For most trips, my family stays at value or moderate Disney resorts, but over the many years of my Disney fandom, I have stayed at almost every Disney hotel, including the deluxe resorts, with just a few exceptions, and even those exceptions I have spent extensive time at, including going into the rooms of friends and family. So if you’re someone who has not spent a lot of time at or has not stayed at any of the Deluxe Resorts, but you do have some favorite resorts from the value and moderate tiers, here are my suggestions of what you might enjoy if you upgrade your next or some future trip to a Deluxe resort.
All-Star Movies – Animal Kingdom Lodge
All-Star Movies guests are drawn to the spectacle of it, giant, larger-than-life iconography, immersive storytelling through imagery, and the sense that the resort itself is making a statement. Animal Kingdom Lodge delivers that same “wow on arrival” energy but elevates it into something genuinely awe-inspiring. The savanna views with real wildlife outside your window, the dramatic African architecture of Jambo House, and the deep cultural storytelling throughout the resort all reward guests who already respond to a resort that commits fully to its theme rather than playing it safe. Both resorts lead with visual drama, one through cinema iconography, the other through one of the most breathtaking resort settings on earth.
All-Star Music – Port Orleans French Quarter or Riverside*
Okay, I know this isn’t a deluxe, but for this one, I had to make an exception because All-Star Music was the one value resort where the honest advice is to skip the deluxe tier entirely on your first upgrade and move to Port Orleans instead. Both resorts deliver something All-Star Music genuinely cannot, a resort with real architectural soul and a sense of place, and they do it without making the full leap to deluxe prices. They both feel very music-themed just as much or in some cases more than All-Star Music itself, French Quarter with its jazz bar drawing on the deep musical roots of New Orleans, and Riverside with the beloved Yeehaw Bob, a fan-favorite entertainer who has become as much a part of the Riverside experience as the resort itself. Either way, Port Orleans is where All-Star Music guests tend to feel like they finally found their people, and that is the upgrade worth making before deciding whether deluxe is the right next step.
All-Star Sports – Contemporary Resort
All-Star Sports guests are often no-frills, get-in-get-out Disney people who love the parks, want to be efficient, and treat the resort as a home base more than a destination. That pragmatic energy maps onto the Contemporary, which is the most utilitarian of the deluxe resorts in the best possible way. It’s a masterpiece of mid-century modern design with the most direct park access on property, the monorail literally runs through the building, and it rewards guests who want to maximize park time rather than linger at the resort. To be clear, this recommendation is aimed at the Sports guest who is no-frills by habit rather than strict necessity, someone who has simply never prioritized the resort experience but will find, perhaps for the first time, a deluxe property that completely matches their philosophy. Zero fuss, maximum access, and genuine architectural prestige without any of the whimsy they’ve never cared about.
Art of Animation – Old Key West or Animal Kingdom Lodge
Art of Animation guests paid a meaningful premium over the other value resorts specifically for immersive, larger-than-life theming and generously sized family suites, so any deluxe recommendation has to honor both of those priorities. If the family has tweens or teens who are ready to move on from over-the-top Disney iconography but still needs the space, Old Key West is the answer, offering the most expansive accommodations in the deluxe category in a calm, understated setting that lets the kids feel like they’ve grown up a little. But if the family still wants that AoA sense of wonder and visual drama alongside the extra space, Animal Kingdom Lodge’s Kidani Village is the move, with family suites, savanna views, and a resort that commits to its theme just as completely as Art of Animation does, only with real giraffes outside the window instead of Nemo.
Caribbean Beach – Beach Club
Caribbean Beach guests are drawn to that breezy, colorful, island-hopping energy, so the Beach Club is the natural evolution of that sensibility in deluxe form. Both resorts are built around a waterfront atmosphere with a relaxed coastal vibe, but Beach Club trades the Caribbean’s sprawling village layout for a refined New England seaside aesthetic with one of the best pools on Disney property, the legendary Stormalong Bay, a three-acre water complex with a real sandy bottom and a 150-foot slide.
Coronado Springs – Riviera Resort
Coronado Springs has always punched above its moderate weight class with its sophisticated Spanish Colonial architecture and its genuinely upscale dining scene at Toledo and Dahlia Lounge, so it makes sense that its guests would feel right at home at the Riviera. The Riviera is Disney’s most European and architecturally intentional resort, drawing on the glamour of the French and Italian Riviera, and it matches that same elevated, cosmopolitan energy that Coronado Springs guests already gravitate toward. Both resorts also share a similar appeal to adults, couples, and guests who want their resort experience to feel a little more like a real luxury hotel.
Port Orleans French Quarter – Polynesian Village Resort
French Quarter guests are enchanted by a very specific kind of magic: a resort that feels like a fully realized place, with cultural soul and a distinct sense of arrival rather than just being somewhere Disney-adjacent. The Polynesian delivers that in spades with its immersive South Pacific theming, the lush tropical landscaping, and that iconic Great Ceremonial House lobby that still stops first-time visitors in their tracks decades after it opened. It is worth noting that the Polynesian is a livelier and grander resort than French Quarter, which is one of the most compact and cozy properties on all of Disney property, so guests should expect a step up in energy and scale alongside the step up in category. But for guests who love a resort with genuine cultural identity and a sense of place, the Polynesian delivers that feeling more completely than almost anywhere else on property.
Port Orleans Riverside – Grand Floridian or Wilderness Lodge
Riverside guests split pretty cleanly based on which section of the resort they gravitate toward. If they are in the Magnolia Bend section, with its stately antebellum mansion buildings and manicured grounds, then the Grand Floridian is the clear next step. It is the most elegant and formally beautiful resort on property, and Magnolia Bend guests have already demonstrated they respond to that aesthetic. If they are in the more woodsy, rustic section of Alligator Bayou with its bayou-draped trees and rugged charm, then Wilderness Lodge is their match. It trades the bayou for the Pacific Northwest but keeps that same feeling of being tucked away in nature, with the bonus of one of the most dramatically themed lobbies on property.
