Walt Disney World Resort Hotels

Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge is a Disney Vacation Club property modeled after railroad hotels of the American West in the 1860’s. This is evident in the lobby area of this section which features paintings and decorations devoted to trains of the period. Off to one side of the lobby is the Carolwood Room, an elegant area dedicated to Walt’s love of trains, from his first exposure to them growing up in Marceline, to his elaborate 1/8 scale, half-mile long Carolwood Pacific Railroad which lived at his Holmby Hills estate. The centerpiece of this collection, no doubt, is an original caboose and cargo car from Walt’s Carolwood Railroad set. The caboose on display is numbered 0-7734 – if you head over to the ground floor of Magic Kingdom’s Main Street Railroad Station, you can see a photo of this car in Walt’s backyard as he works on a nearby train. Bookshelves in the area are stocked with antique railroad memorabilia and equipment, including a copy of Walt Disney’s Railroad Story and The Lonesome Trail. The lobby is open to visitors of Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, just follow signs from the main lobby area. Don’t forget to ask the main front desk for a Hidden […]

The lobby of Disney’s BoardWalk Resort contains a number of homages and references to the Atlantic City and Coney Island boardwalks that it was based on. Walking into the main entrance from the parking lot, we find a Hippocampus Electrolier and carousel model under it. The electrolier (fancy word for chandelier) depicts four, 22-karat gold leaf Hippocampi: mythical creatures that are part horse and part fish. Early carousels of the seaside boardwalks would feature sculpts of beasts like these in addition to typical horses. Below the chandelier is a scale model of a carousel created by MC Illions, one of the most well-known carousel designers, as a way to sell his full-sized attractions to potential buyers. The model was purchased in 1995 and restored by Disney for inclusion in the BoardWalk lobby. Walking towards the main lobby area, we see six carousel rounding boards, evenly spaced around the room. Each one depicts a different Disney Park castle! See closeup photos of each and read more in our blog post: A Photo Tour Of The BoardWalk’s Hidden Disney Castles. About halfway down the lobby, we find a model of a roller coaster. This is the Flip Flap Railway, America’s first looping coaster. It was […]

Leaping Horse Libations is Disney’s BoardWalk Inn and Villas bar at Luna Park Pool. While the design of the bar is designed as a carousel to fit the pool area’s amusement park theme, the name actually references a famous Atlantic City boardwalk attraction of the 1920s: Sonora Webster and her diving horse. In 1991, Disney produced a movie about her life called Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken. Official Information: WaltDisneyWorld.com

Luna Park Pool is the main pool area at Disney’s BoardWalk Inn and Villas. Its 1920s carnival theme and name reference Coney Island’s Luna Park. The water slide (known as the keister coaster) resembles the infamous Cyclone roller coaster, which still operates at the real Luna Park. Official Information: WaltDisneyWorld.com

Shula’s Steak House is a chain of restaurants named after the legendary Miami Dolphins‘ head coach, Don Shula. The company operates a number of concept restaurants across the US with the Steak House being the original, flagship one. The company operates one Disney location, here, inside the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel. Visitor Information: Shula’s Steak House

Trattoria Il Mulino is a bistro-style restaurant in the Walt Disney World Swan Hotel. The restaurant is a more casual offshoot of the company’s popular chain of Il Mulino New York fine-dining restaurants. The company operates one Disney location, here, inside the Walt Disney World Swan Hotel. Visitor Information: Trattoria Il Mulino