2023 Awards: Best of Disney World Resorts

2023 is wrapping up, and that means that we have lots of data to review, and lots of recommendations to make for those of you considering 2024 Walt Disney World vacations. Over the course of this week, I’m reviewing results from our post-visit surveys that we received this year, and helping you interpret what they should mean for your next vacation. Today we’re going over all of the satisfaction data from our resort surveys. Which resorts got the best overall scores? Which have the best food? Or the rooms with the least noise?

This serves as your obligatory reminder that the accuracy of these results fully depends on the number of people that are willing to fill out post-visit surveys after their Walt Disney World vacations. Make sure to submit your thoughts after your WDW vacations so that we can continue providing meaningful insights!

Overall Satisfaction

We received almost 3500 unique resort surveys so far in 2023. That gives us a lot of information to slice and dice, but the number that we most frequently pay attention to is overall satisfaction. Each survey respondent is asked to rate their resort stay as “very satisfied,” “somewhat satisfied,” “neither,” “somewhat dissatisfied,” or “very dissatisfied.” I take each of these responses and convert them to a 5-point scale. Very Satisfied = 5 points, Very Dissatisfied = 1 point, and so on. Then I can average the responses to get an approximation for the overall satisfaction at each resort.

First, let’s talk about the graph here. Each color corresponds to a specific resort tier:

• Blue = DVC Resort
• Green = Deluxe Resort
• Yellow = Moderate Resort
• Red = Value Resort

Plus, we have a bonus color – gray for Shades of Green, Fort Wilderness Cabins, and Fort Wilderness Campgrounds. I treat these slightly differently than any other resort because they’re really hard to compare. As many, many … many commenters pointed out last year.

The colored box shows the average overall satisfaction for each resort, and the lines to each side represent the 95% confidence interval. Even though we get a lot of surveys, we’re obviously not surveying the entire population of people that stayed at these resorts. So based on the number of surveys we get, and how different they are from one another, the “real” satisfaction at each resort could actually be anywhere along these lines. At least we’re statistically 95% confident the “real” satisfaction is along that line.

So who are the big winners here?

Best Overall DVC Resort: Riviera Resort

Best Overall Deluxe Resort: Swan Reserve or Wilderness Lodge

Best Overall Moderate Resort: Port Orleans – French Quarter

Best Overall Value Resort: All-Star Sports

*Keep in mind that these “bests” are somewhat misleading. Those 95% lines overlap A LOT, which means that although Wilderness Lodge, for example, edged out other Disney-owned deluxe resorts, its confidence lines overlap with almost every other deluxe resort too. It has the highest average, but the real winner could technically be any of those other resorts too. Things we can say for certain are along the lines of “Port Orleans – Riverside is definitely less satisfactory than French Quarter” because those lines don’t overlap.

Another note – every single resort has an average satisfaction that is over 4.2 on a scale of 5. And the vast majority are above 4.5. That means more people respond “Very Satisfied” than “Somewhat Satisfied”. The bar is set really really high for WDW resorts.

Overall Repeatability

For a slightly different look at similar data, we ask how likely each respondent stay again at this resort during a future stay.

If you look at the previous two graphs from 2022 (in this article), you should notice some pretty big differences this year. Value resorts have made a huge comeback in both satisfaction and repeatability – especially the All-Stars. And Deluxe Resorts are floundering! Check out the Contemporary with an 81% repeatability rate, and below-average satisfaction. It’s apparent that we’re entering an economic period were resorts that command high rack rates create very high expectations for the people that stay there. In general, people are happier to save money and stay at the value resorts instead.

In fact – as a group, the deluxe resorts “only” get a repeatability score of 89%. Every other category of resort beats that easily. Value resorts are the next-closest, and they get 93.3% repeatability overall.

Most Repeatable DVC Resort: Treehouse Villas at Saratoga Springs

Most Repeatable Deluxe Resort: Swan Reserve

Most Repeatable Moderate Resort: Port Orleans – French Quarter

Most Repeatable Value Resort: (tie) Pop Century and All-Star Music

Best Resort Food

We looked at awards for all dining locations yesterday, but now let’s look at which resorts are rated most highly for their dining options.

Quick Service/Food Court

1. Riviera Resort
2. Villas at Grand Floridian
3. Animal Kingdom Lodge – Jambo House
4. Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter
5. Polynesian Villas & Bungalows

The Riviera Resort taking top spot here isn’t surprising. Primo Piatto and Bar Riva are right next door to each other, and both provide truly stellar dining experiences. Bar Riva can be table service or counter service based on how and where you choose to eat. The Villas at Grand Floridian is another repeat, and I was confused about its showing last year. Then a helpful commenter pointed out that there are two pool bars in close proximity to the Villas, and they both have unique menus and excellent service. So we’ve already unlocked the secret to performing well on this list. Great pool bars. Jambo House has convenient access to Mara and to the Uzima Springs Pool Bar. At French Quarter, you can order from Sassagoula … or head over to Scat Cat’s Cafe. Beignets are the secret to high satisfaction. And finally, Captain Cook’s at the Polynesian certainly has some fun and delicious items along with a great location.

Table Service Dining

1. Riviera Resort
2. Animal Kingdom Lodge (Jambo)
3. Animal Kingdom Lodge (Kidani)
4. Wilderness Lodge (plus DVC wings)
5. Grand Floridian Resort

Riviera is a double-up winner for dining for the first time! And table-service dining is pretty much a slam dunk here, with Topolino’s Terrace. It’s one of the hardest reservations to get on-property for a reason. Both portions of Animal Kingdom make the list, and you all know I’m biased on that front. Jiko + Boma + Sanaa is a formidable foodie line-up. I could do a long weekend at Animal Kingdom Lodge, and never set foot at any dining location outside of the lodge and be a perfectly happy camper. Wilderness Lodge is a new addition to the top 5 this year. With a one-two punch from Whispering Canyon Cafe and Storybook Dining at Artist Point, it’s very worthy of a spot near the top. Wrapping things up is Grand Floridian and its impressive slate of options (hello Grand Floridian Cafe and Citricos and Narcoosees and Victoria & Alberts). A lot of fancy. A lot of expensive. A lot of great.

Best Resort Rooms

Is the most important part of a resort the rooms themselves? Do you need a lot of space, or quiet rooms for resting? These will be the important categories for you to pay attention to.

Room Cleanliness

1. Swan Reserve
2. Yacht Club
3. BoardWalk Inn
4. Riviera Resort
5. Boulder Ridge Villas

Nice new shiny rooms is what people prioritize when they think about “clean”. This makes sense. Mousekeeping is awesome and works hard at every resort. So the difference really comes down to refurbishments and having less of a run-down feel.

Best for Room Size

1. Old Key West
2. Fort Wilderness – Cabins
3. Grand Floridian Villas
4. Grand Floridian Resort
5. Animal Kingdom Lodge – Kidani Villas

Old Key West has large rooms. And they’re organized well, so you notice how roomy they are. The Cabins in second place are interesting though – it’s one of the smallest possible accommodations for six people. I guess if you don’t squeeze in that many humans, then it feels nice. Grand Floridian is another obvious choice. You’ll find the biggest standard rooms here. And finally we have Kidani, which is another bit of a head-scratcher. Some rooms are larger here than at Jambo, but not all.

Best for Quiet Rooms

1. Fort Wilderness – Cabins
2. Treehouse Villas
3. Swan Reserve
4. Boulder Ridge Villas
5. Animal Kingdom Lodge – Kidani Village

Spoiler alert: rooms that are more spread out (or in totally separate buildings) are quieter. Obviously the Cabins and Treehouse Villas prove this point perfectly. They each have their own building for each “room”. Your room is as quiet as you make it. Swan Reserve is smaller and more boutique. Also pretty quiet. And the Boulder Ridge Villas and Kidani Villas are pretty spread out with lots of rooms far away from any type of lobby. Lots of peace and quiet.

Best Pools

Do your kids just want to play in a pool all day? Or do you enjoy taking a midday break with lounging and swimming? Then these are the categories for you!

Pool Size

1. Beach Club Villas
2. Yacht Club Resort
3. Beach Club Resort
4. Polynesian Village Resort
5. Art of Animation Resort

The survey doesn’t have a category for pool theme, otherwise this list would have the same top three and then probably a very large gap. Still, the top three here deserve their spots. Stormalong Bay, which is shared by the top three resorts, is THE Walt Disney World pool. If you can afford it, and pool time is important to you, it’s the obvious choice. The Polynesian also has a rather large feature pool, as well as a decent-sized secondary pool. Lots of space to swim. And then we’ve got what _should_ be the winner for pool size based on the real numbers – The Big Blue Pool at Art of Animation is the single largest pool at Walt Disney World. It also features the Schoolyard Sprayground splash pad, and two “smaller” pools – the Cozy Cone Pool and the Flippin’ Fins Pool.

Pool Crowds

1. Swan Reserve
2. Shades of Green
3. All-Star Sports
4. BoardWalk Inn
5. Villas at Grand Floridian

So here’s the thing. Big, popular pools are still … popular pools. Which means that they get crowded with lots and lots of humans. If you don’t necessarily care about how large the pool is, and instead you just want some space to yourself, this is the more important list. Swan Reserve is something of a boutique hotel that has much lower capacity than its siblings or pretty much any other WDW resort, so there are fewer humans to fill up the pools. Shades of Green is similar – folks here are looking to spend time in the parks and probably not as much the pools. All-Star Sports is … weird. Potentially sports teams are busy competing or hanging out and aren’t in the pools? And BoardWalk Inn has the least popular pool along Crescent Lake, which helps keep crowds lower. The Villas at Grand Floridian have access to several pools and not many people that are staying there to use the pools.

Best for Wayfinding

Is just stumbling back to your room at the end of a long park day without getting lost your top priority? Here are the resorts for you:

1. Port Orleans – French Quarter
2. Riviera
3. Swan Reserve
4. Boulder Ridge Villas
5. Bay Lake Tower

No big surprises here, as these are all small locations with relatively straight-forward layouts. In fact, only French Quarter even has multiple buildings. But there are so few of them, and they are so close together that it doesn’t matter much.

Best Staff

Do you want to be well cared for by the best cast members? You really can’t go wrong with any on-property resorts, but let’s find the best of the best for the sake of rounding out our 2023 awards.

1. BoardWalkInn
2. Grand Floridian
3. All-Star Sports
4. BoardWalk Villas
5. Riviera Resort

Interestingly, only one resort is a repeat in this category from last year, and that’s the Riviera Resort. All-Star Sports continues its surprise run near the top, and the BoardWalk cast members seem to be crushing it.

What Does This Mean For You?

1. Unlike 2022, when Riviera dominated almost every list, there is no clear-cut overall winner this year. That should be good news for all WDW visitors because it means you get to choose the right resort for your party without competing with all of everyone wanting to stay in the exact same place.
2. Unsurprisingly, a lot of the “best of” lists are filled with Deluxe and DVC entries. But that doesn’t mean that you have to pay a lot of money to find something that will suit your needs. French Quarter is one of the highest-scoring resorts overall, and has good repeatability. All-Star Sports is not only the highest-rated value resort, but it also beats out many Deluxe resorts in overall satisfaction, and it shows up on some specific top 5 lists too.
3. Every WDW resort has high satisfaction by any sort of real-world measure. No resort has a repeatability score of less than 81%, and no resort has overall satisfaction lower than 4.2. These are all really high scores, and anything above that is almost just nitpicking. Find the aspects that are important to you, and make your decisions based on those.

Did any of the 2023 winners surprise you? Would you have ranked anything differently? Is there somewhere you’re looking forward to staying in 2024? Let me know in the comments!