It looks like Disney's been asking its guests about their wish lists for in-room features, too. This week in the Orlando Sentinel, Jason Garcia reports some of the changes Walt Disney World is making to its hotel rooms as a result of its surveys.
Topping its list is the same thing that topped ours: free WiFi. The on-site hotels at Disneyland have had free WiFi for some time now, but the survey's prompted Disney to accelerate the roll-out of free WiFi in rooms and common areas at the WDW hotels, as well.
Perhaps its not surprising that Disney's hotel guests collectively had different priorities, based on whether they stayed at Value, Moderate or Deluxe hotels on property. The Value hotel guests most wanted in-room mini-fridges, while the Moderate hotel guests most valued getting an extra bed into their rooms.
So Disney's putting mini-fridges in all 8,500 on-property Value hotel rooms, and it's testing Murphy-style extra beds, hidden in armoires, at the Port Orleans Resort for a potential roll-out to other Moderate resorts.
Jason's article didn't mention what the extra features Deluxe hotel guests most wanted after the free WiFi. I'd love to hear from Theme Park Insider readers what you'd have liked to see added to the on-property theme park hotel rooms you've stayed at recently.
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Other than that, really, a hotel room is a place you're not spending a ton of time, so as long as I've got wi-fi for the times I AM in the room, I'm peachy.
Hotel rooms are getting more space. They have hair dryers so it doesn't need to be packed. They are offering free continental breakfasts (this is what I look for before booking) and coffee machines thus saving a lot of money and time in the morning. The refrigerators are a great addition especially when they aren't filled up with snacks for purchase. What they don't have is clothes washer and dryers.
Timeshares are great for relaxing in more space so I don't have leave the room. I can eat in the room for breakfast or dinner by bringing my own and fixing it in the full kitchen. I can use the dish washer to save time. I can use the clother washer/dryer so I don't have to pack so much clothing. Timeshares usually are a step-up from moderate and below luxury. Thus I feel they are a terrific value after you get over paying for it and the yearly maintenance fee.
More and more timeshare resorts have these spectacularly large pools with slides. I don't feel like I need to visit Disney's pool parks when I can just enjoy my resort.
You are right about WiFi at the Hard Rock. Only I discovered the signal worked in our room, pool area and just about everywhere else.
It would drop down to one bar as you got close to the paths that lead to the parks. I never checked the CityWalk, but I will on our trip in June.
I don't imagine you had very much trouble with lines when you stayed at the Hard Rock. :) Almost every ride is a walk on except Rip Ride Rockit and Forbidden Journey. The previous 90 minute waits for Pteradon Flyers has been eliminated with the new ride policy. The days of 300 Brazilian tourists clogging up the queue for a kids ride are over.
One thing that I loved about my cruise experience is they have a pull-out shower head. They also have liquid soap dispensers. No more fooling around with soap bars. All hotels should offer this.
Thanks, I thought that was the case. Too true on the short lines. Gotta love that Express!
I design interactive touch screens, (we call them GUIs or UIs) so I would be all for that.... I am working on one right now. Most of what I create do has to do with controlling all the systems in rather large houses from a single location, but I am responsible for making sure the UI is simple, clean, easy-to-use and graphically dazzling.
Proprietary touch screens, even small ones can run 4K a pop, it would be cheaper to use iPads with tamper proof in-wall docks that are locked into a custom written app.
Universal has 2400 on-site rooms, Disney has 28,000 rooms they consider to be on-site, even though some are miles from the parks. It could probably be done for about $1500 per room, but you are talking 3.6M for Universal alone. The Disney bill could run $42M if they were in every room.
I was just giving a idea I had, Robert never asked for me to submit a business plan as well to document the financial implications. Anyways this sort of technology is already available in hotel rooms in Orlando, I stayed at the Westin Imagine last year and my room was outfitted with a touchscreen display that had a lot of useful info about Orlando and the hotel. So I don’t think its as much of stretch as you think that Disney or Universal could implement something similar and have it linked with the parks. Also I think your cost estimate is on the high side as they would get a large volume discount for outfitting thousands of rooms with this.
I hate the liquid soap idea. There will be no soap bars to to take home. I haven't bought soap in years. Plus it's a little reminder of when you were on vacation.
And those same rooms went for something like 400+ bucks a night in the high season. Insane!
I was just doing some math to figure out what it may cost per room. I love the idea of touch screens. If you stay at the CityCenter in Vegas, some of the rooms have touch panels that allow you to call room service, concierge, check the weather, look up local restaurants etc.
They also control the audio/video, shades, lighing and climate. I know this because I designed them. :) I also know what it cost to put these in each room. The touch panels alone were right around $6000 each.
Basically, all I am saying is it could get expensive if they put them in every room. Someone still has to design them and write the software.
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