Disney Deluxe Hotels departing from Quebec

Q: What advantage do Disney Deluxe hotels offer over other categories?

Just one, but it carries weight: extended evening hours . On certain nights of the week a park stays open two extra hours, only for guests of the Deluxe resorts, the Deluxe Villas, the Swan, the Dolphin, the Swan Reserve and Shades of Green. The lines drop, the crowd goes home. No Value or Moderate resort qualifies. Everything else, thirty minutes of early entry, free transportation, free parking, dining reservations sixty days ahead, is identical across all categories.

Q: From which Deluxe hotels can you walk to a park?

Six of the eight. The Contemporary and the Grand Floridian have a path to Magic Kingdom, ten to sixteen minutes on foot. The Beach Club , the Yacht Club and the BoardWalk Inn are about ten minutes from EPCOT's International Gateway entrance and about twenty from Disney's Hollywood Studios, along a flat path beside the canal. The Polynesian Village and Wilderness Lodge reach Magic Kingdom by boat rather than on foot. Animal Kingdom Lodge has buses only.

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Hotels of Disney Deluxe Hotels

What you really buy in the Deluxe category is not the room. It is the distance. Six of the eight resorts reach a park on foot, by boat or by monorail, and that changes the shape of the day: you come back for a nap at noon, you head out again at six, and you do not lose forty minutes on a bus each way.

Eight hotels, and the one Disney benefit you cannot buy elsewhere

The Deluxe category takes in Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Disney's Polynesian Village Resort, Disney's Contemporary Resort, Disney's Wilderness Lodge, Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, Disney's Beach Club Resort, Disney's Yacht Club Resort and Disney's BoardWalk Inn.

Everything the property gives the other categories, these eight give too. They add one thing nothing else provides: extended evening hours. On certain nights a park stays open a few hours longer, reserved for guests of Deluxe hotels and Deluxe Villas. The queues fall away, the light changes, and it is the moment the property most resembles what you pictured.

The real criterion: which park you are aiming at

In this category you are not paying for the room. You are paying for a position. And the position is chosen by the park where you will spend the most time.

For Magic Kingdom Park, the monorail area: Grand Floridian, Polynesian Village and Contemporary. Grand Floridian and Contemporary reach it on foot by a walking path, on top of the monorail. The Polynesian adds a boat across the lagoon. Two or three independent routes to one park is what saves the evenings when something breaks down or the crowds build.

For EPCOT and Disney's Hollywood Studios, the Crescent Lake area: Beach Club, Yacht Club and BoardWalk Inn. EPCOT is reached on foot through the International Gateway, in about ten minutes. Hollywood Studios by boat, by Skyliner, or on foot from the BoardWalk.

For Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park, Animal Kingdom Lodge is the immediate neighbour. Wilderness Lodge plays a different card: a boat to Magic Kingdom Park and the quiet of a pine wood set apart.

View from a white wooden balcony over a lake at sunrise, a lighthouse on the shore and resort buildings in the distance

Five people in an ordinary room: where it works

The rule in the Deluxe category is four occupants. Five addresses break it, and that is often what decides for a family of five.

Grand Floridian, Polynesian Village and Contemporary sleep five in an ordinary room, with two queen beds and a daybed. All three are in the monorail area. A family of five fits in one room where elsewhere it would take two.

Beach Club, Yacht Club and BoardWalk Inn sleep five as well, and Beach Club goes to six in its Deluxe Room category thanks to a queen sleeper sofa.

Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom Lodge cap at four in an ordinary room. Their club level rooms go to six.

Beyond that, two-bedroom suites reach eight, and ten at the Contemporary.

The view, the line that costs the most

In every Deluxe hotel the same room exists in several view categories, with an identical interior. A parking view and a Magic Kingdom view are priced very differently.

At Animal Kingdom Lodge the savanna view is the reason the address exists: rooftop and parking view rooms are identical inside and book at the lowest rate. At the Contemporary and the Grand Floridian, a theme park view gives you the fireworks from the balcony.

It is the first line to settle with your advisor, before the hotel itself: it changes the price more than the choice of resort.

What each of the eight has of its own

The Grand Floridian holds Victoria & Albert's, open to guests aged ten and over, formal dress expected. The Polynesian has 'Ohana and its bungalows over the lagoon. The Contemporary lets the monorail run through its concourse and houses California Grill and Chef Mickey's. Animal Kingdom Lodge is the only one built around savannas, with African cooking found nowhere else on the property.

The Beach Club and the Yacht Club share Stormalong Bay, a three-acre pool reserved for their guests. The BoardWalk Inn faces a wooden promenade busy until late. Wilderness Lodge takes up the great American national park lodges.

The wide lobby of a Polynesian-themed hotel, with bamboo chandeliers, timber columns, a blue skylight and red banquettes

Deluxe or Deluxe Villas: the next question

Each of these eight hotels, except the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian which have villas of their own, sits beside a Disney Vacation Club villa section. Villas add a full kitchen and laundry inside the unit, and they go up to twelve occupants.

The simple rule: for a short stay with plenty of restaurants, the Deluxe hotel is enough. For ten days with children, the kitchen and the washer change the nature of the trip. Your Voyages AquaTerra advisor compares both for your dates.

A hotel room in cream and rust tones, with two beds, a wooden dresser and a French door opening onto a balcony

If you are torn between two Deluxe resorts, the question is not which room is prettier. It is which park you want to walk out of in the evening. Tell your Magic Creator, and they will do the rest.

Write to us at createursdemagie@voyagesaquaterra.com or call 450-628-6241, toll-free 1-866-628-6241. Quotes are free, and so is the advice.

Voyages Synergia Magic Makers Authorized Disney Vacation Planner Earmarked Gold Producer

Frequently Asked Questions

What advantage do Disney Deluxe hotels offer over other categories?

Just one, but it carries weight: extended evening hours. On certain nights of the week a park stays open two extra hours, only for guests of the Deluxe resorts, the Deluxe Villas, the Swan, the Dolphin, the Swan Reserve and Shades of Green. The lines drop, the crowd goes home. No Value or Moderate resort qualifies. Everything else, thirty minutes of early entry, free transportation, free parking, dining reservations sixty days ahead, is identical across all categories.

From which Deluxe hotels can you walk to a park?

Six of the eight. The Contemporary and the Grand Floridian have a path to Magic Kingdom, ten to sixteen minutes on foot. The Beach Club, the Yacht Club and the BoardWalk Inn are about ten minutes from EPCOT's International Gateway entrance and about twenty from Disney's Hollywood Studios, along a flat path beside the canal. The Polynesian Village and Wilderness Lodge reach Magic Kingdom by boat rather than on foot. Animal Kingdom Lodge has buses only.

Is Animal Kingdom Lodge a good fit for families?

Yes, provided you accept the trade-off. It is the only Deluxe with no monorail, no boat and no park within walking distance: every trip is by bus, which tells with young children. In exchange, the rooms look onto a savanna where giraffes, zebras and antelope move about, and children spend hours on the balcony. Keepers come out to answer questions along the viewing fences, and Sanaa is eaten watching the animals pass. For a family coming for the animals, it is a strong choice. For a family aiming at Magic Kingdom every morning, it is the wrong end of the property.

Do Deluxe hotels include transportation and early park entry?

Yes, as do all categories. Disney transportation is free, parking is free at the parks and at the hotel, the thirty-minute early entry applies to all four parks every day of the stay, and dining reservations open sixty days ahead for the whole stay. What the Deluxe resorts add is extended evening hours, full room service, and for most of them a way into a park without a bus.

Disney Deluxe Hotels

Walt Disney World Resort in Florida

Departure

Return

Hotels of Disney Deluxe Hotels

Eight hotels, and the one Disney benefit you cannot buy elsewhere

The real criterion: which park you are aiming at

Five people in an ordinary room: where it works

The view, the line that costs the most

What each of the eight has of its own

Deluxe or Deluxe Villas: the next question

Frequently Asked Questions

What advantage do Disney Deluxe hotels offer over other categories?

From which Deluxe hotels can you walk to a park?

Is Animal Kingdom Lodge a good fit for families?

Do Deluxe hotels include transportation and early park entry?

Travel agents

Cruises

Disney Deluxe Hotels

Walt Disney World Resort in Florida

Departure

Return

Hotels of Disney Deluxe Hotels

Eight hotels, and the one Disney benefit you cannot buy elsewhere

The real criterion: which park you are aiming at

Five people in an ordinary room: where it works

The view, the line that costs the most

What each of the eight has of its own

Deluxe or Deluxe Villas: the next question

Frequently Asked Questions

What advantage do Disney Deluxe hotels offer over other categories?

From which Deluxe hotels can you walk to a park?

Is Animal Kingdom Lodge a good fit for families?

Do Deluxe hotels include transportation and early park entry?