Join Tony Desiere and Lauren Mallard as they delve into the enchanting world of Walt Disney World resorts, offering invaluable insights for those planning their next magical getaway. The episode highlights the different categories of resorts—value, moderate, and deluxe—discussing the unique amenities and experiences each offers. They explore the benefits of staying on property, including transportation options and the immersive Disney experience that comes with it. From the affordability of value resorts to the luxurious charm of deluxe accommodations, listeners will learn how to maximize their vacation dollars while enjoying the magic of Disney. Additionally, the duo shares personal anecdotes and tips that can help first-time visitors and seasoned travelers alike make informed decisions about their stay.

Takeaways:

• Walt Disney World offers various resort categories, each with unique amenities and pricing.
• Choosing a resort at Disney World involves considering budget, amenities, and desired experiences.
• Value resorts can be an excellent choice for families and first-time visitors to Disney.
• Moderate resorts provide more space and atmosphere, perfect for a relaxing vacation.
• Deluxe resorts offer exceptional dining options and extended evening hours for guests.
• Pop Century is highly praised for its theming and convenient transportation options.

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Tally the Elf
• Walt Disney World
• All the Magic Travel
• Art of Animation
• Pop Century
• Caribbean Beach
• Boardwalk
• Yacht and Beach Club
• Swan and Dolphin
• Animal Kingdom Lodge
• Wilderness Lodge
• Polynesian
• Grand Floridian

Hello there and welcome to another edition of the Wands and Wishes podcast.

I'm Tony Desiri along with Lauren Mallard of all the magic travel.

Thanks for joining us.

Hope your holidays are going well.

And today on this episode, we're going to talk about the Walt Disney World resorts.

The different level of resorts, the different level of amenities at each resort, and when you're choosing one, what kind of things do you want to consider and where you're going to stay on your next Walt Disney World vacation?

Hello, Lauren.

Hope the holidays are treating you well so far.

Hey.

Hey.

So far so good, I guess.

So far so good.

Yeah.

Ready or not, right?

It is a very good way to put that.

So far, so good.

Yeah.

Oh.

So we're going to talk about the resorts because you, you've stayed in.

Have you counted how many different resorts you've stayed at?

I, I could probably count better at this point, the ones that I haven't stayed at because I've stayed at almost all of them.

There's just a very, very small handful that I haven't stayed at.

I've stayed at three.

Okay.

I wanted to stay at more.

We, we just keep going down, staying with folks and parents, and we keep saying every time, the next time we come, we're just going to stay on property.

Love staying with my parents and love visiting them as much as I can in their older retired years, but I miss the resorts.

I miss the resort experience.

Yeah.

Before we do that, though, let's.

I want to talk about Tally the elf.

Tally the elf.

Okay.

Here's why I want to talk about Tally the elf.

Because I, I, I've gone on this little bit of a roller coaster with him on social media.

So the first time I see a Tally the elf, Tik Tok, I went, that's awesome.

Yeah.

The 900th time I've saw a Tally the elf, Tik Tok, I went, okay.

I'm not blaming Tally the elf.

He's given the same experience to different people.

But I'm like, enough with the videos we get.

We've seen it.

We've seen it, people.

When you go down there sharing your.

Oh, my God.

He called John naughty.

Yeah.

He's told 15 other people.

Everybody seems to be on the naughty list.

So it's like I would be avoiding eye contact with Tally if I'm watching the parade, honestly.

But I think he's hilarious.

He's absolutely great.

I don't know what his fate's gonna be with being a cast member at Walt Disney World.

I hope that they're not gonna fire him over going viral media.

We can't help ourselves as a society.

Right.

So this is what happens, right?

You.

They started doxing him and they started finding out who he really was, what his real name was, and that blows the magic.

And if you've ever been to Disney World and many of you listen to this podcast, have you know that the person that is in character is that thing, right?

It is that person.

Whether it is a human character, like they're playing Gaston or a dress up character.

If they're Mickey Mouse or Winnie the Pooh or Sleepy the Dwarf.

Yeah, whatever.

They're in.

And let me tell you a story.

My wife learned this the hard way years ago when.

When I think it wasn't Amberly born, it was Christopher when he was little.

We went on a family vacation and we were getting Chris's picture taken with like Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse and all that.

And my wife's standing there while he's going through all the things and got a young lady, the handler is with them.

And they're just talking, you know, talking the breeze about the vacation.

And my wife goes, how hot is it in that costume?

And lady goes, what costume?

What are you doing?

As clear as day as if you're just two people having a private conversation.

Lady says, what costume?

And my wife went, oh, I get it.

Okay.

So she just dropped it.

Yeah, it's op for the.

She said, that woman even wouldn't even tell me that the person was in a costume.

I go, yeah, I don't think they're supposed to.

I was like, I don't think they're supposed.

So Tally the Elf is really Tally the Elf?

Yeah, it seems that way.

I don't care if his name is John Jacobs or whatever they're.

Whatever they doxed him as.

That's right.

If you see him out and about, then he must answer to Tally the.

L.

Tally the Elf.

So there was this Internet rumor that Disney has pulled him from the parade, but now they're saying that it wasn't.

He wasn't pulled from the parade.

That he has.

It's a scheduling thing.

These happen.

And there's a new Tally the Elf.

But that's what you would say if.

Right.

It's like, okay, what have we actually done with him?

And are we.

Because here's the thing.

No news would be not good news.

Right, Right.

So, like, if we're staying in the news, like, what's the harm?

That's right.

He's not doing anything.

That's that's harmful to Disney or to their brand.

He is doing his job.

It is everybody that has decided that Italy the Elf video is the new greatest thing, even though we have 800 of them online.

Yes.

Of him with different people.

Yeah.

So I hope that Tally the Elf comes back.

He's doing a great job.

He's doing what he's supposed to do.

Yeah.

Let's find him a permanent position somewhere.

Yes.

Because even though my wife told me, I said, man, these Tally the Elf videos are getting old.

She goes, yeah, but they're not old for the people who are there.

And I go, that's very true.

Good point.

Yes.

If you are experiencing the Christmas party for the first time and he calls your brother or he calls your sister or he calls whoever naughty or nice based on the Santa list, that's a great experience.

That's an awesome take home experience that you definitely would want on a video that you want to keep.

Absolutely.

And you'd even want to post it.

And it could be costing us Tally the Elf at the Christmas.

That's right.

It's kind of like going to the prices.

Right.

For the experience and actually getting picked to be be on stage.

So if you're there and you're getting picked to be able to be talking to Tally the Elf, then it's great.

All right, so let's talk about Disney World resorts, because people are planning their 20, 25 trips and this is a question.

We get a lot of people saying, I want to stay on property.

I have no idea where to stay on property.

Especially when I'm not going to say cost is no object when there's enough wiggle room.

Right?

Yeah.

When somebody says, look, I don't want to necessarily pay a deluxe resort price or a moderate resort price because I don't know how long I'm going to be there, but I can, I don't know, should I?

Is it good value?

What is your best advice on those three levels of resorts?

On how you get people to say, look, to maximize your dollars, this is what you're going to want to do.

Yeah.

So this question comes up a ton when I am planning vacations for especially first timers.

Right.

And so what I like to do is I don't like to overwhelm a client and ask, you know, well, what do you like and what, what's your budget and what any of that.

What I like to do is give option in each resort category and say, okay, we have three categories of different budget allowances here at Disney.

We have value, we Have Moderate and we have Deluxe something.

They said something about changing the names of those coming in the near future, but it hasn't been changed yet.

So that's why I guarantee it won't.

Catch on for a while.

You know, I don't think it will either.

And I'll probably still be calling them the old names just like I'm still calling Lightning Lanes Fast Pass, but neither here nor there.

But so what I like to do is explain, explain what is involved with each of those three categories because you are getting something with each of them that's different than the other one.

I stayed at All Star Resort, All Star Sports years years ago.

I mean when at the time I think it was like 70 a night.

We only stayed one night.

But that the, the experience kind of felt like, okay, I get this.

Sure.

Like I get, I get what I'm doing.

I'm just needing a bed.

Absolutely.

Even though the theming was great, even though the amenities were great, I was, I just needed it first.

A bed.

That's right.

And so what I usually will tell people is the value resorts and they've all been recently refurbished within.

I say recently and that's within the last few years and they really have been well done.

Yeah.

And so now it's a very small room.

So what I tell people is with a value resort you're looking at a no frills option.

But you're still on Disney property.

You're still getting the same perks, so to say as any other resort, except for we'll talk about the extended evening hours when we get to the deluxe properties.

Right.

But you're still getting, you're still getting Disney transportation, you're still getting early entry in the morning.

You're still getting so many of those things at a lower price point.

And so the rooms are going to be the smallest in the value category.

You're going to have one queen bed and then you're going to have a second queen bed.

That is not a pull out sofa.

It is a real traditional mattress that pulls from the wall.

So it's a Murphy bed that can be put back up into the wall to save space for the day.

And so they're really utilizing every bit of that space there.

And the one thing about it, when we stayed there and again this was obviously it changed but we, what we wanted with the kids and everything was just the complete start to finish.

We were only going down for a day and then we were going to go back.

We Were we were living in South Carolina at the time.

Again, this was years and years ago.

And, and I know the policy has changed, but like parking, you could just park your car and take it and you didn't have to pay the fee at the gate.

That was back then.

That's different now.

But even if you're staying for a short amount of time and it's easy to just go to a local wherever, comfort in or whatever it is in Orlando, you, you are completely 100% within the Disney.

Everybody at the hotel is there for the same reason you're at the hotel.

Exactly.

And that, that can be a difference whether because you can be in a hotel where there's a conference going on, there's somebody doing something else in Orlando.

But at Disney, the entire resort, no matter where you're staying, is geared towards everyone's having the same vacation.

Everyone's doing vacation.

That's right.

And in, in that regard, you see that the food courts are going to be open to suit the park hours.

That's right.

Before and after.

You're going to find that and you're going to find obviously the transportation is going to be better when you are on Disney property.

I'm glad you brought that up because that's another thing that I tell people about this all the time.

Look, you can go to a resort that will say we, we do shuttles.

Right.

That shuttle may not leave till 9:00.

That's right.

And it may only come and come back at 6.

Absolutely.

And it may only come once an hour, sometimes every 90 minutes once you get into the day.

And I will say I have complained a time or two about Disney transportation, but I'm only waiting maybe 20 minutes.

That's right, exactly.

So keep that in mind.

You have constant bus transportation, Skyliner transportation when you're on property.

So let's, let's talk about who might want to stay in a value resort.

Regardless of what your budget is.

For obvious reasons, if your budget aligns best with a value resort, it's a fantastic option.

But let's say those people that want to be up before the park opens, be at the park for early entry and not leave the park until it is closed down.

That is a perfect, perfect guest for a value resort.

Exactly.

And here I have a friend of mine who works for a company that is based out of Orlando and then he goes down there for business.

No need to get a rent a car, they pick the company up.

But there were, there are off days where they could go.

You want to go To Disney, you want to go to Universal, you have a free day.

And he has pointed out to me the hotel we're staying at had shuttles at like twice in the morning and like three times at night.

And I, and I couldn't stay when the park was closed.

Till the park was closed.

I had to make sure I was back in the shuttle lot.

You didn't feel like you got value for your money.

Right.

Because you're paying good money for the park ticket.

The park's open till 10.

Yeah.

You know what?

Not.

But this time, I mean, I've had dinner at Hollywood Studios after the park was closed and there's a bus waiting for me to take me back to my hotel.

Absolutely.

And that's.

Disney is always going to make sure that those buses are running up to a couple hours after park closing to make sure that they're getting all of their guests back to their resorts.

I think you hear that too.

When you're on the tram.

They'll, they'll say things like, we'll be running, we'll be running trams until 2 o'clock in the morning after the Christmas party or after the, the Halloween party.

They're going to be running those all night long.

Yeah.

To make sure everyone is home.

There's nobody stranded in them.

That's right.

That's right.

So let's stay with the value resorts and then we'll move our way up.

From the standpoint of, again, it's not frills, but pool quality food quality cleanliness.

How have you found those or how have you found people who have stayed there recently?

How have they found those amenities?

Yeah, so cleanliness across the board, I think is a pretty standard across the board for Disney.

So you're going to find a clean room.

If you don't find a clean room, tell somebody they're going to fix it very quickly with Disney so that, that I would not be concerned with in any of the levels of the resorts at Disney.

Food is actually with the value resorts.

The food courts are some of the best food courts in all of the resorts.

So they're going to have a quick service food court at value resorts, whether that be All Stars, which there are three All Stars resorts, All Stars Music, All Star Sports and All Star Music.

I'm sorry, All Star Mov was the other one I haven't said.

And those are three sister resorts.

And then there is Pop Century, which is my Personal favorite of the Value resorts.

Yeah, I want to get to that pretty soon because I've never stayed there.

But every time I go I say, I just.

Everyone comments how great Pop Century is.

Yeah, we stayed across the way at Art of Animation, but boy, Pop Century gets a lot of praise.

Yes.

And Art of Animation is the last of the value resorts.

So you've got all of those that are all kind of offering something different, but they all have a food court that's going to offer pretty good variety in there.

They're not going to have a sit down restaurant at a Value resort.

And they're also not going to have.

When you're talking about things that other levels of resorts have that the values don't, they're not going to have a water slide.

So we're talking about the pool.

It's a pretty basic pool when you come to a value Resort.

But if you're looking for somewhere just to cool off in the middle of the day, it's a great spot for that.

So that's, that's kind of, that's kind of the X's and O's of what's going to be included with the value resort.

I've also given this advice and I've said, listen, I don't know if this will happen when you're there.

And honest to God, I don't even know if they do it now.

But they're the all star resorts used to be infamous for.

That's where the cheerleading squad is going to stay.

That's where the band that's playing from the high school in Montana is going to stay.

Yeah.

And it's still that way largely.

Yeah.

So if you are a family and you like a little quiet, you're going to get a lot of times when they're, those kids are in town, they're going to hang out, they're going to be loud, they're going to run around, they're going to do teenage things at the resort during the off hours.

So keep that in mind.

That is where most of those groups that come to perform at Disney to do something at wherever, whether it's the ESPN complex or they're performing in the parks or whatever it may be, that's where they're going to be stayed.

Absolutely.

So let me tell you why I love Pop Century.

Yes.

So Pop Century is.

It's a really large resort.

So what it is is it's, it's themed after pop culture.

So you're going to have a 50s section, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s.

And then the main area where the houses everything pop, which is their food court, their merchandise shop, and then they have a couple of pools.

Again, very basic pools.

What I love about Pop Century is there's only one bus stop there, which is amazing because when you get to resorts that have four internal bus stops, sometimes eight internal bus stops, then your trip to the park can get close to an hour when it should be 10 to 15 minutes.

Right.

So no matter where you're staying at on Pop Century property, it's really not that far of a walk to the bus stop.

Now, within the last five years or so, you've also had the addition of the Skyliner.

Right.

And so pop.

Yes, Pop Century and Art of Animation share a Skyliner station.

And that station will go to Caribbean beach, which is the hub of the Skyliner.

And then from there we'll go on to either Hollywood Studios or Epcot.

So that is a huge perk that you're getting a room at a really great price, but you're getting that exceptional transportation.

And the Caribbean beach is kind of like the ticket and transportation center.

You're going to get off there, then you're going to get on whatever one you want to go to.

Either one Correct.

Of those locations.

Yeah.

All right, so let's go on to the deluxe.

Oh, let's stay at Art of Animation for a second.

That's considered a value, but it's way more expensive than the other one.

So.

Yeah, so that's, that's a great point because Art of Animation provides something that the rest of the values do not provide.

And that's the family suites.

So if you have a family of six, up to six people can stay in a family suite.

Now you're not going to get that at what you would consider a value price, but you are getting a really, really nice suite.

So you're getting a bedroom with a queen bed and then a living area that has two fold out double size beds and two full bathrooms.

So it's a game changer.

It is definitely not something that I would, that I would recommend for six adults or.

But if you have a family with four children, it's a great option for that.

We went just before it just had opened.

Not that long when it opened.

So there were little bugs that worked out.

I think I told the story about the air conditioning not working and then they sent us to the cars suite.

But the theming is unbelievable.

It is unbelievable.

Yeah, it is.

You walking through the Lion King area, there is you Know, there's the Lion King motif and it's in the hallways, it's in the room, the cars area, the cozy cones right by the pool area.

Again, same thing all throughout the room.

It's all themed to that section of Artem Animation.

Now they don't do the underwater music anymore, but that was always a cool thing.

They largest pools on in the resort property.

That's right.

Yes.

And again, it's, it's still a fairly basic pool, but it's a really big pool.

And so it's a great, A really great resort if you have kids that are into any of those particular movies.

Is it true they turned it off because kids were staying under the water too long to listen to the music?

Oh, that's hilarious.

I haven't heard that theory.

No, I thought a.

I heard that he used to go underneath it and hear music.

It was great.

And then somebody said they turned it off because people were like trying to stay as long as they can.

Oh, how terrible.

Yeah.

Which, by the way, I, I give Disney credit.

I'm surprised they never, not one person in their massive corporate structure thought of that when they brought that up.

That would be a huge, huge liability concern.

We're gonna put music underwater.

And not one lawyer went, let me tell you why that's not a great idea.

Just in case this happens.

That's right.

You know, it's usually their job, but.

But the we found was really great.

It was a little tight for the largeness of the resort, but not too over cumbersome.

Yeah.

That we couldn't grab some breakfast sandwiches and get moving on our day.

The bus stop was very convenient to get to.

So art of animation, I just, I love it and I recommend it all the time to people, especially if you have kids who just love to be immersed in the entire theming.

Oh, absolutely.

Of the restaurant, especially the animation.

So let's get to the deluxe resorts.

Let's go to moderate.

Let's go.

Moderate resorts.

I'm sorry, let's go.

Let's not jump to the super size one.

Let's go to the moderate resorts.

Okay.

Yeah.

So moderate.

There's going to be.

There's four moderate resorts.

And again, I have my favorites in the moderate category.

You've got.

We'll start with Caribbean beach.

Since we've mentioned it already.

Right.

So Caribbean beach is one of the largest resorts on property.

And for that reason it's never been a go to for me.

It's one of the few that I've never stayed in because of the size of the resort.

So you're going to have several internal bus stops.

But again, what has changed the game for Caribbean beach in the past few years is it is the hub of the Skyliner station.

There's no stopping at another hub.

You go either straight to Hollywood Studios or you go straight to Epcot from there, which gives it a really big advantage at this point.

However, I still think that the resort size overall gives it a disadvantage.

I've heard people say that even though there's multiple stops, it's a long way to those stops from.

From anywhere within the resort.

It's still a good little haul to get to the bus stop.

Yeah.

And you know, what I usually will do is recommend and request for clients that are staying at Caribbean beach one of the buildings that is closest to the Riviera bus stop and the Riviera Skyliner system.

And I say, you know, if we're in this building, then we can use the amenities over at Riviera for their transportation and make it a lot easier.

So.

But that's not going to be guaranteed, obviously.

But so really what you're getting with a moderate resort over a value resort is you're getting a little more atmosphere.

So if you have a group of adults that don't want the in your face theming of art of animation or pop century, then a moderate resort is a great option for not a lot more money.

And the rooms are a little bit bigger, same kind of layout.

You're going to have two queen beds.

It's not going to fold into the wall.

At a moderate resort, the bathrooms are a little more spacious in the moderates than they are in the values.

And then at some of the moderate resorts we have a sit down restaurant, whereas at the value resorts we don't.

Yeah, and I think too you say it's not in your face theming, you are getting some theming, which is cool.

But it's not like you said, it's not this.

There's not a whole bunch of statues everywhere.

And that's right, it's not.

So I don't want to use the word cartoonish because we're talking about an animation.

Call it a little more grown up, I guess.

Exactly.

So it can be a little more romantic.

I've had clients that have wanted to stay at Port Orleans Riverside for a honeymoon because it is, it's beautiful.

It's on the river and the buildings there are so beautiful.

My favorite moderate resort, if we're talking about favorites versus not favorites, I'm going to say is French Quarter.

Orleans French Quarter is fantastic because it is a small resort.

So there's just four buildings there.

There they have beignets, which are delicious, delicious.

The food court is a little small, but it's good.

This was the very first resort I stayed in on my very first trip to Disney World when I was five years old.

And I still remember the Serpent Pool.

Serpent Pool.

Yeah, it's still there to this day and so it's a lot of fun for kids.

There's a fun splash pad for kids there.

So if I were going to choose a moderate resort, this one is going to be my ch choice in most cases.

But caveat to that, if I can stay in the tower at Coronado Springs, then that's where I'm going to go.

And that's the next moderate resort that I'd like to talk about because Coronado Springs caters to a lot of conference guests.

That's right.

So in the past, a lot of people have seen it as the business resort.

It's really just, you're not going to see as many vacationers there.

You're going to see more conference guests.

But they've built the tower within the past few years and it really feels like a deluxe resort at a moderate price price.

All right, so.

And they have the really cool, cool themed pool.

Oh, absolutely.

Beautiful.

It's, it's great.

It's fantastic.

All right, so let's talk about, go back to French Quarter for second for Riverside.

Now, one of the.

I stayed at Riverside 10, 11, 12 years ago, and when we first got to Riverside, one of the things that I loved was I, it was so big that there was a, there wasn't a, a feeling of, okay, it's not just a hotel.

There's.

There were grounds to walk on.

You could go fishing.

There were hammocks just at different areas.

You could just lay in a hammock.

You can really enjoy an off day.

And that's what I kind of want to lean towards is there.

A lot of people are taking these vacations that are seven days.

They want to do five days at the parks and have two off days to relax at the resort.

So where you stay at the resort matters.

Now we, my wife and I said, look, we got kids, they want to go to the resort all the time.

That's great.

Now, we did take a half day for the pool and whatnot, but I thought to myself, if I had a full day and I was relaxing just, just to get away from the parks for a bit, this is something I would like.

Different things That I could do.

Just take long walks.

Absolutely.

Big pool to swim in.

Like I said, a hammock, hot tub, all those kind of things.

Restaurant, all that.

I, I loved the layout of it because I could imagine spending just a day of relaxation just walking around that place.

Yeah.

And that's where you can look at the different theming for each of the resorts because they each have their own personality.

And you can look and say, well, where would I enjoy the most spending my time?

And you can kind of, kind of narrow it down from there.

And I love taking the boat ride to Disney Springs.

Yeah, it's peaceful.

It's nice.

You could see, you know, some cool, really cool stuff as you get to Disney Springs.

Walk around Disney Springs a bit and then get on the boat and head back.

Yeah.

So.

All right, so we're gonna stay in the deluxe or you want to move on?

I mean, moderator, you want to move to deluxe?

I think we've pretty well covered the moderate.

All right.

Now, I think I.

When it comes to deluxe, I know you've stated pretty much all of them.

I have, yeah.

So let's get, let's start with one of your favorites.

Okay.

So if I'm going to talk about my, my, my very favorite, it's going to be Polynesian.

Yeah.

And the reason being because the convenience and the location of the Polynesian, it just can't be beat.

So you're right in the middle of the monorail line.

What I like about the Polynesian over the other two monorail resorts is its proximity to the transportation and ticket center.

So if you are staying at the Polynesian, depending on which building you're in, you can actually walk over to the transportation and ticket center to hit that EPCOT monorail and it saves you a step.

So, so instead of getting on the resort monorail and riding around all the way to the transportation and ticket center to switch the track, then you can essentially just go straight to that track.

So it really gives you a level up on that convenience.

Now, in the monorail resorts, typically, let's say, let's say for the deluxe resorts for transportation, you're always going to find at least two modes of transportation with a deluxe resort, with the exception of Animal Kingdom Lodge, because that one is because of the location, you only have bus transportation from there.

But all of the other deluxe resorts are going to offer at least two modes of transportation, being that whether you can walk to a park or take a boat or monorail or a bus.

So that is a perk already at the get go I think for many.

People, their first time at Disney, it's the first part, it's the first resort they, they really see, they seek and see.

Contemporary Grand Floridian is just a little bit too much on the left hand side when you get there.

But it's really like the first one that's right there and you're 100% right.

When we went to have breakfast, we didn't know where, you know, we were.

How do we get there from our resort?

Like just go to the ticket saying you can walk right over there.

Right.

We got to the tickets and we're like, oh yeah, it's right there.

It's right there.

Walked right over there.

And you kind of, you kind of like I kind of thought it wasn't as close.

And then I was like, oh no, it's way.

It's closer than I originally thought.

Yeah.

So really.

So if you're, if you're talking about the different categories within the deluxe category, I guess you can say we can talk about the different locations of them.

So you can kind of, kind of lump them together.

In monorail resorts, you're going to have the convenience to Magic Kingdom and Epcot via the monorail.

And then you're going to have bus transportation to the other two from there.

Now then you go over to the Epcot resorts and we're going to lump together Boardwalk, Yacht and Beach Club and you can even throw in Swan and Dolphin, even though they're not owned by Disney.

They are.

They do get deluxe amenities and deluxe perks as a part of that.

And then you're going to have your other ones, which I like to call sometimes Deluxe Light because they price out better than the other ones.

And that's Animal Kingdom Lodge and Wilderness Lodge.

Wilderness Lodge is going to be really close to Magic Kingdom, but not on the monorail.

And then Animal Kingdom Lodge is really close to Animal Kingdom even though it is a bus ride away.

But those are fantastic values if you want to get in on a deluxe resort at a little lower price.

We didn't stay there, but we spent a lot of time at Boardwalk.

One of our kind of like half days near Epcot.

And a lot of it was just my wife and daughter went to Disney Springs.

The bus took them back there, my son and I met them there, spent a lot of time there.

There.

That was a, a very cooly themed.

Yeah, like just that feeling of like old Atlantic City was a real.

It was really neat to have that experience.

But I keep looking over on the other side and I haven't gone over to the, you know, yacht and Beach Club, but I know you've stayed there and the water park is just second to none.

Yes, the pool at the Yachton Beach Club is really fantastic and it really puts that one above for so many reasons.

And then just the fact that you can walk to Epcot from those resorts makes that, that's such a really good choice, especially if you have park hoppers.

If I have clients that are in any of the Epcot area resorts that you can walk to Epcot, I always, always tell them a park hopper is a must because I don't care where you've spent the morning, you may want to go into Epcot for a dessert or for a drink or for dinner that night because it's just too easy not to.

Yeah, that's exactly right.

You definitely want to experience Epcot at night around the, you know, going around the world.

Like you definitely want to walk around it.

So if, even if having an off day and you're just saying, I'm just going to relax at the resort, you're right.

Having that ability to just kind of get in there and just walk around instead of, I've already been to Hollywood Studios and I can't go in.

Go, go, take a, go take a nice jaunt around Epcot center at night.

Have a drink, have a, have a snack, enjoy it.

Because if you're that close.

And speaking of night, this is the, this is the main perk that deluxe resorts are getting now that the other levels of resorts are not getting.

And that's ex, It's a long, convoluted name.

Evening Extended.

Nope, that's not it.

Extended Evening hours for Deluxe guests, I think is what it's called.

So, and those are offered two to three nights per week, depending on the season.

Not usually during holiday season when there's parties going on, that's not always going to be offered.

But one park, two to three times a week is going to stay open two hours later than normal.

Closing time only for deluxe gas guest.

It's no additional charge for those guests.

And everything in the park for the most part is open and it is a huge, huge perk.

That is a huge perk.

If you can definitely stay late, stay late.

If you got kids and you can, it's too bad, but it's really a cool experience.

Listen, I, I, I'm a big fan of these parks at night.

I'm a huge fan of just the atmosphere when the sun goes down.

I, I mean, listen, I'm an early morning, not necessarily huge early morning guy, but with my job, I'm more early morning than ever.

Yeah, but, but the night feeling of just whether it's walking around the world at Epcot or Magic Kingdom, when the it starts to slow down and everyone's slows down, feels the glow of the parks, it's, it's phenomenal if you get to experience that, especially in a low crowd time, I highly recommend it.

It makes a difference.

Absolutely.

And then the other thing that I would say that sets the deluxe resorts apart from everybody, from all the other resorts is the dining on property.

And you're going to find typically at least two sit down dining options.

If you're a family that likes to sit down for dinner every night or sit down for breakfast in the morning, this is going to be a fantastic option for you.

Absolutely.

All right.

We would love to get you help you out with your Disney vacation.

You can reach Lauren at lauren@allthemagictravel.com reachme travelwithtonyd gmail.com we'd love to give you the advice as we have you help you get ready for your upcoming Disney World vacation.

Have a wonderful holiday.

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That's it for our Wands and Wishes edition.

And again, happy holidays from all of us.