Hello Friends! We are just home from another trip to Orlando, but this time it was a DWNK (Disney With No Kids) trip. In this post I’m going to tell you about the monorail resort crawl we did on our first night. This is one of our favorite DWNK activities for a couple of reasons. First, you get to see several of Disney’s top resorts. Then, you add in some really great food and cocktails (if you don’t drink alcohol, or drink in moderation like we do, there are lots of great non-alcoholic options, also!). Top it off with rides on the monorail and boats, plus views of the Magic Kingdom fireworks, and you can probably see why a monorail resort crawl is one of our favorite things to do at Disney.
On this trip, we stopped at four places:
- Trader Sam’s Tiki Terrace at The Polynesian Resort
- Enchanted Rose at Grand Floridian Resort
- Geyser Point at Wilderness Lodge
- Steakhouse 71 at The Contemporary Resort
How to Get There
The trickiest part of resort hopping is getting started and a monorail resort crawl is no different. There are not direct busses from one resort to another. We stayed at Saratoga Springs Resort this trip, so we had three options to get to the monorail loop. First, we could take a bus to Disney Springs, and then jump on another bus to a monorail resort. Or, we could take a bus to EPCOT and ride the monorail to the TTC, and then transfer to the Magic Kingdom monorail loop. Finally, we could take a bus to Magic Kingdom, and go through security there to pick up the monorail at the Magic Kingdom station. Because of the bus schedule at Saratoga at that time we decided to go with the first option. However, the bus is the least-fun form of transportation at Disney, so if the other options were going to be close, time wise, or if we were trying to kill time, I probably would have chosen an option that gets me on the monorail faster.
The Polynesian
The Polynesian is themed to the Pacific Islands. Look for tropical inspired tiki drinks and Asian and Hawaiian inspired small bites. There are lots of places to stop at the Poly for food and drinks. We chose Trader Sam’s Tiki Terrace because it’s usually a walk in, has live music, and you can get the same fun drinks as in Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto. I do recommend trying the Grotto for the pure theatrics of it. It’s a ton of fun if you can get in. But for a more chill, walk up experience we choose the Terrace almost every time.
Moving On
The great thing about a monorail resort hop is, of course, the monorail! It was a really quick hop from The Polynesian to our next stop at the Grand Floridian. You do have to go through security each time you board the monorail, so for a night like this, we recommend leaning into the Disney bubble and taking as little as possible with you. This time I took my park bag just in case, but often we just go with Magicbands, and 1 wallet/ID in case of emergencies.
Grand Floridian
Grand Floridian is probably the fanciest resort on Disney property. It makes a fun change from the laid back atmosphere at the Poly to a very classy, semi-formal feel at Grand Floridian. Our go-to stop here is Enchanted Rose. This lounge is subtly Beauty and the Beast themed. It is also usually a walk in, and has a really nice wine list as well as some French and British inspired cocktails. Don’t skip on the truffle fries here–they’re super good!
Off the Monorail
The Monorail isn’t the only transportation in the Magic Kingdom area! After leaving Grand Floridian, we hopped off the monorail at Magic Kingdom and hopped on a boat to Wilderness Lodge. Be sure you know where you’re going at this stop, as it’s easy to mix up the Wilderness Lodge and the Fort Wilderness campground, and both boats leave from the same dock.
Wilderness Lodge
At Wilderness Lodge we decided to walk instead of sit. This is a beautiful resort themed after the Yellowstone areal National Parks. Walking up to the bar at Geyser Point allowed us to avoid waiting for a seat. And we got to see the expansive lobby and watch the geyser go off.
A Short Walk
After taking the boat back to Magic Kingdom, we opted to take the short walking path from MK to The Contemporary. We were on the late side for our dinner reservation, and we figured we could walk faster than waiting for the monorail. Either a walk or the monorail is a good choice here.
The Contemporary
You can’t drink all night and not eat any of the amazing food offered at the monorail resorts. We ended our night with dinner at Steakhouse 71 in the ground level of The Contemporary Resort. This is a basic American steakhouse with a lot of throwbacks to Walt Disney’s favorite recipe’s from the 1960’s and 70’s. (Disney World opened in 1971, hence the name Steakhouse 71). Food options here are several different cuts of steak, with a few fish, chicken, and vegetarian options for those who don’t eat red meat. The steaks are done well here, and we don’t say that a lot coming from Iowa farm country. But what really shines here are the appetizers and sauces. The bacon and egg is a hold over in this location from The Wave, which was the restaurant in this spot before the Steakhouse. But this one is good enough it’s hard to describe. Just order it when you go. You won’t regret it. We also really like the crab cakes appetizer here. It makes a nice balance to the steak coming in the main course. The other thing that’s great here are the steak sauces. We recommend the sauce flight as a great way to make your steak better than basic.
Conclusion
A Monorail resort crawl is a great way to see the Magic Kingdom area. Eating and drinking plus wandering through the different resorts, riding the monorail and boats, and just taking the time to relax. It was the perfect start to our DWNK get away!
