Beating Florida's Theme-Park Hordes

Beating Florida's Theme-Park Hordes

Hotels at Disney, Universal action means to compress waits, but the apartment at one abominably charge some magic

By LAURA LANDRO

High up in my allowance at the Contemporary Resort in Florida's Walt Disney World, I can apprehend the crowd's din ascent from a canyon-like atrium, as the monorail whizzes in and out. Aloof as I'm regretting the accommodation to breach in a auberge with a alternation active through it, things quiet bottomward and I admonish myself: That monorail will let my nieces exhausted the morning blitz for the Princess Breakfast in Cinderella's Castle.

Theme Esplanade Resorts

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Universal Orlando Resort

The Royal Pacific's axial garden.

There are abounding means to accouterment the hordes at the Disney and Universal affair parks about Orlando, Fla.—there aloof doesn't assume to be any way to abstain them. Fall is commonly advised a acceptable time to escape the affliction crowding, but the recession has prodded abounding deals—multiple nights for the amount of fewer, chargeless theme-park tickets and prices as low as $82 a night. Lower allowance ante helped Disney abode 91% control in its parks in its best contempo quarter. As Dave Barry already facetiously said, the best time to appointment Disney World is apparently 1962.

So on a contempo visit, to aerate bend allowance and abbreviate cat-and-mouse time, we autonomous for convenience. We backward at two hotels, anniversary with a abstruse weapon: Disney's 655-room Contemporary, which afresh completed a much-needed top-to-bottom renovation, had that monorail to acceleration us to esplanade destinations. And a allowance key from Loews's Royal Pacific, as at Universal's two added Loews hotels, let us jump the curve at the Universal parks.

Opened in 1971 on the aforementioned day as the affair esplanade as an archetype of then-modern architecture, the Contemporary, in Disney's "deluxe" resort category, has a dated, white-elephant attending alfresco and an airline-terminal feel inside. But adapted apartment and the account on its two club-level floors abundantly afraid us.

In contrast, the abundant adolescent Royal Pacific—despite its adorable Polynesian-themed exoteric and accessible spaces, and the mostly helpful, able staff—was a big anticlimax aback it came to the rooms. To be sure, it's the atomic big-ticket of the three Loews resorts and alms deals such as seven nights for the amount of four. But alike $250, the starting amount for a double, is too abundant for bare furnishings, chilly smells, coarse housekeeping, adulterated accouterments and decrepit carpets—not to acknowledgment the pizza airheaded shoved beneath the aperture every time we got aback to our rooms.

We started out at the Contemporary, breadth we could analysis in early. As at the Royal Pacific, we'd called club-level accommodations, which amount added than accepted apartment but were added than account it at Disney, at least, for the account like babysitter casework and a lounge with food. (At present, club-level apartment alpha at $530 nightly vs. $295 for a accepted room.) Our biking abettor was able to advancement my brother and sister-in-law to a beyond ancestors suite, with big terraces overlooking the pools, lagoon and the Victorian-style Grand Floridian in the distance.(That hotel, forth with the Polynesian Resort, is additionally on the monorail.) The Contemporary's all-suite 14th attic is the alone one that doesn't accept centralized corridors adorable over the axial atrium, authoritative it quieter and beneath hectic-feeling. Families can additionally hire apartment-style apartment with kitchens in the fresh Bay Lake Tower, adjoining to the Contemporary, that's allotment of the Disney Vacation Club time-share program.

My allowance on the 12th floor, with a baron bed, had a big flat-screen TV, glassy board area, baby daybed daybed and a appealing marble ablution with motion-detector lights for caliginosity and towels bankrupt in the appearance of Mickey Mouse or a swan anniversary night. The club lounges on both floors, which put out a ablaze breakfast and candy at intervals into the evening, are additionally abundant places to watch fireworks, which the girls loved.

Our one big annoyance was abyssal the Disney restaurant-reservation system, which acquainted like ambidextrous with HAL, the bad-natured computer from "2001: A Space Odyssey." We couldn't book annihilation we capital at a reasonable time online; a buzz reservationist insisted on accepting my name, address, buzz cardinal and credit-card advice afore she would acquaint me if annihilation we capital was available. Then she said it wasn't. Aback I asked for alternatives, she asked for all the advice over again. Next, we approved the Contemporary's concierge. The adolescent man approved adamantine to get us a catch at the hotel's California Grill, but failed. (He larboard us chargeless passes to Epcot Center as consolation.)

Finally, on my accession I sat bottomward with two added concierges. They were terrific, advising alternatives and agilely booking them online, no accessible assignment for them, either: It took bisected an hour on two occasions to do it all. (A Disney abettor said the catch system's information-gathering is all-important to advance its database for the account of guests, such as appropriate bodies with agnate names.)

The aboriginal table we got was at Citricos, at the Grand Floridian, and the grouper and abbreviate ribs were excellent. At Epcot's Coral Reef the abutting evening, the seafood was appealing acceptable as well, admitting the abominable feel and the food-littered carpets. My nieces, ages 7 and 10, were captivated to face the behemothic aquariums with guests and agents scuba-diving alongside abyssal life, including a shark.

The monorail base on the fourth attic angry out to be badly acceptable and badly packed—budget-tight parents beware, there's a behemothic Disney abundance nearby. Afterwards abounding rides and events, we took a breach at the Contemporary's abrupt pool, which loses credibility on agriculture but assets some (at atomic for 10-year-olds) with its long, ambagious baptize slide.

After two nights we confused to the 1,000-room Royal Pacific, which fabricated a acceptable aboriginal impression. The antechamber sported ablaze amethyst orchids and an amphitheater axial garden with a bubbler fed by streams of baptize from the trunks of albatross statues. Then came the rooms. We'd appointed one of eight kids' suites, a king-bedded allowance affiliated to one with accompanying beds. On the arena floor, it was aphotic and dank, the window atramentous over with a white blur we afterwards abstruse was from the alfresco sprinkler system. That blocked the view, which wasn't abundant anyway: ratty-looking foliage.

The advanced board told us annihilation agnate was available, so we asked for abutting apartment on a college floor, which were added good but had cheap-looking and somewhat bare furnishings. The rooms' sinks are out in the open, with tub and toilet abstracted abaft a door.

As for myself, I looked at a allowance with a artery appearance and beard in the bathtub and assuredly acclimatized on one with carpeting stains, chipped furniture, a toilet that ran continuously, and a battery with clashing baptize burden that let out a continued beef aback shut off. (The bore in one of my family's apartment sputtered out baptize in blasts.) The halls were generally littered, and every time we came aback to our rooms, there were those pizza airheaded again.

A Loews backer apologized afterwards my visit. She said the upholstery and bedding in the apartment was upgraded two years ago and the abstracted bore lets added than one actuality use the facilities. The engineering agents is adorable into the accouterments issues we described, housekeeping has been alerted to the charwoman concerns, and the sprinkler is actuality anchored so it doesn't continuously aerosol the window in the apartment we saw with irrigation water, she added.

As for the pizza menus, she says the auberge doesn't apperceive how they get there. The auberge says it's alive with bounded law administration on the problem.

On a absolute note, the Royal Pacific has fresh flat-screen TVs, nice toiletries and a baptize shuttle to the park—as able-bodied as those chargeless passes to jump Universal lines, additionally accessible at two added Loews hotels. (To booty advantage of the offer, I'd admonish activity to their best high-end hotel, the Portofino.) The Royal Pacific offers a appealing sushi bar and café in the antechamber and a below dining allowance with a nice breakfast buffet. An Asian restaurant, Emeril's Tchoup Chop, has a actual adorable allowance but serves close and clammy pork dumplings, anointed egg rolls and doughy rice.

On our aftermost night in the Orlando area, our biking agent, to whom we'd appealed for advice on the California Grill, came through with anxiety there. Aback at the Contemporary, we headed to the rooftop for an accomplished dinner, including grouper with an Asian activity fry, and ostrich with carrots and figs. Our adorable waiter, Gary, beatific us to the alfresco accouter for the best appearance of the fireworks. The girls never got annoyed of watching them ablaze up the Magic Kingdom.