Disney World is known for paying attention to details! From hidden Mickeys around the parks and resorts to nods to past attractions, the resort is filled with history and facts!

The resorts also have so much history and details, so we compiled a list of Disney World hotel facts to let you in on some of these secrets. Next time you find yourself at one of these resorts, you can be an expert!

If you find yourself over at Magic Kingdom, you may plan a meal at one of these four resorts, or maybe you are like us and like to explore the resorts on a day out of the parks! Disney’s past has shaped its future in so many ways, so every once in a while, we like to see what it was like at the hotels before all of the major changes that they have undergone.

Disney’s Contemporary Resort

The Contemporary Resort opened with Disney World on October 1st, 1971. This resort has many cool details. It is the only resort at Disney World where the monorail goes right through the building!

Mary Blair is a Disney Imagineer famous for her work on ‘it’s a small world’. If you look up at the wall near the monorail station, you may notice mosaic artwork. This was designed by Mary Blair, and there is a famous detail that you may or may not know about.

One of the goats in the mosaic has five legs instead of four! The next time you board the monorail from the Contemporary, look closely, and you just might see it!

Disney World and Disneyland host famous people each year, and at the Contemporary, a former president gave a well-known speech.

In 1973, after the events of Watergate, Richard Nixon delivered his famous ‘I am Not a Crook Speech’ in the Ballroom of Americas (located inside the Contemporary). 

After some fun facts about the past, let’s look forward to the future! Recently, the Contemporary rooms got some TLC and updates. They now have feature details from the Incredibles! 

You do not even have to be staying at the Contemporary to see some of these changes! When you are waiting in line for the monorail, look across the way — you can see artwork from the Incredibles outside of the rooms.

Of course, we will take you inside these rooms as well! When you first enter, there is a closet, and when you open it, you can hang your clothes alongside the Incredibles’ super-suits! And near the coffee machine you will find different mugs that take inspiration from the movie in the wallpaper.

The bathroom mirror pays homage to the resort, featuring a monorail leaving the Contemporary! The pillows on the bed and the blinds feature the outlines of some of the Incredibles and their masks.

We are glad that Disney is able to add these new hotel details while still preserving this opening day hotel’s history!

Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort

The Polynesian Village also opened on Disney World’s opening day! This resort is getting a brand new hotel wing, but before we get to that, let’s take a look at the Polynesian’s past. 

There used to be a wave machine installed in Seven Seas Lagoon with the goal of being there to allow guests to surf. The wave machine worked a little too well, and the strong waves started to cause damage. The wave machine only lasted about a year, but if you are looking to catch some waves, you can do so over at Typhoon Lagoon! 

The Contemporary is not the only resort to host big moments in history! In 1974, John Lennon stayed at the Polynesian and signed the papers to end the band in room 1601.

Fitting for the Polynesian, there used to be a luau hosted in Luau Cove. Here you could dine and watch a show! Unfortunately, the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show gave its last performance in March of 2020. 

If you have been near the Polynesian lately, you may have noticed some construction. Disney is currently building a new DVC tower at the Polynesian. The land that this building is being constructed on actually used to be Luau Cove, where the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show took place.

While it is sad to have lost such a cool and beautiful show, Disney is always progressing and making changes for future guests to enjoy!

Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa

Continuing on with our monorail hotel theme, the Grand Floridian has also received upgrades recently in the hotel lobby as well as in the rooms. 

If you have visited the Grand Floridian during the holiday season, you were probably there to visit the giant gingerbread house! This gingerbread house is a staple of the resort around the holidays, and it even doubles as a store where you can purchase goodies made by the resort’s bakery team!

This house is made of REAL gingerbread, so what does Disney do with it once it is done? Disney is all about conservation, and they feed bees the leftover gingerbread! Once the support structure is cleared, it is cleaned and ready to be used for the next year’s design!

When the DVC rooms opened at the Grand Floridian, there were details of Mary Poppins all about. For example, in the DVC tower, there is a fountain that features the penguins from Mary Poppins. It seems that this theme is being used all around the resort, and it is practically perfect in every way!

In 2023, another wing of DVC rooms opened with more Mary Poppins details. The chandeliers in these rooms have penguin and bird lightbulbs! They are so cute and we wish all lightbulbs came in fun shapes like these!

If you are not a DVC member or not staying in a DVC room, you can still catch Mary Poppins details at Citrcos at the Grand Floridian! The restaurant was re-themed in 2021 to include details from the newer Mary Poppins film, Mary Poppins Returns!

The walls are covered with artwork that pays homage to Cherry Tree Lane, and some of the lamps have robins on them! In the private Sommelier Room, if you look up, the chandeliers look like upside-down umbrellas, which is a nod to Mary’s famous umbrella! No Mary Poppins theming is complete without her carpet bag, which, of course, this restaurant has!

Adding small Disney touches without taking away from the overall theme of a resort is the way we like it! 

Disney’s Wilderness Lodge

Did you know that there is a geyser at Disney World? That’s right! If you find yourself at the Wilderness Lodge for a meal at Whispering Canyon or even at Storybook Dining at Artist Point with Snow White, then you need to check out this detail!

This resort also holds a unique piece that used to belong to Walt Disney. Walt Disney loved trains so much that he built one in his backyard! There is a special room here dedicated to trains!

Head to the Boulder Ridge Villas on the ground floor near the lobby. This room is named the Carolwood Pacific Room, as that was the name of the small railway that Walt Disney had in the backyard of his home in Los Angeles. Here the decor is themed around trains and you can even see scaled models of Walt’s personal backyard train. 

When the Wilderness Lodge re-opened in 2021, the rooms got a makeover! The best part of this makeover? They feature Country Bear details! Some of the rooms feature a picture of the Country Bears. There are also Bambi and Chip and Dale details hidden throughout the rooms.

So, what do these resorts all have in common?

Electrical Water Pageant

All of these hotels have viewings of the Electrical Water Pageant each night! This parade is an opening-day parade. Although it has seen some updates throughout the years, like for Disney World’s 50th birthday, it has remained a staple and sails the Seven Seas Lagoon each night!

While Disney is always changing, there is still history within all of these resorts, and they are all still connected by an opening day parade! To view parade times and locations, check the My Disney Experience app. 

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Did you know any of these? Let us know down in the comments!