Mobile Ordering has now rolled out to The Artist’s Palette at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa and Capt. Cook’s at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort.
Guests can now skip the line and order their meals at these quick-service locations through the My Disney Experience app. When you get near the restaurant, all you have to do is press “I’m Here” on the app and head to the Mobile Order pick-up area to enjoy their meal without the wait. And if you’re using the Disney Dining Plan, you can redeem meals and snack credits through Mobile Order.
Mobile Ordering has expanded significantly at Walt Disney World in 2019. Most recently, Mobile Order was made available at the Milk Stand, Ronto Roasters, and Docking Bay 7 Food and Cargo at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and at Roaring Fork at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge.
During the night of September 9th and 10th 2019, guests staying at any of the monorail resorts (Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort and Disney’s Contemporary Resort) should be aware construction will be taking place.
The construction should occur only during nighttime hours for the upcoming bridge that will connect the Magic Kingdom and Transportation and Ticket Center to Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Disney’s Polynesian Resort.
With Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge officially opening last week at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, our Walt Disney World Resort hotels are joining in on the galactic celebrations with their own special eats and treats! Each of these offerings are only available for a limited time, so be sure to swing on by before they disappear!
Chewbacca Chocolate-Hazelnut Cupcake – Available now through Sept. 21 at Everything POP Shopping and Dining at Disney’s Pop Century Resort and Landscape of Flavors at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
A chocolate cupcake filled with chocolate-hazelnut spread and topped with chocolate-hazelnut buttercream and a chocolate candy sash.
Wookiee Cake – Available Aug. 29-31 at Contempo Café at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
A chocolate cake filled with caramel custard and topped with chocolate buttercream fur and a chocolate sash.
Millennium Falcon Chocolate Pop – Available Aug. 29-Sept. 7 at the Ganachery at Disney Springs
A milk chocolate lollipop shaped like the Millennium Falcon.
Chewbacca Cake – Available Aug. 29-Sept. 12 at Amorette’s Patisserie at Disney Springs
Full-sized dome cake available for pre-order with options of 4 different flavors.
The Dark Side Dessert – Available Aug. 29-Sept. 29 at the Beach Club Marketplace and the Market at Ale & Compass at Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club Resort
Red velvet cake with cream cheese swirl and chocolate ganache on top of a sugar cookie.
Yoda Cone – Available starting Aug. 29 at Pineapple Lanai at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
Lime Dole Whip served in a green cone and topped with white chocolate Yoda ears.
In addition to our hotel offerings, Disney’s Hollywood Studios is offering a few special Star Wars–themed items too! This includes the return of the popular Lightsaber Churros as well as the debut of a few new items like the Resistance Shake and the Galactic Funnel Cake.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios – All items available starting August 29, 2019
Lightsaber Churros (various outdoor vending locations) – dusted in either red or blue sugar
Galaxy Margarita (various outdoor bar locations) – tequila, blue curaçao, and lemon-lime mix
Two Suns of Tatooine Hummus (Backlot Express) – red pepper hummus topped with fried chick peas, and spicy plant-based meat crumbles and plain hummus topped with cucumber, tomato, onions, and cilantro served with pita chips and greens
Bantha Skewers (Catalina Eddie’s) – chermoula-marinated beef skewers with cous cous salad topped with yogurt sauce
Darth Vader Savory Waffles (Hollywood and Vine) – Darth Vader waffles topped with bourbon maple glaze
A Galaxy Far, Far Away Espresso Mousse (ABC Commissary and PizzeRizzo) – caramel and espresso mousse with chocolate ganache
Resistance Shake (Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant) – Pineapple Dole Whip and Orange Dole Whip swirl with a sugar rim and topped with a Rebel Alliance chocolate piece
Galactic Funnel Cake (Epic Eats) – funnel cake with strawberries, cookies and cream crumbles, and candy rocks
More construction is in the works around the Magic Kingdom. There has been a permit filed stating that there will be a walkway put in place between the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa and Magic Kingdom Park. I know this makes many happy as people enjoy the walk from the Contemporary Resort to Magic Kingdom. We have no other info on the walkway at this time.
As you can notice from the monorail, there is a pedestrian walkway already starting from the Grand Floridian resort but it stops at the canal. Some have speculated that is because that is where the Water Pageant floats use the canal to go to and from storage after the nighttime water parade.
If this is completed, this would give guests at the Grand Floridian and Polynesian an additional route to get to the Magic Kingdom. More access is never a bad thing.
Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa is a deluxe resort at Walt Disney World and is home to some of the best restaurants on Walt Disney World property, including one of the our personal favorites, 1900 Park Fare.
If you are staying on Disney property, deciding which resort to stay at can have a huge impact on your stay. Each resort has its own unique qualities that you need to take into account and factors which must be looked into to ensure you have the best time possible. Some of those factors are
cost
location
dining options
transportation options
party size/room size
amenities
Disney offers 3 types of resorts that while they have their own uniqueness, they are similar in a lot of ways.
Deluxe Resorts
The Disney World Deluxe Resort Hotels are the highest tier of on-site Disney hotels, and understandably so.
Aside from the luxury of the resorts themselves, distance to parks and ease in transportation is a huge benefit of the Disney deluxe resorts. A majority of them are significantly closer to one or more of the Disney parks. Also, there’s a wider variety of transportation options, from boats to monorails.
Contemporary Resort
Disney’s Contemporary, Polynesian and Grand Floridian Hotels are all just a monorail ride away to Magic Kingdom. The Polynesian and Grand Floridian also offer boat access to Magic Kingdom (Disney’s Wilderness Lodge too).
Disney’s Yacht and Beach Club Resorts and Disney’s Boardwalk Inn are within walking distance (or a boat ride) to Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
Animal Kingdom Lodge
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge is the closest deluxe hotel to Disney’s Animal Kingdom.
Another great perk of the Disney deluxe resorts is that they offer both quick-service and table-service dining options. Many of the Disney World deluxe resorts even have character dining. For example, The Contemporary has Chef Mickey’s and the Grand Floridian has 1900 Park Fare where characters are constant.
The Disney deluxe resort hotels offer the most recreation options.
At the Magic Kingdom and Boardwalk hotels, boat rentals are a fun option for a relaxing day around the resort. Depending on which you choose, you’ll have a basketball, volleyball or tennis courts to play on — or a combination of the three!
Each of the Deluxe hotels has multiple, gorgeous pools and a hot tub for you to enjoy.
There are 8 Deluxe resorts;
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge
Disney’s Beach Club Resort
Disney’s BoardWalk Inn
Disney’s Contemporary Resort
Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
There are also 12 Deluxe Villa resorts;
Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Jambo House
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Kidani Village
Disney’s Beach Club Villas
Disney’s BoardWalk Villas
Disney’s Old Key West Resort
Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows
Disney’s Riviera Resort
Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
Moderate Resorts
Moderate Resorts tends to have more variety in terms of amenities, layout, dining, and transportation options in comparison to Value resorts, but certainly, don’t have all the bells and whistles of Deluxe resorts.
As the saying goes, “you get what you pay for.” Moderates resorts are a great middle-ground.
All Moderate resorts offer bus transportation to and from the theme parks. Unlike Value resorts, Moderates have multiple bus stops throughout each resort (with the exception of Port Orleans – French Quarter). This means that you won’t have to walk too far to catch a bus.
Port Orleans Riverside
Boat transportation is available at the following resorts: Fort Wilderness has a ferry to Magic Kingdom, while French Quarter and Riverside share ferry service to Disney Springs.
Moderates are some of the largest resorts at Disney World. Port Orleans – French Quarter is the one exception, as it is a relatively small resort by Disney World standards.
Each resort feels like its own world, spread out and away from the bustle of the park. It feels as though you are staying in an all-inclusive resort island; buildings/areas are separated from one other with walking trails and water features are found throughout the properties. Unlike most Disney World properties, you get more of a sense of tranquil isolation.
Cabins @ Fort Wilderness
One downside to the larger, spread-out Moderate resorts is that choosing a room location becomes an important factor. Rooms closer to the lobby, main pool, and dining areas are often more expensive and in higher demand. However, securing a better location means that you won’t have to walk as far to dine after a long day at the park.
Caribbean Beach
All Moderates have both a quick-service restaurant and a table-service restaurant. The one exception is Port Orleans French Quarter (no table service option). However, this isn’t really a problem because guests can easily walk to Boatwright’s Dining Hall (Port Orleans – Riverside).
Moderate resorts have a great selection of pools. Moderates have additional features like water slides and hot tubs.
There are 5 Moderate resorts;
Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort
Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter
Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside
The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort
Value Resorts
Disney Value resorts are the most affordable, budget-friendly lodging on Disney World property.
Value Resorts are some of the furthest Walt Disney resorts from the parks.
All-Star Movies
The good news is the guests at Value resorts can easily access all of the Disney World theme parks via free Disney transportation. The downside is that the only transportation option available to Value resort guests is bus service (ie, no direct monorail or boat access).
However, buses operate through the day and transport guests directly to and from every Disney World theme park. Bus stops are conveniently located in the front of each resort.
As far as Disney World resorts go, Value Resorts are the most “Disney-ish,” kid-friendly resorts in the park. Each resort has its own overall theme, with each building/wing of a resort themed around a Disney movie, musical style, sport, decade, or some other specific element.
For example, All-Star Sports has a “surfing” wing, All-Star Movies has a “Toy Story” wing, and Art of Animation has a section of family suites themed after “Finding Nemo.” These themed areas and elements are lots of fun – for kids and adults alike!
Art of Animation Big Blue Pool
While the exterior of each building exudes a lot of character with fun themes and icons of Disney personalities, the interiors have minimal decor. For the most part, the rooms are basic and no-frills.
Standard room size at Pop Century and the 3 All-Star resorts are 260 square feet, while Art of Animation is 277 square feet. This compares with roughly 314 square feet at moderate resorts. Maximum occupancy is 4 people (plus one baby under age 3 in a crib).
While none of the Disney Value resorts have water slides, each has their own themed-pools.
Pools at Value resorts tend to be a little smaller than the pools at Moderate and Deluxe resorts. However, there is one notable exception: Art of Animation’s Big Blue Pool is the largest pool at Disney World.
Each of the 5 Disney Value resorts has their own food court. These meals count as Quick Service meals.
None of the Disney Value resorts offer Table Service meals.
