our other rooms are kind of small. Yeah. I mean, but they need to resort and they're large and the resort's large and the resort large, the rooms are small. Yes. Resort is large, room is small and then
[00:31:08] bus transportation at peak times can get pretty crowded. It tends to move fast because there's a bus like every 10 minutes, but yeah, the lines can get, get pretty long. Yeah. And this one's pretty far away if you're driving. Yeah. I think you're kind of closer to Animal Kingdom. Okay. So, all right. So the next one is actually our first. This is the first value we stayed in. Yeah. Art of animation. So we actually got upgraded to the, the families, the Lion King. Family suite. So we booked a mermaid room, which is much
[00:31:34] further from the, uh, Skyliner. Yes. And then they upgraded us with a magical suite of the Lion King, which was really cool. I mean, it's a really neat. It's close to the, it's close to the food, close to the pool. It was very close to the Skyliner. Cause we, we don't know cause we'd never seen the mermaid rooms, but we were told the mermaid rooms were quite far from the Skyliner. We didn't realize this until we got on Skyliner and we looked over and I was like, I mean, this resort is huge. It just kept going. I was like, is that still
[00:31:59] art of animation? And it was. Yeah. Um, the pools are great. This one had a little, this is the top pool for, if you're going for the pool and a value, I think this is, this is zero entry. And then it had zero entry pool. It had a little rubber play area, but in our son at the time could only, he was crawling. He was crawling. He was able to crawl through it. It had a little slide. It was really neat. They had a little, like a miniature splash pad. Yeah. A little splash pad. So it was, it
[00:32:26] was really neat. And he really liked that. And then I think at one point I read this and I don't know if it's true that they used to play the music underwater. So if you went under, yeah, if you went underwater, you could hear the music playing. And I read that after we stayed, so I couldn't verify whether or not that's true or not, or if they still do it, maybe they'll do it. Uh, I'll start music when we go in April. I don't know if they do it there. I know they did art or that's where I read it, but they have some, when you're looking at family suites, if you're looking for something bigger, want to stand the value that only two places that have it or art of animation and all star music. So we've stayed
[00:32:56] here and the room was great because it was huge. It has two full bathrooms, full bathrooms and it has a little living room area and then a bedroom that you go to. It was a separate door. Yeah. King size bed. King size bed. So it was a really nice. Nope. Upgrade. That was fantastic. So, I mean, with any value resort, it gets loud. So just a little bit louder. If you don't mind that, you know, book something near the pool or if you do get near the pool, just be prepared. It'll be loud until that pool closes. Yeah.
[00:33:22] So I think that pools close at like 10. So it could get kind of loud. So if you have little ones, see if you can get something a little bit further away. I'll get a really loud white noise machine. Yes. So, all righty. So this is the next one is the one we most recently stayed at. The Grand Floridian. Yes. The one we did not belong in. We did not belong here. We did not. It was very bougie. It was gorgeous though. We went in October. I really want to go in December because I want to see the gingerbread house, but we ended up going in October, more
[00:33:51] affordable. And I mean, it's very luxury. It's very posh old Florida. Just, yeah, it's beautiful. I mean, the grounds are beautiful. It definitely feel the luxury when you're there. Yeah. You kind of feel special. You do feel special. The dining was awesome. Like we went to the Grand Floridian Cafe several times, went there for breakfast. We did a dinner. It's surprisingly good. Went for dinner there. Probably one of the best hamburgers I've ever had on property.
[00:34:18] And dad is saying something. You said that when we were there and I was kind of in awe. Steak on 71 has a phenomenal hamburger, but this one I think was better. That is. It had like fried brie on it. It was amazing. That's like shocking to me. And then they just opened up the character dining. Yes. We didn't get to do that, but we'll have to do that. 1923. Yeah. I've heard great things about it. Is it 1923? I think it's 1920. One of those. Anyways, it just opened like when we were there, like right before
[00:34:45] we got there. Yes. That looked really good. Obviously the con, the only con I can think of would be the price. The price. And we did eat at Narcoozy's, which is amazing. Narcoozy's, yes. That's another thing. Beautiful on property restaurant. You can get a reservation around fireworks time. That's, it's a circle. Yeah. It's right on the water. All glass windows. The pool was amazing. We did the pool. It has a big waterfall, a big slide. Yeah. He liked that. Yeah. So it has a little kitty pool too with like a structure in the middle that
[00:35:12] we did too. Yeah. And all the rooms have been upgraded in the Mary Poppins theme. And let me tell you, it is gorgeous. Yeah. The rooms are probably the nicest rooms. They have chandeliers with these glass little bird figurines. Yeah. It was awesome. And I mean, the wallpaper, the bedding, I mean, the beds are super soft. Yeah. So, I mean, it was just, it was really nice. Yeah. So, all right. So now we are going to the off property ones and this one is our favorite. I think we stayed at. Oh yeah. And this one is, I think, pretty heavily reviewed
[00:35:40] recently, but it's brand new. It's only been open for three years maybe. Yeah. Very recently. The Jewelry Inn at Disney Springs. Yeah. We stayed there in February of 24. Yes. And so with this one, it is a partner hotel and you get, you get the perks of that, which is the early entry. Early morning. Yeah. And you get to do seven, do you do seven days before? I don't think you can. Okay. It's just the early morning. Okay. Yeah. Just early morning. Um, but you get free breakfast and you get a free, you get free snacks at night, which it's actually a full dinner. Yeah. They say snacks. And let me tell you about the bang for your buck for
[00:36:09] this place. This is like a buffet of food. Yeah. It is hot dogs and tacos and they give you two drink tickets per, per 21 and older adult on your reservation. I mean, this is like, and then they do popcorn and sodas for snacks during the day. Plus this nighttime snack quote unquote, which is really like a dinner. So if you have somebody in your, like people in your party, like you're trying to save money because Disney food can be very expensive.
[00:36:38] This is where it's at. This is, this is the way to do it. Now it can be crowded. Um, Oh yeah. Breakfast and dinner can get crowded. So, but it's definitely worth it if that's somewhere you stay. The pool's nice. It's heated, has a splash pad, outdoor bar, indoor bar, has a little arcade. Yeah. It did have a little arcade. It's, it's a little bit further walking distance. It's about 15 minutes of Disney Springs, but I mean, it's totally worth it. And I think what we did, whether we should admit it or not, we went to the artisan
[00:37:04] pallet, quote unquote, went to the artisan pallet and park that car there at Congress park and then walked to Disney Springs. Saratoga Springs. So we kind of went over there and parked cause we were going to eat at artisan pallet. And then we just kind of walked that short distance at Disney Springs and then got back in the car. However, Drury's, the Drury Inn is definitely walkable. It's about 15 minutes. So give or take weather and how fast you walk. Um, but you have kids walking. There is, there is a parking
[00:37:29] fee, but there is no resort fee, which is nice, but you do get a parking fee. So, but that's, and I think we're going to be staying at that one in November. And they do have buses that deliver to go to the parks. Yep. And the rooms are really nice. They're tall ceilings, very clean obviously cause it's brand new. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. All right. Next one, the Hilton Buena Vista Palace. Again, this is a Disney Springs area. Yeah. It's Disney Springs area. So, and this one's closer than Drury? Yeah. It's right across the street from Disney Springs.
[00:37:59] Okay. And this was November of 2022. Yep. And so you can literally just run across the street and you're at Disney Springs. You can't take, there's a bridge that goes over, but it's a little bit further. We, I don't think, I think you're supposed to take the bridge. I think you're supposed to take the bridge. I think we illegally crossed the road. So yeah, if you have kids, take the bridge officially. So, um, the room we got was huge. Yeah. Couch, king size bed. Bathroom was a little small, a little dated, but out of balcony. I mean, for what, I mean, yeah,
[00:38:28] it did. And I think this one too has, um, fireworks view. You can get fireworks. You it's a little bit more, the rooms were large. Um, it was again, a little dated, but, but a nice, and I think it has a lot of other resort things that we didn't utilize. So I think it has a nice pool. I think it has a gym. I think it has, cause we met a couple there that was telling us they stay there all the time and they really utilize all the on property amenities. And this does have a resort fee. It does have a resort fee and a
[00:38:55] parking fee. Um, the food, uh, we didn't really use the food options. There was a little quick service that we grabbed. Yeah. They'll make pizzas and stuff. I mean, it's expensive though. That's the only thing. Yeah. And so again, when you're not that close to Disney Springs, it's to me. When you're at Disney Springs, you can get in the bubble, you know, so it, um, I mean, if you just need something real quick, you can get that, but it's a, it's nice. It's okay. Yeah. It's, it's a, it's a good option. So, all right. So the
[00:39:22] next one. All right. So we have the holiday in Disney Springs and I think this is probably the one we liked the least, least favorite. Um, talking about being outside the Disney bubble. Yeah. The only pros I have is the walking distance to Disney Springs and then everything else was kind of calm. Maybe the cost could be a pro cause I think it was cost effective. If I can remember right, I just wouldn't recommend it. As soon as we walked in, we got hit up for their timeshare and had to pull Michelle away because she was, I don't almost took line and
[00:39:51] sinker. I could never, I never can catch on to those things. And I thought, Oh, she was like, do you want free tickets to things? And I was like, Oh, of course I do. So I didn't really understand the significance of what they were doing. So like 22 minutes later after she was like, Oh, and sign up here, go ahead and say, you know, like we'll take you on this tour. And I was like, Oh no, I don't want to do any of that. As soon as you check in. Yes. And then it's right by the door. Anytime you're in the lobby, they were trying to do it. So, and the rooms were outdated, smelled like smoke. Oh, we had to remove rooms because
[00:40:19] one was, I think musty and smoky. Transportation is hidden. It's there, but it's definitely there. I think you had to schedule it. I believe, you know, like, so it was just, I think that's when we first started driving and because we knew we're annual pass holders. So you get free parking. So we're like, let's just use that. I think that's, yeah, I think this was the one that kind of, so we decided to do that. And I, I don't remember how close it was to Disney Springs. I feel like it was further. It's about a 15 minute walk. Okay. We did walk
[00:40:46] to Disney Springs. Okay. Yeah. So that, that's probably our least favorite. Yeah. And every time we try to walk out the door, they would like try to get you like, so it's, I think it's cost effective. It's not terrible. It's a standard hotel room. It's a little dated. Yes. So, all right. And so our last one is the very first one we stayed at. Yeah. This is the original. The original. It is the Hilton Mystic Dunes Resort. And we stayed in this in September of 2018. Yeah. This is the original one where you took me when we got our food and
[00:41:12] wine passes and it was in 2018. So quite a bit ago. Yeah. So, um, it was amazing. We loved this one. It's just really far away from the parks. Um, yeah, there's no Disney magic here. None. I mean, but it's a great size. Yeah. I think I paid, we paid $80 for essentially a one bedroom apartment. Yeah. I mean, it had washer and dryer. It had a full kitchen. It came with, I mean, it was like an efficiency of things. Right next to the pool, which had a big volcano waterfall. Waterfall. Nice pool bar with food. Uh, has a golf course, a putt-putt
[00:41:40] course. Um, had tons of amenities. I mean, and now you have to drive to them because it's a huge sprawling resort and it's almost like a condominium. Yeah. I think it's a timeshare too. Oh, that makes sense. Okay. Um, but it has Disney transportation, but with some of these places, you're going to stop at multiple hotels and resorts on your way. It was like, it was a, um, what are those places called? Like a, like a, I don't know, like a bus van. Yeah. And then it stopped at multiple places. So I think it took us like 45 minutes to an hour. Yeah. To get to the park. To get to the park. Cause you're stopping so many
[00:42:10] times. So just be aware if you do stay at this place. Um, there's a resort feed other than the pool bar. There really wasn't much. I think all they had was like pizza and chicken food was a little lackluster there. So I mean, but how you could, I mean, if you wanted to save money, you could go grocery shopping or having delivered and yeah. And he else, um, also we went to universal to stay there twice the second time we went to universal and it was about a 45 minute drive one way. One way, us driving, not even on the bus. That was us
[00:42:38] driving. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. It was just be aware of that. So nice room, but, but not definitely out of the bubble. Definitely. Uh, it's, it's a different experience. So, but yeah, so those are the resorts that we stayed at. Um, and see upcoming, we have in April, that's our next trip. And we're going to stay at all star music, family suite, all star music. And we're staying at a family suite. And I hear that one has two full bathrooms too. So I am looking forward to that. And it has a refrigerator, ladies and gentlemen, a full refrigerator, not a little
[00:43:07] cooler fridge. So I am nursing our new son, our new son, our current baby too. So we love that there's a full freezer and a full fridge, especially for toddler snacks. So I'm looking forward to review that. Yep. And then in November, we're doing the jury and December we are doing the key West one bedroom. Old key West, one bedroom. It's our first time, old key West and our first time in a one bedroom villa for DVC. So we are pretty excited. So if you have any questions,
[00:43:32] comments, email us at the enchanted mic at gmail.com or reach out on Facebook and Twitter. Yeah. Or X as it's called now. And, uh, we updated our audio. So let us know if you think of that. Yeah. We got some reviews saying that we needed to upgrade the audio because of the, static. Static. Static. And so, so we did that. And so hope, hopefully it's coming across clearer and you enjoyed the episode. All right. Y'all take care. Okay. Bye.