If you've read our Resort Guide Basic Overview, and think a Deluxe Resort might be right for you, but you're still undecided, this guide post is a must read. If you have no idea where to even start with booking a room, read our Resort Guide: The Basics first before reading this. Already know that you want to stay at a Deluxe Resort but have no clue as to when is the best time to go? We can help you with that too with out with our Seasons of Disney post. If you are ready to book your Disney Vacation, reach out to Jillian at Destination Dreaming Travels for a FREE travel agent to handle all of the details for you.
Deluxe Resorts are the top tier of Disney Resorts and are broken down even further into regular hotel rooms and DVC Villas. DVC stands for Disney Vacation Club and is Disney's version of a timeshare membership. A certain number of DVC Villas are reserved for non-members to rent, just as you would a regular hotel room. For information on DVC membership or to rent DVC points, check out this post.
Deluxe Resorts include the following:
-Boardwalk Inn (hotel side) and Villas (DVC side and my personal favorite)
-Beach Club Resort (hotel side) and Villas (DVC side)
-Yacht Club Resort
-Wilderness Lodge
-Copper Creek Villas and Cabins (DVC property at Wilderness Lodge)
-Bolder Ridge Villas at Wilderness Lodge (DVC property)
-Grand Floridian Resort and Spa (hotel side) and the Villas at the Grand Floridian (DVC side)
-Polynesian Village Resort (hotel side) and Villas (DVC side)
-Contemporary Resort
-Bay Lake Tower (DVC Tower beside of Contemporary)
-Old Key West (the original DVC resort)
-Saratoga Springs Resort (a DVC resort and our 2nd favorite resort)
-Rivera Resort and Villas (the newest property)
-Animal Kingdom Lodge
-Kidani Village (DVC property near Animal Kingdom)
The Basics
Whew. That's a long list of resorts. These resorts each have significantly fewer guest rooms than the Value Resorts, but there's many more resort's from which to choose. We are DVC members and have stayed at many of these properties. One of the reasons we love these properties is where they are located. If you stay at Beach Club, Yacht Club, or Boardwalk, you can literally walk to EPCOT (and Hollywood Studio if you are ambitious). All of the resorts on the monorail loop in front of Magic Kingdom are Deluxe Resorts. Animal Kingdom Lodge and Kidani Village offer options of Savannah View rooms where African animals are right outside of your balcony! These premium locations come with a premium price tag. And these resorts are all about location... location... LOCATION! And just look at this view of Magic Kingdom from our room at Bay Lake Tower!!!
The Rooms
First, let't talk about the price tag. If your jaw drops when I mention that the absolute cheapest Deluxe room during shoulder season (off season when it's the slowest) starts at $420 per night for a standard room, then just go ahead and stop reading now. It's not uncommon to pay $600+ per night for this category room. In reference, that's triple what you would pay at a Value resort. With this hefty price tag comes really nice rooms. Deluxe rooms are the largest on property. Standard rooms will sleep four, with some rooms sleeping five. You will find higher end bedding and finishes. Now, this is higher end for a theme park. Don't expect the luxury of staying at The Four Seasons (although, that is an option for the super wealthy with a Four Seasons close to Magic Kingdom). Disney Deluxe rooms used to be so unique and individual to the theme of the resort. Over the last decade or so, Disney has been going through and "reimagining" the resorts. Basically, this means Hiltonizing them and making them appealing to the masses while getting rid of the charm and character that made them so special. I'm not a fan, but I guess they are appealing to the average first time guest.
Options for DVC Villas that we have the most experience with are Studio Villas, which are a standard hotel room with one bed and one sleeper sofa or pull down Murphy bed, and 1-bedroom Villas. Studio options have a kitchenette. 1-bedroom, 2-bedroom, and 3-bedroom options all have a full kitchen and include a washer and dryer for laundry. All Villas with separate 1-3 bedrooms will have a sleeper sofa in the living room for extra sleeping space. We really enjoy having the privacy of a separate master bedroom and The Kiddo in the living room. 1-bedroom and up also all have large garden tubs along with a serrate shower.
Parking and Transportation
Deluxe Resorts offer multiple forms of transportation to and from the parks. They are also the only category of resort that are within walking distance of, well, anything. As with all Disney Resorts, all have the bus option. My personal favorite resort is Boardwalk Inn and Villas. It's not because the rooms are these glorious masterpieces or anything. It's because it is reasonably priced for a Deluxe and it's walking distance to both EPCOT and Hollywood Studios!!! Yacht Club and Beach Club are also walking distance to EPCOT, but come with a heftier price tag. If I had unlimited funds, I would opt to stay at Beach Club every single time. But alas, our budget is in the Boardwalk range. All three of these resorts also have a dock for the Friendship Boats which will take you to both EPCOT and Hollywood Studios.
If you want to be closer to Magic Kingdom, there are three Deluxe Resorts along the monorail loop in front of the park. Grand Floridian, Contemporary (and Bay Lake Tower), and The Polynesian all have Monorail stops at the resorts with the Monorail running directly through the Contemporary. All of these have water taxi service as well. The Wilderness Lodge, including both Boulder Ridge and Copper Creek (our home DVC resort) have water taxi service to Magic Kingdom (but they are not along the Monorail loop). The Contemporary and its sister DVC tower Bay Lake Tower are the closest resorts to the Magic Kingdom and are a very quick walk. The walking trail from Grand Floridian has been opened, then closed, then open again, then temporarily closed. It's hard to know if you can actually walk from the Grand Floridan to Magic Kingdom or not, but in theory, if the trail is open, you can walk it.
My second favorite resort is Saratoga Springs Resort (SSR). It's also a reasonably priced Deluxe Resort. This resort is directly across from Disney Springs. It is a short walk to Disney Springs from the buildings closest to it. We have appreciated this short walk more now as The Kiddo has become a teenager and we spend more time at Disney Springs. We also love SSR because each building has its own parking. It's super convenient for us to just hop in the car when needed vs lugging all the way through a huge parking lot. On the flip side, if you don't have a car and find yourself relying solely on Disney transportation, this Deluxe Resort only has bus options to and from the parks. It's also a massively large and spread out resort with many internal bus stops. We have had times where we have to wait for an extended period of time because all of the buses that are coming by are already full.
My only comment on parking is at Kidani Village, a DVC Resort, located by Animal Kingdom. I have a love/hate relationship with this parking garage. It's located entirely underneath the actual resort. The thing I love about that is that your car is shielded from the Florida sun. The thing I hate about it is that it's tight parking which is difficult to maneuver and usually filled with large vehicles/vans.
The Food
Ok... When I tell people that I go to Disney to eat, people who have never been look at me like I'm crazy. What could I possible see in theme park food? Y'all... I've had some of the best food in my life at some of the restaurants at Disney's Deluxe Resorts.
Grand Floridian has the only AAA 5-Diamond award winning restaurant in all of Disney World with Victoria and Albert's. This is not personally they type of food that I'm into, or within a price range that I'm comfortable paying. Dinner here will set you back a whopping $295 PER PERSON, with wine parings an additional $150 per person. That plus tip is literally two nights worth of room stays for us. However, if you are into fancy food and can drop over $1,000 for one meal for two people, then try it out and let me know in the comments how you like it. I should note that tables here are extremely limited. If this is on the top of your must-do Disney, then you must make reservations. Walk-ups are not available.
Let's switch to some of the more reasonable and affordable dining experiences. We accidentally stumbled upon The Yachtsman's Steakhouse last year at The Yacht Club Resort. It was amazing. They bring you whole roasted garlic cloves, which I've only ever had at a handful of restaurants before. I love to roast garlic at home and eat it, so this was right up my alley. The steak was amazing too. Sanaa at Kidani Village is a wonderful Indian inspired African restaurant. The bread service with multiple dipping sauce option is to die for. Their butter chicken is also top notch. And I can't leave out my favorite resort. Boardwalk has a wonderful little Italian restaurant called Trattoria al Forno for both breakfast and dinner. This used to be a Character Breakfast with Ariel and Eric and Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. Unfortunately, at time of this writing, characters have not yet returned. Regardless, it's still a very good restaurant.
Deluxe Resorts are the only category of resort where you will find Character Dining. We used to love starting our "do-nothing days" with a Character Breakfast. We don't do as many of those now that The Kiddo is a teenager simply because she would rather sleep than be awake, and it's not worth the fight of getting her up and having a moody teenager the rest of the day. The Contemporary has Chef Mickey's, which is an all you care to enjoy style meal and has Mickey and Friends (breakfast only) who come right to your table. At The Poly, you will find 'Ohana where Best Friends Lilo and Stitch welcome you to breakfast. This one hold a special and emotional place in my heart because Stitch was The Kiddos favorite character when she was little and was so excited to meet him on our first trip. Disney has been updating and re-opening many of their Character Dining experiences little by little since the 2020 closure. Check their website or the My Disney Experience App a few months before your trip for the most up to date Character meal availability. And as always, Character Dining is the most sought after meals on property. Make sure you make your ADRs 60 days in advance.
There are so many more amazing restaurants. I think I just need to do a separate Deluxe Resort Restaurant guide to cover all of them.
The Pools
Deluxe Resorts have some of the best pools on property. The most notable one is Stormalong Bay, which is shared by both Yacht Club and Beach Club. This is a massive 3.5 acre water park that includes waterslides, a lazy river, and a sandy area for building sand castles. Of note, if you buy a kids meal at the poolside restaurant, it comes served in a sand bucket that kids can use to play in the sand. I believe all Deluxe Resorts now have a splash pad/little kiddie area. The pool at the Poly had a massive overhaul about 8 years ago and now has a 142 foot long waterslide and a zero-entry access. Boardwalk used to have a really creepy amusement park style clown head as their main focal point, but two years ago removed Creepy Clown with a whimsical scene of Disney and pals going down the water slide. I kind of miss Creepy Clown. Of note, all Disney pools have accessible lifts. See a Cast Member for assistance if needed.
The Extras
This is another area where Deluxe Resorts really shine. As with all categories of Disney resorts, you will find nightly Campfire Activities and Movies Under the Stars and an arcade or two. Resort guests staying at one of the Magic Kingdom resorts can see the nightly Electrical Water Pageant. It's basically a really cool light-up parade on water with music. All of the Magic Kingdom Resorts, along with Beach Club and Yacht Club have sandy "beaches" in front of them. It is important to note that this theme park is in Florida. There are alligators, giant snakes, and other wildlife native to the area. It is strictly forbidden to go into the water in any of the lakes. But feel free to enjoy laying in the sandy beach area. Boat rentals and fishing excursions are also options at the resorts on the lakes. All of this sounding like too much "doing"? Book an appointment at The Grand Floridian Spa for world class pampering, or take a steam at the steam room/sauna at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Although, I don't quite get this one. Just walk outside. Florida is a natural sauna.
Club Level/Concierge
If you want to take your room stay up a notch higher, book a Club Level room. Again, more offerings means a higher price tag. All 8 Deluxe Resorts plus one Moderate (Coronado Springs) have Club Level Rooms available. We have stayed Club Level at Beach Club and loved it. Although, I will place the disclaimer that we were Pixie Dusted this upgrade for free upon arrival and did not fork out the extra cash to actually book it. Disney's Club Level refers to specialty designated rooms/floors of a resort that have access to added benefits such as a concierge to help with booking dining reservations. The main benefit of staying Club Level is access to the lounge. In the Lounge, you will have ample free food. Keep in mind that nothing is truly "free". You technically pay for it with the increase in room price. Nonetheless, food offerings area fantastic. The only way I can fully endorse someone spring the extra money on Club Level is if you are at Disney for a resort only stay, meaning you are just there to hang at the resort and not actually go to the parks, or will spend minimal time in the parks (like just popping over for fireworks at night or something).
For starters, sodas, bottled water, and a small freezer with frozen treats are available the entire day. When we were there, there were some selections of fresh fruits to grab-and-go all day. Club Level guests can sit down a pretty substantial buffet style breakfast. There is not an official lunch service offered, probably because most guests will be at in the parks and not at the resort. But there should be a few small options available during the lunch hours. Don't expect this to fill you up or count as a whole meal. The evening is the reason that guests who love Club Level continue to book this level room. From 5pm-7pm there is a dinner service served buffet style.I think it's promoted as more of heavy Hors d'oeuvres vs actual dinner. However, it's a ton of food options that more than filled up my family. Lastly, from 8pm-10pm is the wine/ beer and desert service. It's free and unlimited wine and beer. We're not heavy drinkers, so one glass of wine and I'm done. But The Kiddo went to town on the desserts. If you like to have a few drinks to unwind in the evenings, or are planning on spending more time at the resort than the parks, then the extra $400-$1,000 per night price tag (on top of regular room price) may be worth it. If you are planning on being at the parks for the majority of the day every day of your trip, then this level room will never make sense.
I'm not sure if they are still doing all of these extra products at Club Level room or not, but we are STILL using bottles of sunscreen from our Club stay. They seriously brought us handfuls of these sunscreen bottles. I guess they took one look at The Kiddo and my pale skin and were like "yep, these girls need ALL of the sunscreen".
I hope this helps to give you a starting point when trying to plan your Walt Disney World Vacation. For help booking a room or Disney Vacation Package, check out Jillian with Destination Dreaming Travels. She's a FREE travel agent waiting to help you book your most magical vacation ever.
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