Dan@Disney

Stay one night at every resort at Walt Disney World. When I was on the program I tried this but failed 🙁 It is such a fun challenge though. Here are the official rules:

Rules

1. You are required to stay at least one night at each resort ( see list at the end for full details)
2. This includes one night at each of the All Star Themes (Music, Movies, Sports)
3. One night at each of the Port Orleans Themes (French Quarter, Riverside)
4. You do not need to stay at the DCL Lodges at a resort that has normal hotel rooms (Bay Lake Tower, Boulder Ridge Villas, Copper Creek Villas, Jambo House, Kidani Village, Beach Club Villas, Boardwalk Villas, Polynesian Villas, Grand Floridian Villas)
5. For Fort Wilderness either the Campsites or the Cabins are acceptable
6. At each resort you must try at least one dining option (bars do not count but QSR does)
7. You must get a photo with each resort icon or logo
8. You must visit the feature pool at each resort (additional pools are bonuses)
9. Special rooms e.g. Pirates or Princess rooms count as a normal visit – nice to have but not required
10. For resorts with non-bus transportation you must try at least one option e.g. French Quarter boat to Springs, Polynesian Monorail to MK

Tips

Basically the only way you can complete this challenge is on a Disney Program. For one, you need Cast Member discount to make this affordable. It is best to aim for the Deluxe resorts in off season when you can get up to 60% off.

Last minute booking also sometimes work. When you’ve had a crappy day at work just log in and see what’s available! Just head straight in to work from the resort.

I only managed about 15 of the resorts on my program as I ran out of time .Start early and you will have no bother.

List Of Resorts

Value:

• Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort
• Disney’s All-Star Music Resort
• Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort
• Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
• Disney’s Pop Century Resort
• The Campsites at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort (One Required)

Moderate:

• Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
• Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort
• Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter
• Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside
• The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort (One Required)

Deluxe:

• Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge
• Disney’s Beach Club Resort
• Disney’s BoardWalk Inn
• Disney’s Contemporary Resort
• Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
• Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort
• Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
• Disney’s Yacht Club Resort

Deluxe Villas:

• Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort (NOT required)
• Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge (NOT required)
• Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge (NOT required)
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Jambo House (NOT required)
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas – Kidani Village (NOT required)
• Disney’s Beach Club Villas (NOT required)
• Disney’s BoardWalk Villas (NOT required)
• Disney’s Old Key West Resort (Required)
• Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows (NOT required)
• Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa (Required)
• The Villas at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa (NOT required)

Have you tried the challenge? How did you get on? Are there any other rules you followed? Leave a comment below!

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I’ve now been home almost 3 years. I now have a ‘normal’ job, in an office, working (vaguely) regular hours. I am not going to lie to you and say coming home is easy or that you will find what you want to do straight away but there are an awful lot of skills you pick up while on the program that are actually incredibly useful and you will find many other people do not have.

Smile through the pain

You will find many people like to complain about work but you have done 60 hour, 6 day weeks and had no choice but to smile through it. You’ve worked when you’ve been out far too late the night before and started far too early this morning. Being the perky one in the office is not a bad thing and you’ll be surprised how few people can pull this off.

Know how to talk to all kinds of people

You probably haven’t realised it, I didn’t, but on your program you spoke to literally thousands of different people. People from all walks of life, from all over the world. By doing this you learnt subtle nuances of language, conversation and body language when speaking to different cultures. In my ‘normal’ job I work with people from all over the world and you would be surprised how many people are clueless and get annoyed having challenging conversations with people who speak another language. You did it every day, you are basically an expert!

Manage your time

This may be more of an F&B thing but you did a job where you had at least 4 different competing priorities at the same time. You also had to ensure you got out on time to take part in your ‘evening activities’. You are basically the boss of time management, your to-do list will never be too long because you know exactly what needs to be done and when it needs to be done.

Meeting new people

On your program new people showed up every few weeks and your style of work had to adapt to new managers as well. You are an expert at jumping straight in with new colleagues and making them feel right at home. You are also great at showing them the ropes as you probably trained tonnes of people and you knew how important getting training right was as it made sure they did it right and in the end made your life easier.

Confidence

I think of all the things most people pick up in Orlando it is this. I don’t think I can name one person who has done a program and not come back more confident in themselves. This might take a bit of a knock when you first get home but having taken yourself out of your comfort zone, travelled thousands of miles around the world and been forced to deal with many challenging guest and personal situations you are absolutely a more confident and more capable person and I reckon this is what make (ex-) Disney CRPs stand out from the crowd and go far in the long-term.