In 1955, a visionary man built something in Anaheim, California, that would forever alter the landscape of the theme park industry. His name was…no, you’re about to make the wrong guess. The man referenced here is not Walt Disney but instead Jack Wrather.
A film producer by trade, Wrather’s greatest accomplishment in the 1940s wasn’t actually a movie. It was what happened on a movie set. He met his future wife, actress Bonita Granville, while casting his first production, The Guilty. The Academy Award nominee most famous for portraying Nancy Drew in the 1930s co-starred in Wrather’s first film, and the two were married the following year.
By Wrather’s 30th birthday, he was an oil millionaire through the company he inherited after his father took ill, a decorated World War II military veteran, and an established movie maven married to a bona fide celebrity actress.
What would Wrather do for an encore? He decided to conquer the ascending television medium as well. His first two programs were called Lassie and The Lone Ranger. Maybe you’ve heard of them.
As the tycoon established his credibility in a third industry, Walt Disney became aware of him. The two gentlemen sat down to discuss a growing problem in Hollywood. There were not enough hotel rooms to service the boomtown, and Uncle Walt knew a secret. He was about to build a new tourist attraction that would require exponentially more lodging in the surrounding area. All of Mr. Disney’s money was tied up in theme park expenditures.
As Wrather would later recount, Hilton and Sheraton officials had already passed on the opportunity to build hotels there. All they could see were orange groves rather than the future site of the Happiest Place on Earth. Where two of the most famous hoteliers ever saw nothing, Wrather saw opportunity. In his own words, he decided to “shoot the Moon” on his Anaheim orange grove gamble. He paid for a 450-room hotel that became the blueprint for luxury theme park tourism.
There are now approximately a thousand rooms at the hotel Walt Disney couldn’t afford to build in 1955. You know it as Disneyland Hotel, which the company finally acquired in 1988, more than 30 years after Wrather intuited the advantage of having a hotel right beside a major tourist destination. Disney himself attempted to buy it back once he was financially solvent again, but Wrather knew he had a cash cow. It wasn’t until after his death and Bonita Granville’s later passing that Michael Eisner managed to purchase the entire company, straight down to the rights to The Lone Ranger and Lassie.
By 1971, Walt Disney was gone, but his brother Roy wasn’t about to let history repeat itself. When his sibling’s legacy, Walt Disney World, opened that year, there were two accompanying hotels onsite. And The Walt Disney Company owned both of them. Those properties are now named Disney’s Contemporary Resort and Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. They’re two of the most iconic theme park hotels in the world, and yet they’re each derived from a building Jack Wrather crafted. He’s the originator of the concept of plussing your vacation by staying at a world class resort right beside it.
In the six decades since Wrather developed the Disneyland Hotel, the idea of luxurious accommodations close to Disney theme parks isn’t new. It is, however, a wonderful way to spend a vacation if you can afford it. Even if you can’t, it’s fun to daydream about all the opulent suites that Disney Imagineers have designed to celebrate their iconic characters. Besides, you can’t stay at a couple of them even if you have the money. They have specific rules about who’s invited to spend the night. Read on to see the 14 best rooms available at Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
Fittingly for the first Disney theme park hotel, even if it wasn’t technically owned by The Walt Disney Company at the start, the Disneyland Hotel features several of the greatest amusement park suites in the world. It also exemplifies theme park tie-ins in a capacity that differentiates these from the other options on the list. The suites at the iconic Anaheim property are more than just elegant rooms chock-full of amenities. They’re also a celebration of the early legacy of Walt Disney himself.
1. Fairy Tale Suite at the Disneyland Hotel
Rate: $700+ per night
If you have a Disney princess in your life or are one yourself, this room is a dream come true. Featuring all the royal touches one would expect from the de facto Princess Capital of the theme park universe, the Fairy Tale Suite even sprinkles rose petals across the bed to make guests feel like they’re Cinderella and that the clock will never strike midnight.
The suite offers 750 square feet of space along with a wonderful view of the park from the 11th floor of Adventure Tower, the most convenient of the three Disneyland Hotel towers. All of Disney’s thematic suites are located on this floor of this tower. While a couple of the other suites are either boyish or neutral in tone, the Fairy Tale Suite is decidedly girly. There’s even pixie dust delivered by Tinkerbell herself to the Disneyland crystal castle that will draw your eye as you enter the suite.
The entire room is like a decadent spa with a palatial bed thrown in for good measure. Bright colors illuminate every room, but they’re especially noteworthy in the bathroom. The giant tub there rests just below a hand-cut mosaic of the Sleeping Beauty Castle. The room is so gorgeous that you’ll have to fight off the temptation to spend your entire Disneyland vacation in your hotel bathroom. On the off chance that you don’t feel like leaving your luscious suite, simply luxuriate on a chaise lounge and enjoy your unique perspective of Downtown Disney below.
While the nightly rate at the Fairy Tale Suite changes depending on the season, expect to pay at least $700 a night to live like your favorite Disney princess for a day. Here’s some video of what you’ll get for that price.
2. Pirates of the Caribbean Suite, Disneyland Hotel
Rate: $2,500+ per night
This suite features Spanish-Colonial themes and 1,800 square feet, and is quite a bit larger than the cozier Fairy Tale Suite. It also comes with a much heftier price tag of $2,500 a night or more.
What do you get for that price? Twice the number of bedrooms, for starters. More than the additional space and ability to pack in extra crew members, the suite portrays what it’s like to spend your days at seas and your nights surrounded by the ill-gotten booty earned through piracy. Special touches such as silver and gold goblets, paintings of sword-fighting and debauchery, and a telescope to view the surrounding Disney wonders make you forget that you’re living in a world with smartphones and a cure for scurvy. There’s even a special treasure for movie buffs. A replica of Davy Jones’ Dead Man’s Chest from the second Pirates of the Caribbean film is on display. If you want to see how Disney furnishes a hotel room for pirates (and their fans), click here. Unlike the Fairy Tale Suite, you’ll see that this one offers an 11th floor look at Disneyland.
3. Big Thunder Suite, Disneyland Hotel
Rate: $2,500 – $4,000 per night
If rustic is your thing, this suite is the proverbial mothership calling you home. The 1,400 square feet here provides up to six people with a frontiersman’s lifestyle, if and only if the frontiersman were multi-millionaire George Hearst.
No one else during the Wild West days could afford a real bath, much less a knotted dinner table for eight, one of the most basic yet coolest features of the dining area. It’s highlighted by a stagecoach wheel with hanging lanterns above the table, a pair of authentic elements that reinforce the 19th century gold rush nature of the suite.
The Big Thunder Suite is deluxe to be sure, but it’s also a fascinating throwback to a long-lost era of our country. Rather than add modern conveniences, Disney cast members have selected thematic accoutrements such as a stone-hearth fireplace, sliding barn doors, and a magnificent copper tub that seems like something the cast of Green Acres would use if they had Jed Clampett money.
Out of all the Disneyland suites, this one feels like the most passionate tribute to its attached attraction, Big Thunder Mountain. You’ll see what I mean in this video. Even though it’s slightly smaller than the Pirates of the Caribbean Suite and has (arguably) a worse view, Downtown Disney rather than Disneyland, it costs a bit more with a nightly range of $2,500 – $4,000.
4. The Adventureland Suite, Disneyland Hotel
Rate: Around $2,500 per night
You can tell by a recent article I wrote that I’m a huuuuuge fan of Adventureland. I’m also a fan of this suite but for different reasons. There’s something about the décor that feels oddly Indiana Jones-ish. That may not be accidental. Walt Disney’s original goal for the Adventureland hub was to sweep away the theme park tourist, making them feel as if they had been teleported to a faraway land.
The decorations for the Adventureland Suite do just that by displaying artifacts that feel like ones a triumphant archaeologist would bring home to commemorate his favorite adventures. There’s also a bookshelf that a learned world traveler would collate in order to know about all the faraway lands they’re about to visit. Finally, there’s a standalone globe you can spin to determine the next foreign destination you’ll hop on a plane to explore. All of this speaks to me.
If you’re not into the fluff, the 1,800 square feet of Polynesian, African, and Asian designs will still amaze you with their blended majesty. You’ll feel as if you’ve returned from safari and want to enjoy some downtime in your study before whisking away for another daring exploit. When you’re ready to return to California, simply gaze out the window at the Downtown Disney nightlife below or the Disneyland Forever fireworks display above.
As much as anything on this list, the Adventureland Suite has style and verve. You can see for yourself in this video. Of course, at $2,500 a night, it had better blow you away.
5. Mickey Mouse Penthouse, Disneyland Hotel
Rate: $4,000 per night
Considering the exorbitant price of admission for the suites above, you probably think those four rooms offer the utmost in Disneyland accommodations. Unbelievably, you’re wrong. There’s one suite that embodies Walt Disney’s plussing concept taken to its logical extreme. You can claim the penthouse of the hotel that has stood side by side with the Happiest Place on Earth for the past 60 years. If you want to feel like a big shot as a theme park tourist, there’s no better option than this one.
The penthouse of Disneyland Hotel delivers an unforgettable view of all the lands that Walt Disney transformed from orchard groves into the Happiest Place on Earth. Thanks to the floor to ceiling windows, you can look at both Downtown Disney and Disneyland from your suite. You probably want more than just a view for the cost of this place, of course. Fortunately, the Mickey Mouse Penthouse delivers.
There are two bedrooms including a master in this 1600 square foot extravaganza, and the style is basically everything Disney with a splash of art deco thrown in for good measure. The chairs, the closet doors, and the phone feature Mickey Mouse in all his Disney glory. Even the ceiling lighting provides a not-so-hidden Mickey. One of the walls in the media room demonstrates the proper procedure for drawing the famous character that started it all.
People who love Mickey Mouse and Disneyland would enjoy the experience of a lifetime by staying in this suite. Expect to pay around $4,000 for a single night for such a memorable evening, though. You can watch this video to decide if it’s worth the money.
6. Disneyland Dream Suite, Disneyland. Actual Disneyland.
Rate: Free
You read that right. As part of the Year of a Million Dreams promotion that began in 2006, Disney Imagineers built an actual hotel suite on the floor above Pirates of the Caribbean. I don’t mean the suite mentioned above, either. I mean the actual boat ride above New Orleans Square in Disneyland. If you stay here, you’ll have the rope drop advantage of a lifetime when the park opens. Then again, you likely won’t want to leave your room.
The Disneyland Dream Suite resides in the prior space of the Disney Gallery. In the process of bringing the suite together, the creators went back to the roots of Uncle Walt. He had previously desired a residence where he could host guests while in Anaheim. Since he spent so much of his time at the park, he requested that his employees build a guest room for him there under the theory that his family would be the primary guests.
Functionally an apartment, this living space was ambitious from the start. Dorothea Redmond, the set designer for Gone with the Wind, embarked on the task of making a home for Walt Disney at Disneyland. The pressure must have been overwhelming. Redmond proved up to the challenge, adding loving details to the blueprints for something she called the Royal Suite.
In October of 2007, Disney officially confirmed the Disneyland Dream Suite, over 40 years after its original planning. Modern designers meticulously followed the plans of Redmond. They also followed the wisdom of Uncle Walt by plussing the suite. The company’s Imagineers wanted it to include ideas that inspired their founder when he built Disneyland. Suffice to say that the Disneyland Dream Suite is special.
From the start, you climb the grand stairs beside Pirates of the Caribbean and then…well, let’s not spoil this one. Enjoy this private video tour of the facility instead. As far as staying at the property, the “easiest” way to do so doesn’t involve money. Unlike a Stairway to Heaven, you can’t buy your way in here. You’ll have to win a contest.
Conveniently, Disney is running one right now, the Diamond Days sweepstakes in celebration of the park’s 60th anniversary. Inconveniently, the odds of your winning are only slightly better than of winning the actual lottery, which is too bad since if you do win the lottery, you still can’t buy a night’s stay at the suite. If you do win the Diamond Days sweepstakes, there’s an additional bonus. Some lucky contest winners also get to be the Grand Marshall for the parade.
7. Presidential Suite, Disney’s Contemporary Resort
Rate: Around $2,200 – $3000 per night
There’s more than simply a name to this particular hotel room. Richard Nixon himself was actually staying in this suite on that fateful day in 1973 when he entered the Contemporary’s ballroom below and boldly announced to the world, “I am not a crook!” He was, of course, lying, and that’s why the Watergate scandal ultimately ended his presidency. The seminal historical event adds a backdrop of sincerity to the generally inaccurate term, Presidential Suite.
At the Contemporary, this suite isn’t as elegant as you might expect. As you’ll notice in this video, it’s lacking the usual character inspirations witnessed in most Disney rooms. Instead, it’s a stately residence full of the kind of amenities one would expect but lacking a bit in charm. The “just a room” complaint is one frequently made of the hotel as well as its twin site, Bay Lake Tower. As a huge fan of each, I don’t agree, but if you’re going to Disney to feel like you’re in the warm glow of Mickey Mouse, this isn’t the best option.
If you want to feel like someone who always gets past the velvet rope, however, you’ll love it here. Situated on the 14th floor, it offers more than 2,000 square feet of space and is capable of hosting up to eight guests. While the amenities are nice, the signature feature of the Presidential Suite is a series of five balconies that all provide dazzling perspectives of Magic Kingdom as well as Bay Lake. You’re also right below the vaunted California Grill just above, so you’ll enjoy wonderful food scents as you relax on the balcony.
The most impressive part of the Presidential Suite is the price. Keeping in mind that everything is relative, the nightly rate varies between $2,200 and $3,000. That’s not too shabby for the best suite at the closest hotel to the most popular theme park in the world.
8. Royal Asante Presidential Suite, Animal Kingdom Lodge
Rate: Around $2,300 – $2,800 per night
Given that the original vision of Walt Disney was to make his theme part tourists feel transported to a faraway land, the Royal Asante Presidential Suite embodies the culmination of his dreams.
The 2,115 square foot space is less a hotel room and more an oasis that will make you feel like Mufasa, the king of all that you survey. Animal Kingdom’s twin hotels both feature the artistry of several foreign lands. This suite augments the look and style of the park by featuring custom artistry befitting African culture. There are also wall paintings that pay homage to the citizens of the various countries on this continent.
Every little touch in the Royal Asante Presidential Suite reinforces this goal. There are water basins the likes of which you won’t see elsewhere in North America. The living room seating is circular in design to promote communal conversation rather than situate everyone facing an HDTV. And the magnificent ceiling is in the style of a hut roof, adding to the sensation that you’re living not in a premium resort but rather in the birthplace of civilization. Plus, you’ll have one of the best views of the Animal Kingdom Lodge’s other tenants, the animals, from your room.
The best way I can describe this room is as the suite Walt Disney himself would have built to honor Nelson Mandela for a lifetime of public service. It’s truly fit for a king or, more accurately, a president. You can enjoy all the authentic elements of the suite here. For those who want to stay in this suite – and that should be everyone – you’ll pay $2,300 – $2,800 per night.
9. Treehouse Villas, Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
Rate: Around $850 per night
One of the quirkiest for a Walt Disney World suite resides at their property closest to Downtown Disney. The Treehouse Villas stand 10 feet off the ground in an immaculately gardened forest area at Saratoga Springs. They’re also three-bedroom suites, something of a rarity for Disney rooms. At 1,074 square feet, the space is a bit small for a three-bedroom facility.
The sublime design makes the situation tenable, though. The Treehouse Villas are octagonal in shape, so they use space better than your average home. It also makes them look like manufactured homes on stilts, which they kind of are, only the nicest ones you could ever imagine.
When you arrive at the Treehouse Villa, you’ll ascend a set of wooded stairs. Once inside, the first thing you’ll see is a woodsy living room area to your left and kitchen right in front of you. To the right is the third bedroom featuring bunk beds where you can give your children a memorable sleeping arrangement. Alternately, you can punish the group of adults you don’t like as much by forcing them to sleep in the kiddie room.
Just behind the kitchen is a pair of nearly symmetrical bedrooms, one of the primary benefits of an octagonal design. All the four quadrants of the villa divide evenly. All of the rooms feature spectacular woodsy backdrops thanks to the gigantic windows. If you stay here, your Walt Disney World adventure will double as a glamping trip.
The best aspect of the Treehouse Villa is that it’s one of the cheapest suites listed here at $850 a night most of the time. If you’re a Disney Vacation Club member, you can stay at a resort that looks this amazing for as few as 39 points a night.
10. Grand Suite, Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
Rate: Around $2,200 – $3,300 per night
Do you love The Royals? In 1993, the most famous princess of the modern era snuck her two sons, William and Harry, out of the Orlando International Airport. Their destination was Walt Disney World, and Disney officials handled all the details in enabling a pair of young princes to feel like regular kids at the Most Magical Place on Earth, at least for a day. Their mother, whom you know as Princess Diana, engaged in some subterfuge to sneak her boys to their hotel. It was the Grand Floridian, and the room they chose for their stay was this one, the most deluxe option at Walt Disney World’s most refined property. You can read details of the trip here.
The point is that if it’s good enough for the British royal family, it should more than suit your needs. With 2,220 square feet and a pair of bedrooms, it’s one of the most spacious options at any of Walt Disney World’s official resorts. The tasteful, sophistical interior emphasizes southern charm and old world chic. There are high-end finishes everywhere, and the entire suite feels like a Master’s Class in Interior Design. Simply by watching this video, you may get some decorating ideas for your own home.
While the interior appointments are amazing, the showstopper is outside. That’s where five dormer-style balconies enable an exceptional view of several high points of the surrounding area. Depending on where you stand, you can see Space Mountain, the Contemporary Resort, the Polynesian Resort, Seven Seas Lagoon, and Cinderella’s Castle. On a clear day, you can even enjoy Spaceship Earth off in the distance.
Given the inconsistent demand for this suite, its prices fluctuate a great deal. You can occasionally stay here for as little as $2,200, but $2,600 is standard. During peak periods on the calendar, it costs $3,300 a night. Then again, how often can you say that you stayed in the same room as Princess Diana?
11. The Bungalows, Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
Rate: Around $2,000 per night
In April of 2015, The Walt Disney Company upped their game once again. In a blatant attempt to boost public awareness for the Disney Vacation Club, the company debuted its latest masterpiece. One of the two original Walt Disney World hotels, Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, became a DVC property for the first time since the 1991 inception of the program. Rather than include average rooms, Disney overhauled several of their buildings to provide state-of-the-art amenities. Having stayed at one of these rooms, I can vouch for their quality.
The basic studio hotel rooms are not the most notable aspect of the property now, though. Disney also added a set of 20 bungalows on the beachfront, right beside the waters where the Electric Water Pageant ships pass nearby. Imagineers designed these bungalows to highlight not just the nightly Magic Kingdom festivities but also the proximity of the villas to surrounding Disney landmarks. Guests can enjoy a terrific perspective of Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa as well as Cinderella’s Castle. They can even do it from in the water, and I don’t mean the Seven Seas Lagoon. These bungalows feature a private deck complete with plunge pool.
The 1,650 square feet bungalows provide not only an island vibe but also modern amenities. Until something better comes along, these suites provide the highest tech of any current Disney room. There’s the standard stuff you’d expect from a Disney suite such as HDTV and mood lighting, but there’s also an HDTV that pops up in your bathroom mirror. Disney even included programmable lighting and an electronic doorbell with personalized chiming options. The bungalows are a heady mix of island living and 21st century functionality. And the en-suite bathroom seems straight off the page of House Beautiful.
Perhaps the most amazing part of the bungalows is the cost. You can stay in one for roughly $2,000 a night, which isn’t that expensive compared to some of the options above. Alternately, if you are a DVC member, you can stay for as little as 115 or as much as 227 points a night, depending on the time of year you visit. If you watch this video of the bungalows, you may find yourself tempted to join DVC just to stay here.
12. Cinderella Castle Suite, Magic Kingdom. Yes, Inside Magic Kingdom.
Rate: Free
For the ultimate in theme park tourist memories, you’ll have to figure out a way to stay in the Cinderella Castle Suite. It won’t be easy, though. It, too, was announced in 2006 as a new addition and provided as a prize for winners of the Year of a Million Dreams contest. To this day, that’s the only way to guarantee spending a night in the suite. It’s employed as an enticement to get Disney fans to enter every contest possible, and I speak from personal experience when I say that it works.
Is the Cinderella Castle Suite worth that kind of constant effort? The answer is murkier than you might expect. At only 650 square feet, it’s the equivalent of a studio apartment, which is much smaller than the other entries on this list. You can’t bring all your friends and family with you when you stay here. It has a maximum occupancy of five people thanks to its two queen beds. And five people would be tight.
You probably won’t care about the space if win this dream stay, though. The entire presentation for the Cinderella Castle Suite is immaculate. It starts when you enter the centerpiece of the Most Magical Place on Earth, Cinderella’s Castle. From there, you’ll take a fourth floor elevator to your destination, the sleeping quarters in the building. The moment you enter the room, you’ll understand how Cinderella feels the instant she slides on her glass slipper.
Everything is regal. There’s a magnificent fireplace adorned with a picture of Cinderella so vivid you may mistake it for an HDTV. The tile flooring is so gorgeous you may feel shamed into remodeling your home once you return from your trip. 30,000 individual tiles, some of which are 24 karat gold, combine to create a giant floor mural of Cinderella’s Pumpkin. Other mementos presumably owned by the character decorate the ornate apartment. And if you’re wondering about whether there’s a glass slipper, the answer is of course! It’s on display as a centerpiece of a nook that commemorates all of Cinderella’s iconic story artifacts. You’ll feel like you’re living in a fairy tale the entire time you’re staying in the suite.
If Disney ever chose to rent out a suite this seminal to the identity of Magic Kingdom, they could charge whatever they wanted. Since it’s only available as a prize, however, the Cinderella Castle Suite is the very definition of priceless. So, all we can do is watch this 8-minute clip of room highlights and fantasize about winning the Disney lottery one day.
When is Disney not Disney?
As much as people love the many Disney-owned properties near the world’s most popular theme park quartet, none of them qualifies as a true five-star luxury hotel, at least in the conventional sense. That’s why it was such a huge deal when The Walt Disney Company signed off on the Golden Oaks community and its linchpin addition, a Four Seasons hotel. The Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World actually shares services with the people who live in million dollar residences at Golden Oaks.
Due to these communal needs, Golden Oak Realty, a Disney subsidiary, worked in unison with Four Seasons Hotels, Inc. Their mutual goals centered on the belief that luxury living across the lake from Magic Kingdom should redefine the theme park hotel experience just as Disneyland Hotel had roughly six decades prior.
The similarities are eerie. Both resorts launched with the blessing and encouragement of The Walt Disney Company yet neither one was owned by Uncle Walt’s business. Guests staying at the hotel or residing at Golden Oaks enjoy access to one of the best spas in Florida, and it offers Magical Moment makeovers for Disney fans. If you’re traveling without your children or brought the nanny, there’s also a couples bungalow where you and your significant other can melt away the afternoon in the euphoria of five-star pampering.
There’s even a character breakfast onsite featuring Goofy & His Pals. The only other non-Disney resort/theme park character meals available in Florida are at Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Resorts. The Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World even provides a Disney Planning Center at the front desk that can handle anything from regular guest services to FastPass+ selections. Actual Disney cast members work at this counter.
Clearly, the property’s architects intended everything about the Four Seasons to mimic a Disney resort experience with one crucial difference. It’s still a five-star property that measures up to any of the vaunted hotel chain’s most exotic offerings. If money is no object to you, the suites at the Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World deliver some of the best and most stimulating views of Magic Kingdom and other famous surroundings. You can view many of them here. Their best two hotel rooms are:
13. Presidential Suite – Four Seasons Orlando Resort at Walt Disney World
Rate: $12,000 per night
The second best suite at the Four Seasons resides on the same floor as the best one. Just to cause your jaw to drop before the next entry, I’ll mention that this one costs $12,000 per night. Imagine what the most expensive suite is going to cost.
So, what do you get for a measly $12,000 a night? For starters, you’ll lack a sense of accomplishment, because you’ll know that there’s an even better suite right down the hall that you chose not to get. It’s like willingly picking the silver medal rather than the gold.
If you do cheap out and go Presidential rather than Royal, you’ll stay at a 2,750 square feet residence that is almost 15 percent larger than the average home. Styled as a Mediterranean villa, the highlights of the Presidential Suite are the great room, the master bedroom, and master bathroom.
The great room features an in-wall fireplace that will draw your eye at first and then provide warming background sounds as you enjoy the various seating options. The décor will make you feel insecure about your interior design abilities thanks to its subtle demonstration of opulence and elegance. The all-marble bathroom features the type of bathtub that you’d imagine Queen Elizabeth prefers. And the exterior deck provides a sweeping perspective of the pool and lake below as well as Disney landmarks just past the water.
The Presidential Suite is amazing on its own, but the intended usage is as a part of an even larger housing unit. It combines with the selection below to provide an almost incomprehensively expensive single night’s stay in five-star luxury. You can watch all the room highlights for yourself here. Note that it will not make you feel good about your current living quarters.
14. Royal Suite – Four Seasons Orlando Resort at Walt Disney World
Rate: $14,000 per night
Let’s be honest about the naming convention here. It’s a regally named suite at a five-star resort across the water from the most popular theme park in the world. The Royal Suite is something so expensive that even some members of the One Percent will blanch in sticker shock. In terms of bang for your buck, it’s an amazing offering, though.
The Royal Suite offers 3,300 square feet of living space, which is 900 square feet more than the size of the average American home. Situated on the 16th floor, it offers an inimitable perspective of Magic Kingdom across the way. Of course, for the staggering price tag of this suite, there’s much more than just the view.
The dazzling full marble bathroom is larger than your college dorm room, which is fitting since staying in this room for a week costs about the same as your tuition. There’s also a movie-viewing room where you can catch up on your favorite Disney classics, as long as you don’t think about how much more you’re paying than normal for something that costs $15 per person in the theater or $20 on Blu-Ray.
While the kitchen is better than you’d find in the home of a Michelin Star-winning chef, the show stopper isn’t inside. The exterior deck of the Royal Suite is the equivalent of the Top of the World lounge and California Grill’s viewing areas, only as a private outdoors living area that will make you feel bad about your backyard. You’ll understand what I mean at the one minute mark of this video that highlights all the amenities, cleverly ending with the 1,000 square foot terrace that would seem right at home on an episode of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.
In total, there are nine rooms in the villa, although you can splurge for another two rooms containing 1,000 square feet of space each if the base 3,300 square feet cramps your style too much.
In order to save you from the indignity of flipping a light switch, the suite features automated functionality, so you can control everything from your iPad, presuming you don’t have the help handle such menial tasks.
If you can afford this suite, you’ll feel as if Wishes is your own private fireworks display. And all it will cost you is $14,000 a night if you accept the basic version of a suite. Of course, you’d run the risk of running into other people if you did that. Instead, you should consider the nine-room option for $35,000 per night. In fact, just to be safe, you should go ahead and rent out the entire floor for the evening. All it will cost you is $60,000. You could likely create a fairly memorable fireworks show in your own backyard for that price.
So, if you want to blow somewhere between $100,000 and $420,000 for a week at Walt Disney World rather than buying a new Tesla, the Royal Suite stands tall as the most expensive Disney theme park suite in the world, even though it’s not technically Disney. The answer to whether it’s worth the money or not probably depends on whether you founded Google or grew up at the Kennedy Compound.
When Walt Disney and Jack Wrather planned for the future of a theme park that was yet to exist, they had no idea how great an impact they’d have on the nascent industry. Their ambition was simply to provide a large number of nightly accommodations as close to Disneyland as possible.
In the decades that have followed, the disciples of Walt Disney have embraced his plussing concept. They’ve built some of the most extraordinary suites the theme park industry has ever seen. Even the ones that technically aren’t owned by Disney redefine magnificence. Alas, they also cost as much per night as you’re likely to pay for your mortgage.
If you are one of the lucky few who get to spend one or more nights in one of these suites, it’ll provide a lifetime of memories. Truly, these are the most unforgettable, deluxe suites that you’ll find at a Disney theme park. That won’t be true forever, though. Even now, Imagineers are designing the next wave of luxury accommodations. Theme Park Tourist hears that Wilderness Lodge is next in line for a round of plussing. Stay tuned…
