March 22, 2025 • 43 mins
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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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:01):
A super color, super whatever the internal thing is.
Chris (00:06):
This is the super color, fragileistic, awesome Disney
podcast, where, each week wediscuss, you guessed it, Disney
things you
Kelli (00:13):
know, things you don't know, and things you didn't know
you needed to know.
Chris (00:16):
Well, as Walt would say, the way to get it started is to
quit talking and begin doing,oh, wait, wait,
Kelli (00:21):
wait, I can do this.
Okay, please stand clear of thedoors. Por favor. Man. Tengas
Chris (00:27):
puertas, welcome aboard Disney. Fam. Hello out there.
Disney. Fam, this is Chris andI'm Kelli, and welcome to
another Top 10 bonus episodefrom season 10 here. That's
right. So we're gonna do the top10 slash, really, eight DVC
resorts that we've stayed in.
Yes. Okay, so there are 18Disney resorts, Disney DVC
(00:53):
resorts, you know, sort, I'mgonna say worldwide, but between
in the United States, and withsome more on the way. And we've,
we've stated eight of them, sowe're gonna rank those eight.
We're also gonna talk about acouple that we would like to
stay in. Okay, and so, so here'swhy we're kind of talking about
(01:16):
this a DVC resorts can beenjoyed by everybody, not just
DVC members. Highly recommendusing any of the DVC rental
sites that are out there. Ithink that there are some that
write better than others, so Iwould point you towards those
right. But with those, you canstay in DVC accommodations for
(01:36):
not much more than, say,moderate resort, regular
accommodations. And so you'retalking about $1,000
accommodations here, or afraction of the price. Yeah.
Kelli (01:54):
I mean, not enough can be said about having a washer dryer
in your room.
Chris (01:59):
We talk about it all the time, but it people, it's a game
changer, especially if you'reflying, if you're flying in this
packing, packing, it changes thegame completely, completely. Can
wash your clothes in the room,yes, and this allows for that.
It is a total game changer. Alsofull kitchens. And I don't mean
(02:20):
like if there's a kitchen, Imean a full, full kitchen,
kitchen, yes, with full, youknow, silverware and lightwear
and a dishwasher, dishwasher andcooking utensils, a
Kelli (02:33):
real oven, a real stove, full size fridge. I took out
like a baking
Chris (02:38):
sheet once, and was, I think it actually changed. We
asked for new restaurant qualitybacking sheets one time, because
we used the ones, yeah. Theywere in the great kitchen there,
yeah. And so it was just, it'sand then you you can order
groceries to be delivered on theday you arrive. So you get there
again, a game changer. It's all
Kelli (02:58):
just groceries are in the fridge, on the counter, not in
bags, like they have unpackedthe groceries and put them in
the fridge and on the counters.
Being able to make breakfast inthe room if you have a park day,
being able to go back up to theroom and make lunch. We have
before, gone out at night andleft teenagers in the room with
a pizza, right? Like you, youjust can't say enough about the
(03:21):
convenience of having a washerdryer in a kitchen. Yes, yes.
I'm also a huge fan of the onebedrooms Yes, because I really
love to have a door Yes. And sothat's my favorite thing about
being able to stay at the DVCresorts is we get a bedroom with
a door and our own bathroom.
(03:45):
They're
Chris (03:46):
in the one in the one bedroom villas, and they also
have two and three bedrooms, butthey also have studios, and even
their studios are upgraded overyour average studio. Yeah, even
Kelli (03:54):
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 (04:08):
you know, yes, we're DVC members, but you can stay in
these accommodations withoutpaying the typical price for
these accommodations. Yes, andit absolutely enhances your
stay. It really
Kelli (04:21):
does it. It makes it much more feel like home, yes, than
staying at a hotel. Yes.
Chris (04:28):
So like I said, we stayed at eight resorts, eight DVC
resorts. So we're gonna rank alleight. Yep. You know, from from
worst to best, and man, once youget towards top half of this
list, it really gets hard.
Kelli (04:45):
It does. It does Yes,
Chris (04:47):
okay, oh, we want to talk about, we wanted to talk about
the two yes that we because weonly got eight. This is a top 10
list. There are two that we kindof want to stay at pretty badly.
And. They are out west theDisneyland, the Villas at
Disneyland Hotel and the GrandCalifornian resort out there. So
(05:13):
a I've just always wanted tostay at the Disneyland Resort.
We've only been to Disneylandonce, and we stayed off property
because we were doing some otherthings. But for sure, I would
love the next time we go outthere to stay in one of these
two resorts on property there.
Really love to stay at theDisneyland Resort, yeah, to be,
you know again, be there withtrader Sam's. And they've,
(05:33):
they've got such a Polynesiankind of vibe there, that resort
also. But these, these villasare supposed to be amazing, and
they've got something therecalled the duo studio, which is
like a large studio, but thensouped up. Well, that's true
(05:53):
amenities in there. That's cool.
And then the Grand Californian,of course, has all those same
Villa amenities, but it is theback door of that resort,
literally, is the entrance toDisney California Adventure
Park, which
Kelli (06:09):
is huge. Like when I saw people like pushing strollers in
that back entrance, I thought,now that's that's
Chris (06:14):
nice. That is huge at the end of the day. Really nice the
end of the day
Kelli (06:19):
that looked lovely. Yeah, yeah.
Chris (06:21):
It would be really cool to like, at the end of the night
after the fireworks atDisneyland, walk across that
promenade, go into DCA and thengo to your resort that way.
Yeah, it
Kelli (06:32):
looks lovely. Really did.
So we'd
Chris (06:34):
love to do that now. I'll also mention that when I've
looked at lists online ofranking DVC resorts, a lot of
people put boulder ridge andcopper Creek at Walt Disney
World at Number one and two.
Really? Yes, wow. So somethingfor us to think, do they say?
Why? Like, what makes them sospecial? I think, well, they're
(06:55):
pretty close to and use a lot ofthe same amenities, I believe,
as the Wilderness Lodge, whichis a pretty nice, you know.
Okay, that's a nice resort.
Yeah, Shane, you got water youknow, you can take water
vehicles. And
Kelli (07:09):
I'm really big on water transportation, for sure. Yes,
okay, so are we ready? We'reready, okay, number eight, okay,
so this is me, right. Okay, sonumber eight is Saratoga
Springs. Now here are the proson Saratoga Springs. I mean,
it's all the things that makeDisney villas great, all the
(07:29):
things we just talked about,everything we just talked about,
laundry, full kitchen, bedroomwith a door, all of that, the
proximity to Disney Springs, thefood that's on site, right?
Often, a lot of people loveSaratoga Springs, the turtle
Chris (07:42):
side bar, yeah, and the Turf Club, yep, yes, Saratoga
Kelli (07:47):
Springs almost always has availability. And I think that's
just because it's kind ofsprawling it is, so it's got a
lot of rooms. They have a spa onsite. And you can take a water
taxi to Disney Springs,
Chris (08:00):
yeah, you can, you can walk to Disney Springs, yeah,
but like, that's nice. It isreally nice. That's nice. A huge
Pro for Saratoga Springs, thatyou can walk or water taxi to
Disney Springs.
Kelli (08:10):
Yeah, of course. You know the problem with Saratoga
Springs is it's bus travel only.
Well, I can't. I can't take tothe parks, to the to the parks.
I can't take the mass transit.
It first thing in the morning.
Chris (08:31):
You've rarely had your coffee yet. I'm not
Kelli (08:33):
caffeinated. Sometimes I'm not at all caffeinated
because we're gonna get it inthe park or something. And what
happens on those busses early inthe morning and late at night, I
really need to be at my bestself
Chris (08:49):
to take and those times do not lend themselves to you
being in your at your best self.
Those times
Kelli (08:55):
don't lend themselves to me being at my best self or
anybody else being at their bestself. And so therefore I rode
off bus transport on Disneyproperty several years ago,
which is possible, and it's beenthe best decision I've made.
Chris (09:10):
Well, the other thing is, I would
Kelli (09:12):
rather go to Disney in the middle of July than take a
bus in January. That's
Chris (09:17):
great, because that's exactly what
Kelli (09:19):
we just say. Like,
Chris (09:22):
well, Saratoga Springs also is, is sprawling. I mean,
Kelli (09:26):
it is. So there's tons of bus stops within Saratoga, lots
Chris (09:30):
of bus stops with it. So you think, Oh, yes, we're here
at Saratoga Springs. But youmean, unless you're the first
bus stop that you got tocontinue to wait,
Kelli (09:37):
and I hate that, just with a burning range, right? Am
I here or am I not?
Chris (09:41):
And then when you get off the bus, it's usually a pretty
long walk.
Kelli (09:45):
So bus transport is just not for me. Well, that's not
especially at a resort likethis, not at a resort like this.
That's why I don't like stay atCaribbean Beach, right? Very
similar situation. Way too manybus stops, tons of bus
transportation. It's just not myjam. I. And so that's enough to
put Saratoga Springs at the verybottom, but the fact that they
have the spa, they have thewater taxi to Disney Springs,
(10:06):
and you've got all those otheramenities I'm telling you right
now, if you're getting a DVC, ifyou're buying points on one of
those resale sites, or buyingyou know, to go stay somewhere,
you'll almost always have achance to stay at Saratoga
Springs, and it will be the mostaffordable of any DVC
resistance, right? I think sotoo. So don't, don't sleep on
(10:26):
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 peoplemight be surprised, but number
seven on our list, I've gotAnimal Kingdom Lodge, whether
it's whether it's jumbo house orKidani, yeah, I think we stated
Jambo house, yeah. Um, pros hereare the savanna views. Gosh,
(10:55):
there's just nothing else thatcan compete with that, really
anywhere. And let's be clear, welove 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. Andthen the the decor in the lobby,
and the these expansive windowsand all the lookout points that
they give you. And there's atrail 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 therestaurants on are some of the
(11:32):
best restaurants, all on all ofproperty, whether it's Sanaa or
BOMA or whatever these placesare, really, people will will
come from wherever they'restaying, to Animal Kingdom
Lodge, yeah, to eat at theseplaces. 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 (11:57):
Really. The beauty of it makes my eyes hurt. Honestly,
it's just, it's just reallygorgeous. That's beautiful. The
the cons is all together now.
Bus travel
Unknown (12:09):
is, yeah, the animal
Chris (12:12):
kingdom Lodge is kind of far out there, yeah, for in
proximity, which you wouldexpect when you've got this
expansive Savannah you've got onthe other side of the Savannah,
yeah. I mean, you know, and soit's, you've got to put that
somewhere, and you don't wantthat to be right up, you know,
next to all the other parks andwhatnot. So I get that bus
(12:33):
travel is really the only way togo there, yeah. And it's a bog
bus ride fairly it is to prettymuch anything it
Kelli (12:41):
really is. So, okay, so that's seven, yep, okay, number
six is Aulani, Aulani. So firstof all, like, you're in Hawaii,
right, right? So, like, How badcould 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 othersare. 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 spotin
Kelli (13:07):
the whole wide world.
I've never been to a better spa.
It is amazing. It is unlike anyother spa you've ever gone to.
It is life changing. It is sopeaceful. I didn't want to leave
and our kids were staying withthe like, the kids house area,
you know, was Auntie somebody.
And I was like, Yeah, they'llfeed them, right? Like, they're
(13:29):
not gonna let them go hungry.
This is Disney. It was thatgood, yeah, it was that good.
The spa is heaven. The, youknow, 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'snot 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 downrestaurant can be kind of pricey
if you're planning to eat outevery meal,
Kelli (14:07):
yeah, and that the food options are going to get old too
if you're staying for like, aweek. So a lot of people want
Aulani to be all inclusive, andI'm telling you, it's just not
set up to be that way. Don'ttry, right? They have vehicle
rentals on site. Just superconvenient, which is fantastic.
So plan on doing that. Just toget off site. We ended up
(14:29):
walking across the street, Ithink, to monkey pod. Monkey
Chris (14:31):
pod across the street with a lot. There's a little
shopping center there. Yeah, Ihave some other things, and
monkey pot is a good a goodoption. Monkey pods one of our
favorite restaurants in Hawaii,and so we were thrilled to see
monkey pod right across thestreet. But, I mean, any case,
you do have to leave property,right? You do have to leave
property. They've got a gorgeouslagoon out there, but that's
(14:51):
really cool. It's a beautifullagoon, but it's not the kind of
lagoon that you're going to seea lot of tropical fish in. No
because it's man made. It's man.
But so, but there's a there's aresort right next door that you
can sort of walk through someshrubbery, 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 onthe interwebs where it says you
have to hop these shrubs andcross this dangerous little
cobblestone path. Don't do it.
Don't do it because it's all youhave to do is walk down the
sidewalk. It's really that easy.
Okay, it really is that easy.
And that resort had great
Chris (15:32):
question, being a state park that we Yeah, it had great
snorkeling, great snorkelingwith lots of colorful fish and
all, Oh, honey, does have thesnorkeling area,
Kelli (15:40):
like on property they've made, like, a man made
snorkeling area that you paid togo snorkeling in, and that's
cool. It's just not really, likeopen water, and it's not really
big enough to keep you occupiedfor, 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? Andit'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 gonnastay on that resort the entire
time. There's so much more tosee. But the biggest negative
for Aulani is the noise. We hada room that faced the pools, and
this was an ocean view room. Ithink we're like on the eighth
floor. We're like on the eighthfloor, and it was an ocean view
(16:24):
room. Right from our balcony,you could see the ocean. It was
pool facing, so it would havebeen a priority type room. It
was great. It was a one bedroom.
The kitchen was one of thebiggest we've seen in any of the
DVC resorts. Our bedroom wasamazing, like we had our own
coffee pot in there. We had ourown balcony. We had our own
balcony. It was so lovely. Lovedthat. But you step out on that
(16:46):
balcony and you are justassaulted by the noise coming up
from those pools all hours, whenthose pools are open, it is just
screaming, screaming. They'rejust screaming because there's
several slides. There's a lazyriver, 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 8amyeah? So if you plan, and you
said, if you step out on thebalconies, yes, you are
assaulted, but you don't sleeppast 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 peoplethere that are just gonna have
their kids playing in thosepools all day, every day, and
their kids will be just happy aslarks, and that's fantastic. But
I'm telling you right now planto leave the property that is
the biggest con at Aulani isjust being assaulted by the
noise. You said this before wegot on. But if they had made
(17:43):
olani More like Polly, where itwas more spread out, or spread
houses and things, it would havebeen 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 literallyright 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, notout, but, but still, a lot. He's
amazing. It is, but there's avery and the spa, again, world's
best spa. But there's a reasonit's number six, and that's the
noise, Yep,
Chris (18:19):
that's right. Okay, so I've got number five All right.
Again, we're really getting intothe weeds here, yeah, but Bay
Lake tower at the contemporaryYeah, I loved staying here,
yeah, maybe partly because as akid, I remember going to Disney,
(18:41):
when the only real resorts therewas the contemporary and the
Polynesian and just oh, oh, tostay at that, at that resort
where the Montero goes throughit, right? So that I had those
feels while we were there. Butit is a fair of all the resorts.
It's pretty sterile. Bay Laketower in particular is pretty
(19:02):
sterile. Feels the most like ahotel. It feels like when you
enter, it feels really hotely,like, like, generic hotel. The
rooms are very nice, very wellappointed. 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 theone bedroom villas do, but these
do, and that's a game changer,
Kelli (19:32):
yeah, now it was, it was amazing, and it was fantastic.
The monorail transport alone isphenomenal. 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 walkingbridge from Bay lake over to the
Kelli (19:49):
continent you took, you stood there and took so many
pictures going, Yes, I mean, youloved it. There's also good food
there in contemporary, the chef,Mickey's.
Chris (20:00):
Mickey's and the new Steakhouse, the steakhouse 71
Yeah,
Kelli (20:04):
and the cool villains DVC Lounge is up at the top of Bay
Lake Lounge
Chris (20:09):
is really wonderful to be able to like, I want to do that
when we go in the summer. Butyou 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 lakeon, sort of on the, I'm gonna
use air quotes, or the back sideof that tower. And so in the
(20:30):
evening, it was super peacefulout there. You'd see some boats,
you know, going by over there.
It wouldn't be the worst thingin the world to stay on the
other side of the bay Laketower, where you actually saw
the fireworks. We would go outto them to the walking bridge
and watch them. Well, we saw itfrom the lounge, from the
lounge, yeah, but if you had aroom on the opposite side from
where we did, you'd see thefireworks 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 bitsterile. That's right, that's
right, yeah, yeah. It was a goodplace. Okay. Number four, the
grand Flo the number one reasonI love the flow is because it's
so fancy. It's so makes you andit feels fancy. You know, you
(21:12):
walk in there after a day at theparks and you are just pouring
sweat and disgusting, and you'relike, but I'm fancy, you know,
I'm fancy. It's the location youwalk to Magic Kingdom. There's
boat transport and monorailtransport. My two favorite modes
of transportation now, boattransport is my number one.
(21:35):
Monorail transport is number twobecause we have been on the
monorail before when there was acode V, yeah, sure.
Chris (21:41):
And not and that's a that's a downside, that's a
downside.
Kelli (21:45):
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 thatfor you. So I'm really for boat
transport. You can also walk toMagic Kingdom. I think it's the
(22:06):
easy way to get to MagicKingdom, because you sort of
have your own little dedicatedboats. 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 Floto poly and back. And then it
just makes that little loopthere, which is lovely. And
also, when you're going to theMagic Kingdom, it's just one
stop, yep, on the monorail. Soit's lovely. It's also where you
stay for the DVC villas. It's nofurther walk to go back towards
(22:36):
the Polynesian. So if you wantedto go back towards the
Polynesian, either at wailu ortrade or Sam cooks, yes, right?
It's really not that far. But
Kelli (22:46):
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 endbetween Vicki and ALS. They've
got narcosis, citricos, theGrand 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, CharacterBreakfast.
Chris (23:13):
Yeah, that's the park, something fair. Can't remember
what it's exactly
Kelli (23:18):
so, yeah, we love the ground flow. Good Food feels
fancy even when you're, youknow, 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 becamepart of our trip every year that
she had to go to the GrandFloridian 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 upthere at almost every tree,
Chris (23:43):
pretty much. Yeah, I bet we do somehow. So one way is it
or
Kelli (23:47):
another, right? Let's go see the gingerbread houses.
Let's go see the eggs
Chris (23:51):
or that little they've got a pretty good little shop up
there. But yeah, so it was, itwas a nice thing to stay we
stayed there twice now,actually, so, yeah, okay, is it
me? Yes, number three, allright, Riviera, this was a new
one, but immediately loved it.
Like, soon as we stayed there,like, Oh, this is, this is
(24:11):
really fantastic, really nice. Ilove that they this one is not a
sprawling property. They likeyou say they built up not out.
So you've got one bus stop. It'salso on the Skyliner, yeah. So
you like the monorail more thanthe Skyliner, um,
Kelli (24:33):
I would, I think so. Um, interesting, yeah. But I enjoyed
the Skyliner. I just, I don'tlike to be on it with other
people. So, like, I want to ridethe Skyliner at off times, off
peak times. Gosh, I'm not goodwith other people. I'm just not.
I'm just not. I'm not my bestself.
Chris (24:53):
I think that, you know, normally there's three or four
of us, and so we end up with oneto 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 likeyou get off of it at the
Riviera, and you feel like youstill have to walk really far to
get to the Riviera. It's in aweird 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 tothe Riviera, but it's really not
that far. You walk through thatlittle portico with the
beautiful, beautiful tanks tilework and the Peter Pan tile
work, it's nice. Yeah, no, Ilike the Skyliner. I'm for it.
Yeah. I mean, Riviera has theirtheir food options are a double
edged sword. The bad is thatthey don't have a lot. They've
(25:33):
got a they've got a coffee shopthat's got pastries and stuff in
the morning, and they've got apoolside bar called bar Riva
that is better than the averagepoolside bar. They've got some
really elevated bar food there.
Yeah, that's really good. Andthen you got topolinos, which is
amazing, is it's one of the bestmeals we've ever had. Yes, and
(25:54):
then their character breakfastis super unique. You get to see
the Fab Five, and they're inartistry, uniforms, the the the
theming of Riviera, which isItalian, like the Italian
Riviera or the French Rivieraarea, is spot on. It's
beautiful. The grounds there arejust so, so nice. In fact, I
(26:16):
once told you, you know what youshould do to your dream life as
well.
Kelli (26:22):
Say, my dream light Valley Plaza is designed as
Riviera. It's designed as theRiviera grounds and so,
Chris (26:28):
and when they came up with that whole thing, they
modeled, they did the same thingover at Polynesia for the new
tower. And I think it's, it'sfantastic. So, oh, and they got
the Jacuzzi tubs, big deal. Youreally 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 reallynice tub. And that's not
everywhere. They don't havethose everywhere, so, and the
tub is, like, separate from therest of the bathroom. It's just
it was so lovely. Yeah, I reallyenjoyed 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 isthere's not a lot of food on
site, not
Chris (27:12):
a lot of food on site.
But otherwise, it's really, justreally, just about perfect. I
mean, you do have to take bussessometimes, yes, but you can
take,
Kelli (27:21):
we got around that we would take the Skyliner to
Hollywood studios and then graba 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 wealso
Kelli (27:34):
took some Ubers, and we would take Uber Riviera as a
bus. Now let's go there, okay?
Because grand Flo also has abus. Boardwalk also has a bus,
right? It's one bus stop, that'sthe thing. But also one bus stop
on those on those higher endresorts like Riviera and grand
flow, they're not stopping atthree other resorts before you
get to the park. Okay? So you'renot chock a block full like
(27:55):
sardines, like sweaty sardines,sweaty, screaming sardines in a
bus, right, right? You get on atyour 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 getbehind, yes, as opposed to like
saratoga springs or CaribbeanBeach, where you're a sardine
before you even get offproperty. That's right. And then
(28:16):
they're still going to swing bytwo 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 (28:47):
so the only con then is that there's not a lot of food
on site for a lot ofrestaurants, right? Yeah, I've
got some really cute DVC merchat their store. Yeah, I was
Chris (28:55):
gonna say their store, their general store, is really
good. Has a lot of good optionsthere too, especially for DVCS,
yeah,
Kelli (29:01):
I agree. Okay, number two, boardwalk, boardwalk, and
I'll be honest, like when, whenwe're going and we haven't, you
know, booked 11 months out, orwhatever, the boardwalk is
always the one I look at first.
Yeah, it's in my heart, one ofmy I mean, easily,
Chris (29:17):
it's really hard for us to flip. Mean, everybody's gonna
know which is our favorite. Ofcourse they are, but yes, but
it's it's really almost a cointoss. I
Kelli (29:27):
love the boardwalk. I love the vibe of the boardwalk.
I love walking into theboardwalk. The staff at the
boardwalk all amazing. I thinkthe rooms at the boardwalk are
some of the best on property.
Y'all. They have ceiling fans.
And I'm telling you right nowthat might sound like just
whatever, whatever from thesouth. Okay, I need a ceiling
(29:47):
fan in the room, in all therooms, in all the they run, all
the they run all the time. Idon't cut the ceiling fans off.
I don't understand why. I liketo have a good circulation when
I walk into the room, I want tofeel. March Gail, right? And so
having a ceiling fan in thebedroom at the boardwalk is
(30:07):
phenomenal. It's it is it takesit just to the next level. I
can't say enough how much I lovethose look
Chris (30:13):
when you come in from the day and you just collapse
backwards onto that bed, as goodbed as we do. They're good beds.
They're good beds. There aregood beds. You collapse back
onto that bed and that ceilingfan is just going right above
you see what I'm saying? That'swhat I'm talking about with
ceiling fan. Don't get that ifthere's no ceiling fans.
Kelli (30:35):
Fan, the Riviera room we stayed at didn't have a ceiling
fan. The Grand Flo room westayed at didn't have a ceiling
fan, and I think that is such amissed opportunity. Yeah, most
of the rooms don't have ceilingfans, and I love the boardwalk
for those ceilings. I think weshould keep talking about it.
(30:55):
It's ridiculous. It'sridiculous, and I know that, but
that's what I'm saying, right?
Like, you know, it's the littlethings, it's the little things.
It's those little touches ofhome, because most hotels don't
have ceiling fans, sure, andthat's a little touch that makes
it feel more like home, right?
It's that kind of a thing. Butyou've also got all of the food
(31:15):
and entertainment there at theboardwalk, an amazing store,
like their merch stores, reallygood. General Store, it's legit.
General Store, it's good. We'vegotten some really good stuff
there. We love Abercrombie dabar. Now we do, yes, you keep
wanting to go to that place withthe 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, becausein the morning they wet that
thing down, and you willabsolutely fall down here, but,
but they've got the margaritabar, they've got nachos, they've
got pretzels, they have, youknow, like corn dog stand. Corn
Dog stands. They got the pizzawindow.
Chris (31:54):
It's a legit, like, boardwalk feel. And so if you've
ever spent any time, like oneast coast beaches, yeah, with a
boardwalk, that's it. That'swhat it feels like. It feels
like a turn of the centuryversion of that. And the later
in the evening it gets moreperfect, the more it feels that
way. You got the string oflights, you know, going up and
(32:16):
down the boardwalk, and you haveall these, we'll call them like
buskers and entertainers, yes,suddenly show up out there, and
they create their little, theirlittle entertainment space using
these neon light up ropes,right, you know, and and like,
they've got some carnival gameslike, you know, basketball toss
and stuff. It just has such anostalgic
Kelli (32:39):
boardwalk feel. It does.
You can also walk into theinternational gateway at Epcot,
the back entrance, which is ourfavorite entrance to go into.
It's worth going into. I lovethe international gateway. And
so back there at theinternational gateway, you can
also catch the Skyliner, yes,right? Because it's right there.
And so all that's fantastic. Soeven after a long day at Epcot,
(33:01):
you can still, I still haveenough energy to walk up the
boardwalk and enjoy that I'm notdead 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 toHollywood Studios. Now, if I
walk to Hollywood studios, thenI spend a whole day at Hollywood
Studios. I ain't walking back.
That's just me. I'm lazy thatway. But I can take the I could
take the skyline Skyliner, butwhat's I mean, you're still
gonna walk in a bit. But what'sfun is you take the Skyliner
(33:48):
from Hollywood studios, and youtake the whole loop, yeah, you
go all the way out to Riviera,yeah, or the Caribbean beach.
Take the junction, then go backover to Epcot and then walk
back. Yeah, we have been atEpcot before. And right as we
were walking out, stopped at thelike the shawarma place in
(34:09):
Morocco and and bought to gomeal. We did it was, and went
back to the boardwalk, sat onthe balcony, there a boardwalk,
and watched the fireworks whilewe 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 atthe 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 waslovely. 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 probablyat our home. Yeah.
Chris (34:52):
So I love the board, by the way. They say that the
flying fish restaurant, whichwe've never eaten out there, is
so. Supposedly one of the mostunderrated restaurants on
property. Yeah, and thechatteria alforno, I think is
also there, is underrated forItalian food, but also
supposedly a really greatbreakfast there. Okay, also,
(35:14):
yeah, and they've got that coolbar, that little where we fell
asleep.
Kelli (35:19):
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 readyand it was just nice couches. It
was quiet. I mean, I can't sayenough 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 Villasand bungalows and all that
stuff, right? Just perfection interms of theming and the design
of the property, most of thelittle row houses you know, are
loading one, two or three storybuildings, say, for the new
(35:58):
tower that looks is amazing. Andjust it, just, whether it's
morning and you're walking alongthe beach path there with the
Hawaiian music that they'replaying, 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 (36:21):
or it's at night, and just strolling through those
little paths and everything.
They've got the volcano poolthere, and then they've also got
this other pool that's, youknow, a little ways away from
that one, that's much quieter,quieter.
Kelli (36:37):
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 oftenput out test items that Captain
Cooks, I mean, they've got somestaples that they're fried rice.
I mean, fried rice, right,right? They have that. They've
got lots of fun, unexpecteddishes there, from flatbreads to
Asian and, you
Kelli (37:13):
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 ofPolynesian and boardwalk, I went
down to Orlando for the citrusbowl, which I've mentioned
before. And when we weren'tdoing citrus bowl stuff, I
literally would take an Uberover to the boardwalk and spend
just spend some time walkingaround the boardwalk, and then I
would take a bus, or I would, Iwould take the sky lift,
(37:41):
Skyliner over to Hollywoodstudios, so I could grab a bus
and take it back to Polynesian.
So I could also then hang aroundthe 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 aunique dining experience on
property, the Tambu lounge,right next door to that, where
(38:05):
you can get that lamb pineappledrink. Trader Sam's is down
there, which is such a uniquefun experience. The outdoor bar
for trader Sam's, where they'vegot 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 theone bus stop. And you're
probably not having to share.
Every once in a while, I thinkthey 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 mementioned boutique
Chris (38:49):
and then there's and then there's boutiquey. Just take my
money. Take I mean, I'veliterally, the last time I went
in there, I literally just tookmy pants off when I walked in
and gave it to him and said, allmy money is in these pants
somewhere.
Kelli (39:03):
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 saltand pepper shakers. Yes, we're
talking like pineapple mugs.
Like we
Chris (39:20):
have a we have a bit of signage from the enchanted it's
tiki room, yeah, that we'venever 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 forsale? Yeah. And they effectively
said it can be. But it was, itwas just decor at matiki. And
(39:41):
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 anddisplay the other
Kelli (40:01):
well, because they're not dishwasher friendly, we found
that. We found that out they'renot dishwasher and so I needed
some to display and then some todrink out. So
Chris (40:12):
on the next trip, we bought some. I mean, obviously,
Kelli (40:15):
obviously. I
Chris (40:17):
mean, we, we're not rational people. No, not in
boutique. We go
Kelli (40:21):
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 (40:29):
I mean that that honestly says more about their stock than
us, does it? Yes, I think theyneed 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 thanstanding on the beach at the
poly watching the fireworks atthe park over the castle, but
while still listening to themusic from the park.
Kelli (41:14):
That's pretty nice in an adirondack, in Adirondack, it's
nice. I mean, we've had groundfloor rooms before where we
would just pull our patiofurniture,
Chris (41:24):
patio furniture, to the beach, onto the beach, and other
people were doing it too, oreven if they weren't, we didn't
care. No, we put it all back. Welive here. This is our house. I
can move my furniture. I own one100,000th of this place. But we,
yeah, we went and got food fromCaptain Cooks, carried it out
onto the beach and watched. Imean, it's just, it's just
(41:45):
really, it's real nice. You canwalk to the transportation
ticket center, right, dependingon where you're staying. It
might be faster to catch themonorail there, versus the one
at the poly, at the poly. Butyou can also catch the big ferry
ships from the transportationticket center.
Kelli (42:04):
We've done all that.
We've done it. All that anythingto 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 extrawalking, whatever it takes to
avoid those busses. We've doneit. 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 sodifferent, but in my heart,
Kelli (42:31):
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 oneswe didn't list, are the boulder
Ridge places really that muchbetter? Right?
Kelli (42:43):
Absolutely. Or if you agree with us about Polly, and
you would just like to shareyour own personal love of Polly,
that's great, too. If you'relooking for more things Disney,
visit SCF, adp.com, S for Super,C for Kelli, F for fragileistic.
A for awesome, D for Disney, Pfor podcast. That's
Chris (42:59):
right, folks, hey, run out there to wherever you get
your podcast, leave us a fivestar rating. And if you can
leave us a review that wouldalso help bring more people to
our show, find us on Instagramat SCF, ADP, the more the
merrier for the conversationsout there, and with that, we
will see you real soon. You
A super color, super whatever the internal thing is.
Chris (00:06):
This is the super color, fragileistic, awesome Disney
podcast, where, each week wediscuss, you guessed it, Disney
things you
Kelli (00:13):
know, things you don't know, and things you didn't know
you needed to know.
Chris (00:16):
Well, as Walt would say, the way to get it started is to
quit talking and begin doing,oh, wait, wait,
Kelli (00:21):
wait, I can do this.
Okay, please stand clear of thedoors. Por favor. Man. Tengas
Chris (00:27):
puertas, welcome aboard Disney. Fam. Hello out there.
Disney. Fam, this is Chris andI'm Kelli, and welcome to
another Top 10 bonus episodefrom season 10 here. That's
right. So we're gonna do the top10 slash, really, eight DVC
resorts that we've stayed in.
Yes. Okay, so there are 18Disney resorts, Disney DVC
(00:53):
resorts, you know, sort, I'mgonna say worldwide, but between
in the United States, and withsome more on the way. And we've,
we've stated eight of them, sowe're gonna rank those eight.
We're also gonna talk about acouple that we would like to
stay in. Okay, and so, so here'swhy we're kind of talking about
(01:16):
this a DVC resorts can beenjoyed by everybody, not just
DVC members. Highly recommendusing any of the DVC rental
sites that are out there. Ithink that there are some that
write better than others, so Iwould point you towards those
right. But with those, you canstay in DVC accommodations for
(01:36):
not much more than, say,moderate resort, regular
accommodations. And so you'retalking about $1,000
accommodations here, or afraction of the price. Yeah.
Kelli (01:54):
I mean, not enough can be said about having a washer dryer
in your room.
Chris (01:59):
We talk about it all the time, but it people, it's a game
changer, especially if you'reflying, if you're flying in this
packing, packing, it changes thegame completely, completely. Can
wash your clothes in the room,yes, and this allows for that.
It is a total game changer. Alsofull kitchens. And I don't mean
(02:20):
like if there's a kitchen, Imean a full, full kitchen,
kitchen, yes, with full, youknow, silverware and lightwear
and a dishwasher, dishwasher andcooking utensils, a
Kelli (02:33):
real oven, a real stove, full size fridge. I took out
like a baking
Chris (02:38):
sheet once, and was, I think it actually changed. We
asked for new restaurant qualitybacking sheets one time, because
we used the ones, yeah. Theywere in the great kitchen there,
yeah. And so it was just, it'sand then you you can order
groceries to be delivered on theday you arrive. So you get there
again, a game changer. It's all
Kelli (02:58):
just groceries are in the fridge, on the counter, not in
bags, like they have unpackedthe groceries and put them in
the fridge and on the counters.
Being able to make breakfast inthe room if you have a park day,
being able to go back up to theroom and make lunch. We have
before, gone out at night andleft teenagers in the room with
a pizza, right? Like you, youjust can't say enough about the
(03:21):
convenience of having a washerdryer in a kitchen. Yes, yes.
I'm also a huge fan of the onebedrooms Yes, because I really
love to have a door Yes. And sothat's my favorite thing about
being able to stay at the DVCresorts is we get a bedroom with
a door and our own bathroom.
(03:45):
They're
Chris (03:46):
in the one in the one bedroom villas, and they also
have two and three bedrooms, butthey also have studios, and even
their studios are upgraded overyour average studio. Yeah, even
Kelli (03:54):
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 (04:08):
you know, yes, we're DVC members, but you can stay in
these accommodations withoutpaying the typical price for
these accommodations. Yes, andit absolutely enhances your
stay. It really
Kelli (04:21):
does it. It makes it much more feel like home, yes, than
staying at a hotel. Yes.
Chris (04:28):
So like I said, we stayed at eight resorts, eight DVC
resorts. So we're gonna rank alleight. Yep. You know, from from
worst to best, and man, once youget towards top half of this
list, it really gets hard.
Kelli (04:45):
It does. It does Yes,
Chris (04:47):
okay, oh, we want to talk about, we wanted to talk about
the two yes that we because weonly got eight. This is a top 10
list. There are two that we kindof want to stay at pretty badly.
And. They are out west theDisneyland, the Villas at
Disneyland Hotel and the GrandCalifornian resort out there. So
(05:13):
a I've just always wanted tostay at the Disneyland Resort.
We've only been to Disneylandonce, and we stayed off property
because we were doing some otherthings. But for sure, I would
love the next time we go outthere to stay in one of these
two resorts on property there.
Really love to stay at theDisneyland Resort, yeah, to be,
you know again, be there withtrader Sam's. And they've,
(05:33):
they've got such a Polynesiankind of vibe there, that resort
also. But these, these villasare supposed to be amazing, and
they've got something therecalled the duo studio, which is
like a large studio, but thensouped up. Well, that's true
(05:53):
amenities in there. That's cool.
And then the Grand Californian,of course, has all those same
Villa amenities, but it is theback door of that resort,
literally, is the entrance toDisney California Adventure
Park, which
Kelli (06:09):
is huge. Like when I saw people like pushing strollers in
that back entrance, I thought,now that's that's
Chris (06:14):
nice. That is huge at the end of the day. Really nice the
end of the day
Kelli (06:19):
that looked lovely. Yeah, yeah.
Chris (06:21):
It would be really cool to like, at the end of the night
after the fireworks atDisneyland, walk across that
promenade, go into DCA and thengo to your resort that way.
Yeah, it
Kelli (06:32):
looks lovely. Really did.
So we'd
Chris (06:34):
love to do that now. I'll also mention that when I've
looked at lists online ofranking DVC resorts, a lot of
people put boulder ridge andcopper Creek at Walt Disney
World at Number one and two.
Really? Yes, wow. So somethingfor us to think, do they say?
Why? Like, what makes them sospecial? I think, well, they're
(06:55):
pretty close to and use a lot ofthe same amenities, I believe,
as the Wilderness Lodge, whichis a pretty nice, you know.
Okay, that's a nice resort.
Yeah, Shane, you got water youknow, you can take water
vehicles. And
Kelli (07:09):
I'm really big on water transportation, for sure. Yes,
okay, so are we ready? We'reready, okay, number eight, okay,
so this is me, right. Okay, sonumber eight is Saratoga
Springs. Now here are the proson Saratoga Springs. I mean,
it's all the things that makeDisney villas great, all the
(07:29):
things we just talked about,everything we just talked about,
laundry, full kitchen, bedroomwith a door, all of that, the
proximity to Disney Springs, thefood that's on site, right?
Often, a lot of people loveSaratoga Springs, the turtle
Chris (07:42):
side bar, yeah, and the Turf Club, yep, yes, Saratoga
Kelli (07:47):
Springs almost always has availability. And I think that's
just because it's kind ofsprawling it is, so it's got a
lot of rooms. They have a spa onsite. And you can take a water
taxi to Disney Springs,
Chris (08:00):
yeah, you can, you can walk to Disney Springs, yeah,
but like, that's nice. It isreally nice. That's nice. A huge
Pro for Saratoga Springs, thatyou can walk or water taxi to
Disney Springs.
Kelli (08:10):
Yeah, of course. You know the problem with Saratoga
Springs is it's bus travel only.
Well, I can't. I can't take tothe parks, to the to the parks.
I can't take the mass transit.
It first thing in the morning.
Chris (08:31):
You've rarely had your coffee yet. I'm not
Kelli (08:33):
caffeinated. Sometimes I'm not at all caffeinated
because we're gonna get it inthe park or something. And what
happens on those busses early inthe morning and late at night, I
really need to be at my bestself
Chris (08:49):
to take and those times do not lend themselves to you
being in your at your best self.
Those times
Kelli (08:55):
don't lend themselves to me being at my best self or
anybody else being at their bestself. And so therefore I rode
off bus transport on Disneyproperty several years ago,
which is possible, and it's beenthe best decision I've made.
Chris (09:10):
Well, the other thing is, I would
Kelli (09:12):
rather go to Disney in the middle of July than take a
bus in January. That's
Chris (09:17):
great, because that's exactly what
Kelli (09:19):
we just say. Like,
Chris (09:22):
well, Saratoga Springs also is, is sprawling. I mean,
Kelli (09:26):
it is. So there's tons of bus stops within Saratoga, lots
Chris (09:30):
of bus stops with it. So you think, Oh, yes, we're here
at Saratoga Springs. But youmean, unless you're the first
bus stop that you got tocontinue to wait,
Kelli (09:37):
and I hate that, just with a burning range, right? Am
I here or am I not?
Chris (09:41):
And then when you get off the bus, it's usually a pretty
long walk.
Kelli (09:45):
So bus transport is just not for me. Well, that's not
especially at a resort likethis, not at a resort like this.
That's why I don't like stay atCaribbean Beach, right? Very
similar situation. Way too manybus stops, tons of bus
transportation. It's just not myjam. I. And so that's enough to
put Saratoga Springs at the verybottom, but the fact that they
have the spa, they have thewater taxi to Disney Springs,
(10:06):
and you've got all those otheramenities I'm telling you right
now, if you're getting a DVC, ifyou're buying points on one of
those resale sites, or buyingyou know, to go stay somewhere,
you'll almost always have achance to stay at Saratoga
Springs, and it will be the mostaffordable of any DVC
resistance, right? I think sotoo. So don't, don't sleep on
(10:26):
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 peoplemight be surprised, but number
seven on our list, I've gotAnimal Kingdom Lodge, whether
it's whether it's jumbo house orKidani, yeah, I think we stated
Jambo house, yeah. Um, pros hereare the savanna views. Gosh,
(10:55):
there's just nothing else thatcan compete with that, really
anywhere. And let's be clear, welove 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. Andthen the the decor in the lobby,
and the these expansive windowsand all the lookout points that
they give you. And there's atrail 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 therestaurants on are some of the
(11:32):
best restaurants, all on all ofproperty, whether it's Sanaa or
BOMA or whatever these placesare, really, people will will
come from wherever they'restaying, to Animal Kingdom
Lodge, yeah, to eat at theseplaces. 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 (11:57):
Really. The beauty of it makes my eyes hurt. Honestly,
it's just, it's just reallygorgeous. That's beautiful. The
the cons is all together now.
Bus travel
Unknown (12:09):
is, yeah, the animal
Chris (12:12):
kingdom Lodge is kind of far out there, yeah, for in
proximity, which you wouldexpect when you've got this
expansive Savannah you've got onthe other side of the Savannah,
yeah. I mean, you know, and soit's, you've got to put that
somewhere, and you don't wantthat to be right up, you know,
next to all the other parks andwhatnot. So I get that bus
(12:33):
travel is really the only way togo there, yeah. And it's a bog
bus ride fairly it is to prettymuch anything it
Kelli (12:41):
really is. So, okay, so that's seven, yep, okay, number
six is Aulani, Aulani. So firstof all, like, you're in Hawaii,
right, right? So, like, How badcould 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 othersare. 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 spotin
Kelli (13:07):
the whole wide world.
I've never been to a better spa.
It is amazing. It is unlike anyother spa you've ever gone to.
It is life changing. It is sopeaceful. I didn't want to leave
and our kids were staying withthe like, the kids house area,
you know, was Auntie somebody.
And I was like, Yeah, they'llfeed them, right? Like, they're
(13:29):
not gonna let them go hungry.
This is Disney. It was thatgood, yeah, it was that good.
The spa is heaven. The, youknow, 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'snot 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 downrestaurant can be kind of pricey
if you're planning to eat outevery meal,
Kelli (14:07):
yeah, and that the food options are going to get old too
if you're staying for like, aweek. So a lot of people want
Aulani to be all inclusive, andI'm telling you, it's just not
set up to be that way. Don'ttry, right? They have vehicle
rentals on site. Just superconvenient, which is fantastic.
So plan on doing that. Just toget off site. We ended up
(14:29):
walking across the street, Ithink, to monkey pod. Monkey
Chris (14:31):
pod across the street with a lot. There's a little
shopping center there. Yeah, Ihave some other things, and
monkey pot is a good a goodoption. Monkey pods one of our
favorite restaurants in Hawaii,and so we were thrilled to see
monkey pod right across thestreet. But, I mean, any case,
you do have to leave property,right? You do have to leave
property. They've got a gorgeouslagoon out there, but that's
(14:51):
really cool. It's a beautifullagoon, but it's not the kind of
lagoon that you're going to seea lot of tropical fish in. No
because it's man made. It's man.
But so, but there's a there's aresort right next door that you
can sort of walk through someshrubbery, 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 onthe interwebs where it says you
have to hop these shrubs andcross this dangerous little
cobblestone path. Don't do it.
Don't do it because it's all youhave to do is walk down the
sidewalk. It's really that easy.
Okay, it really is that easy.
And that resort had great
Chris (15:32):
question, being a state park that we Yeah, it had great
snorkeling, great snorkelingwith lots of colorful fish and
all, Oh, honey, does have thesnorkeling area,
Kelli (15:40):
like on property they've made, like, a man made
snorkeling area that you paid togo snorkeling in, and that's
cool. It's just not really, likeopen water, and it's not really
big enough to keep you occupiedfor, 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? Andit'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 gonnastay on that resort the entire
time. There's so much more tosee. But the biggest negative
for Aulani is the noise. We hada room that faced the pools, and
this was an ocean view room. Ithink we're like on the eighth
floor. We're like on the eighthfloor, and it was an ocean view
(16:24):
room. Right from our balcony,you could see the ocean. It was
pool facing, so it would havebeen a priority type room. It
was great. It was a one bedroom.
The kitchen was one of thebiggest we've seen in any of the
DVC resorts. Our bedroom wasamazing, like we had our own
coffee pot in there. We had ourown balcony. We had our own
balcony. It was so lovely. Lovedthat. But you step out on that
(16:46):
balcony and you are justassaulted by the noise coming up
from those pools all hours, whenthose pools are open, it is just
screaming, screaming. They'rejust screaming because there's
several slides. There's a lazyriver, 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 8amyeah? So if you plan, and you
said, if you step out on thebalconies, yes, you are
assaulted, but you don't sleeppast 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 peoplethere that are just gonna have
their kids playing in thosepools all day, every day, and
their kids will be just happy aslarks, and that's fantastic. But
I'm telling you right now planto leave the property that is
the biggest con at Aulani isjust being assaulted by the
noise. You said this before wegot on. But if they had made
(17:43):
olani More like Polly, where itwas more spread out, or spread
houses and things, it would havebeen 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 literallyright 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, notout, but, but still, a lot. He's
amazing. It is, but there's avery and the spa, again, world's
best spa. But there's a reasonit's number six, and that's the
noise, Yep,
Chris (18:19):
that's right. Okay, so I've got number five All right.
Again, we're really getting intothe weeds here, yeah, but Bay
Lake tower at the contemporaryYeah, I loved staying here,
yeah, maybe partly because as akid, I remember going to Disney,
(18:41):
when the only real resorts therewas the contemporary and the
Polynesian and just oh, oh, tostay at that, at that resort
where the Montero goes throughit, right? So that I had those
feels while we were there. Butit is a fair of all the resorts.
It's pretty sterile. Bay Laketower in particular is pretty
(19:02):
sterile. Feels the most like ahotel. It feels like when you
enter, it feels really hotely,like, like, generic hotel. The
rooms are very nice, very wellappointed. 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 theone bedroom villas do, but these
do, and that's a game changer,
Kelli (19:32):
yeah, now it was, it was amazing, and it was fantastic.
The monorail transport alone isphenomenal. 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 walkingbridge from Bay lake over to the
Kelli (19:49):
continent you took, you stood there and took so many
pictures going, Yes, I mean, youloved it. There's also good food
there in contemporary, the chef,Mickey's.
Chris (20:00):
Mickey's and the new Steakhouse, the steakhouse 71
Yeah,
Kelli (20:04):
and the cool villains DVC Lounge is up at the top of Bay
Lake Lounge
Chris (20:09):
is really wonderful to be able to like, I want to do that
when we go in the summer. Butyou 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 lakeon, sort of on the, I'm gonna
use air quotes, or the back sideof that tower. And so in the
(20:30):
evening, it was super peacefulout there. You'd see some boats,
you know, going by over there.
It wouldn't be the worst thingin the world to stay on the
other side of the bay Laketower, where you actually saw
the fireworks. We would go outto them to the walking bridge
and watch them. Well, we saw itfrom the lounge, from the
lounge, yeah, but if you had aroom on the opposite side from
where we did, you'd see thefireworks 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 bitsterile. That's right, that's
right, yeah, yeah. It was a goodplace. Okay. Number four, the
grand Flo the number one reasonI love the flow is because it's
so fancy. It's so makes you andit feels fancy. You know, you
(21:12):
walk in there after a day at theparks and you are just pouring
sweat and disgusting, and you'relike, but I'm fancy, you know,
I'm fancy. It's the location youwalk to Magic Kingdom. There's
boat transport and monorailtransport. My two favorite modes
of transportation now, boattransport is my number one.
(21:35):
Monorail transport is number twobecause we have been on the
monorail before when there was acode V, yeah, sure.
Chris (21:41):
And not and that's a that's a downside, that's a
downside.
Kelli (21:45):
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 thatfor you. So I'm really for boat
transport. You can also walk toMagic Kingdom. I think it's the
(22:06):
easy way to get to MagicKingdom, because you sort of
have your own little dedicatedboats. 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 Floto poly and back. And then it
just makes that little loopthere, which is lovely. And
also, when you're going to theMagic Kingdom, it's just one
stop, yep, on the monorail. Soit's lovely. It's also where you
stay for the DVC villas. It's nofurther walk to go back towards
(22:36):
the Polynesian. So if you wantedto go back towards the
Polynesian, either at wailu ortrade or Sam cooks, yes, right?
It's really not that far. But
Kelli (22:46):
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 endbetween Vicki and ALS. They've
got narcosis, citricos, theGrand 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, CharacterBreakfast.
Chris (23:13):
Yeah, that's the park, something fair. Can't remember
what it's exactly
Kelli (23:18):
so, yeah, we love the ground flow. Good Food feels
fancy even when you're, youknow, 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 becamepart of our trip every year that
she had to go to the GrandFloridian 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 upthere at almost every tree,
Chris (23:43):
pretty much. Yeah, I bet we do somehow. So one way is it
or
Kelli (23:47):
another, right? Let's go see the gingerbread houses.
Let's go see the eggs
Chris (23:51):
or that little they've got a pretty good little shop up
there. But yeah, so it was, itwas a nice thing to stay we
stayed there twice now,actually, so, yeah, okay, is it
me? Yes, number three, allright, Riviera, this was a new
one, but immediately loved it.
Like, soon as we stayed there,like, Oh, this is, this is
(24:11):
really fantastic, really nice. Ilove that they this one is not a
sprawling property. They likeyou say they built up not out.
So you've got one bus stop. It'salso on the Skyliner, yeah. So
you like the monorail more thanthe Skyliner, um,
Kelli (24:33):
I would, I think so. Um, interesting, yeah. But I enjoyed
the Skyliner. I just, I don'tlike to be on it with other
people. So, like, I want to ridethe Skyliner at off times, off
peak times. Gosh, I'm not goodwith other people. I'm just not.
I'm just not. I'm not my bestself.
Chris (24:53):
I think that, you know, normally there's three or four
of us, and so we end up with oneto 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 likeyou get off of it at the
Riviera, and you feel like youstill have to walk really far to
get to the Riviera. It's in aweird 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 tothe Riviera, but it's really not
that far. You walk through thatlittle portico with the
beautiful, beautiful tanks tilework and the Peter Pan tile
work, it's nice. Yeah, no, Ilike the Skyliner. I'm for it.
Yeah. I mean, Riviera has theirtheir food options are a double
edged sword. The bad is thatthey don't have a lot. They've
(25:33):
got a they've got a coffee shopthat's got pastries and stuff in
the morning, and they've got apoolside bar called bar Riva
that is better than the averagepoolside bar. They've got some
really elevated bar food there.
Yeah, that's really good. Andthen you got topolinos, which is
amazing, is it's one of the bestmeals we've ever had. Yes, and
(25:54):
then their character breakfastis super unique. You get to see
the Fab Five, and they're inartistry, uniforms, the the the
theming of Riviera, which isItalian, like the Italian
Riviera or the French Rivieraarea, is spot on. It's
beautiful. The grounds there arejust so, so nice. In fact, I
(26:16):
once told you, you know what youshould do to your dream life as
well.
Kelli (26:22):
Say, my dream light Valley Plaza is designed as
Riviera. It's designed as theRiviera grounds and so,
Chris (26:28):
and when they came up with that whole thing, they
modeled, they did the same thingover at Polynesia for the new
tower. And I think it's, it'sfantastic. So, oh, and they got
the Jacuzzi tubs, big deal. Youreally 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 reallynice tub. And that's not
everywhere. They don't havethose everywhere, so, and the
tub is, like, separate from therest of the bathroom. It's just
it was so lovely. Yeah, I reallyenjoyed 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 isthere's not a lot of food on
site, not
Chris (27:12):
a lot of food on site.
But otherwise, it's really, justreally, just about perfect. I
mean, you do have to take bussessometimes, yes, but you can
take,
Kelli (27:21):
we got around that we would take the Skyliner to
Hollywood studios and then graba 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 wealso
Kelli (27:34):
took some Ubers, and we would take Uber Riviera as a
bus. Now let's go there, okay?
Because grand Flo also has abus. Boardwalk also has a bus,
right? It's one bus stop, that'sthe thing. But also one bus stop
on those on those higher endresorts like Riviera and grand
flow, they're not stopping atthree other resorts before you
get to the park. Okay? So you'renot chock a block full like
(27:55):
sardines, like sweaty sardines,sweaty, screaming sardines in a
bus, right, right? You get on atyour 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 getbehind, yes, as opposed to like
saratoga springs or CaribbeanBeach, where you're a sardine
before you even get offproperty. That's right. And then
(28:16):
they're still going to swing bytwo 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 (28:47):
so the only con then is that there's not a lot of food
on site for a lot ofrestaurants, right? Yeah, I've
got some really cute DVC merchat their store. Yeah, I was
Chris (28:55):
gonna say their store, their general store, is really
good. Has a lot of good optionsthere too, especially for DVCS,
yeah,
Kelli (29:01):
I agree. Okay, number two, boardwalk, boardwalk, and
I'll be honest, like when, whenwe're going and we haven't, you
know, booked 11 months out, orwhatever, the boardwalk is
always the one I look at first.
Yeah, it's in my heart, one ofmy I mean, easily,
Chris (29:17):
it's really hard for us to flip. Mean, everybody's gonna
know which is our favorite. Ofcourse they are, but yes, but
it's it's really almost a cointoss. I
Kelli (29:27):
love the boardwalk. I love the vibe of the boardwalk.
I love walking into theboardwalk. The staff at the
boardwalk all amazing. I thinkthe rooms at the boardwalk are
some of the best on property.
Y'all. They have ceiling fans.
And I'm telling you right nowthat might sound like just
whatever, whatever from thesouth. Okay, I need a ceiling
(29:47):
fan in the room, in all therooms, in all the they run, all
the they run all the time. Idon't cut the ceiling fans off.
I don't understand why. I liketo have a good circulation when
I walk into the room, I want tofeel. March Gail, right? And so
having a ceiling fan in thebedroom at the boardwalk is
(30:07):
phenomenal. It's it is it takesit just to the next level. I
can't say enough how much I lovethose look
Chris (30:13):
when you come in from the day and you just collapse
backwards onto that bed, as goodbed as we do. They're good beds.
They're good beds. There aregood beds. You collapse back
onto that bed and that ceilingfan is just going right above
you see what I'm saying? That'swhat I'm talking about with
ceiling fan. Don't get that ifthere's no ceiling fans.
Kelli (30:35):
Fan, the Riviera room we stayed at didn't have a ceiling
fan. The Grand Flo room westayed at didn't have a ceiling
fan, and I think that is such amissed opportunity. Yeah, most
of the rooms don't have ceilingfans, and I love the boardwalk
for those ceilings. I think weshould keep talking about it.
(30:55):
It's ridiculous. It'sridiculous, and I know that, but
that's what I'm saying, right?
Like, you know, it's the littlethings, it's the little things.
It's those little touches ofhome, because most hotels don't
have ceiling fans, sure, andthat's a little touch that makes
it feel more like home, right?
It's that kind of a thing. Butyou've also got all of the food
(31:15):
and entertainment there at theboardwalk, an amazing store,
like their merch stores, reallygood. General Store, it's legit.
General Store, it's good. We'vegotten some really good stuff
there. We love Abercrombie dabar. Now we do, yes, you keep
wanting to go to that place withthe 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, becausein the morning they wet that
thing down, and you willabsolutely fall down here, but,
but they've got the margaritabar, they've got nachos, they've
got pretzels, they have, youknow, like corn dog stand. Corn
Dog stands. They got the pizzawindow.
Chris (31:54):
It's a legit, like, boardwalk feel. And so if you've
ever spent any time, like oneast coast beaches, yeah, with a
boardwalk, that's it. That'swhat it feels like. It feels
like a turn of the centuryversion of that. And the later
in the evening it gets moreperfect, the more it feels that
way. You got the string oflights, you know, going up and
(32:16):
down the boardwalk, and you haveall these, we'll call them like
buskers and entertainers, yes,suddenly show up out there, and
they create their little, theirlittle entertainment space using
these neon light up ropes,right, you know, and and like,
they've got some carnival gameslike, you know, basketball toss
and stuff. It just has such anostalgic
Kelli (32:39):
boardwalk feel. It does.
You can also walk into theinternational gateway at Epcot,
the back entrance, which is ourfavorite entrance to go into.
It's worth going into. I lovethe international gateway. And
so back there at theinternational gateway, you can
also catch the Skyliner, yes,right? Because it's right there.
And so all that's fantastic. Soeven after a long day at Epcot,
(33:01):
you can still, I still haveenough energy to walk up the
boardwalk and enjoy that I'm notdead 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 toHollywood Studios. Now, if I
walk to Hollywood studios, thenI spend a whole day at Hollywood
Studios. I ain't walking back.
That's just me. I'm lazy thatway. But I can take the I could
take the skyline Skyliner, butwhat's I mean, you're still
gonna walk in a bit. But what'sfun is you take the Skyliner
(33:48):
from Hollywood studios, and youtake the whole loop, yeah, you
go all the way out to Riviera,yeah, or the Caribbean beach.
Take the junction, then go backover to Epcot and then walk
back. Yeah, we have been atEpcot before. And right as we
were walking out, stopped at thelike the shawarma place in
(34:09):
Morocco and and bought to gomeal. We did it was, and went
back to the boardwalk, sat onthe balcony, there a boardwalk,
and watched the fireworks whilewe 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 atthe 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 waslovely. 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 probablyat our home. Yeah.
Chris (34:52):
So I love the board, by the way. They say that the
flying fish restaurant, whichwe've never eaten out there, is
so. Supposedly one of the mostunderrated restaurants on
property. Yeah, and thechatteria alforno, I think is
also there, is underrated forItalian food, but also
supposedly a really greatbreakfast there. Okay, also,
(35:14):
yeah, and they've got that coolbar, that little where we fell
asleep.
Kelli (35:19):
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 readyand it was just nice couches. It
was quiet. I mean, I can't sayenough 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 Villasand bungalows and all that
stuff, right? Just perfection interms of theming and the design
of the property, most of thelittle row houses you know, are
loading one, two or three storybuildings, say, for the new
(35:58):
tower that looks is amazing. Andjust it, just, whether it's
morning and you're walking alongthe beach path there with the
Hawaiian music that they'replaying, 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 (36:21):
or it's at night, and just strolling through those
little paths and everything.
They've got the volcano poolthere, and then they've also got
this other pool that's, youknow, a little ways away from
that one, that's much quieter,quieter.
Kelli (36:37):
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 oftenput out test items that Captain
Cooks, I mean, they've got somestaples that they're fried rice.
I mean, fried rice, right,right? They have that. They've
got lots of fun, unexpecteddishes there, from flatbreads to
Asian and, you
Kelli (37:13):
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 ofPolynesian and boardwalk, I went
down to Orlando for the citrusbowl, which I've mentioned
before. And when we weren'tdoing citrus bowl stuff, I
literally would take an Uberover to the boardwalk and spend
just spend some time walkingaround the boardwalk, and then I
would take a bus, or I would, Iwould take the sky lift,
(37:41):
Skyliner over to Hollywoodstudios, so I could grab a bus
and take it back to Polynesian.
So I could also then hang aroundthe 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 aunique dining experience on
property, the Tambu lounge,right next door to that, where
(38:05):
you can get that lamb pineappledrink. Trader Sam's is down
there, which is such a uniquefun experience. The outdoor bar
for trader Sam's, where they'vegot 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 theone bus stop. And you're
probably not having to share.
Every once in a while, I thinkthey 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 mementioned boutique
Chris (38:49):
and then there's and then there's boutiquey. Just take my
money. Take I mean, I'veliterally, the last time I went
in there, I literally just tookmy pants off when I walked in
and gave it to him and said, allmy money is in these pants
somewhere.
Kelli (39:03):
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 saltand pepper shakers. Yes, we're
talking like pineapple mugs.
Like we
Chris (39:20):
have a we have a bit of signage from the enchanted it's
tiki room, yeah, that we'venever 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 forsale? Yeah. And they effectively
said it can be. But it was, itwas just decor at matiki. And
(39:41):
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 anddisplay the other
Kelli (40:01):
well, because they're not dishwasher friendly, we found
that. We found that out they'renot dishwasher and so I needed
some to display and then some todrink out. So
Chris (40:12):
on the next trip, we bought some. I mean, obviously,
Kelli (40:15):
obviously. I
Chris (40:17):
mean, we, we're not rational people. No, not in
boutique. We go
Kelli (40:21):
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 (40:29):
I mean that that honestly says more about their stock than
us, does it? Yes, I think theyneed 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 thanstanding on the beach at the
poly watching the fireworks atthe park over the castle, but
while still listening to themusic from the park.
Kelli (41:14):
That's pretty nice in an adirondack, in Adirondack, it's
nice. I mean, we've had groundfloor rooms before where we
would just pull our patiofurniture,
Chris (41:24):
patio furniture, to the beach, onto the beach, and other
people were doing it too, oreven if they weren't, we didn't
care. No, we put it all back. Welive here. This is our house. I
can move my furniture. I own one100,000th of this place. But we,
yeah, we went and got food fromCaptain Cooks, carried it out
onto the beach and watched. Imean, it's just, it's just
(41:45):
really, it's real nice. You canwalk to the transportation
ticket center, right, dependingon where you're staying. It
might be faster to catch themonorail there, versus the one
at the poly, at the poly. Butyou can also catch the big ferry
ships from the transportationticket center.
Kelli (42:04):
We've done all that.
We've done it. All that anythingto 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 extrawalking, whatever it takes to
avoid those busses. We've doneit. 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 sodifferent, but in my heart,
Kelli (42:31):
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 oneswe didn't list, are the boulder
Ridge places really that muchbetter? Right?
Kelli (42:43):
Absolutely. Or if you agree with us about Polly, and
you would just like to shareyour own personal love of Polly,
that's great, too. If you'relooking for more things Disney,
visit SCF, adp.com, S for Super,C for Kelli, F for fragileistic.
A for awesome, D for Disney, Pfor podcast. That's
Chris (42:59):
right, folks, hey, run out there to wherever you get
your podcast, leave us a fivestar rating. And if you can
leave us a review that wouldalso help bring more people to
our show, find us on Instagramat SCF, ADP, the more the
merrier for the conversationsout there, and with that, we
will see you real soon. You
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