touring hotels

You have to do resort visits! Especially around the holidays. The resorts on the monorail alone are with a few hours. Also, the resorts have fantastic resturants, the best in Orlando. The bars are also great. The monorail pub crawl is a evening E-ticket on its own. For the resturants, get reservations, they fill up very quickly. If you dont have a reservation and there are only two of you, you may find a table. But a little planning is worth it. The atmosphere, decorations, shopping, bars and resturants are made for people visiting the resort as well as for those at the resort.

Enjoy.

I agree with Mcheal! Resort hopping is awesome. I know when you stay on site one of the benefits is called "pool hopping" meaning that if you stay on site you can go to any pool at any resort on property. Which is cool because some of them have awesome water slides! The Monorail run is awesome. I recently went to GF for the first time in a while in 2013 and it was awesome there is so much details there and its just beautiful. I like visiting all the resorts and looking to see what they have there and we also like to go to the different restaurants at the resorts as well! It is very fun! Me and my grandfather used to do this a lot this is actually how we discovered WL and it is my favorite resort! So lots of fond memories.

Completely worth the time to do. That's usually part of our day: in the park until 2 or 3, hit one of the resorts to relax for the afternoon (preferably one with an open bar), then off to dinner at another resort.

I agree. They are open for all to visit and I love getting to take a peek without booking a night. We've been to most resorts on property just for a visit, a dinner or drinks. There is so much to see!

The monorail crawl is a great way to check out those 3. (Poly, GF and Contemporary) You don't have to drink at each one to have a good time. I could spend hours in the Poly alone having Dole Whips and seeing all the beautiful elements!

Agreed didn't they get rid of the waterfall in the lobby ? That was always so cool. I heard new lobby isn't as awesome. But I agree each hotel has some cool element too it. The BW for example has this super cool chandelier that's gold with horses on it that is super cool. And these model rollercoasters. So much to look at!

Did you say it's okay to pool hop???

If this is the case, while at the Boardwalk Villas this November, I'd love to visit the pool over at the Yacht Club Resort. My kids talk about that pool every time we take the boat ride by it.. That would ROCK if we could do that.. Do you have to call ahead in advance? What if the entry to the pool area is secured, and it takes a room key (Magic band) to get in.. What then?? Thanks for your assistance in this matter..

LouisianaMike

I'm pretty sure this is highly frowned upon....am I right more experienced peeps?

The pool at the Beach and Yacht club is only accessible to guests staying there. A lifeguard checks your MB and if you're staying at another resort, you can't even go in. Apparently this is in place also at The Poly, or will soon be.

As Jan pointed out, there are exceptions to this, Stormalong Bay being the most notable one. This is only open to guests staying at Yacht and Beach Club.

No no no!!!!!!! There are several pools now that are on the "NO POOL HOPPING" list including the Poly. It has now been fenced in and is accessible only with at magic band to resort guests.

No no no!!!!!!! There are several pools now that are on the "NO POOL HOPPING" list including the Poly. It has now been fenced in and is accessible only with at magic band to resort guests.

The official pool hopping rules are as follows for regular guests (non-DVC):

"You may use the pool/pools at the specific resort where you are registered. You may not hop to another pool at another resort and use their pool facilities. Most pools have signs advertising this information to guests. "

The exception to the rule is for DVC Members:
When staying on your Membership at any Disney Vacation Club Resort
at the Walt Disney World Resort or Disney's Vero Beach Resort, you
and any Guests staying with you are permitted to use most of the other
Disney Vacation Club and Walt Disney World Resort hotel pools (in
addition to the pool at the resort hotel at which you are staying) if they
are not at capacity. If the pool you are visiting reaches capacity, you may
be asked to leave in order to accommodate Guests of that resort hotel.
Please check with a host or hostess at the front desk of the resort you
wish to visit before you go to find out about pool-access availability.
You must present your current Key to the World Card with your "DVC
Member" designation on it to use the other resort hotel pools.
Pool hopping is not available at Bay Cove Pool at Bay Lake Tower at
Disney's Contemporary Resort, Uzima Pool and Samawati Springs Pool
at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, Stormalong Bay at Disney's Yacht &
Beach Club Resorts, the leisure pool at Disney's Beach Club Villas, and
the pools at Disney's Art of Animation Resort. There are no exceptions to
this policy.
Resort hotel pools may become unavailable from time to time due to
capacity limitations. Due to the high occupancy that is expected, you and
any Guests staying with you may not pool hop during the dates listed below:

POOL HOPPING BLOCKOUT DATES*
February 16"23 (Saturday"Saturday)
March 24"April 7 (Sunday"Sunday)
May 25"28 (Saturday"Tuesday)
June 29"July 8 (Saturday"Monday)
August 30"September 2 (Friday"Monday)
November 25"December 1 (Monday"Sunday)
December 15"January 5 (Sunday"Sunday)

Source:Portable Perks

Resort hopping is a blast especially during the Christmas season. Each resort is unique and I love looking at all the little details. Also some of the best food is at the resorts. Cali Grill, Yachtsman, and Narcoossee's to name a few. There are also some very cool places to stop and get a cocktail if you are so inclined. We always include time to resort hop. This year we are going on our very first monorail crawl!

Oh god yes Sid, you have to do some resort hoping, even just to check out the different gift stores, they all carry something unique. The holidays are the best thought, especially Christmas time. But even non holidays are great just feeling the "feel" of each resort and experiencing the different themes each resort has.

Ok it must have been the DVC like MrHub said. It's been a while and I was always a DVC member until recently. We did it all the time and never got in trouble but we were always DVC. So it was probably ly that. Sorry for the confusion!!!!

Our favourite restaurants are in the resorts..Haven't visited any of the value resorts but done all moderates and most of the deluxe ones apart from GF tho next year we hope to snag a ADR at Narcoossees..

I don't resort hop. But if I have an ADR at a resort restaurant, I'll also take some time to look around, the end result being essentially the same thing - I've visited all of the deluxe resorts.

I STILL need to check out Wilderness Lodge. I've wanted to since the first time I saw it and it's the only one we haven't been to...

Where can I fit it in a couple weeks? Back to the planning sheet!

We love resort hopping and as others have said, it's especially fun at Christmas. I think it's worth including the values as well because their larger-than-life theming is great fun for all!! In general, I like the shops better at the values and moderates, too. Even though we don't buy all that much, we love to have a look through the gift shops. Port Orleans has a great food court for a quick service meal and Fort Wilderness has a campfire, carriage & wagon rides, and horses. It's definitely worth taking some time to explore a resort or two each time you visit.

While these days pool hopping is a no-no, resort hopping is awesome and we always include it in our Disney activities.

The easiest "groups" of hotels to visit in a single crawl are the monorail resorts (Poly, Contemporary, Grand Floridian) and the Epcot Resorts (Yacht Club, Beach Club, Swan/Dolphin, and Boardwalk). I've frequently done the monorail crawl in the evening, eating and drinking my way around the Seven Seas Lagoon and watching the fireworks at the end. However you can do the sam at the Epcot resorts.

Two of my very favorites are just a bit off the beaten path, the Wilderness Lodge, and Animal Kingdom Lodge are both pretty spectacular in their own right. When visiting either of those I usually make sure that I have an ADR to eat while I'm there. Wilderness Lodge is home to one of my favorite breakfasts (Whispering Canyon) and Animal Kingdom Lodge has three amazing table service restaurants (BOMA, Jiko, and Sanaa) Sanaa is best for lunch because the view of the savanna is rockin'.

Among deluxe resorts, IMO Animal Kingdom Lodge, the Polynesian, and Wilderness Lodge are the most interesting. The Contemporary is cool, but once you've ridden through on the monorail you've seen most of what it has to offer. The others are nice, but not places I would go out of my way to visit, so check out the Grand Floridian since it's right there on the monorail loop. Take a quick look at Saratoga Springs from across the pond at Downtown Disney and you've pretty much seen it. Take the boat between Epcot and DHS and if any of the resorts along the way appeal to you, get off the boat and take a look.

Both Port Orleans resorts are worth seeing, but French Quarter is better IMO. Those are the only two moderates I've visited.

As for the values, I love staying at them but wouldn't go out of my way just to visit.

For those of you who remember me, all Jan and I ever did was resort hopping. Out of 67 stays at the World, for me, we only went to the theme parks 2 times. Once on opening weekend in 1971 and again in 1990.
Joe

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That's an amazing testament to how the resorts are destinations in themselves.

WOW! That is awesome!

Yes it is indeed! You and Jan are always in our thoughts Subvetss.

Always nice to see you Joe.

Joe!! So fantastic to see you