Katie,
Thanks for asking me your question to planDisney!
Resort hopping is fun all year round, but during the holidays it takes on a special air. The decor in each hotel is more than just adding a tree and some bunting. Most of the resorts will have special extra displays, often created by their restaurant staff, that are worthy of the time to visit. Likely the most famous is the gingerbread house they put up in the lobby of
Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa. It is so big they have a cast member inside who sells gingerbread houses you can take with you!
My advice for visiting the resorts is to run together a string of visits based on Disney resort transportation. This makes getting from one to the other a treat, not a task. The obvious choice is to visit the resorts on the
monorail loop, where you can see that gingerbread house, followed by visits to Disney’s Contemporary Resort and then Disney's Polynesian Village Resort. If your schedule allows, it would also be worth your time to stop at the Magic Kingdom monorail stop, and then boat over and back to Disney's Wilderness Lodge. That lobby is literally the spirit of the season, exemplified.
Another choice is to ride the
Disney Skyliner and visit Disney's Beach Club Resort, Disney's Yacht Club Resort, Disney's BoardWalk Inn, and then Disney's Riviera Resort. Really, you walk to the first three before soaring to the final stop.
The one glaring loss is not visiting Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, as it is not on either route. But it is a special place to visit too during the holidays if it might be in your travel plans.
Now let’s talk food! Because you are on the go, any quick-service dining venue would be a good choice. But if I had to pick one place on each route to grab lunch, I would go to the
Kona Café in the Polynesian if the monorail route were my choice, or the
Beaches and Cream Soda Shop in the Beach Club when visiting the Skyliner resorts. Both are personal favorites.
Please feel free to
write me back directly if you have any follow-up questions.
Have a Magical Vacation!Doug