Going Beyond The Castle
Going Beyond The Castle is your ultimate travel podcast that takes you beyond the magical gates of Disney. Join hosts Fred and Lori as they explore a world of vacation possibilities, diving into the best experiences from Universal Studios, Carnival Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Virgin Cruise Line, Sandals Resorts, and so much more. Whether you're a seasoned traveler or just dreaming of your next getaway, tune in for expert tips, in-depth reviews, and insider secrets to make your vacation truly unforgettable.
Going Beyond The Castle
The Final Countdown: Ranking Walt Disney World Resorts
Choosing the perfect Disney World resort can make or break your vacation experience. In this comprehensive breakdown, we pull back the curtain on every Disney accommodation option to help you find your ideal home base.
We start with the crème de la crème – deluxe resorts. From the Hawaiian paradise of the Polynesian with its iconic 'Ohana restaurant to Beach Club's legendary Stormalong Bay pool (complete with actual sand at the bottom!), each luxury option offers distinct advantages. We don't hold back on honest assessments either – Animal Kingdom Lodge may offer spectacular savanna views, but its remote location makes it a tough sell for park-focused travelers. Meanwhile, Wilderness Lodge transforms into an absolute Christmas wonderland during the holiday season, making it worth every penny from November through January.
Moderate resorts offer that sweet spot between luxury and value. Caribbean Beach earns high marks for being the Skyliner hub despite its sprawling size, while Port Orleans French Quarter combines charming New Orleans theming with the perfect compact footprint. We share strategic room request tips to maximize your experience at each location and discuss transportation options that can make or break your park days.
For budget-conscious travelers, we compare the value resorts with surprising insights. Did you know that all three All-Star resorts feature virtually identical rooms, food courts, and amenities? The only real difference is the decorative skin! Meanwhile, Art of Animation's family suites and Pop Century's Skyliner access make them standout options in the value category.
Whether you're planning a once-in-a-lifetime splurge or maximizing every dollar for multiple Disney adventures, our candid resort rankings will help you make the perfect choice for your travel style. What's your Disney resort strategy – maximize park time with a value resort or indulge in the full resort experience?
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Even all three All-Star resorts really are the same. I mean, even just looking at pop music, sports movies, they all have the same exact. They all have the same exact theming or not theming, but they're all the same exact size rooms and the rooms are pretty much the same theme. You're still getting the same type of food at the food court. You're still getting the same type of items at the gift shop. Like all four really really are the same.
Speaker 1:The really only the big difference is the and then at pop century you get the skyline what is up, and welcome to Going Beyond the Castle. I am your host, fred Bradley, and with me, as always, is my fabulous co-host, lori Talamo, and we're super excited for this week as we dive into every resort that is at Disney World. So we are going to spend this episode breaking down the different resorts. So you've got the deluxe, the moderate value, and we're just going to take a little bit of time and we're going to dive into each of those resorts and just kind of rank them and, you know, give our personal opinion of which one we feel is best within those categories. So we're super excited for today, just to dive into those.
Speaker 1:But before I turn it over to Lori for announcements, as always, just want to give a shout out to those that are joining us this evening, as well as those that tune in every single week and listen to our podcast. As always, we would not be where we are today without you guys. So we really appreciate you and thank you for joining along with us. So, with that being said, I will turn it over to you, lori, and cover some announcements.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so not too many announcements today. I'll save the best one, I think, for last. So for our sea cruisers out there, disney Cruise Line put out a new promotion where, if you're taking a Disney cruise, you can, out of Port Canaveral, you can extend your adventure and get 35% off at a stay at Disney Saratoga Springs or Oki West Resort. So if you're going to Orlando and you're going to do a cruise, why not extend it and have a little bit of Disney fun time in there as well? And 35% off is a pretty decent promotion and it is time to say farewell to it's Tough to Be a Bug. Bye, it is gone. Pecan over in Disney's Animal Kingdom. So if you missed out, pretty sure it ended. Kingdom so if you missed out, pretty sure it ended.
Speaker 1:But if you missed out then it ended yesterday was it yesterday, the day before yesterday yeah, I think it was yesterday was the last day. Either yesterday or friday was the last day.
Speaker 3:It's tough to be a bug yeah, and then um, the grand fiesta tour has officially opened back up over in, uh, mexico, and I didn't realize they were doing it says.
Speaker 3:I knew it was under refurbishment, but they actually refreshed some of the scenes too yeah um, it was a little dated yeah, a little bit, a little bit, josh and I tried to do it last time we went and I'm like I don't know how I missed that. It was closed. I totally missed that, um. So we didn't get to do it. So, and then, last but not least, um exciting news at epic universe you can now get one day tickets. So before you had to do three day tickets where you got two days at islands of adventure and universal studios and only one at epic. Now you can add those one day tickets. Or you could just go for one day. You don't want to add it to a package, hey, one day. Or if you want to do two days, you get the package and then add a day. So I'm super excited about that. So hopefully I can get one day over at Epic when I go in the fall.
Speaker 1:We'll see, I'm super excited. I'm super excited for one day tickets, not that I have any intention of going anytime soon, but I am excited for some epic universe one day, tickets to start hitting.
Speaker 3:Yes, me too. I'm excited. Well, especially, like you know some folks if they have a disney trip or some other kind of vacation. Um, and now you can just you know, get one day.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that'll be good. I got a client that's going in october. When you go, you're gonna have to bring me back souvenirs. I hope you are fully aware of that I will.
Speaker 3:I I'm really hope. Well, I'm going to make it happen, I think, even if I have to go by myself. But I know, you know, some of my friends are wanting to go too. We still don't have details. We keep saying our agency trip in December. It hasn't even officially been announced. No-transcript that they have like the little characters on the top the ones that are like five dollars a piece.
Speaker 3:Yes, every time we're looking I never can find cars, because I always want to get right of your cars. So of course today at bromart they had cars. So then I was looking for, you know, like anna and elsa, for the girls, and of course they only had one and they had stitch. And I was like, oh, I should buy fred, this apple juice stitch. But I didn't. I would have proudly drank it.
Speaker 1:It's the thought that counts so the final countdown, ranking disney resorts. This is going to be very interesting. Um, because, yeah, as a pre-warning, as a disclosure, we're in. I, of course, have not stayed at every single is resort. However, we do know a lot about each of the resorts at disney, especially because we may not have stayed there, but there's a solid chance we have gone there at some point for one reason or another. So game plan for this evening is just to kind of wing it. We don't have a script or any schedules or any formal guide to go off of. We're just going to start with deluxe resorts.
Speaker 3:We'll talk about deluxe resorts, rank them, move on to moderate and then we'll finish out with, of course, the best option yeah opinion value resorts yeah, and and just to be, to be transparent and fair in the beginning, I didn't, I don't know if we I kind of looked at your notes a peaked a little bit and so we can talk about all of them. I didn't, I just ranked like my top ones all right, all of them did you. I missed it. Well, I'll throw some in there because, like I have the majority of the ones that were my well, now only for deluxe, for moderate and value.
Speaker 1:I did all of them because it wasn't as many, but I'll do the top eight you can rank your top eight, and then we can just kind of pick and be like all right, here's some good features of this resort, here's, you know, what we don't like about this resort. That way we don't necessarily hit every single one, but we can still give our rankings. All right, you want to go first? You want me to go first?
Speaker 3:No, you go first, cause I got to pick seven and eight for deluxe.
Speaker 1:All right. So, starting off with number one, of course, huge Lilo and Stitch fan, which makes this my number one deluxe resort is Disney's Polynesian Village Resort. Dig into more details why, but of course one of the big reasons for me is the Ohana Breakfast Resort. Number two deluxe resort number two for me is Disney's Beach Club Resort. Of course, again, we'll dig into this a little bit later but biggest reason that this ranked at number two for me was that it is arguably the best pool on Disney property. Not only does it have a lazy river, but the pool actually has sand at the bottom of it, which is super cool. Number three on deluxe resorts for me was Disney's Contemporary Resort. Big fan of Chef Mickey's and just a big fan of one once if you can get a theme park view room, just watching happily ever after from a theme park view room, and that resort is fabulous.
Speaker 1:Number four Disney's grand Floridian resort and spa, just solely based off of its gorgeous at Christmas time. Number five for me is Disney's Wilderness Lodge, also a really cool one that we've talked about at christmas time. Number six for me was disney's yacht club. These this one's kind of down, more at the bottom it's. It seems like a little bit more adult type resort, but it also shares storm along bay, which is really cool. Number seven I it was a little disappointing that I put this down here, but it's just. I feel like it's so far away from everything. And that's Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. Like it's a gorgeous resort, the whole safari views are great, but I just feel like it's so far away. And then, last but not least, number eight on my deluxe resort ranking is the Disney's Boardwalk Gorgeous resort. Again, it just kind of feels like a little bit more adult for me and I always feel out of place when I go in there. But it is nice that it's right there, next to Epcot, which is really great. So there's my eight.
Speaker 3:Okay, interesting, we got some of the same, did we? So my top resort, which I'm surprised that I did this considering my love for Animal Kingdom. But I put Beach Club at the top, okay, mainly just like the vibe being on the boardwalk. You know Great Pool, you know close to Epcot, of course you can hop on the Skyliner from there and then next and of course, the top, my top one. Well, all of them basically, I haven't stayed at, but these are all on my top of my list.
Speaker 3:I put Disney's wilderness lodge for second, and that one is is two, mainly because of the Christmas time. That is definitely on my bucket list to stay there during the Christmas time. And then you got storybook dining, westbury and Canyon cafe, so you've got some good restaurants there and transportation options as well. Then, number three, I put Animal Kingdom Lodge. Of course I've talked about it over and over, about how much I love Animal Kingdom. So staying in Animal Kingdom Lodge and the Savannah View, and this one too, like even these top ones so far, can be family trips or, you know, adult trips without kids. I feel like you can make all of them work. But you know, spectacular dining at Animal Kingdom Lodge, boma, jiko and Sanaa. So great choices there.
Speaker 3:Next I put a Polynesian village Again. Ohana is great, you know being right there on the monorail resort. And then you have the beach where you can watch the fireworks Super cool Again can be family or adult trip. And then next I put number five. I put boardwalk in. That one's super cool. We. We did room with tour room tours there when we went on a trip. Um of some of the refurbished rooms and that was super neat. Then what did I put next? I put contemporary, because of course it's super cool. You got the monorail that goes through. You got got Chef Mickey's it's right there by Magic Kingdom. You got California Grill Steakhouse 71. So good options. And then, just randomly selection, I put Riviera. Kind of forgot about that one.
Speaker 1:I consider that a DVC one, but I guess I mean it is. Yeah, it is.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, yeah, because actually when we were first, when I was was first working on it, I had deluxe resort and then DVC and I just kind of combined it and then I put Grand Floridian in there, like that one is. We toured that one as well, super beautiful resort, but I do feel like I would kind of feel like, okay, I'm out of place at this one you know I love and we could well, I know we'll get into some of them. I love some deal of the deluxe resorts, but I like to be immersed in disney when I'm there and so it just kind of depends on you know what you're looking for. So those were my top eight of the deluxe resorts see if it sticks this time.
Speaker 1:Oh cool, um, so I say you just want to pick like your top three, and then we can just kind of let's do top two, that way we don't spend forever, because you know, you and I like to get off on tangents and be here all night, I know? Okay, since I went off on my thing first, I'll let you cover your top two, okay. And I'll just chime in.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so, and I'm going to pull it up over here on this side too the last time I was typing and Josh was like you're typing too loud, I need to get me a quieter keyboard.
Speaker 1:My coworkers was typing and Josh was like you're typing too loud, so I need to get me a quieter keyboard. My co-workers call me an angry typer because I type very fast, very loudly.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't mean to, um, okay, so my top resort is beach club and it is one of the things that you mentioned that you get to. You know it's a sister, I call it a sister resort. So, yeah, club, you know you can, can share the amenities there, but it has, you know, it's great location. It's walkable to Epcot. You could take the boat from there over to Hollywood Studios. I think that Stormalong Bay pool is probably the best pool, in my opinion, on some of the property on the property, easily, easily Across, yeah, yeah, across the resort. So I actually have a lady I just booked her today, um, and that was she was going back and forth between beach club and boardwalk but the pool for her kids kind of sealed the deal for that. Then you also, which I have not gone to and maybe I'll go on our next trip.
Speaker 1:I always want to go to beaches and cream and see we have never gone it was on our to-do list last time, like that is where I wanted to go for my birthday and we could. We didn't pull it off and I just want to go yeah, I'm gonna try.
Speaker 3:When we go in may for lives next year trip, I'm gonna try to get us over there, especially on a day when we're doing parks and I mean what's crazy is like it's not even like super fancy ice cream, like it's your typical ice cream stuff, but it's the vibe that you get from beaches and cream.
Speaker 3:It's just yes I want us to get that kitchen sink and see how we, how, if we can kill it. Yeah, I mean, I feel like between four of us we should be able to. Even though josh, well, he does eat ice cream. He's not like at home, he doesn't, at disney he does, but anyway, what else? They have kate may there, which I haven't eaten there before I mean, being from new orleans. We have seafood here, so I don't tend to do seafood other places, but they do have the seafood buffet and then the character breakfast there.
Speaker 3:That's my favorite it's just the overall vibe of beach club. I think is is pretty awesome, so I think you can't go wrong again.
Speaker 1:It's good for families, it could good for couples, extended family, super, yeah, super cool there beach club is a super nice resort and, like again, just uh, like again, I haven't stayed. I haven't stayed at beach club either. The thought of staying at a disney resort that is right next door to epcot, that you can walk over, catch the skyliner, go wherever you want, like it's just a fabulous idea.
Speaker 3:So my second choice was Disney's Wilderness Lodge. If you haven't seen anything on this resort, I absolutely recommend looking, go back and search like Google. Wilderness Lodge during Christmas. So if you go and you don't have to go during Christmas week, if you go anytime, you know, from November on it's decorated for Christmas and it's absolutely gorgeous. Yeah, so Wilderness Lodge, perfect for Christmas time. I mean, it's beautiful anytime, but definitely during Christmas time. There's they have the pools there, they have the white sandy beach and there's jogging trails.
Speaker 3:You know there's a lot of stuff to do over at Wilderness Lodge, different amenities that you can do. But the dining there's Storybook Dining at Artist Point, which is with Snow White and the Evil Queen. I've heard I haven't been, but I've heard a lot of feedback on that one. And then you also have Whispering Canyon Cafe. So this is one of the family style sit downs where they have a lot of shenanigans during the dining. So if you like that kind of thing, that one's super cool. Geyser Point I've heard a lot of good feedback on that, this one. You have transportation by. You can take a boat to Magic Kingdom or you can take I think you can take a boat to Magic Kingdom.
Speaker 1:You can Now.
Speaker 3:I'm questioning myself.
Speaker 1:Yes, okay.
Speaker 3:And then buses to other parks. They have club levels. They also have villas there, so they have, you know, the regular um lodge rooms. And then there's um boulder ridge and copper creek villas that are part of the dbc um villas, and what's neat about this one, too, is that you can see the electrical water pageant yes from.
Speaker 1:There although I'll tell you I've never had I mean, it could just be me, but I've never had any interest to watch the water.
Speaker 3:We've seen it. I've seen it one time and I think it was, I can't even remember. Maybe we took a boat from Magic Kingdom somewhere and it happened to be happening at the same time, and so we saw it, but yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no desire to see it. Maybe one day.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, you know we don't do shows a lot, so yeah, but that was my top two. Beach Club and Wilderness Lodge are my top, which is surprisingly, like I said that I didn't throw in Animal Kingdom.
Speaker 1:I fully expected Animal Kingdom to be like your number one.
Speaker 3:Me too, I know me too, but I feel like, because it's so far from everything, that's like the is a little bit.
Speaker 1:It is a fabulous resort. It's a gorgeous resort. The food is fabulous, the views are fabulous, whether you have a pool view or whether you have, you know, a safari view. You know, waking up in the morning, getting some coffee, sitting, you know, in the lobby and watching the animals Like Animal Kingdom Lodge has a special place in my heart, but it's just so far away.
Speaker 3:So if we did three, yeah, we are.
Speaker 1:My plan is to go there for breakfast at boma in may. So because I haven't been back to kingdom since 2019, yeah, I heard the breakfast day is really good.
Speaker 3:Yeah, out of all of them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, rachel said it's fabulous so and I had a client go in january and she loved it. So you already covered one of mine, disney's beach club resort. My number one, of course, was disney's polynesian village resort. It really just has like this great Hawaiian vibe to it, like and I really love that ambience, especially at night, like to walk, you know, and they have the tiki torches lit up and you know the giant volcano water slide, like it just really has this really cool vibe to it and, of course, also being a monorail resort, you know one of the original resorts right there on the lagoon and you know you can sit out on the beach and watch Happily.
Speaker 1:Ever, After in the evening. So it's an absolutely gorgeous resort, and then of course for me like a big top reason.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm surprised I didn't have Animal Kingdom Lodge and Polynesian as my top two.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then, of course, like a big reason I told you chose it was, you know, the ohana. Like in uh, what's the? What's the other restaurant that's there? I'm drawing a blank. Kona cafe, yes, thank you. Like that has some solid food as well. Like the food at polynesian is just really really good the tongue.
Speaker 3:Have you had the tongue? Is it tongue of toast? I wanted, I want that, I want to try that. Yeah, they have some really good food.
Speaker 1:It's delicious. So solid resorts. I mean you really can't go wrong with a deluxe resort.
Speaker 3:If you can dish out the money for a deluxe resort, you're going to enjoy your trip, yeah absolutely Most of them have some sort of dining that's going to be elevated compared to the moderate and like the moderate, and especially the value the value doesn't. They just have the food court. But if it's something where you want to do a little more, like not be have Disney throwing up all over you and you know, because you get enough of that at the parks then yeah, the resort, the deluxe resorts, are the way to go. Like you said, if you have the money and it's something that you want to do, then go for it. Yeah, like you said, if you have the money and it's something that you want to do, then go for it. Yeah, absolutely okay. So eight deluxe resorts.
Speaker 1:I only ranked five moderate resorts yeah, I did all yeah, but I did four. Well, because you know yeah, four yeah, because I did the cabins at wilderness too.
Speaker 3:I think they changed that to deluxe resort now, did they like once, I think, when they updated it they are much nicer cabins now. Yeah, cause. Let me see I'm on deluxe resorts now but I'm pretty sure they changed Like cause it used to be considered moderate Cause I was looking the other day and I'm like where are they?
Speaker 1:I bet they changed Let me scroll.
Speaker 3:It's all the way at the bottom. Watch. Yes, it's considered a Disney vacation club resort now. And yes, it's considered a Disney Vacation Club resort now, and it's under Deluxe Villas.
Speaker 1:Now I have four resorts that I rank.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. So this moderate's not as many. Definitely easier, I guess, to kind of go through those. So you want to go first, you want me to go first?
Speaker 1:I think you go first this time, sure.
Speaker 3:All right. So my order of ranking I put Caribbean Beach first, solely for the Skyliner. I mean there's other things as well, but definitely I love the Skyliner resorts and so I mean there's some pros and cons to it that we can get into when we talk about it a little bit more on Caribbean Beach. But it is a beautiful resort and of course when you take the Skyliner you go over it so you get to see all the different areas. But I chose that one first and then next I went with Port Orleans, french Quarter, just because that is such a neat resort, the vibe. You know, again, I'm from New Orleans and I've said before that it really does have the New Orleans feel. It's smaller, so it's not as large as the other resorts, the moderates, so it's a little bit easier accessible to get to different things.
Speaker 3:So I struggled with putting these, the last two, to get like where to put them. But I went with Coronado Springs for number three. But the tower rooms, like I mean honestly though I guess it could go three or four with if you went with a regular casita rooms I forgot if they call it casitas or'd have changed, I think, um, but definitely the um, the tower rooms. The tower is beautiful so I'll save that. I think last time I gave too many details before we talk about it and then I did port orleans riverside again. I just stay there, josh, and I stay there. There's nothing wrong with the resort. It's a beautiful resort. It's just really big. So it just kind of depends on where your room is situated. Yeah, but again, there's nothing wrong with it. I would stay there again. It's just out of you know, for this purposes I put it last okay, so we were pretty similar.
Speaker 1:We only had two that were different. So I did disney's caribbean beach resort. One, because when I stayed there loved it. Fabulous resort. Two, skyliner Access, again. Number two, I put Port Orleans Riverside. Oh no, I think we lost him again. Number three, I put Disney's Coronado Springs and then number four, I put Port Orleans French Market. So we were pretty close, sweet.
Speaker 3:Caribbean Beach Resort. Okay, so this one, it's like being in a tropical paradise, like if you ever take the Skyliner and you go over you'll see, like the different colors of the buildings based on the sections that they are. It's really big. It's like being in the Caribbean. There's Jamaica, aruba, barbados. The one thing I will say, though it is a very large resort, so location is going to be important. If you want to be close to the Skyliner, you know you'll select those buildings. If you want to be close to the buses, you just have to be strategic in putting in your request for where you want to stay. Just because it is large, however, I've said it before, you're spending all day walking in Disney, so once you get back to the resort you may have to walk a little bit more, but it's worth it to stay where you want to stay. They have the really nice pool there, with the splash pad area for the little kids. There's also quiet pools in all the different locations. That way, if you're not really close to the large pool, then you can use the pool that's in your section. There's a Banana Cabana Pool Bar, which has nice tropical drinks, and there's Sebastian's Bistro, which is a table service restaurant that is really good. From what I hear it's like Caribbean flavor type foods coconut shrimp, jerk chicken, things like that. This one's great for couples, it's great for families, so it's really good pick for the moderate resorts. So I picked.
Speaker 3:Next. I picked Disney's French Quarter Resort. This was one Josh and I stayed and the kids stayed there in our very first trip. It really does have the French Quarter feel, the lobby, which I don't know if he's still there. He was there for many years as a gentleman that stands in the doorway to let folks in and he's kind of dressed New Orleans-y. Oh, I hear him typing but I don't see him.
Speaker 3:This is where you can get the famous beignets. So there are two New Orleans-style resorts but you can only get the beignets at French Quarter. They have the bus transportation to the parks and then there's a boat that you can take over to Disney Springs. So that's a fun little extra transportation option that you can take. Let's see, you can share amenities with Riverside so you can take a nice little walk over to Riverside. You can take a boat between Riverside and French Quarter as well. So that's always fun, especially if you have little kids. It's like a nice little extra ride that you can do to hop on the boat. It's super cool. I talked about Caribbean Beach and French Quarter, but you can roll with your thoughts since I did the first ones.
Speaker 1:No, I'll just hit Caribbean Beach. No, like, I just really like the vibe that Caribbean Beach has. One you just I will say the downfall of Caribbean beach is how massive it is, which I'm sure you already hit. That Like it's a pretty massive, massive, moderate resort. So there you know. You know, if you're staying all the way at the end of the resort, it's a pretty decent walk to get anywhere.
Speaker 1:Or, you know, if you're not taking the Skyliner, it's a pretty. You know, you're very, you could be very last on the bus, like it's just, it can be painful but it's absolutely gorgeous resort, lots of pools to choose from. You know there's some really great restaurants there. And then, of course, you know, one of the big pros is just having that Skyliner access, especially being the hub of the Skyliner. You know it's not like being at Art, animation or Pop Century where you have to get off and get right back on. Like you know, arnie and Caribbean Beach is the hub, so you just get on and go where you need to go, which is super fabulous. And then, of course, the rooms with the fifth sleeper are absolutely awesome. Especially if you have the need for that, it's an absolutely great option.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I forgot about the fifth sleepers.
Speaker 1:Yeah, rachel slept on the fifth sleeper for our very first trip. She's pretty tall too. She slept great, apparently. There you go.
Speaker 3:All right, final section we'll see if I can stay in for our final section. Yes, I don't want to value. Oh gosh, I don't envy you. I'm sorry that I don't help you.
Speaker 1:That's fine it'll be a tomorrow me problem, all right, all right. Value resorts, value. We always stay at value, like we absolutely love value resorts. You know we've definitely stayed at deluxe, we've definitely stayed at moderate, but we're big fans of value resorts, solely for the fact that, really up until this last trip, the only reason that we needed a hotel room was to have somewhere to sleep. Like 90% of the day we were at the parks. So you know, we didn't really care how big the room was or you know the amenities that the resort had, just because it really was just a spot to lay our heads at night. But even you know, after this last trip, you know there's a lot of really good value resorts that even are great to have resort days at. So, yeah, I'm excited to dive into the value.
Speaker 3:I'll go first you want to rank us first yeah, okay uh, number one.
Speaker 1:This was a hard one for me because pop century is my home. I will always stay at pop century when I get the chance. But number one for me was definitely art of animation. Like it really is the high class, high level value resort, um, and it's just, it's a gorgeous resort and it has lots of great you know things for families option two or number two for me was pop century being my home resort.
Speaker 1:Absolutely love the theme that pop century has in the pools, in the lobby, absolutely love it. But you know, art animation really took it for me, especially with the suites that that are spread throughout, art animation. So again, art animation was number one, pop century was number two and then these last three I solely just ranked, really based off of my personal preference. All-star movies all-star movies was number three just because big movies guys, so really like movies. Plus, yeah, the fantasia pool is really cool, especially to walk out of the main building and see the fantasia pool like it's just, you know, sorcerer, make you up there. It really is a cool thing to experience. All-star Music was number four for me, um, and then number five for me was All-Star Sports, just because I may be a diehard Eagles fan but I'm not really a sports guy, so, but I am staying at All-Star Sports in May, so that'll be a first for me sweet, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I will be staying at an all-star resort in May. We just don't know which one yet, because when we go through varsity they assign you a resort Really. So I don't know which one it's going to be yet. So, yeah, it's different when you go for all-star cheer than high school. So, no shocker, I did put Pop Century first and then I put Art of Animation second, and I put Art of Animation second and those it really is hard to kind of pick between those two. Now I can tell you, if I'm going with more than the four of us, I would have put Art of Animation first, first suite, and even still, now that we've stayed there, I may even still do it with even just the four of us, just to have the two bathrooms.
Speaker 3:So, those two are kind of, you know, interchangeable. And then, same thing, you you know, all-star movies, all-star music, all-star sports. I have stayed at music before for a chair competition and all-star music also has the family suite. So, yes, it's a little bit, uh, cheaper option than you know, art of animation. So if you want a family suite, but and honestly I was telling we were talking about it today because we were talking about not knowing what resort was staying at, and I told him when we stayed at music, it's basically the same as pop, just without the Skyliner.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:What do you think Also?
Speaker 1:even all three all star resorts really are the same.
Speaker 1:I mean, even just looking at pop music, sports, movies, they all have the same exact. They all have the same exact theming or not theming, but they're all the same exact size rooms like, and the rooms are pretty much the same theme. You know you're still getting. You know you're still getting the same type of food at the food court. You're still getting the same type of items at the gift shop, like all four really really are the same, the really only the big difference is the theming. And then at pop century you get the skyliner. And then, of course, you know, at I was just gonna say like at the all-star sports like, the only difference is if you go during a busier time of year, you know you're that those three can share the buses. So if you're all-star sports, you're gonna get picked up first. If you're at all-star music, you're gonna get picked up second. If you're at all-star sports, you're going to get picked up first. If you're at all-star music, you're going to get picked up.
Speaker 1:Second, if you're at all-star movies, you're going to get picked up last, like more than likely, so that's really the only thing you got to keep in mind if you're going during a busy season is that you could possibly share buses with all three resorts yeah, sharing those buses, yeah, and I think too and we talked about it on maybe, I did it on announcements on maybe last week, I don't know I think another thing for pop is going to be getting that coffee shop.
Speaker 3:That's going to be great.
Speaker 1:Bob really is stepping up.
Speaker 3:And I don't drink it is. It really is. I don't drink coffee in the rooms with the coffee makers in the room, cause I've heard too many horror stories and so, depending on where you are, you know to have to go walk and get coffee in the morning before which.
Speaker 1:I mean, I'll do it, but I will definitely do it even more with a, with a coffee shop I'm a grocery person for that, like I've already got my grocery list for may planned out and I've already got cold brew concentrate and coffee creamer on my list because I just do it in the room.
Speaker 3:So oh, there you go see, but I'm a hot coffee person, even when it's no, not during, not what I'm at, I mean sometimes I'll do. Sometimes I'll do ice coffee now if it's super hot outside, I'm not going to start the day drinking hot coffee, so then I will drink ice coffee. But even like I mean, where we live it's so hot and humid, I still just drink hot coffee all the time. Yeah, I'm not.
Speaker 1:I don't know, I prefer hot coffee, but anyway I will say I can't wait to see what the coffee shop is going to be like yeah, and the art animation like the only reason, like I really put it as number one, like it's just like the theming really is cool, like you really do. Like pop is great and it's great to get put in the centuries being like the 90s, the 80s, the 70s, um. But just like you know, when you walk across, like if you're staying at pop century, you walk across skyliner, you walk a lot across hourglass like, and you walk into the art animation area, like you're immediately brought into this finding nemo theme and it's just like it pulls you in. And like they do this in all the different section, whether whether it's the car section, the Lion King section, the Little Mermaid, but it really just, they really just do have a great theme going on at Art Animation.
Speaker 1:And then, of course, like yeah, I do feel like the gift shop in the food court are a little bit nicer, but then again, pop Century just redid theirs. So now I'm probably going to say the opposite. Say Pop Century food court's nicer. Could it be new? Yeah, they'll probably redo art animation in the near future.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, it's definitely right, yeah, it's, and really the choice between value, moderate and deluxe is really just what type of experience you want to have, because and we say the same thing we always talk about oh, we're going to stay at this resort, we're never in the resort room, so does it really make a difference to spend the extra money for those resorts? So you value resorts is when you're going to feel like you're going to. Like you said, you're going to have the Nemo area, the Lion King area. It's really geared towards the children. Those themings are more kid friendly. The moderate resorts maybe have a little bit of some type of theming, even like Coronado Springs and I don't know if I'm going off topic a little bit, but Coronado Springs is, to me, is more like like a convention, cause that's what it is.
Speaker 3:It's a convention center type. So it's the first time we stayed there. We stayed in the casitas and it was just kind of like okay, this doesn't feel like Disney to me and even in the, you know, the tower is the same way. However, we stayed at a club level room and it was great because you could like it's a moderate resort but it feels like a deluxe resort. So if you want that kind of in between, you know that's when you could stay at Coronado Springs, but again, it's not going to have the Disney theming, it's just more of like a more elegant resort. But if you could stay club level, it was definitely good.
Speaker 3:And then, like we hardly bought any food that time because we ate breakfast before we went, we'd eat lunch because we were on an agency trip, so we'd eat lunch with wherever we had lunch at and then we'd go back in the evening and just hang out in the club and eat there, so you could save food. Fancy af disney, exactly exactly now, I mean, animal kingdom is a little different because it, you know, it's themed after animal kingdom, so that one's a little different where you get the, you know magic feel with the, the animals, but everything else is I don't know normal sweet though I do want to say apollonisian.
Speaker 3:That's on my bucket list. Yeah, I think I could probably skip the rest of them.
Speaker 1:I think the only one I don't want to stay at looking at your, you know your Lagoon, you know your main Magic Kingdom ones. I think the only one I don't want to stay at is Grand Floridian. Like, enjoy going to Grand Floridian, enjoy going to 1900. Why am I drawing a blank on that Park Fair? Thank you, Enjoy going there. Food's good, but it's just, it's not my vibe. It's a little bit too elegant for me. Um, but absolutely, you know contemporary Polynesian animal kingdom, uh, you know beach club. Really would love to stay at those resorts. Uh, yeah, just I'll pass on the grand Floridian, although I am staying at the Grand Californian in May. So that's going to be interesting Sweet.
Speaker 3:Yes, definitely. Now, look, try to budget our trips so that way I can get more trips out of Josh. Yes, so you know like. Well, you know we're going to stay here because it's more budget friendly for us. You know where we are now because we have a kid in college and a cheerleader.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:But you know, if budget wasn't an issue, then maybe I would feel different and say you know what? I'm going to stay at the Polynesian, or I'm going to stay here, but you know, I want to get as many trips in as I can, so that's fair, it's girl math, as Olivia says.
Speaker 1:Once all of our kids are grown and out of my house, I'm going to take a kid-free vacation withachel, and we'll just go stay in the Polynesian and just live our best life yeah, exactly, I know, josh and I are gonna do that too.
Speaker 3:We'll get to do it a little bit sooner, since I have three years almost I know. Okay, I don't even talk about it, though I don't want olivia to go or brayden. I don't want them to leave me, I don't either.
Speaker 1:I was looking back at pictures of raylon and harper from like two years ago. I teared up a little bit. I was like where did my babies go?
Speaker 3:it's funny because last not yesterday, but last saturday we went to lakeside the four of us and so, you know, the boys went off and olivia and I went off and we were shopping and I was like I said live, I said one day we won't be able to do this, you know, because I'm just I don't know. I've been in my feelings and I guess because they're getting older, and she was like girl, you can always call me, I'll come spend your money. I was like which is crazy for her, because she usually does not like to spend my money, she always feels guilty but she was like you can call me anytime.
Speaker 1:I like it that's going to, but yeah, all right, fun, fun.
Speaker 3:We went from resorts to spending money.
Speaker 1:Minus our technical difficulties, I thought it was a good episode.
Speaker 3:Yeah. I'm going to go restart my modem after this episode is over Whatever you do, don't do like me Make sure you leave your phone on, since you're on your mobile hotspot. Yeah, it's not going anywhere. Don't turn it off like I did, just stay right there for a while.
Speaker 1:So next week we are. We have a change of things. Sounds like we're going to be talking.
Speaker 3:Yes, because, yes, next week we're going to, we're going to talk with my travel agent bestie, stephanie. She does Disneyland quite often or I shouldn't say quite often, but she's been there a lot so and she actually just did a recent trip, maybe a couple of weeks ago, nice. So we're going to do a little trip report with Stephanie on Disneyland, which I think will be great, since you're getting ready to go for the first time, so you can, yeah, get some information from her and some tips.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that'd be nice, cause I have no idea.
Speaker 3:I'm excited to have her on too.
Speaker 1:No, I'm excited to have a guest back on.
Speaker 3:I feel like it's been what I mixed the weeks up, but it's perfect because we haven't had a guest on in a while.
Speaker 1:And our spouses don't care. There's somebody else in there.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 1:Okay, cool, cool.
Speaker 3:I'm waiting for Olivia to come back.
Speaker 1:Yes, all right. Any last words before I close this out?
Speaker 3:No, just you know, like I know we talk a lot about. You know our, their own opinion. Everybody has their own things that they want to do and they can do. So you know, if you're looking to book a trip, talk to fred and I. You know we'll help you book whatever you want. So you know, don't take it that, oh, I need to stay at a value because I'm going to waste money. You're never going to waste your money, it'll be great, and it just depends on what level of comfort that your family wants unless you use it to go see dinosaur one last time, then that's a straight waste of money.
Speaker 1:Well, what you're gonna do, I don't know yes, we're definitely gonna do it in may.
Speaker 3:Yes, we're gonna do it in may again and hopefully this time we can get a family photo without interrupting it. Yes, I will slap a kid if I see a middle finger in that picture all right, cool, cool yeah.
Speaker 1:Uh, like, like laurie said, definitely reach out if you guys have any questions. You a kid if I see a middle finger in that picture? All right, cool, cool yeah. Like, like Lori said, definitely reach out if you guys have any questions. You know Lori and I have booked all sorts of trips. I mean I've got, you know I got clients that are going and doing the bare minimum with the military side of the house, taking advantage of those discounts to, you know, not spend very much money. I got clients that are booking two to three rooms at, you know, contemporary resortori's got the same thing. So you know we we're pretty diverse in our disney knowledge. So definitely reach out if you guys have any questions about any of their resorts. We'd be happy to answer any questions that you have. As we wrap up, again, just appreciate you guys joining along with us as we go beyond the castle each week. Uh, appreciate you. Bearing with our technical difficulties, maybe one week we will not have any technical difficulties, but I highly doubt it. So again, thanks for joining us.
Speaker 1:At least I got my lights fixed Right. We're making progress. We're going to be professional one day. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:As we wrap up, if you guys are looking for more information on going on beyond the castle, looking to find out more about Lori and I individually, we have a blog now, so if you would like to read our blog posts, you can do that on our website. Our website has access to all. Shout out to Fred. I figured we needed a blog post, so I was like, let's get a blog. But yeah, you can find all of that on our on our website, at wwwgoingbeyondthecastlecom. If you're looking for any for our social media channels, whether it be YouTube, facebook, instagram, tiktok, twitch, if you're looking for our audio only versions of the podcast that we release on Wednesdays, you can find all of that at our beacon channel, beaconsai forward slash going beyond the castle. And then, of course, if you're looking to reach out to us directly, you can always send us an email. Info at goingbeyondcastlecom. Fun times, sweet, all right, we will talk to you guys next week. Thanks for joining us. Fun times, bye, bye.
Speaker 2:Thank you for joining us on this magical journey. We hope today's episode brought a little extra spark to your day and inspired your next adventure, Whether it's a thrilling escape to Universal, a dream cruise getaway or unforgettable memories at Disney. Have questions, A topic you'd like us to cover, your own magical story to share, or looking for travel assistance? We'd love to hear from you. Drop us a line at info at goingbeyondthecastlecom. Be sure to check out all our social media links and podcast platforms at beaconsai forward slash going beyond the castle podcast and don't miss the fun in our Facebook group Going Beyond the Castle Podcast Lounge, where we share tips, updates and beyond the scenes moments. Until next time. See you real soon.
