There is a perverse rule in economics that applies to luxury goods: People believe that when they pay more, they get better quality. This applies to furs, platinum watches, Lamborghinis, Gucci briefcases and, apparently, Walt Disney World. Little else can account for the difference in price between the low-end and high-end hotels at the Walt Disney World complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
In a 10-night visit last summer, our family of three stayed in eight Disney World hotels ranging from $85 to $400 a night, excluding taxes. To our surprise, we found that $100 a night buys good accommodations and nearly the same comfort the high-end places offer. At Disney World, a guest at any hotel can use the facilities of any other hotel. No matter where we were staying, we were able to ride throughout the complex on water taxis, monorails and trams; we had our pick of pools, restaurants, parking lots, even laundry facilities and baby-sitting services. As Disney guests we could reserve meals at park restaurants two days in advance.
We also found, not surprisingly, that newer is better at Disney World. The furnishings are spiffier and the amenities more amenable at the brand-new Dixie Landings ($85 or $104 a night) and the Yacht Club (we paid $260 a night) than at their older counterparts, the Caribbean Beach resort at the budget end and the Contemporary in the middle range.
Take your time
The length of our stay, 10 days, solved a big problem: the perceived necessity to see it all, and fast. With a resort-style pool and pleasant accommodations, we didn’t feel compelled to spend more than four hours a day in any of the three amusement parks: the Magic Kingdom, Epcot Center or MGM Studios. We arrived at each park early to avoid the heaviest crowds and fled to our hotel by lunchtime for a boat ride, tennis, horseback ride or swim.
While changing hotels every day is few people’s idea of relaxation, we deliberately had set out to try as many hotels as possible and in the process discover how to get the greatest value from the Disney hotel system.
Everywhere, we were ensconced in a “setting,” which is the Disney plan. The resorts evoke various benign themes. There’s ersatz Louisiana plantation or New England clapboard resort, Polynesian village and faux ’50s Miami Beach.
I chose the eight hotels for their variety of price, location and style. We stayed in every type of accommodation that Disney offers, except a tent site. Many hotels are paired, featuring slightly different decor but the same price and architecture. We stayed in only one of each pair. We ate lunch or dinner in every resort and were impressed by the quality of the food, far better and more carefully prepared than in the crowded restaurants inside the three amusement parks, and above average for typical hotel restaurants.
Food prices generally followed room rates: The Grand Floridian was the most expensive, Dixie Landings among the most reasonable.
Disney World’s hotels are priced primarily by location: the closer to the Magic Kingdom, Epcot or MGM, the grander and more expensive. And within each facility, rooms are priced by the view.
“Parking lot or lagoon?” one reservations agent inquired.
At the high end, paying $250 a night or more, we stayed in the Grand Floridian, the Dolphin, the Yacht Club and the Contemporary. In the mid-price category, between $100 and $250, were the Vacation Club and a trailer in Fort Wilderness. At the budget end, less than $100 a night, were Dixie Landings and the Caribbean Beach.
The Vacation Club apartment and Fort Wilderness trailer had kitchens and dining areas. The others were large hotel rooms, with two double or queen beds, a terrace, a double sink outside the bathroom, which we appreciated, and a mini-bar with reasonably priced sodas and snacks.
Favorite things
We each had our favorites. Chris, who is 12, loved the splashy Dolphin, with a health club, a waterfall pool, pedal boats on the lake, a game room, ice cream parlor with ’50s jukeboxes and swarms of well-behaved teenagers.
My husband, Joe, liked the low-key Vacation Club apartment, with a private terrace opening onto shade trees, Jacuzzi room, washer-dryer and well-equipped kitchen.
I liked Dixie Landings for its value, with good landscaping, a riverboat ride, bicycle rentals, central children’s pool and the quiet adult pools adjacent to each of six clusters of buildings, a fishing pond and a decent, moderately priced Cajun restaurant.
There were specific highlights. The best pool was the Yacht Club’s serpentine affair, with water slide and beach area for toddlers. The easiest access to the Magic Kingdom was from the Grand Floridian, which has its own monorail station and ferry landing. The best access to MGM was from the Dolphin and Swan, and to Epcot from the Yacht and Beach Club, each within walking distance, though there is a five-minute tram ride.
The best service was on the concierge floor at the Dolphin, a section with full-time concierge service, central lounge, breakfast, tea and desserts. The hotel is operated by Sheraton, and the pleasant staff is less frenetically friendly than at hotels operated by Disney. At those, the staff seemed to have a divided mission-part helper, part movie extra. Employee changing rooms and offices are labeled with signs, “Cast Members Only.” Dressed as ranch hands, serving wenches or sailors, employees were young and usually desperately eager to please.
All of the hotels we stayed in were inside the vast Disney World complex, which has 17,460 rooms in 20 hotels, campgrounds and apartments. Outside the complex, the highways are lined with an astonishing clutter of hotels and motels, with an additional 53,000 rooms. And Disney plans more hotels. The most recent to open have been at the budget end, $85 and $104 a night, and Disney is planning to build more in that range by 1995, including a Hollywood-theme hotel near MGM Studios.
The hotels’ central reservations number is 407-934-7639. Only the Dolphin, operated by Sheraton, has a toll-free number: 800-524-4939.
