HOLIDAY MAGIC AT WALT DISNEY WORLD
In late November 2008, after a eight day cruise aboard the Queen Mary II we disembark in Fort Lauderdale, pick up our reserved car rental and make the four hour drive to Disneyland for a two night stay. We, like many before us, have fond memories of Disney vacations with our children, and now with our children all grown and families of their own we still now and then enjoy a visit...as adults!
This time, a short stay, our plans are to visit a few of our favorite spots, take in the atmosphere, the "magic", especially anxious to be in the midst of the holiday decorations. We chose park hopper passes so we can move easily back and forth between our favorite spots, with no expectations of seeing it all.
During previous visits our choice has been to stay inside the park at either the Grand Floridian or the Beach and Yacht Club. This time however we don't anticipate that we will be in the hotel much so we chose to stay outside the park, although considered a Disney Hotel, at the Dolphin. What you don't experience at this hotel is the feel that you are at Disney World, I miss the bellman costumes, the fun Disney soaps and monorail convenience. What I appreciate is that this is a nice upscale hotel with good service, at an incredible price. One just cant beat a $159.00 price tag and still be so close to all the attractions.
We chose a garden view room, mainly for the ease and convenience of walking out of our door, steps away from the bus and boat launch. Each garden room has a small patio with a nice view. A great way to start the day is sitting on the patio with a cup of coffee, watch the joggers, enjoy 70 something weather. We arrived at the hotel around noon and I immediately notice tons of suitcases stacked up on bellhop carts, I have little hopes of checking in before 3:00. To our surprise and satisfaction a garden view room is available and we are escorted to our room. The garden view rooms are two floors below the lobby, I pause to admire the X-Mas decorations in the lobby.
Now, we had just come off of a cruise and although we stayed in a balcony cabin, it was a bit tight. The first thing we noticed when we entered the room was how long the dresser was, little alcoves for coffee and mini frig, a large separate sink area outside of the bathroom. To us, the room seemed huge, a suite compared to our previous eight days. We are immediately pleased with our decision.
Another advantage of the garden floor is that you are on the same floor as the restaurants. We had lunch at the fountain bar, with great shakes, breakfast at the buffet, all fine. The Dolphin also has a Todd English restaurant, had we more time we would of certainly taken advantage of this great restaurant.
While he unwinds from the drive, pulls a few things out of our suitcase I walk the outside grounds, make my way over to the Swan. I start by simply walking out of our balcony door to see where we are.....
This is my view from our patio, If I stand I can also see the beach area. I leave our immediate area and explore the grounds of the Dolphin and the Swan.