Welcome to planDisney Bethany! I love your question! I am so excited to give you a few planning tips for your first-ever visit! When visiting the Walt Disney World Resort, I love to stay in the magic! It sounds like you want to do the same thing by staying at a hotel in the
Disney Resorts Collection! While there are not any resorts that are specifically identified as “character hotels” there are a few recommendations that I’m happy to share with you!
First, more and more Disney characters have been making appearances at hotels in the Disney Resorts Collection! During our stay in December, we encountered Goofy and Pluto in our hotel lobby! Guests will be seeing more character appearances in their hotels as part of the benefits of staying at Disney Resorts Collection hotels!
Two resort hotels currently offer character dining within the hotel. The first is Disney’s Contemporary Resort which is home to
Chef Mickey’s! This character dining experience is available for reservations for a celebration-themed breakfast and dinner! The other hotel to offer character dining is Disney’s Riviera Resort! Here Guests can see characters during breakfast at
Topolino’s Terrace! The outfits worn by the characters here are rather adorable! And the food is as good as the view Guests have as they dine! I want to note that you don’t need to be staying at either of these resorts to book a reservation for the dining experiences hosted there. Both of these restaurants are available for any Guest to book. However, you need to book these restaurants fast as they are extremely popular!
Another resort hotel that offers just about the best character theming is
Disney’s Art of Animation Resort! There are sections of this hotel themed as The Lion King, Cars, The Little Mermaid, and Finding Nemo! Characters have been known to greet guests at this hotel! Additionally life-sized and larger-than-life-sized character statues are prevalent throughout the entire resort! Even when not staying at this resort, I love to visit it just to walk around and see the character statues and get pictures with them!
Bethany, I hope this is enough information to help you begin your search for the “just right” hotel in the Disney Resorts Collection! If you have more questions, please come back to visit!
Hakuna Matata! Jonathan