36. Walt Disney World best resort choices for 2024

I’m starting the new year coming in hot and refuting some of the latest 2024 Disney resort recommendations that are out there on the wild, wild web. Tune in for my exclusive picks, based on the criteria that truly matters when choosing the best accommodations for your remarkable vacation — sans kids.

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Previous Episodes Mentioned:
1: Welcome to the Disney Pod that's as Extra AF as you!
2: The 5 Top Disney World Dining for Adults
34. The 6 best dining experiences I had while traveling in 2023 & a visit from Cindy Chupack

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Transcript

Hello, my friends. It is I, Michele Schwartz, your OG memory maker from Makin' Memories Travel. Happy New Year. How are you? Are you all settled in for the New Year? Is your decor down, or are you one of those people who keep sit up until Valentine's Day? Your out of town visitors gone? Are you done traveling? Like, it's a lot. The holidays are a lot. Right? So you probably need a vacation. Am I right? So let's get right to it. So you know that I just love to refute other distant content that is out there in the www, the wild wild web, which you could be consuming.

I know. I'm not the only body you listen to. I got it. So why not start the year off just coming in hot? Recently, I heard a podcast which detailed the best Walt Disney World resorts for 2024, and I am sure you are not surprised that I can lately disagree with her on all her choices. Now granted, her selections were for a typical family of 4, butt. Here, we're all about the Disney vacations without the littles. And if you need a definition of littles, I refer you to my very first episode, number 1. So I did completely agree with how she evaluated the best hotel choices.

The location near the parks that you're going to be spending the most time in, AKA what are your favorite parks, What are the best parks? What are the hot new things? 2nd is construction at the resorts because Disney has so many of them But there is always a lot of construction going on, so we definitely wanna take a look at what that is all about. The third is ease and transportation to the parks. Are you gonna be on the Skyliner, monorail, a boat, or the dreaded bus to get to the theme parks from your resort. Then I added this one. She didn't take into consideration well, she might have, but it wasn't like a deciding factor of restaurants. So I added this one. I absolutely take into consideration the food. No surprise there, and what restaurants are there at the resort, and then how easy is it to get to Disney Springs where there's more great dining and or other resorts nearby where there could be great dining.

And then the theme and vibe at the resort was her last criteria that she used, which is also very, very important. So let's start at the bottom, what Disney calls their value resorts. Value resorts are pop century, all the all stars, music, sports, movies, And even art of animation. Even though its pricing isn't always considered value, you can fit, like, 6 or 8. Like, I've lost of how many people you can fit in one of those rooms. Hold on. Let me count my head. 2, 4, 6.

Yeah. You can fit up to 6 people in a room at art of animation. So if you're dividing the price by 6, it is still a value. So here's my thing on the value resorts. Just know they have no hot tub. There's no water slide. There's no insulation in the walls, so you hear everything in the room next to you. Wi Fi is sometimes hard to get, so it can be hard to get calls on your cell phone.

And what there is a lot of? Kids. That's right. That's where the littles, the pint sized entourage, whatever you wanna call them, the toddlers, That's where they are, and they're usually playing on the big playgrounds or that huge massive cute decor at the resort. So no. Just no value resorts for us. We are, after all, extra AF. So let's start at the mid. So despite all of my criteria, my favorite moderate resort is the Gran Destino Tower.

The Gran Destino Tower is the newest part of Coronado Resort. It definitely has a more adult vibe. It's got 2 of the best restaurants on property, Toledo, which is tapas, steak and seafood, and it rivals California Grill. And I actually mentioned Toledo in the episode that I did at the very beginning of this podcast as well. Episode number 2 on some of the best dining. It also has one that's on a lakefront, which has a great view and is unlike anything else, and then it's got some great lounges. The lobby of the Gran Destino Tower is done in a, like, Salvador Dali kinda mood. So there's lots of glass, like, overgrown flowers in the ceiling.

It's just really, really beautiful. So that's the pros. The cons, you are near animal kingdom, which is as far away from everything as you can get. So it is going to take you on the bus a good half hour to get to anywhere else. My solution to that, of course, is because I like staying there because it is a moderate, but it feels more like a deluxe resort is to Uber or Lyft. That's right. I don't have to worry about taking the dreaded bus even though that is all they offer. And one hack for that because I always like ticket to Epcot through the international gateway is I could take an Uber to a Skyliner Resort four to the boardwalk, and then I can take the skyliner to Epcot or I can just walk from the boardwalk.

So that's my hack for being able to stay at the Grand Casino Tower. Another reason that I will recommend that to guests who they wanna usually ask for deluxe resort is I would rather see them pay slightly less on their accommodations and put that money into the experience. And so do some of the behind the scenes things. Invest that in a VIP tour day. So stay at Gran Destino at the tower, get that deluxe resort feel at a nondelux resort price and then invest that extra money that you would have spent on your resort in experiences. So that's my top. Now I definitely have to give an honorable mention to the moderate resort of Port Orleans. It's got a boat to Disney Springs, so it's very easy to get to all the dining there.

It does have a really nice food court, which I enjoy. It's got the best lounge there is on property, the scat cat lounge that serves up warm beignets. I mean, it's awesome. You can get an outdoor carriage ride. The resort is small, not in number of people, but it's not as spread out as, for example, Caribbean Beach Resort. So, again, the only con is that it is a bus to all of the theme parks. It is, however, very, very centrally located. So it's a pretty quick bus ride wherever you're going, the studios at the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom.

It's just really centrally located, and it's right by Disney Springs. So, I mean, if you're going to Disney Springs and you're staying out late, you can just boat ride home. So that is a definite bonus to Port Orleans. Again, that hack for taking a Lyft or an Uber works there as well. Now this other person, this other podcast, her favorite moderate that she recommends is Caribbean Beach. Now granted, Caribbean Beach has done some renovations recently, which make its room's a little bit nicer. It's definitely an older resort, and I know that because I've stayed there the night that it first opened at Walt Disney World. Fan.

I was in my teenage years, so that was a hot minute ago. It is on the skyliner, is so big and has so many people staying at it that even walking to the skyliner from the room I stayed at last time was, like, I might as well have just walked to the theme park. It was so far away. Skyliner gets really, really crowded because at least in the prime time hours. Because, again, it's a huge, huge resort, and you have to figure that the typical room has 2 to 4 people. And that's just a lot a lot of people who are trying to get where you are trying to go at the exact same time. Now I will say the Skyliner does feed through a lot of people. I will also say that Caribbean Beach has a really good sit down restaurant that is not really ever crowded and that nobody really goes to called Sebastian's Bistro.

I will also say that it has a lot of Cajun food. So if anybody in your party has sensitivities to spice or, like, jerk chicken or Caribbean spices. There is not necessarily a lot of options. So I'm not a fan of Caribbean Beach. In fact, I have put it on my I stayed there enough list. Now on to the best category there is, the deluxe resorts. Now I know these are typically the more expensive and it's a huge part of your budget, thought Odell's Day. But there are a lot of specials.

In fact, there are new ones coming out for this year. So if you are interested in planning your Walt Disney World 2024 vacation, I encourage you to reach out to me this month in January Before all the specials go away, January is what's called wave season in the travel industry, which means that's the best time to book your vacation. I know it's right after the holidays and your budget might not look like you have a budget, but Consider that you just put a $200 deposit down and that is completely refundable until 30 days before your trip, 31 days before your trip, And you can make payments all the way along. So deluxe. Now, again, we're gonna take a look at what is happening at the theme parks, and where is the best, hottest place to hang out? Right now, that is definitely Epcot. Epcot has the 4 festivals a year. It has the best ride in galaxy of the guardians cosmic rewind. It has all the walls that have been up for 18 months have finally come down, and there's these beautiful new festival spaces.

Course, Epcot has the best in park dining. So Epcot is right now the theme park. It's awesome. Also happens to be very, very close to Hollywood Studios, which has all the Star Wars and the 2nd best ride anywhere, which is Rise of the Resistance and Slinky Dog Dash, which is a personal favorite. So those 2 theme parks, I like to be near them. They're my 2 favorites. My favorite deluxe category is the boardwalk in. The Boardwalk Inn has already been refurbished, and they're opening up a brand new restaurant on the boardwalk.

But for us adults, Boardwalk in is right there on the boardwalk. So you have jelly rolls. You have a more adult like pool. It does have a hot tub. You've got that whole boardwalk area and on the green, they show movies. It's just a really, really lovely, lovely resort. And bonus, it smells the best to me. It has my favorite hotel scent, and you can order it from Magic Candle Company.

I will definitely include that link in the show notes because why not? You should have every hotel sent that you love. Right? So now transportation from the boardwalk, you can walk to Epcot, there is also a boat, friend. You can go in and out of International Gateway, which is awesome at the end of the night after the new show That Is There, the new nighttime show that you can walk right out of the International Gateway and walk right back to your hotel. Or if your are tired from walking around theme park all day, that is fine. There is a boat. It's like a 5 to 7 minute boat ride back to the boardwalk. Now right next door to the boardwalk, just a slight longer walk, is the beach club, And then next to that is the yacht club. Now I do love the beach club.

I love the beach club character dining in the morning. It's close enough that you can go walk over to Yotsman Steakhouse for dinner. They're connected. Don't have to go outside. Got great nooks and crannies where you can sit and just relax and get away from the crowd. The lobby is never too crowded. It's just an all around great, great resort. But I will say this for it.

The reason that I don't include the Yacht and Beach Club as just a top tier of my resorts is because it has the best, best, best, best, best pool. It's actually like a mini water park have any of the resorts at Paul Disney World, and therefore, you will find a lot more families there. It's got a lot more nighttime noise. There's not an adults only section of the pool, so that's why I picked the Boardwalk Inn over the yacht and beach clubs. But I do love the Yacht and Beach clubs, and the bonus of staying at the Boardwalk is you can also walk to Yacht and Beach and take full advantage of all the dining that they have there. Now later this year, we're gonna have Tiana's Bayou Adventure. We're gonna have a new Country Bear Jamboree Pretty quickly, actually, in 2024. So what if you do want to stay over near the Magic Kingdom or on the monorail, which does make it very easy to get from the Magic Kingdom to Epcot or from the ticket and transportation center to Epcot via the monorail.

So my favorite resort to stay at when I want to be near the Magic Kingdom is actually Wilderness Lodge. Wilderness Lodge has great, great dining. It has the storybook dining, which is character dining, and you can't really dine with the 7 dwarves, or actually even really find the 7 dwarves anywhere else, but they are there at the storybook kingdom. So it's got great dining. It's close enough, and there's a boat that will take you over to the contemporary where there's also great dining. You know I am a lover of California Grill, So that's easy. It has a great all day dining restaurant in the lobby for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and I love the theming, especially at the holidays, which I know we're far from the holidays, but maybe you're already planning your escape for 2024 holidays So that you don't have family come and visit you. Yeah.

Think about it. It's got this huge, tall wilderness Christmas tree in the lobby. It's just so fun, But it's really beautiful. I love the theming, so I like to stay at Wilderness Lodge. Also, because it's not on a monorail, It's usually slightly less expensive as a deluxe resort than any of the monorails the any of the monorail hotels, which, of course, brings me to the next point. What about the monorail hotels? So I automatically took out the Grand Floridian Beach Resort and Spa and the Polynesian. They are both undergoing a lot a lot of construction. There's noise.

There's been a lot of noise complaints. And particularly at the Pali, that big old tower and that construction, it's just really an eyesore and very obstructive. So we're gonna wait and see what happens with those resorts and the construction before we really recommend them. Now I do have a caveat to that, witches. I did get to see the beautiful, fabulous new Mary Poppin themed rooms at the Grand Floridian. And if you can get a room in Sugarloaf, which is away from the construction. Technically, it's like building, quote, unquote, 6, and you can get in one of those Mary Poppins suite rooms. I'm all about it.

Do it. Do it. Do it. So if that is in your budget and your wish list to stay in one of those brand new Mary Poppins Returns themed rooms. They're so bright and airy. They're just amazing and fabulous. I do have video, but I'm not allowed to post it yet. So as soon as I get the go ahead, I will post that video.

You know what? I'm gonna quit telling you my Instagram because I was told I say I'm gonna post there and then I don't. And the truth is Instagram and I have a love hate affair because to post there requires me to put on my reading glasses. But next week, I'm having eye surgery. So then I'll be able to post on Instagram without putting on my reading glasses, so I'll post on Instagram more. But you can definitely always find video friend, the Makin' Memories Insiders Facebook group. And so that's where I will post this fabulous Mary Poppins room video and photos that I took, and that is the Making Memories Insiders Facebook group, which will be in the show notes for you as well. Where was I? I was saying no to the construction at the Polynesian. So, yeah, definitely the Polynesian is not on my list.

But if you listened to the episode 2 weeks ago, you heard me say that I had one of my best meals of 2023 there. So definitely, I'm still saying go for breakfast with Ohana if you're staying in that area. It's easy to get to even from Wilderness Lodge. Okay. Now let's briefly briefly briefly touch on some of the non Walt Disney World properties. So first of all, if you're an annual pass holder like me, we can look at off off property. But if you are going for your once every 2 or 3 year or maybe once in a lifetime or you haven't been in 5 years visit to Walt Disney World, friend. I definitely do want you to stay at Walt Disney World Resort or a resort that gives you the same benefits as the deluxe Walt Disney World resorts, which include the early access, the half hour early access.

And right now, at least, It includes being able to take advantage of some late night deluxe hours. Now January 9th, everything at Walt Disney World changes. We're gonna go into much greater detail of everything that's happening at Disney World in 2024 next week, So stay tuned for that. But right now, let's just talk about the resorts. So first of all, I would just wanna say if you're a Marriott bonvoy, friend. You wanna stay at the Swan Reserve because you can accrue points for the Swan Reserve. It is a 12 minute boat ride to Epcot or the studios. You can get a boat either way.

You do have to cross the street to get to the boat because it is closer to the swan and dolphin, butt. I am a negatory when it comes to staying at the Swaddlers Dolphin. First of all, the dolphin, the last time I stayed there, there were ants in my room. I swore I would never stay there again. There are also the convention resorts that have the cheer competitions. So granted they're not littles, but oh my god, are they fucking obnoxious. So I will never ever stay at the dolphin again. The swan is a bit nicer.

It's technically a brand nicer than the dolphin is. It's like got 1 more star than the dolphin does. Definitely has a better coffee shop, but, again, it is a very, very large resort. It is a convention resort. It's definitely not my fave. If I'm gonna pay that much for a resort, I'd rather be in the Swan Reserve or just stay at a Walt Disney World property. I will say as far as the Swan Reserve, the dining is pretty limited. So the only reason I stay there is if I want to use my Marriott Bonvoy points, And then, basically, I know I'm eating out at the parks or Disney Springs the whole time.

It's a smaller resort and the restaurant's small. It's fine to grab and go in the morning. They've got, like, muffins and bagels and coffee, so that works. But the rest of the time, their dining was somewhat limited, and I was unimpressed. Okay. But the real winner when it comes to off property, fine house resorts is the 4 seasons. I mean, when I got to my room, the TV that's hidden in the mirror in the bathroom said welcome, Michele Schwartz. I mean, it is a 4 seasons people.

Now you are not on the monorail. You do not get a boat to the theme parks, and you are not on the Skyliner. What you do get is a bus. It is only for 4 seasons guests. So it takes you directly to the theme parks. You do not have to wait for it very often and it is a deluxe bus. So, again, Uber, Lyft work well there too. Now it also has the most fabulous spa at the Walt Disney Resort.

It has a great place where you can dine and watch fireworks, a really good steak restaurant. So it is definitely a win. But, again, I'm gonna go back to if you are having a limited budget. I know the 4 seasons is amazing and it's wonderful, but I would rather see you invest less in the 4 seasons, so stay at a deluxe Walt Disney World property. They are less expensive than the 4 seasons. And invest that rest of your budget that you would spend on staying at the 4 seasons, on staying on the experience. For me, that meant I could spend money at the 4 season spa because I wasn't spending it in a hotel room the last time I was there. So, again, I'm just gonna sum this up.

My favorite moderate is Gran Destino. Honorable mention to Port Orleans. No, to Caribbean Beach. My favorite deluxe is Boardwalk Inn, Yacht and Beach are definitely right there, and Wilderness Lodge. I didn't mention the contemporary, which is also a great resort, and it's just been redone in the theme of Incredibles, and I haven't been there since it's been redone. And it's got my favorite restaurant, California Grill, but I have really strayed towards Wilderness Lodge more than the contemporary. Again, it's easy to get to my favorite dining by the boat. I explained why I said no to the Grandpa Lee and the swan and the dolphin, I think I was pretty explicit about.

So with that, I will see you real soon.