**THIS IS A TRANSCRIPT OF MY VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH THE DAPPER DANIELLE**
STACEY: I have a very special guest with me today. I have Danielle Kelly of The Dapper Danielle, who has over 600,000 followers across all of her platforms. Thank you so much for joining me today, Danielle.
DANIELLE: Thank you. Oh gosh. You know, it’s been a hot second since I’ve, like, since somebody’s put together my accumulative numbers, when it was still like, maybe only at 500K, like I just broke that last time somebody said it. I was like, oh, wow. Is it, is it over 600? Oh my goodness. That’s crazy. But thank you. Yes. So happy to be here.
STACEY: Okay. So as, as kind of an intro in case, in case anybody watching doesn’t know who you are already, give us a little bit about your background and your love for Disney.
DANIELLE: Well, hello, I’m The Dapper Danielle. It’s so nice to be here. Uh, I got my start back in 2020 over on social media, mostly over on TikTok, and that’s where my largest following is slowly growing over on the Insta Spams and also on the U of the tubes, which is very, when I remember to post over there. We’ll see. Um, so we’re, we’re still growing the other socials, but I mostly over on TikTok, uh, also have my own podcast with Megan, The Magical Millennial. So we have a Disney countdown show. Lot of lot of really cool things and, uh, my, but I have a lot of experience as a cast member. So how I got my start on social media was back in 2020 and reopening Walt Disney World. I was a cast member for just under 10 years and, uh, I was reopening Disney Springs. And in, in my 10 years with Disney, I have worked all over the Disney World property and my home.
And where I first got my start was at the hotels. So when you reached out to me saying, Disney Hotel Lady, I’m like, just wanna talk about hotels. I was like, ah. Let’s do it. I can totally talk about this. This is my bread and butter. Yay.
STACEY: I’m so glad to hear that. I didn’t know that.
DANIELLE: Yes, I, uh, one of my first roles was at, uh, Caribbean Beach Resort and Pop, Art. Uh. Well I, the abbreviations Art of Animation resort and Pop Century and, ’cause they were considered sibling locations and I worked in general recreation, so I did the boat rentals in Caribbean Beach before they got rid of the marina. And I also worked the Redemption arcades before they got rid of the Redemption portion of the arcades at, uh, Art and Pop. So I did all those roles. Went on to Port Orleans, Riverside and French Quarter. Uh, picked up shifts at almost every hotel on Disney World Property except for Animal Kingdom Lodge and Coronado. Don’t know why. Nothing against them. I just never picked up a shift over there.
STACEY: Okay. And how long were you in, uh, the hotels before you graduated to Disney Springs or whatever else you did as a cast member?
DANIELLE: I was there for, oh gosh, about four years, outta my 10 years.
STACEY: Okay. Okay. Did you make it to your, your, uh, party then? Your 10 year party?
DANIELLE: No, I was so close, but I was like, no, we gotta, we gotta take a step back. It was, it was debating whether or not I tried to do the social media full time or I tried to be a cast member life and social media side and I, at the time. I was a full-time merchandise coordinator in Disney Springs, so it was kind of weird, like my following was getting up there. At the time that I stepped away, I was just under 200,000 followers. On TikTok and or it was about like 125 and Wow. I had people recognizing me while I’m at work and I never told anybody where I worked at, but they were recognizing me by my voice and I’m still wearing a mask at this point, y’all. And they’re coming up and they’re like, oh my goodness, are you The Dapper Danielle? And I’d be like, yes, I’ll be right with you. But since I’m a coordinator working at a fancy jewelry store in Disney Springs, I had to deal with some not so magical situations. So I’d be like, yes, I’ll be right back. Turn to the guest next to him. Ma’am, this is no longer returnable or exchangeable. I’m so sorry. You’re gonna have to take this back. Um, so it’s like I didn’t wanna break the magic. I didn’t wanna be the one responsible for that. And, uh, it was, it was a lot of like deciding where I was gonna wanted to be in the next year after that. And I was like, hey, Disney’s not going anywhere. I can always come back to Disney, but I only got one shot at trying this social media life.
STACEY: And look at you now!
DANIELLE: But I’m still very much connected. Oh, thank you. Yes. But still very much connected with the, uh, cast member family. All my friends still work for the mouse, and they, they keep me up to date on what’s going on everywhere else across the Disney world. And now because of the social media life, I also have a really great connection and, uh, family over on the other coast, so over in the Disneyland side, and I loving it over there too.
STACEY: Awesome. That’s wonderful. Have you made it to any of the overseas parks yet?
DANIELLE: Not yet. Not yet. So eventually the, the hope in the hope and the plan is right, what we’re manifesting towards the end of this year, possibly next year, is we gotta do a Disney cruise. I haven’t done one of those yet. I was, I was holding out to see if I would be invited on the Treasure. I was not. And I was, I’m not bitter. It’s fine. I’ll figure it out eventually. And then, uh, also trying to do Paris first before the Asia parks. So I was like, let’s go ahead and knock Europe out and then we’ll go over there. Or maybe we’ll hit Aulani and then Tokyo. I don’t know. We haven’t decided yet, but it will, it’ll.
STACEY: Yeah. Yeah. Something to uh, plan for research. Right?
DANIELLE: Research, exactly. I’m sure trying to figure out how to make the entire trip a tax write off is the only struggle. How can I turn this trip though? It’s mostly for myself into a tax write off, such as the life of the social media influencer. Yeah, indeed.
STACEY: Yes. Well, I also have not done a Disney cruise yet, but. I did get on, I booked the Maiden Voyage of the Destiny, so I’ll be doing that. That’s gonna be amazing. We’re very excited. Well, I’m probably more excited than he is, but he’ll, he’ll get over it.
DANIELLE: There’s so much Marvel that’s gonna be on that ship. The, uh, the Lion King Dinner Aspect Show and oh my, the fact that Duffy and friends, Duffy and friends are gonna be on this boat. I am so excited for you.
STACEY: Thank you. Thank you.
Okay, well let’s get back to hotels. Yeah, I had to dress up a little bit ’cause it’s Dapper Danielle. I had to put on my nice shirt, not my regular Disney T-shirts. So. Uh, what advice, what advice would you have, uh, for those who might be planning their very first trip, uh, to a Disney Park, whether it’s Disney World, Disneyland, but how can they, um, make the most of their hotel on their first trip?
DANIELLE: Honestly, you know, I, there’s so much like I, growing up and coming to Disney World at a very young age, I have been very blessed to also have a Dapper mom and dad that love resort life. They love that resort life. And, uh, I stayed from everything from the Four Seasons to campgrounds to Beach Club, Contemporary, did all the deluxes, all the moderates, all the value resorts, and it was really just whatever dad could get at the time when he had the bug and the itch to be like, we’re going to Disney. We’re like, okay. And so it was just an adventure all the time. And it like when, when coming and traveling, it’s really what the expectation is. And I, what’s sad is, is that I feel like. Influencers like myself and other content creators, we create this like, oh, it’s gonna be perfect when you do this. I wanna, I want y’all to bring your expectations down a little bit, and you need to be real with yourself. If you are planning on being at the park at rope drop, you need to plan accordingly. Are you gonna be at Magic Kingdom all the time? Are you gonna be at Epcot all the time? ’cause that’s gonna depend how close to property you’re gonna be. Or if you’re gonna be doing the Orlando experience and you’re gonna be trying stuff outside of the Disney bubble, factor that in also.
And don’t be planning on doing an Airbnb or something, that claims, claims to be 30 minutes down I-4, and you’re not paying attention to the classic Orlando traffic, and that 30 minutes turns into an hour and 30. Uh, so I, it’s, it’s really when you need to be real with yourself of what your expectations are before you come down to Disney World and realize it’s not gonna be perfect. So at least where you’re staying needs to match what you plan on doing. Does that make sense?
STACEY: Yes, to me. Yes. Perfect sense.
DANIELLE: Like, okay. Fabulous.
STACEY: Okay. Well, I think, I think that’s the kind of the biggest distinguishing factor between Disney World and Disneyland. Aside from Disney World is bigger, more parks, but um, because it’s bigger, staying in that Disney bubble is a little bit more important over at Disney World, whereas in Disneyland it’s not. There’s only three Disney operated hotels, so there’s, you can get a lot more and save money staying offsite.
DANIELLE: Right. And I feel like the relationship between the good neighbor hotels is also very different over in Disneyland than it is over in Disney World because it is, like you said, it’s part of the culture.
Like you, I would say almost 80%, if not 90% of the outta town tourists that are not Anaheim locals, uh, that are coming into Disneyland, are not staying at a Disney hotel. They’re staying at one of the good neighbor hotels around the area, and they’re walking in. They’re driving in, they’re doing everything else. They’re not, they’re not staying there.
STACEY: Yeah. Yeah. And then Disneyland, you can get by with doing just a couple days out, whereas, like you said, I. Timing and everything. Disney World, you need to really devote some time there. It’s not gonna be a couple days unless you’re a local or you’ve been before.
DANIELLE: You’re not. And that, I guess that kind of ties in with your other question too, is the expectation and understanding that you’re not gonna be able to get everything done because the hotels alone has so much amazing amenities and features. It’s gonna take two days just to finally feel comfortable and understand how fabulous your hotel is, let alone the parks, which also takes up just as much time and not trying to cram everything into three days. It’s just not possible. You will physically exhaust yourself.
STACEY: Yes, that’s, That’s too true. Yeah. I remember our first trip to Disney World and I did not expect to wanna do so much at the hotel just because, right. Yeah. They’re an attraction in and of themselves.
DANIELLE: I love when that was something for the hotels I was at. Right? So something great about Caribbean Beach Resort back in the day was that we had recreation. We had the, we had the marina. You could rent the watercraft. It was meant to be a day at the pool. Let’s go ahead and rent a little pontoon boat. Tug around for maybe 30 minutes and then we’ll go inside. We’ll get snacks, and then maybe we’ll head over to a park. Now, the culture has changed a lot since 2020, so I would say that might not be the same aesthetic anymore, but. Some of those same offerings are still available at the deluxe resorts and like you can do that at Contemporary. You can go to Polynesian Resort and rent a little sea racer and just putter around and it’s, it’s awesome.
And that’s only I. One small portion of what’s available at your hotel. There’s other recreational activities, uh, children’s activities, uh, has a fantastic schedule and it changes on the daily, so you really have to pay attention to what’s going on. If you wanna participate in a craft or do a paid craft activity, that’s might even be exclusive to that hotel.
STACEY: Yes. Uh, we were at, or I was at, um. Oh, for heaven’s sake. Oh, Old Key West. Yes. Old Key West. The activities there were amazing and so plentiful.
DANIELLE: Well, and Old Key West probably has some of the, has one of the largest activity rooms, has some of the most activities available to them. And during the holiday season, any major holiday the week of, for like Halloween, Christmas, even Easter coming up, uh, the hotels will go all out and we’ll have special recreational activities for that week.
So if you’re like, I don’t wanna deal with a park. Your resort is probably doing something and it’s gonna be amazing. ’cause those rec teams go all out. They have their own, they’re, they’re DJing it up, they’re doing giveaways, they’re doing candy scrambles, they’re doing all this stuff and it’s so cool.
STACEY: Yeah, they’re amazing. Yes. All the cast members, I love the cast members. They’re amazing.
DANIELLE: Oh yeah. Because they’re, they’re all the theater kids that couldn’t get cast as a princess, so they’re going and playing DJ poolside, and they, they all are ready. They’re like, yeah, this is my theater. This is my stage, poolside at Old Key West, and they’re ready.
Uh, I speak from experience ’cause I did that also. I was the children’s activities, uh, cast, member, trainer and coordinator. And that was where I worked at Riverside and French Quarter for, uh, Port Orleans. But then those neighbors, the Disney Springs hotels was Old Key West Resort, picked up all over there all the time and Saratoga Springs worked over in their little community hall every once in a while. So good times.
STACEY: Little, we’re diving a little bit deeper into Danielle now.
DANIELLE: A little bit deeper. Mm-hmm. Stuff I, stuff that I’ve talked about a long time ago on the socials maybe, maybe once or twice, uh, or I men might have mentioned on the podcast, but it’s stuff that I love and I’m obsessed with and I probably need to really dive in more into, people do have questions about the hotels and uh, yeah.
STACEY: Yeah. Well, that’s what I’m trying to do, trying to get that information out there. So in your experience and your opinion for your personal style, what are the best hotels?
DANIELLE: Oh, and specifically Disney hotels?
STACEY: Yes. Okay. You can do an on property, off property if you wanna.
DANIELLE: I mean, all the ones I know here in Disney World are basically on property. Uh, and then, like you said, Disneyland was mostly off property, but I would say Disney. In Disney World, it really, again, depends on what you’re after. I, there’s a special place in my heart for Riverside, uh, for Port Orleans Riverside and Port Orleans French Quarter. Uh. For, uh, for a moderate resort, for a value level resort, I would probably say Pop Century has a special place in my heart too now that’s been slightly redone over here over the years.
And they got rid of some of that Pop Century nineties wallpaper that they had in there for a long time. It’s, they, they finally caught up to the times. It’s much better now. Um, and then access to the Skyliner too. Oh, that’s been a game changer over there. And what else? Uh, and then for a deluxe resort. I am a Crescent Lake girly.
I love me some Yacht Club, Beach Club, and Boardwalk life. I, I really, really do like Contemporary. She’s cool. Polynesian, she’s cool. Grand Floridian. She’s high maintenance and overrated. And, uh. Yeah. You know? Yeah. If it’s gonna come to a deluxe, it’s gonna be Crescent Lake. You have Friendship Boats, you have Skyliner, your right smack dab and walking distance between Epcot and Hollywood Studios.
And as you become more of a Disney adult, if you’re a first time park goer, maybe do that. If you’re planning, if you have an older group with you and you plan on being in Epcot a lot and Hollywood Studios a lot, but if you are, um. Once, once you become a Disney adult and you realize you’re not in the park as much and you want those resort amenities and access to good food and a great pool, that’s where it’s at. It really is.
STACEY: Yeah. There’s a reason StormAlong Bay is continuously voted like best pool at Disney World. Right?
DANIELLE: Yeah. It’s, it’s so good.
No, I was gonna say they also, uh, select hotels also still have, uh, like they’re not cabana at, they’re kind of cabana at attendants, but they’ll come around and they’re bartend tenderers and they’ll come, take your food order, come bring it to you, pool aside. It can get little drink of the drinks. Dapper dad is really looking forward to that. Later on this summer, he’s trying to plan on when to come down after the construction’s happening. ’cause storm along Bay is currently closed through like. Middle of summer, uh, for refurb and dad’s like, when, when is it opening? And I think he’s really planning on just doing a trip just so that way he can order his little mojito and just sit poolside. He’s so ready.
STACEY: I don’t blame him. That’s the life, really. Okay. What about the Disneyland side? Any favorites over there?
DANIELLE: If you, if you’re gonna choose a Disney hotel, it’s going to be the Disneyland Hotel. uh, Grand Californian, I stayed at her once upon a time, a long time ago, and she’s, she’s just Wilderness Lodge, which I do love Wilderness Lodge here in Disney World too, but great not for the price point. I can’t justify it when, what I love, what I love about Disneyland people, right, and people that have not been to Disney World, is that they complain about how the walk from Disneyland and walking through Downtown Disney is so far, so far, and I’m like, honey, come, come sit down for a second. Come sit down right here next to me. Um, the walking distance from the. From where the hat is at the Disneyland Hotel through Downtown Disney to the front gate of Disneyland is the exact same distance as the last parking lot row of Epcot to the front gate. It is the same distance and you have shopping and food in between. It, not just blazing Florida Sun. You’re fine. Uh, it Disneyland, just the, the theming immaculate, the, the stories immaculate. Some great pieces of history hidden inside there. Also in their little like display cabinets. Trader Sam’s is there. One of my favorite burgers. Get that Wagyu Teriyaki Burger there with the sweet potato fries. Had that last time I was in Disneyland and I was set, I was just vibing.
STACEY: And the walkup Dole Whip line. Oh, that every time for me.
DANIELLE: You know what’s funny is that I don’t crave Dole Whip when I’m in Disneyland. I only crave Dole Whip when I’m in Disney World. And I think maybe it’s a humidity thing. I don’t know when I, when I’m in Disney, when I went in Disneyland, I want more carbs. Hmm. So, but I also have easier access. Churros. Churros and bread bowls and more bread. The sourdough bread. The sourdough bread. At California Adventure I can, I literally, if it wasn’t frowned upon and my stomach could handle it, I would just grab one of those giant Mickey breads and that would literally just be me just gnawing away on that thing as I walk around the park and be like, no, you guys go on it. I’m gonna finish eating my Mickey Bossier and I’d just be eating that the entire time.
STACEY: That’s, yeah. Some good stuff. Yep, for sure. Um, okay. How about, uh, you mentioned a little bit of value resort in Disney World, but any other tips, like how to look for the sales or anything like that to keep you on a budget?
DANIELLE: For your trip budget, honestly, And you have like all my, all my stuff that I’ve been seeing is for many staycations, for like Florida resident discounts.
Uh, California, I have not seen any fantastic discounts unless you’re a friend with a cast member. And even then it’s very few and far between the. So, uh, for Disneyland in particular, oh, oh, I was gonna say one of my favorite offsite resorts is gonna be the Courtyard Marriott at the Convention Center. One, the one closest to the Anaheim Convention Center.
They had that little cut through back there and it’s walking distance, and that’s where I stayed at for the first time for D23. Game Changer. And, uh, I was able to walk to Disneyland super easy. Or if you didn’t want to, you could walk down to the next light, cross the street over into the Toy Story lot, and then just enter their bus in that way into Disneyland if you really didn’t wanna walk that far. And I was like, this is amazing. And they’ve always taken really good care of me over there. And I’ve, I really like that. Or even the Howard Johnson, the HoJo over there too, just for the vibes. I love the vintage aesthetic of the HoJo over there.
Uh, but those are probably my two favorites for outside of the Disneyland bubble.
STACEY: Okay. I didn’t know that the Courtyard down there had a cut through. I’ll have to check that out next time.
DANIELLE: It’s not, so they don’t really advertise it and they don’t tell you unless you’re kind of going for a convention and I was. I was like, oh my goodness. This is why. Why aren’t more people not using this? You don’t have to cut around ’cause it’s right the way that it’s laid out. There’s another hotel right there. There’s the Ruth, I think it’s one of the steakhouses right there in front of it. You don’t have to walk out and then go around the long way into where the Anaheim Convention Center is. You literally, it cuts through into the next parking lot and you just make a diagonal line through and you’re right there. And it’s so good. They also have little, the trolley service over there too. They have a partnership with them and you go to the next hotel, literally take the little cut through over to their front door. You wait for the trolley and, it’s not really a trolley. It’s a bus. And you go, uh, to Disneyland. To Disneyland is two stops away and it’s like seven bucks if that. Yeah, the ART. Yeah.
STACEY: Love the ART buses.
Excuse me. Okay, so what’s, again, this is personal for you or what you recommend to others. What are the amenities that you are looking for in the hotel that you choose?
DANIELLE: Well, for me personally, because I am not a, Like, I don’t have kids with me. I’m not traveling with kids. I am the single Disney adult millennial as as I am. And so I’m kind of going for more vibes, more aesthetics, uh, easy access to in between stuff. So that’s why I probably would pick one of the Crescent Lake resorts.
I don’t know. It’s, it’s kind of just where I like to hang out after the park day, what, am I gonna stay in the park? Am I going to eat something? Is it, uh, am I planning on doing a pool day? Probably not unless the family’s in town. Uh, so I’ll pick and choose based off that information. It really depends on who I’m traveling with.
If it’s a solo time, and I, I would honestly, I would love doing Pop Century Resort or even the All Stars. I’ve had, I’ve had a good time at the All Star Stars when it’s not, um, peak cheerleading season or sports season and, and, uh, got some good rates over there too during, uh, Florida resident discounts.
Just, uh, that’s what everybody does during a hurricane. Traveling in town. You go on a Disney World property if you’re afraid of your roof falling in. That was me. Last hurricane. Luckily, I, I, I rode it out, but I was really thinking about it. I was looking to see as it was coming close, ’cause I was having some roof, roof leakage issues where I’m staying or where I live at currently. And I was like, oh, is that roof gonna survive this hurricane? What, what direction is that hitting? But I was ready, I was ready to book it for a last minute trip to, uh, All Stars if I had to.
STACEY: Ooh, scary.
DANIELLE: It’s such a Florida life. Yeah.
STACEY: Are you then a, a lobby girl to hang out or do you go back to your room to hang out?
DANIELLE: Oh, no. I’m a lobby girl, so where am I a lobby girl? Oh, that might be a tricky question. This is a tricky question because, okay. The reason why this is tricky, right? Is not of what’s the best, it’s which one has the best place to people watch and/or to have the best conversation in if you’re with other people, right?
Mm-hmm. So best conversational lobby, I would say is the Boardwalk Resort. If you were gonna do one, ’cause they have the little coffee section over there now, which the coffee shop closes early at like five o’clock. So there’s that whole seating area over there. You can get business done if you need to. The couches are close enough, um, you do sink into them. You kind of fall into them if you do. Um, but there’s some great little couches right there. And you go, or if you go down the way, there’s the Belle Vue Lounge that opens up a little bit later, closer to five. Great patio over there and great outside patio seating over there too. Plenty, plenty of spots really to be able to lounge and have different type of conversations depending on what you’re doing.
If you want a people watch, hmm. Polynesian Resor is a great place to people watch. I don’t know what, maybe it’s ’cause it’s the open air, maybe it’s ’cause there’s so much traffic coming in and outta there. But I have seen many a vacation catch on fire in that lobby and it’s fascinating to watch ’cause you’re just sitting there watching and it echoes in there, y’all, it, it echoes and you can hear everybody’s drama. I know everything about what happened with that family from New Jersey over their seven day vacation, uh, sitting in that lobby of Polynesian Resort.
So if it’s by myself. I’m just having a little snack. I, I’ll go out there and I’ll get my little Dole Whip outside. It’s pretty calm because there’s enough noise, there’s enough movement going around. I’m like, no, I wanna snack and a show. You head back into that lobby and you people watch and you listen in on people’s conversations like a weirdo. It’s great.
STACEY: Forget Netflix.
DANIELLE: This is where we’re getting Netflix. This is my whole drama series right here. It is Love Island, right here in the middle of the Polynesian Resort. It’s crazy.
STACEY: Oh, that’s awesome.
DANIELLE: Okay. Um, just keeping it real.
STACEY: Uh, have you noticed anyone who makes, uh, let me start over. Have you noticed if people are making a consistent mistake or misconception when booking their hotel that they could avoid? That they can avoid?
DANIELLE: I would say a lot of it, a lot of it actually comes through their whole entire planning of their park day is that they anticipate a lot of the food locations being open well after park closes.
That is not the case for Disney World. That is the case for Disneyland, and you can usually get some food, things like, the park closes at midnight and most of the time the other restaurants will be open until midnight. That’s not the same case in Disney World. A lot of places, the park closes at nine, 10 o’clock. Your restaurant or your food location at your hotel might close by eight, nine, and you’re not getting a midnight snack on the way back to your hotel room, and there’s nowhere to get one. In Disney World, there’s not like, you’re not staying off property. You can walk by and you can easily Uber Eats something. To be able just right there around the corner or you walk to the local dive there in Anaheim for a midnight snack, you can’t do that. Uh, so because it, it, most of the drama happens when people is, are hangry. So plan your food accordingly is really what it is.
STACEY: Yes. We’ve, we’ve been bitten by that one.
DANIELLE: Mm-hmm. Unfortunately. Yeah.
You. Yeah, so like if you’re in Magic Kingdom, it’s always Magic Kingdom that I see this issue at. People are like, oh, let’s go ahead and just get on the monorail. Let’s just get on the monorail. The, the park’s closed. It’s not really closed, it’s just, you know, fireworks. And then you’re going and dealing with 50,000 other people trying to get onto the monorail and.
I’m like, no, guys. Casey’s Corner and Cosmic Rays are open for another 30 minutes after park close. Go get yourself a corn dog and some fluorescent cheese product and you’re gonna be so happy about it and it’s gonna save your entire night. But if you choose to try to go back and deal with the traffic just to be able to get to your hotel that’s right across the waterway, you’re gonna miss any chance to be able to get food because it’s gonna be closed by that time.
STACEY: That is probably a tip worth its weight in gold.
DANIELLE: Oh yeah, literally cheese, gold, like fluorescent cheese product.
STACEY: Okay. Um, let’s see, what else do we need to talk about? Uh, do you have possibly from your, um, eavesdropping, but do you have any stories from either your days working in the hotels or visiting yourself stories that could maybe teach something?
DANIELLE: Let’s try and keep it, ’cause I got many stories and many stories I cannot share and I have not shared with the internet yet. And most of them are all from my time at the hotels.
STACEY: Uh, oh.
DANIELLE: Gosh, what’s a really good one that’s family friendly that I can talk about? Um, that’s a really good learning lesson.
For hotels that are on waterways, which is many of the waterways I’ve dealt with, which is like Port Orleans Riverside, French Quarter, Old Key West Resort, you go down to Disney Springs, you took the little Sassagula River boats, and you’re, you’re taking that down that way, or you. Okay, the line for the monorail is too busy leaving Magic Kingdom and you’re staying at Contemporary, Old Key West, Fort Wilderness, uh, any of those, Grand Flo or Poly. And you’re like, we’re gonna take the boat. We’re gonna take the boat and there’s lightning. You are gonna have to take a bus. That’s just the, that’s just the matter of fact of it. When lightning rolls into here, to Disney World Property, you’re, you have to be creative. You have to think of something else, or you and your entire party are pulling money together to be able to try to get an Uber somewhere, but you still have to get to the Transportation Ticket Center, or you gotta take a Minnie Van. It’s one of, one of the two, uh, or you’re getting on a Disney bus. But just be, be prepared for a Disney bus. And I, I’m so shocked by I’ve, I’ve encountered more people that had been so against the Disney bus, and I’m like, what did the bus ever do to you? It’s one of the best free modes of transportation on property.
Uh, besides the boats. I, I, I love the boats personally. I just love the boats. Uh, but like, I don’t, I don’t mind a good bus ride. Buses are great and they’re the one consistent that will keep running. Uh. Like rain, lightning, no snow though. If it ever snows here in Florida, we are shutting down. We are, we are, we are gone. I, I am leaving where I, I declare that Orlando is closed. We cannot operate. And uh, but lightning’s a really big factor and it does affect the monorail sometimes if, because the monorail’s so sensitive here recently, or it’ll, uh, it’ll affect the boats because those are literally just giant floating metal pontoons, especially Ula, riverboats, metal pontoons out there on the river. You don’t wanna be on the boat. And lighting is something we take very seriously here in Florida.
STACEY: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don’t know what people have against the bus. I love the bus. It’s like the bus is great.
DANIELLE: Yeah. I have some fantastic bus drivers.
Exactly. I mean, you don’t, you really can’t walk a Disney. That’s the other thing too. Okay. Oh, you know what? What’s the other, because the, the question really is some, there’s something else that you’ve learned, right? Mm-hmm. Be like, I kind of alluded to for the, uh, that the Airbnbs that claim to be 30 minutes from Disney World Property, you cannot from the Magic Kingdom, get to your rental car and go back to the Airbnb for dinner and then come back into the park.
Once you leave, once you cross that threshold to the Transportation Ticket Center, you are not coming back. And if you were planning on leaving at 5:30, between five and seven o’clock, it’s gonna take you an hour to get off property. Now, this wasn’t the case pre-2020, you could have, possibly have done this.
In the early two thousands, especially in the nineties before Airbnb even was a thing. But like there in like 2015 to 2019, something very totally doable. You cannot do that anymore. Um, and I’ve even, traffic has been so bad in the, around Disney World property area that if I’m stuck somewhere, I will literally go onto Disney World Property and just park myself somewhere and walk into a park because I’d rather deal with a park even if it’s crazy, peak crowds. Or I’ll walk into a hotel and I’ll try to hang out at a hotel, get dinner someplace and not deal with traffic. Um, so just hang out where you’re, where you’re at. Don’t deal with I-4. Just, just stay where you’re at. Enjoy the park where you’re at. I know you might be trying to save a dollar, but you’re gonna be spending twice as much in gas money sitting there burning that gas in traffic.
I’m very passionate about this, if you can’t tell.
STACEY: That’s okay. We like that. Do you have any, uh, suggestions or tips regarding the Airbnbs? That’s hotel adjacent, I guess, but I know Airbnbs are a bigger thing in Florida than they are in California for Disneyland.
DANIELLE: Oh, exactly. Exactly. Um, and I think some of that is also, we have a lot of very big families and very big family reunions that will come down here to Disney World, more so than in Disneyland. Like you see it in Disneyland, but there is definitely family reunion season here in Disney World and all the giant families from Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey, New York will all come down at, at certain weeks and we actually call it “Ohio Week,” “Jersey Week,” all these other things. And they will rent out in, in seasons these giant Airbnb homes and these giant, because they, it’s the only place which is affordable and it does help them, like, financially with a really big group of like 12 people totally makes sense. Because you can’t, you can’t really do that on Disney World property without having somebody in DVC in the family or really organizing that room situation. But that’s a long call, phone call to Disney reservation line and really try to connect those rooms and making sure they’re on the same floor and everything.
But it’s just really pay attention to what side of town it’s on. If it’s, if it’s towards Kissimmee, ChampionsGate, Davenport, probably avoid it. Probably avoid it even though it might be reasonable. Or just know that you have to leave early in the morning, very early in the morning to be able to avoid traffic and you’re gonna plan on leaving very late at night.
That’s really the best plan of action once you’re on Disney World Property. Don’t plan on leaving in the middle of the day. Don’t, don’t plan on trying to pack up that family of 12 into the, into the van because it’s already, that’s already gonna be one hassle enough. Just do it once in the day. Don’t do it multiple times in the day or, or twice. Just there and back and that’s it. And, uh, if you plan on leaving in the middle of the day, know that you’re going to spend so much time off, off property that then you’ll. Come back, if that makes sense. Like, don’t spend your time for the rest of the day off property. Do not plan on coming back, is what I mean, ’cause the park is gonna close, uh, early and we closed so much earlier.
I was talking with Megan, The Magical Millennial, and when I was out there the week before she came down here, she was saying, how, oh, uh, well I’m gonna be here until park close. I’m like, oh. Oh, that’s like midnight. Okay, I’ll be here until park close. And then she comes down here to Florida and uh, she was like, oh, we got plenty of time. I’m like, babe, the park closes in 30 minutes. It’s 8:30 right now. And she’s like, oh, we don’t have time. And I’m like, no, you don’t. So there’s definitely, there is a time adjustment and just acknowledging that it is different, you know?
STACEY: And I, that’s another big thing is make sure that if you are looking at tips and tricks and information, make sure you have the right coast and the information you’re looking at.
DANIELLE: Yes, yes. And even the right year, it could be like if you’re looking at something from, like you said, 2020, that might be leading you astray.
Anything, any documents, suggestions, uh, hotel reviews, pre-2020, just know the hotel culture has either changed a lot of rooms. Just got updated here recently. Contemporary just went through a major update here post-2020. Um, Boardwalk just went through a major update and I feel like there’s a lot of, there’s a lot happening in the DVC world too.
Because they have to update. Um, so just, just pay attention to the years, pay attention to those tiny details and what those people are saying in the hashtags, in the comments and that date stamp of when that article was written. Not your friend Janice, that hasn’t been to the park since ’97 and has suggested, oh, there’s this beautiful brand new resort and this brand new park. Have you tried Animal Kingdom? You know, they’re saying it’s not a zoo. Like, you know, they say it’s so funny, not a zoo. Yeah. That was marketing back when Animal Kingdom opened. Um, yeah. So just don’t — Pay attention to your resources. That’s all I’m saying. Listen, listen to myself. Listen to the Disney Hotel Lady and we will tell you what’s going on accurately.
STACEY: Yes. Yes. To the best of our ability.
DANIELLE: Unless they change something on us and we weren’t aware. Scrambling to figure it out.
STACEY: So speaking of all the things changing and happening, uh, it could be hotel related. Let’s do hotel related first, but then we can go to general park related. What are you looking forward to that, the changes coming?
DANIELLE: Changes coming to like Disney hotels in general, or, uh, like something in particular?
STACEY: In general. What, what do you know or have, or. What are you looking forward to?
DANIELLE: I, I think really we don’t know anything yet, and I think we’re, we’re about to experience this change and the shift in, in the Disney World bubble specifically. And a lot of that is because our good friend and neighbor, um, Epic Universe down the road and Disney is kind of waiting. They’re, they’re seeing what’s gonna happen here, come the middle of May, and then they’re gonna decide, okay, how is this gonna affect our holiday season? What kind of things do we need to bring back to be able to secure our guests and keep people on Disney World property?
Because Disney knows it’s competing with a lot of things outside of the Disney bubble. And the, if, the more they keep people in the Disney bubble, the more money they make. Right? Or at least that’s what the mentality that they should be viewing it as. There for a while, they weren’t listening to that mentality.
Again, they have my email, they can just reach out to me and just like, Hey, Danielle, what’s your opinion on this? I would gladly tell them this same information I’m telling you now, but do they listen to me now anyway?
Um, but uh, so we’re, we’re starting to see these changes and one of the changes is actually a Pop Century Resort literally just rolled out the, I think it’s through Southwest, where you can check your bags if you have a flight later on that day, and they’ll take it to the airport for you, that, where has that been? Since, well, 2019. Uh, but like, I’m so glad to see, okay. If they’re bringing, they’re testing that out at Pop Century, is there a chance that this can be rolled out to other hotels here very soon? Will we have other partnerships with other flights? We know Southwest is, uh. We, we have a terminal here or we have a really big, like, we’re a hub for them. I believe Atlanta is and a couple other of those Midwest states, a lot of them fly directly into MCO. Um, but maybe we need to look into something with Delta, like see where certain other flights that directly come from certain states into MCO. Is there something better with Delta? ’cause Delta’s now rolling out this two hour policy that literally just started two weeks ago that you have to drop off your bag. Is it a minimum of 45 minutes? There’s no, there’s no longer dropping it at the gate like, and literally running through security anymore.
Not that you could do that at MCO anyway. Uh. But that’s something to pay attention to. Now if you could drop it off at a resort, maybe they’ll start rolling that out. We know there’s some changes in things happening with the, the hotel buses to and from the airport. Uh, so you don’t have to use a rental car. We have seen an increase in a lot of rental car vehicles here recently, so who knows? Anything’s possible.
STACEY: Yeah. I’m also looking forward to, um, the new, they keep changing the name, but the new hotel that they’re building next to Fort Wilderness, um, it’s gonna be a DVC property, I believe. But I’m looking forward to that.
DANIELLE: Yes. You know, I think that, that, that’s gonna be fantastic. Again I will, I, I say, I say this a lot over on, uh, the Disney Countdown Show podcast. Uh, I’ll believe it when I see it. And, uh, I like, I’m excited for that hotel. I think there’s like four wilderness. I love, I love the campground over there. Even the regular lot Wilderness Lodge. I love that whole area, but I would spend a whole mini staycation just over in that area and not go to the parks. Like if I wanted to just hang out in a property, it’s gonna be over there, right?
STACEY: Yes. I just did a video on, um, Fort Wilderness and there is, yeah. You’d never have to leave.
DANIELLE: Did you go into the new cabins?
STACEY: I did. Yeah. They’re so cute.
DANIELLE: So cute. They’re so cute. And I, if, if we know anybody that has purchased one of the cabins, the old ones. ’cause I saw two more roll out of that property here, down I-4. It was heading off somewhere. Somebody got it at auction. I need that train picture that was inside that cabin. Hit me up. I’m still looking for it.
STACEY: All right. You heard her. If you got any info, leave it here in the show notes.
DANIELLE: Send me a DM, leave it in the comments, let me know.
STACEY: And what about, uh, general park news? What are you looking forward to? I know a lot of stuff was announced back in D23.
DANIELLE: A lot of stuff was announced. I’m, honestly, some of the stuff I’m really excited for, like Disney World, we’ve got a lot of changes going on. We’re, we’re in the middle of construction now over at Animal Kingdom. I’m loving Epcot life right now, now that all the walls are down, I am living my best Epcot life.
But I think some of the biggest and exciting changes I’m looking forward to is over in Anaheim for the, uh, Disneyland forever and expansion project and what that looks like down the road and trying to create its own Disneyland bubble ’cause that doesn’t really exist. Uh, and I think that would be such a great boost for that side of town too. And. Yeah, I think, I think that’s something I’m probably looking the most forward to.
I know that’s a long, like, we’re talking a long way out. It’s gonna be very stretched out here for the next multiple years. Um, we will be lucky if we hear anything by, what is it, 2030, if that. And, uh, I don’t know, there’s, it, it’s making me hopeful for stuff over in California.
STACEY: Mm-hmm. Yeah, for sure. Uh, once they move quite a bit forward with that, that’s gonna really impact the hotel scene over there ’cause you’re gonna have a lot more hotels that are gonna be within a much closer walking proximity for the guests.
DANIELLE: Exactly. It’s gonna be’s gonna a game changer over there. Exciting times.
STACEY: Yes. Okay. Is there anything we didn’t cover that you wanted to talk about?
DANIELLE: Uh, the biggest thing we need to cover is that over at Disneyland, some of the best food and quick service food is going to be inside the parks. That is just a matter of fact besides the one lounge, actually there’s some pretty good food over there in the, uh, the resorts too. That’s, if you can get a reservation that was something here recently that I completely forgot about is reservation system.
If you just wanna do like a, Hey, what’s available for a quick sit down dinner for a party of two? Not a thing over in Disneyland. Uh, because I forgot how few sit down restaurants there are. So quick service is your friend over there. And then for Disney World, the best restaurants and the best quick services are at the hotels. Explore the hotels, use that free mode of Disney transportation, uh, to explore, um, either via buses or via monorail. And just taking the resorts, especially during the holiday seasons and all the fantastic food options that we have available across these amazing bakery teams and culinary teams at each resort. They do an amazing job and I can’t shout them out enough, so just go eat and eat at the resorts in Disney World.
STACEY: They do. They do an amazing job, for sure. Okay. Well, I guess that will do it for our conversation today. Thank you again so much for joining me.
DANIELLE: No, thank you for inviting me.
And let me just talk your ear off about all my random Disney hotel thoughts and opinions. And again, these are just my personal thoughts and opinions. I do not speak for the brand or for the company. Um, and I’m just opinionated like that. And, uh, yeah.
STACEY: Thank you for sharing. Okay. Well as we had mentioned, Danielle, you can find across all the platforms, right?
DANIELLE: I think when I looked at the platforms, all of them. And it’s wherever you, I’ve been able to secure The Dapper Danielle everywhere. I’m over on the book of Faces, over on the Insta spams, over on the thread counts, everything else like that. So you, you can find me probably wherever. It’s great.
Some really exciting things coming up. Check out the podcast, Disney Countdown Show, check out Disney Hotel Lady and everything that she’s working on here recently too. And yeah, some really, really exciting stuff and some new announcements also coming here in the very near future for me too.
STACEY: I saw that today. Yes. I think I saw that. Yeah. So yeah, anywhere you like to scroll, follow Dapper Danielle. And once again, I am Stacey, your Disney Hotel lady. Thanks for watching.
DANIELLE: Wait, should I sign this out with my thing?
STACEY: Oh, yes! Go, please.
DANIELLE: Okay, dude, just for you. Just for you, babe.
So until next time, night night sleep tight, dream of churros tonight!
Yay.
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