In this week’s Top 10 episode we review our favorite Disney Vacation Club, DVC, resorts. Spoiler – we LOVE ceiling fans, so Boardwalk ranks pretty high!
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All music for this episode is available through a creative commons license. The background music for the News segment was created by Kevin Macleod: Fuzzball Parade by Kevin MacLeodLink: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/5044-fuzzball-parade
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Show Notes: Top 10 Disney DVC Resorts
We’ve only stayed at 8 DVC resorts, so we’re giving places 9 and 10 to resorts we want to try!
10. The Villas at Disneyland Hotel
9. Disney’s Grand California
8. Saratoga Springs
7. Animal Kingdom Lodge
6. Aulani
5. Bay Lake Tower – Contemporary
4. Grand Floridian
3. Riviera
2. Boardwalk
1. Polynesian
Episode Transcript:
This transcript was produced by AI. Please excuse any unintentional errors.
Hello out there. Disney. Fam, this is Chris and I’m Kelli, and welcome to another Top 10 bonus episode from season 10 here. That’s right. So we’re gonna do the top 10 slash, really, eight DVC resorts that we’ve stayed in. Yes. Okay, so there are 18 Disney resorts, Disney DVC resorts, you know, sort, I’m gonna say worldwide, but between in the United States, and with some more on the way. And we’ve, we’ve stated eight of them, so we’re gonna rank those eight. We’re also gonna talk about a couple that we would like to stay in. Okay, and so, so here’s why we’re kind of talking about this a DVC resorts can be enjoyed by everybody, not just DVC members. Highly recommend using any of the DVC rental sites that are out there. I think that there are some that write better than others, so I would point you towards those right. But with those, you can stay in DVC accommodations for not much more than, say, moderate resort, regular accommodations. And so you’re talking about $1,000 accommodations here, or a fraction of the price. Yeah.
Kelli 1:54
I mean, not enough can be said about having a washer dryer in your room.
Chris 1:59
We talk about it all the time, but it people, it’s a game changer, especially if you’re flying, if you’re flying in this packing, packing, it changes the game completely, completely. Can wash your clothes in the room, yes, and this allows for that. It is a total game changer. Also full kitchens. And I don’t mean like if there’s a kitchen, I mean a full, full kitchen, kitchen, yes, with full, you know, silverware and lightwear and a dishwasher, dishwasher and cooking utensils, a
Kelli 2:33
real oven, a real stove, full size fridge. I took out like a baking
Chris 2:37
sheet once, and was, I think it actually changed. We asked for new restaurant quality backing sheets one time, because we used the ones, yeah. They were in the great kitchen there, yeah. And so it was just, it’s and then you you can order groceries to be delivered on the day you arrive. So you get there again, a game changer. It’s all
Kelli 2:58
just groceries are in the fridge, on the counter, not in bags, like they have unpacked the groceries and put them in the fridge and on the counters. Being able to make breakfast in the room if you have a park day, being able to go back up to the room and make lunch. We have before, gone out at night and left teenagers in the room with a pizza, right? Like you, you just can’t say enough about the convenience of having a washer dryer in a kitchen. Yes, yes. I’m also a huge fan of the one bedrooms Yes, because I really love to have a door Yes. And so that’s my favorite thing about being able to stay at the DVC resorts is we get a bedroom with a door and our own bathroom. They’re
Chris 3:45
in the one in the one bedroom villas, and they also have two and three bedrooms, but they also have studios, and even their studios are upgraded over your average studio. Yeah, even
Kelli 3:54
like the poly studios in the standard poly hotel area, you still have two bathrooms, two bathrooms, which again, makes things so much easier. Yes, to have multiple bathrooms. So
Chris 4:07
you know, yes, we’re DVC members, but you can stay in these accommodations without paying the typical price for these accommodations. Yes, and it absolutely enhances your stay. It really
Kelli 4:21
does it. It makes it much more feel like home, yes, than staying at a hotel. Yes.
Chris 4:27
So like I said, we stayed at eight resorts, eight DVC resorts. So we’re gonna rank all eight. Yep. You know, from from worst to best, and man, once you get towards top half of this list, it really gets hard.
Kelli 4:45
It does. It does Yes,
Chris 4:47
okay, oh, we want to talk about, we wanted to talk about the two yes that we because we only got eight. This is a top 10 list. There are two that we kind of want to stay at pretty badly. And. They are out west the Disneyland, the Villas at Disneyland Hotel and the Grand Californian resort out there. So a I’ve just always wanted to stay at the Disneyland Resort. We’ve only been to Disneyland once, and we stayed off property because we were doing some other things. But for sure, I would love the next time we go out there to stay in one of these two resorts on property there. Really love to stay at the Disneyland Resort, yeah, to be, you know again, be there with trader Sam’s. And they’ve, they’ve got such a Polynesian kind of vibe there, that resort also. But these, these villas are supposed to be amazing, and they’ve got something there called the duo studio, which is like a large studio, but then souped up. Well, that’s true amenities in there. That’s cool. And then the Grand Californian, of course, has all those same Villa amenities, but it is the back door of that resort, literally, is the entrance to Disney California Adventure Park, which
Kelli 6:08
is huge. Like when I saw people like pushing strollers in that back entrance, I thought, now that’s that’s
Chris 6:14
nice. That is huge at the end of the day. Really nice the end of the day
Kelli 6:19
that looked lovely. Yeah, yeah.
Chris 6:21
It would be really cool to like, at the end of the night after the fireworks at Disneyland, walk across that promenade, go into DCA and then go to your resort that way. Yeah, it
Kelli 6:32
looks lovely. Really did. So we’d
Chris 6:34
love to do that now. I’ll also mention that when I’ve looked at lists online of ranking DVC resorts, a lot of people put boulder ridge and copper Creek at Walt Disney World at Number one and two. Really? Yes, wow. So something for us to think, do they say? Why? Like, what makes them so special? I think, well, they’re pretty close to and use a lot of the same amenities, I believe, as the Wilderness Lodge, which is a pretty nice, you know. Okay, that’s a nice resort. Yeah, Shane, you got water you know, you can take water vehicles. And
Kelli 7:09
I’m really big on water transportation, for sure. Yes, okay, so are we ready? We’re ready, okay, number eight, okay, so this is me, right. Okay, so number eight is Saratoga Springs. Now here are the pros on Saratoga Springs. I mean, it’s all the things that make Disney villas great, all the things we just talked about, everything we just talked about, laundry, full kitchen, bedroom with a door, all of that, the proximity to Disney Springs, the food that’s on site, right? Often, a lot of people love Saratoga Springs, the turtle
Chris 7:42
side bar, yeah, and the Turf Club, yep, yes, Saratoga
Kelli 7:46
Springs almost always has availability. And I think that’s just because it’s kind of sprawling it is, so it’s got a lot of rooms. They have a spa on site. And you can take a water taxi to Disney Springs,
Chris 7:59
yeah, you can, you can walk to Disney Springs, yeah, but like, that’s nice. It is really nice. That’s nice. A huge Pro for Saratoga Springs, that you can walk or water taxi to Disney Springs.
Kelli 8:10
Yeah, of course. You know the problem with Saratoga Springs is it’s bus travel only. Well, I can’t. I can’t take to the parks, to the to the parks. I can’t take the mass transit. It first thing in the morning.
Chris 8:31
You’ve rarely had your coffee yet. I’m not
Kelli 8:33
caffeinated. Sometimes I’m not at all caffeinated because we’re gonna get it in the park or something. And what happens on those busses early in the morning and late at night, I really need to be at my best self
Chris 8:49
to take and those times do not lend themselves to you being in your at your best self. Those times
Kelli 8:55
don’t lend themselves to me being at my best self or anybody else being at their best self. And so therefore I rode off bus transport on Disney property several years ago, which is possible, and it’s been the best decision I’ve made.
Chris 9:10
Well, the other thing is, I would
Kelli 9:12
rather go to Disney in the middle of July than take a bus in January. That’s
Chris 9:16
great, because that’s exactly what
Kelli 9:19
we just say. Like,
Chris 9:22
well, Saratoga Springs also is, is sprawling. I mean,
Kelli 9:26
it is. So there’s tons of bus stops within Saratoga, lots
Chris 9:29
of bus stops with it. So you think, Oh, yes, we’re here at Saratoga Springs. But you mean, unless you’re the first bus stop that you got to continue to wait,
Kelli 9:37
and I hate that, just with a burning range, right? Am I here or am I not?
Chris 9:41
And then when you get off the bus, it’s usually a pretty long walk.
Kelli 9:44
So bus transport is just not for me. Well, that’s not especially at a resort like this, not at a resort like this. That’s why I don’t like stay at Caribbean Beach, right? Very similar situation. Way too many bus stops, tons of bus transportation. It’s just not my jam. I. And so that’s enough to put Saratoga Springs at the very bottom, but the fact that they have the spa, they have the water taxi to Disney Springs, and you’ve got all those other amenities I’m telling you right now, if you’re getting a DVC, if you’re buying points on one of those resale sites, or buying you know, to go stay somewhere, you’ll almost always have a chance to stay at Saratoga Springs, and it will be the most affordable of any DVC resistance, right? I think so too. So don’t, don’t sleep on it, just because I’m a snob.
Chris 10:32
Okay, we’re gonna make it what will sound like a huge leap forward here. Yeah, and people might be surprised, but number seven on our list, I’ve got Animal Kingdom Lodge, whether it’s whether it’s jumbo house or Kidani, yeah, I think we stated Jambo house, yeah. Um, pros here are the savanna views. Gosh, there’s just nothing else that can compete with that, really anywhere. And let’s be clear, we love all of these places.
Kelli 11:03
We do. We love all of these places, right? But like you’re walking down the hallway, you look out a window, there’s a giraffe or zebra or whatever, you
Chris 11:10
know there’s this, right? No, you can’t beat that. And then the the decor in the lobby, and the these expansive windows and all the lookout points that they give you. And there’s a trail where you can walk out into the middle of the Savannah, but still within a fence to get up close looks. It’s just, there’s just nothing else like this. Yeah. And then the restaurants on are some of the best restaurants, all on all of property, whether it’s Sanaa or BOMA or whatever these places are, really, people will will come from wherever they’re staying, to Animal Kingdom Lodge, yeah, to eat at these places. It’s amazing. And
Kelli 11:50
the lobby is so gorgeous in the winter time, with all the fireplaces going and everything, it is too much.
Chris 11:56
Really. The beauty of it makes my eyes hurt. Honestly, it’s just, it’s just really gorgeous. That’s beautiful. The the cons is all together now. Bus travel
Unknown Speaker 12:09
is, yeah, the animal
Chris 12:11
kingdom Lodge is kind of far out there, yeah, for in proximity, which you would expect when you’ve got this expansive Savannah you’ve got on the other side of the Savannah, yeah. I mean, you know, and so it’s, you’ve got to put that somewhere, and you don’t want that to be right up, you know, next to all the other parks and whatnot. So I get that bus travel is really the only way to go there, yeah. And it’s a bog bus ride fairly it is to pretty much anything it
Kelli 12:40
really is. So, okay, so that’s seven, yep, okay, number six is Aulani, Aulani. So first of all, like, you’re in Hawaii, right, right? So, like, How bad could it be? We’re gonna it’s pretty nit picky, basically. Well, that should tell you, right? This is number six, right? How great all the others are. The spa is heaven. It’s
Chris 13:03
the best spa that Disney puts together. It’s the best spa in the world. It’s the best spot in
Kelli 13:06
the whole wide world. I’ve never been to a better spa. It is amazing. It is unlike any other spa you’ve ever gone to. It is life changing. It is so peaceful. I didn’t want to leave and our kids were staying with the like, the kids house area, you know, was Auntie somebody. And I was like, Yeah, they’ll feed them, right? Like, they’re not gonna let them go hungry. This is Disney. It was that good, yeah, it was that good. The spa is heaven. The, you know, the luau is amazing. Yeah,
Chris 13:45
we’ve been to a number of luaus in Hawaii. I was blown away by this. Yes, the
Kelli 13:49
luau was amazing. We had groceries delivered, and you really have to, because there’s not a lot of food options on site, right?
Chris 13:58
There’s a there’s a quick service, and there’s a sit down restaurant, and the sit down restaurant can be kind of pricey if you’re planning to eat out every meal,
Kelli 14:07
yeah, and that the food options are going to get old too if you’re staying for like, a week. So a lot of people want Aulani to be all inclusive, and I’m telling you, it’s just not set up to be that way. Don’t try, right? They have vehicle rentals on site. Just super convenient, which is fantastic. So plan on doing that. Just to get off site. We ended up walking across the street, I think, to monkey pod. Monkey
Chris 14:30
pod across the street with a lot. There’s a little shopping center there. Yeah, I have some other things, and monkey pot is a good a good option. Monkey pods one of our favorite restaurants in Hawaii, and so we were thrilled to see monkey pod right across the street. But, I mean, any case, you do have to leave property, right? You do have to leave property. They’ve got a gorgeous lagoon out there, but that’s really cool. It’s a beautiful lagoon, but it’s not the kind of lagoon that you’re going to see a lot of tropical fish in. No because it’s man made. It’s man. But so, but there’s a there’s a resort right next door that you can sort of walk through some shrubbery, some shrubbery. Try not to break your toe. I
Kelli 15:09
recommend just going out to the street, maybe walking down the sidewalk. Don’t read on the interwebs where it says you have to hop these shrubs and cross this dangerous little cobblestone path. Don’t do it. Don’t do it because it’s all you have to do is walk down the sidewalk. It’s really that easy. Okay, it really is that easy. And that resort had great
Chris 15:31
question, being a state park that we Yeah, it had great snorkeling, great snorkeling with lots of colorful fish and all, Oh, honey, does have the snorkeling area,
Kelli 15:39
like on property they’ve made, like, a man made snorkeling area that you paid to go snorkeling in, and that’s cool. It’s just not really, like open water, and it’s not really big enough to keep you occupied for, you know, a long time. Like I
Chris 15:54
said, it’s also only 45 minutes from the north shore of the ALI IWA area, right? And it’s only 20 minutes or so from Waikiki Beach. Yeah. So
Kelli 16:01
we went, you know, out and about, explore the island. Don’t, don’t think you’re gonna stay on that resort the entire time. There’s so much more to see. But the biggest negative for Aulani is the noise. We had a room that faced the pools, and this was an ocean view room. I think we’re like on the eighth floor. We’re like on the eighth floor, and it was an ocean view room. Right from our balcony, you could see the ocean. It was pool facing, so it would have been a priority type room. It was great. It was a one bedroom. The kitchen was one of the biggest we’ve seen in any of the DVC resorts. Our bedroom was amazing, like we had our own coffee pot in there. We had our own balcony. We had our own balcony. It was so lovely. Loved that. But you step out on that balcony and you are just assaulted by the noise coming up from those pools all hours, when those pools are open, it is just screaming, screaming. They’re just screaming because there’s several slides. There’s a lazy river, lots of
Chris 17:04
slides. Lazy River, lots of different pools to play in, splash pads, all sorts of stuff. And it is, it opens at like 8am yeah? So if you plan, and you said, if you step out on the balconies, yes, you are assaulted, but you don’t sleep past 8am
Kelli 17:20
either, yeah, it’s loud. It’s really loud. And so again, like you need to leave the property, but there are people there that are just gonna have their kids playing in those pools all day, every day, and their kids will be just happy as larks, and that’s fantastic. But I’m telling you right now plan to leave the property that is the biggest con at Aulani is just being assaulted by the noise. You said this before we got on. But if they had made olani More like Polly, where it was more spread out, or spread houses and things, it would have been so much better. And I agree, split those
Chris 17:53
pools up a little bit. Yeah, I agree. I mean, I don’t, you know, they’ve got, they’ve got a resort that’s literally right on top of them on one side. Well,
Kelli 18:01
and I’m sure, I mean, land in Hawaii, it’s not cheap, so you’re gonna build up, not out, but, but still, a lot. He’s amazing. It is, but there’s a very and the spa, again, world’s best spa. But there’s a reason it’s number six, and that’s the noise, Yep,
Chris 18:18
that’s right. Okay, so I’ve got number five All right. Again, we’re really getting into the weeds here, yeah, but Bay Lake tower at the contemporary Yeah, I loved staying here, yeah, maybe partly because as a kid, I remember going to Disney, when the only real resorts there was the contemporary and the Polynesian and just oh, oh, to stay at that, at that resort where the Montero goes through it, right? So that I had those feels while we were there. But it is a fair of all the resorts. It’s pretty sterile. Bay Lake tower in particular is pretty sterile. Feels the most like a hotel. It feels like when you enter, it feels really hotely, like, like, generic hotel. The rooms are very nice, very well appointed. Yeah, I think you did an interview from,
Kelli 19:16
I think I did do an interview in the kitchen table there.
Chris 19:19
Yeah, but, but these one bedroom villas have two full bathrooms, which not all of the one bedroom villas do, but these do, and that’s a game changer,
Kelli 19:31
yeah, now it was, it was amazing, and it was fantastic. The monorail transport alone is phenomenal. Walking through the contemporary. It’s a lot of fun. It’s fun.
Chris 19:43
Yeah, that’s right, and fun, yeah, it’s a little bit tricky to there’s that walking bridge from Bay lake over to the
Kelli 19:49
continent you took, you stood there and took so many pictures going, Yes, I mean, you loved it. There’s also good food there in contemporary, the chef, Mickey’s.
Chris 19:59
Mickey’s and the new Steakhouse, the steakhouse 71 Yeah,
Kelli 20:03
and the cool villains DVC Lounge is up at the top of Bay Lake Lounge
Chris 20:08
is really wonderful to be able to like, I want to do that when we go in the summer. But you know we were when you were at the Bay Lake tower, yeah, it’s so easy. It’s so easy. We had a room that faced Bay lake on, sort of on the, I’m gonna use air quotes, or the back side of that tower. And so in the evening, it was super peaceful out there. You’d see some boats, you know, going by over there. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to stay on the other side of the bay Lake tower, where you actually saw the fireworks. We would go out to them to the walking bridge and watch them. Well, we saw it from the lounge, from the lounge, yeah, but if you had a room on the opposite side from where we did, you’d see the fireworks out there every single night.
Kelli 20:50
Yeah? No, it was nice. It was the literally, the only con is that it’s a little bit sterile. That’s right, that’s right, yeah, yeah. It was a good place. Okay. Number four, the grand Flo the number one reason I love the flow is because it’s so fancy. It’s so makes you and it feels fancy. You know, you walk in there after a day at the parks and you are just pouring sweat and disgusting, and you’re like, but I’m fancy, you know, I’m fancy. It’s the location you walk to Magic Kingdom. There’s boat transport and monorail transport. My two favorite modes of transportation now, boat transport is my number one. Monorail transport is number two because we have been on the monorail before when there was a code V, yeah, sure.
Chris 21:41
And not and that’s a that’s a downside, that’s a downside.
Kelli 21:44
I don’t want to be on the monorail with a code V, but boat transport, if there’s a code V, just like, hang over the side. You know what I’m saying? Like, we don’t need to just hang over the side. Let Bay Lake hold that for you. So I’m really for boat transport. You can also walk to Magic Kingdom. I think it’s the easy way to get to Magic Kingdom, because you sort of have your own little dedicated boats. Oh, boat ramp right there at the entrance. Yes,
Chris 22:13
that’s right. And the that there’s a boat that goes from Magic Kingdom to Grand Flo to poly and back. And then it just makes that little loop there, which is lovely. And also, when you’re going to the Magic Kingdom, it’s just one stop, yep, on the monorail. So it’s lovely. It’s also where you stay for the DVC villas. It’s no further walk to go back towards the Polynesian. So if you wanted to go back towards the Polynesian, either at wailu or trade or Sam cooks, yes, right? It’s really not that far. But
Kelli 22:45
grand Flo has good food options. Might
Chris 22:48
have the most food options in any place. I mean, they’ve got some really high end between Vicki and ALS. They’ve got narcosis, citricos, the Grand Floridian cafe, Park 17. I don’t
Kelli 23:00
think they’re doing the tea anymore, but when they did the tea, that was so
Chris 23:04
amazing. And then they’ve got the gas burger grill, which is counter service,
Kelli 23:07
yeah, lot of stuff going on there. And they have the, the Alice in Wonderland, Character Breakfast.
Chris 23:13
Yeah, that’s the park, something fair. Can’t remember what it’s exactly
Kelli 23:17
so, yeah, we love the ground flow. Good Food feels fancy even when you’re, you know, wearing flip flops and you’re sweating. Yeah,
Chris 23:24
my grandmother, when we would go growing up, once the ground flow was built, it became part of our trip every year that she had to go to the Grand Floridian just to walk through
Kelli 23:36
the line. Yeah, you do. I know it’s just really do so delightful. I think we end up there at almost every tree,
Chris 23:43
pretty much. Yeah, I bet we do somehow. So one way is it or
Kelli 23:46
another, right? Let’s go see the gingerbread houses. Let’s go see the eggs
Chris 23:50
or that little they’ve got a pretty good little shop up there. But yeah, so it was, it was a nice thing to stay we stayed there twice now, actually, so, yeah, okay, is it me? Yes, number three, all right, Riviera, this was a new one, but immediately loved it. Like, soon as we stayed there, like, Oh, this is, this is really fantastic, really nice. I love that they this one is not a sprawling property. They like you say they built up not out. So you’ve got one bus stop. It’s also on the Skyliner, yeah. So you like the monorail more than the Skyliner, um,
Kelli 24:33
I would, I think so. Um, interesting, yeah. But I enjoyed the Skyliner. I just, I don’t like to be on it with other people. So, like, I want to ride the Skyliner at off times, off peak times. Gosh, I’m not good with other people. I’m just not. I’m just not. I’m not my best self.
Chris 24:53
I think that, you know, normally there’s three or four of us, and so we end up with one to our we end up with one
Kelli 24:58
to ourselves. And in that case. I like it. I do think sometimes it’s, it’s not like you get off of it at the Riviera, and you feel like you still have to walk really far to get to the Riviera. It’s in a weird way. There is a
Chris 25:10
little, you know, you do feel like you had to walk a little bit to get to the over to the Riviera, but it’s really not that far. You walk through that little portico with the beautiful, beautiful tanks tile work and the Peter Pan tile work, it’s nice. Yeah, no, I like the Skyliner. I’m for it. Yeah. I mean, Riviera has their their food options are a double edged sword. The bad is that they don’t have a lot. They’ve got a they’ve got a coffee shop that’s got pastries and stuff in the morning, and they’ve got a poolside bar called bar Riva that is better than the average poolside bar. They’ve got some really elevated bar food there. Yeah, that’s really good. And then you got topolinos, which is amazing, is it’s one of the best meals we’ve ever had. Yes, and then their character breakfast is super unique. You get to see the Fab Five, and they’re in artistry, uniforms, the the the theming of Riviera, which is Italian, like the Italian Riviera or the French Riviera area, is spot on. It’s beautiful. The grounds there are just so, so nice. In fact, I once told you, you know what you should do to your dream life as well.
Kelli 26:22
Say, my dream light Valley Plaza is designed as Riviera. It’s designed as the Riviera grounds and so,
Chris 26:28
and when they came up with that whole thing, they modeled, they did the same thing over at Polynesia for the new tower. And I think it’s, it’s fantastic. So, oh, and they got the Jacuzzi tubs, big deal. You really love that.
Kelli 26:44
That was a nice tub. I mean, you’re calling it a Jacuzzi tub, I’m telling you, that was really nice. It was really nice. It was a really nice tub. And that’s not everywhere. They don’t have those everywhere, so, and the tub is, like, separate from the rest of the bathroom. It’s just it was so lovely. Yeah, I really enjoyed that. Yes,
Chris 27:02
I know you did, and you needed it on one of those. Oh
Kelli 27:04
my gosh. I needed on. I needed on every stay. So the only con then, for Riviera is there’s not a lot of food on site, not
Chris 27:12
a lot of food on site. But otherwise, it’s really, just really, just about perfect. I mean, you do have to take busses sometimes, yes, but you can take,
Kelli 27:20
we got around that we would take the Skyliner to Hollywood studios and then grab a minivan. We did that a couple times.
Chris 27:28
We or we would go to, you take the Skyliner to Hollywood studios in Epcot, and then we also
Kelli 27:33
took some Ubers, and we would take Uber Riviera as a bus. Now let’s go there, okay? Because grand Flo also has a bus. Boardwalk also has a bus, right? It’s one bus stop, that’s the thing. But also one bus stop on those on those higher end resorts like Riviera and grand flow, they’re not stopping at three other resorts before you get to the park. Okay? So you’re not chock a block full like sardines, like sweaty sardines, sweaty, screaming sardines in a bus, right, right? You get on at your nice, fancy resort, and then you get off at the park, like it’s a it’s a much more pleasant ride that I can get behind, yes, as opposed to like saratoga springs or Caribbean Beach, where you’re a sardine before you even get off property. That’s right. And then they’re still going to swing by two other resorts,
Chris 28:20
that’s right, and and, or within that resort, they’re going to make seven stops. Yes, yeah, no. Riviera has got its own dedicated bus stop
Kelli 28:30
to and from, yeah. I mean, I’m a little bit traumatized by the Riviera, because that’s where we stayed for the 10k I
Chris 28:36
know, and we got the busses there, like, and I’ve tried
Kelli 28:39
to block a lot of that. I tried to block most of that that trip, but
Chris 28:44
the Riviera was the positive from that. Yeah,
Kelli 28:46
so the only con then is that there’s not a lot of food on site for a lot of restaurants, right? Yeah, I’ve got some really cute DVC merch at their store. Yeah, I was
Chris 28:55
gonna say their store, their general store, is really good. Has a lot of good options there too, especially for DVCS, yeah,
Kelli 29:01
I agree. Okay, number two, boardwalk, boardwalk, and I’ll be honest, like when, when we’re going and we haven’t, you know, booked 11 months out, or whatever, the boardwalk is always the one I look at first. Yeah, it’s in my heart, one of my I mean, easily,
Chris 29:17
it’s really hard for us to flip. Mean, everybody’s gonna know which is our favorite. Of course they are, but yes, but it’s it’s really almost a coin toss. I
Kelli 29:26
love the boardwalk. I love the vibe of the boardwalk. I love walking into the boardwalk. The staff at the boardwalk all amazing. I think the rooms at the boardwalk are some of the best on property. Y’all. They have ceiling fans. And I’m telling you right now that might sound like just whatever, whatever from the south. Okay, I need a ceiling fan in the room, in all the rooms, in all the they run, all the they run all the time. I don’t cut the ceiling fans off. I don’t understand why. I like to have a good circulation when I walk into the room, I want to feel. March Gail, right? And so having a ceiling fan in the bedroom at the boardwalk is phenomenal. It’s it is it takes it just to the next level. I can’t say enough how much I love those look
Chris 30:13
when you come in from the day and you just collapse backwards onto that bed, as good bed as we do. They’re good beds. They’re good beds. There are good beds. You collapse back onto that bed and that ceiling fan is just going right above you see what I’m saying? That’s what I’m talking about with ceiling fan. Don’t get that if there’s no ceiling fans.
Kelli 30:35
Fan, the Riviera room we stayed at didn’t have a ceiling fan. The Grand Flo room we stayed at didn’t have a ceiling fan, and I think that is such a missed opportunity. Yeah, most of the rooms don’t have ceiling fans, and I love the boardwalk for those ceilings. I think we should keep talking about it. It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous, and I know that, but that’s what I’m saying, right? Like, you know, it’s the little things, it’s the little things. It’s those little touches of home, because most hotels don’t have ceiling fans, sure, and that’s a little touch that makes it feel more like home, right? It’s that kind of a thing. But you’ve also got all of the food and entertainment there at the boardwalk, an amazing store, like their merch stores, really good. General Store, it’s legit. General Store, it’s good. We’ve gotten some really good stuff there. We love Abercrombie da bar. Now we do, yes, you keep wanting to go to that place with the cakes,
Chris 31:32
the cake bag shop, the cake baker shop,
Kelli 31:36
but so like they have, you’ve got the whole boardwalk there. Now be careful, because in the morning they wet that thing down, and you will absolutely fall down here, but, but they’ve got the margarita bar, they’ve got nachos, they’ve got pretzels, they have, you know, like corn dog stand. Corn Dog stands. They got the pizza window.
Chris 31:53
It’s a legit, like, boardwalk feel. And so if you’ve ever spent any time, like on east coast beaches, yeah, with a boardwalk, that’s it. That’s what it feels like. It feels like a turn of the century version of that. And the later in the evening it gets more perfect, the more it feels that way. You got the string of lights, you know, going up and down the boardwalk, and you have all these, we’ll call them like buskers and entertainers, yes, suddenly show up out there, and they create their little, their little entertainment space using these neon light up ropes, right, you know, and and like, they’ve got some carnival games like, you know, basketball toss and stuff. It just has such a nostalgic
Kelli 32:39
boardwalk feel. It does. You can also walk into the international gateway at Epcot, the back entrance, which is our favorite entrance to go into. It’s worth going into. I love the international gateway. And so back there at the international gateway, you can also catch the Skyliner, yes, right? Because it’s right there. And so all that’s fantastic. So even after a long day at Epcot, you can still, I still have enough energy to walk up the boardwalk and enjoy that I’m not dead on my feet, because the boardwalk makes me happy, right? You
Chris 33:15
can do boat travel from the boardwalk to Epcot, also by by the friendships, I
Kelli 33:22
love, the friendships I know you do.
Chris 33:26
You can take the friendships over to Hollywood Studios. You can also walk to Hollywood Studios. Now, if I walk to Hollywood studios, then I spend a whole day at Hollywood Studios. I ain’t walking back. That’s just me. I’m lazy that way. But I can take the I could take the skyline Skyliner, but what’s I mean, you’re still gonna walk in a bit. But what’s fun is you take the Skyliner from Hollywood studios, and you take the whole loop, yeah, you go all the way out to Riviera, yeah, or the Caribbean beach. Take the junction, then go back over to Epcot and then walk back. Yeah, we have been at Epcot before. And right as we were walking out, stopped at the like the shawarma place in Morocco and and bought to go meal. We did it was, and went back to the boardwalk, sat on the balcony, there a boardwalk, and watched the fireworks while we watched it was,
Kelli 34:21
that was a lovely, lovely night,
Chris 34:23
right? We really love we bought our food, walked back over to the hotel, stopped at the general store, got a bottle of wine, because it’s so easy, so easy and yeah, went up to our room, got on the balcony, watched the fireworks at Epcot while we ate our swamp. It was lovely. That’s one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.
Kelli 34:40
Yeah, yeah. No, we, we really do love the boardwalk. It’s, it’s my heart hotel, yeah? I mean, it’s not our home hotel, but we’ve probably stayed there more than we’ve stayed probably at our home. Yeah.
Chris 34:52
So I love the board, by the way. They say that the flying fish restaurant, which we’ve never eaten out there, is so. Supposedly one of the most underrated restaurants on property. Yeah, and the chatteria alforno, I think is also there, is underrated for Italian food, but also supposedly a really great breakfast there. Okay, also, yeah, and they’ve got that cool bar, that little where we fell asleep.
Kelli 35:18
They have the best nap spot on the second floor cool bar room. Fell asleep. It was, it’s such a lovely nap spot because our room wasn’t ready and it was just nice couches. It was quiet. I mean, I can’t say enough about the boardwalk. I love, love, love the boardwalk. Okay,
Chris 35:35
number one on the number one, no surprise to anybody, is the Polynesian Resort and Villas and bungalows and all that stuff, right? Just perfection in terms of theming and the design of the property, most of the little row houses you know, are loading one, two or three story buildings, say, for the new tower that looks is amazing. And just it, just, whether it’s morning and you’re walking along the beach path there with the Hawaiian music that they’re playing, they’ve got those, those flames that are, you know, the tiki torches that are constantly going
Kelli 36:15
with the hammocks. And, you know, I love Adirondack, Adirondack,
Chris 36:19
or it’s at night, and just strolling through those little paths and everything. They’ve got the volcano pool there, and then they’ve also got this other pool that’s, you know, a little ways away from that one, that’s much quieter, quieter.
Kelli 36:36
There’s a theme, I think, to why we like certain things in certain places. Sure,
Chris 36:41
sure. We like quiet. We enjoy the quiet, quiet, really
Kelli 36:47
good food. Quiet, quiet, quiet, lots
Chris 36:50
of good food. At Captain Cook is Captain amazing, highly underrated, very underrated. They will, they will, very often put out test items that Captain Cooks, I mean, they’ve got some staples that they’re fried rice. I mean, fried rice, right, right? They have that. They’ve got lots of fun, unexpected dishes there, from flatbreads to Asian and, you
Kelli 37:12
know, breakfast foods, yeah, no. Captain Cooks is amazing. Captain
Chris 37:16
Cooks is fantastic. But, like, I went there on this last trip, by the way. Speaking of Polynesian and boardwalk, I went down to Orlando for the citrus bowl, which I’ve mentioned before. And when we weren’t doing citrus bowl stuff, I literally would take an Uber over to the boardwalk and spend just spend some time walking around the boardwalk, and then I would take a bus, or I would, I would take the sky lift, Skyliner over to Hollywood studios, so I could grab a bus and take it back to Polynesian. So I could also then hang around the Polynesia for I did that twice while I was on that trip. Yeah, it’s just got that feel, yeah, the It feels very homey. Ohana is really great. It’s a unique dining experience on property, the Tambu lounge, right next door to that, where you can get that lamb pineapple drink. Trader Sam’s is down there, which is such a unique fun experience. The outdoor bar for trader Sam’s, where they’ve got music every night. Yes, it’s just and then water travel, right? We’ve got, you got the water tax and the
Kelli 38:23
boats? Yes, you got the monorail,
Chris 38:25
again, all of it one bus stop. It can be a little bit of a walk to that bus stop, depending on where you’re, which rooms you’re in, still just the one bus stop. And you’re probably not having to share. Every once in a while, I think they do have the bus Polynesian and grand Flo share,
Kelli 38:41
which is fine. I’ll share with the grand Floyd. All right, there. Lady toity, you had me mentioned boutique
Chris 38:48
and then there’s and then there’s boutiquey. Just take my money. Take I mean, I’ve literally, the last time I went in there, I literally just took my pants off when I walked in and gave it to him and said, all my money is in these pants somewhere.
Kelli 39:02
I mean, the amount of boutique things we have in this house are insane. It’s stupid, honestly, it’s pretty I mean, y’all we’re talking like salt and pepper shakers. Yes, we’re talking like pineapple mugs. Like we
Chris 39:19
have a we have a bit of signage from the enchanted it’s tiki room, yeah, that we’ve never hung on the wall. It’s gonna It wasn’t even for sale, but it was on the wall at boutique, and so you bought it. And I asked him, Is that for sale? Yeah. And they effectively said it can be. But it was, it was just decor at matiki. And now it, yeah, $180
Kelli 39:46
later, it can, it can be yours. Yes, we’ve bought things at the bedside, lamps. I mean, we bought whole, two whole sets
Chris 39:54
of a very specific type of drink where just so that we could drink out of one. It and display the other
Kelli 40:01
well, because they’re not dishwasher friendly, we found that. We found that out they’re not dishwasher and so I needed some to display and then some to drink out. So
Chris 40:11
on the next trip, we bought some. I mean, obviously,
Kelli 40:15
obviously. I
Chris 40:16
mean, we, we’re not rational people. No, not in boutique. We go
Kelli 40:20
there. All all rational thought leaves the window. We’ve
Chris 40:25
been enough that it we are actually running out of things to buy there, which
Kelli 40:28
I mean that that honestly says more about their stock than us, does it? Yes, I think they need to refresh their stock.
Chris 40:36
In any case, Polynesian, to me, is perfect. You know, they
Kelli 40:42
the lobby, lobby. It smells good. I know ridiculous. It smells good. It
Chris 40:48
matters. I make my room smell like the Polynesian lobby every day for work.
Kelli 40:52
I hope those rooms in the tower have ceiling fans me too.
Chris 40:56
I know you do. I know you do. For you, I hope they do. I love a ceiling event. But, yeah, it’s just, it’s just so nice. I mean, it doesn’t get better than standing on the beach at the poly watching the fireworks at the park over the castle, but while still listening to the music from the park.
Kelli 41:14
That’s pretty nice in an adirondack, in Adirondack, it’s nice. I mean, we’ve had ground floor rooms before where we would just pull our patio furniture,
Chris 41:24
patio furniture, to the beach, onto the beach, and other people were doing it too, or even if they weren’t, we didn’t care. No, we put it all back. We live here. This is our house. I can move my furniture. I own one 100,000th of this place. But we, yeah, we went and got food from Captain Cooks, carried it out onto the beach and watched. I mean, it’s just, it’s just really, it’s real nice. You can walk to the transportation ticket center, right, depending on where you’re staying. It might be faster to catch the monorail there, versus the one at the poly, at the poly. But you can also catch the big ferry ships from the transportation ticket center.
Kelli 42:04
We’ve done all that. We’ve done it. All that anything to avoid a bus. We’ve done even if that means a few extra stops, multiple boats, a little bit of extra walk, little bit of extra walking, whatever it takes to avoid those busses. We’ve done it. And so yeah, Polly’s number one.
Chris 42:22
Polly’s number one. It can be a coin flip between there and board, while they’re so different, but in my heart,
Kelli 42:30
poly, poly is number one, absolutely. All right, folks, love to
Chris 42:35
hear what you think. What is your favorite resort of the ones we listed, or even the ones we didn’t list, are the boulder Ridge places really that much better? Right?
Kelli 42:42
Absolutely. Or if you agree with us about Polly, and you would just like to share your own personal love of Polly, that’s great, too. If you’re looking for more things Disney, visit SCF, adp.com, S for Super, C for Kelli, F for fragileistic. A for awesome, D for Disney, P for podcast. That’s
Chris 42:59
right, folks, hey, run out there to wherever you get your podcast, leave us a five star rating. And if you can leave us a review that would also help bring more people to our show, find us on Instagram at SCF, ADP, the more the merrier for the conversations out there, and with that, we will see you real soon.
