This is the second piece of my whirlwind resort tour of Walt Disney World. You can (and should) read the first part here - otherwise it looks like I just beamed into Disney and started walking around. I last left off by saying goodbye to the Crescent Lake and Skyliner resorts and heading over to Animal Kingdom Lodge. Let's pick it up here.
I have Animal Kingdom Lodge on my short list of places to stay; my one knock has been that it’s kind of remote and only accessible by bus, the only deluxe resort to have exclusively bus transportation. The price (especially via DVC points rental) has always been on the lower end of the deluxe properties though, and I wanted to see for myself whether the savanna views would make it worth the inconvenience.
Animal Kingdom Lodge is really two different buildings. The first one you reach on the bus is Kidani Village, which is the DVC section of the resort. I got off here, because I figured I would just walk between the two locations later. Kidani is nice but not as impressive as I had hoped. The lobby is kind of small and there’s only one restaurant (Sanaa) but this is likely because it’s DVC. None of the other resorts that have a dedicated DVC building are as impressive as their main building.
The savanna views, even from the lobby, are very impressive though. This was around lunchtime and there were animals everywhere, most notably a few giraffes. Even spending as little time in our room as we do, I would definitely get a savanna view room as it is utterly unique on Disney property. After spending some time looking at animals, I started following the signs to the other building here, Jambo House.
I was surprised just how far away Jambo House was by foot; no wonder the bus makes a second stop here. I also heard there was a shuttle that went back and forth. The buildings are right next to each other but since the savanna separates them, you have to go the long way around to get from place to place. Not terrible, just surprising.
I found Jambo House to be more along the lines of what I was thinking, with the tall ceilings in the lobby and large windows. I loved this lobby and main building. There are multiple restaurants, along with interesting African features and even a fire (largely unnecessary in Florida!). I spent some time looking for The Mara, a quick service location, and I had to ask someone where it was. Who knew that you would have to go outside and then back in a separate entrance to reach it? That was my only criticism though.
Since I had eliminated Art of Animation and Pop Century from the early part of my day, I pivoted again here and added a stop since I still had plenty of day left. I decided to go to Coronado Springs, a moderate resort that we stayed at a number of years ago. At the time, they had been constructing Gran Destino Tower at the front of the resort, and I hadn’t been back since it had opened. I figured this was my chance.
Again, I had to get to a park in order to change buses. I went out to the bus stop at Jambo House and looked at the board to see what was coming. I could have taken a bus to any resort – I just figured I’d get on the next bus that came by. Luck was on my side, as that was only a minute away, and the bus was headed to Animal Kingdom, which was the closest park to this resort. In a few short minutes, I was at the park, and saw that a bus to Coronado was waiting. Fortunately, I managed to get off the bus I was on and make my way around to the other side of the bus terminal to get on this one before it drove away.
One thing I had forgotten about Coronado was how large it is, and that there are multiple bus stops. Since I had no particular destination, I just got off at the first stop, which was pretty far around the back of the resort. I walked through the buildings that seemed familiar to me as I headed over to Gran Destino. I’m glad I made this detour because Gran Destino impressed me greatly. The lobby is basically two stories, which some beautiful high ceilings and artwork. Even the check in desk is interesting to look at.
I took the elevator up to the top floor, where Toledo Steakhouse is located. It hadn’t yet opened for the day but I wasn’t going there anyway. I wanted to look at the view from the highest point in this resort and it did not disappoint. You can see for miles across all different Disney properties. I spotted the Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios, Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom and at least one of the water parks. I sat on a couch up here for a while. Thankfully it wasn’t crowded. The railing was a little low and I didn’t want to get too near it or get bumped into up there. Enjoy this area from a safe distance if you don’t like heights, like me!
I should also mention that the elevators at Gran Destino might have the coolest touchscreen I've ever seen. You select your floor while you're in the elevator bank, and it displays what elevator you should take, almost immediately (though that might have just been good luck). When you get on the elevator, there aren't even any buttons - it just takes you right to your floor! Maybe I'm just easily amused, but I thought this was really cool.
I planned on ending my day in the Magic Kingdom area, so I had to take another bus from Coronado to Magic Kingdom itself. Luck wasn’t as with me this time, as I had a somewhat long wait, but I really had nothing else to do at this point so I didn’t mind. Once I arrived, I realized I had now actually been to (or at least outside of) all four parks in one day. Pretty cool! My first stop from here was the Wilderness Lodge, so I hopped on the water taxi outside of Magic Kingdom and headed over there.
Wilderness Lodge is another resort we’ve considered before but never stayed at. It is really incredible how you feel like you’re just in the woods while you’re here; this resort isn’t that far from the monorail loop, but might as well be in another world. There is a large waterfall outside the main building and the lobby itself is like a towering wooden cabin. I spent a fair amount of time here eating a snack and relaxing. The view of the Seven Seas Lagoon is great, though my pet peeve is that you always have to look across a pool to get there (I have a weird hangup about this, but you probably don’t).
Instead of going back to Magic Kingdom, I knew the water taxi could also go directly to the Contemporary Resort, so that’s where I headed next. I’ve been to that resort plenty of times, but this was the first time I had approached it from the water. Before going into the main building, I first went over to Bay Lake Tower, which is the DVC resort next to it. The two buildings are connected by a walkway from the middle floors, which allow for some great views of Magic Kingdom that I fully took advantage of.
Once I came through that walkway, I was inside of the Contemporary itself. Its most notable features are the Grand Canyon Concourse featuring the art of Mary Blair and of course the monorail running directly through the lobby. I didn’t spend a lot of time exploring here, because I had already been here in the past and I had planned to return for dinner. So I hopped onto the monorail and moved on.
The monorail is iconic, and my favorite way to travel around Disney. It stopped at the Transportation and Ticket Center but I didn’t get off here, even though it’s actually closer to some parts of the Polynesian than the actual stop at that resort. But I wanted to avoid the chaotic comings and goings of the TTC, and to arrive at the Poly in all of its lush, tropical glory, so that’s what I did.
The Polynesian is my favorite resort at Disney; I’ve talked about this plenty in the past. So there was no “need” to explore here as I’ve spent a fair amount of time doing this in the past, but there was no way I could pass it up. I walked around a lot of the grounds here, saw the (absurdly expensive) bungalows and got a Dole Whip from Pineapple Lanai, as one does.
The part of this resort that I had not yet seen is the new Island Tower, an additional DVC resort built right near the previously quiet beach. I have some issues with the Island Tower, as it doesn’t really fit the vibe of the main building, but I knew it had great views across the lagoon and I wanted to check it out. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really able to do so, as this was the one location where I couldn’t use the elevator unless I had a room key or magic band that proved I was staying here. I found this strange, as it wasn’t fireworks time yet (a time when I would absolutely understand not wanting to have a million guests crowding the overlooks) and with the exception of club level at the other resorts, I had not been denied access to any floor of any building. So that was kind of bummer in the case of the Island Tower.
Since I was already at the far end of the resort, I just continued walking in that direction to get to the Grand Floridian, the final stop on my tour. This was another resort we had stayed at before, so I knew the lay of the land. The Grand Floridian is considered the “flagship” resort of Disney World, given its opulence and, well, grandiosity (and price tag!). It’s a very different vibe from the next door Poly, and it really just depends on your taste as to what you prefer.
The lobby of the Grand Floridian is undergoing some serious work right now, which really left it in an unfortunate state. If I paid the high price to stay there, I would be very disappointed that most of the lobby is behind construction walls, including the main staircase. I sat in that lobby for a while killing time, and trying to picture it in its better days. They did still have the Photopass set up with Cinderella’s slipper, though, one of my favorite Disney memories, so at least there was that.
I took the monorail back to the Contemporary to eat at Steakhouse 71. I purposefully avoided any table service restaurants on this trip, both for cost reasons and because I didn’t want to have to sit at a formal dinner by myself. But Steakhouse 71 has a lounge that serves the classic Stack Burger and I was able to get a spot here. It was just as delicious as I remembered.
By now, I had walked almost 30,000 steps (over 14 miles and an insane 15 flights) and I was pretty wiped out. I had actually finished earlier than I had expected. I could have tried to fit in more resorts but I just didn’t think I had the energy. I could have also stayed at the Contemporary and tried to catch Happily Ever After from the walkway, but I felt like it was too much time to kill and I had a very early flight the next morning. So I actually had reason triumph over Disney magic for once.
All in all, I saw fourteen different resorts, at least as Disney counts them (ie, Coronado and Gran Destino are just one resort, but Swan and Swan Reserve are two) in about eleven hours. Not a bad day’s work! As I said earlier, I wouldn’t recommend doing exactly what I did, but if you have part of a day to kill and need to do something that’s not the parks, resort hopping can be fun. Just stick to clusters that are together, as in Crescent Lake resorts, the monorail loop, etc. That way you won’t have to do quite so much traveling but can still enjoy the beauty of all of these great resorts that Disney has to offer.
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