Dream Disney World Vacation for Lottery Winners
Like anyone, I daydream about what I’d do with my fortune if I won the lottery. Namely, what Walt Disney World splurges would I make with my winnings in between collecting exotic automobiles and animals. (In my mind, the throne of every mega-millionaire has a Siberian Tigers on each side.)
It has come to my attention that this blog is doing a poor job of servicing the important demographic of lottery winners looking for new and exciting ways to blow their newfound millions, so this post is here to help with that. In it, we cover everything we’d do at Walt Disney World if we suddenly had a few hundred million dollars to spare. In reality, all of this presents a significant challenge…since I don’t play the lottery. Still, my chances of winning are roughly equivalent to anyone else’s, so why not dream?
There are several hotel suites, special experiences, restaurants, and other things at Walt Disney World we’d love to do if money were no issue. Even if you haven’t won the lottery (yet), you can still borrow some of these ideas for splurges or ideas for your WDW bucket list. It’d be pretty embarrassing if you won the lottery and didn’t have a list like this ready to go! It’s better to be over-prepared than under-prepared… 😉
Also in reality, we probably wouldn’t do much that’s wild and extravagant, if against all odds, we somehow won the lottery. They say money changes people, but I don’t think that’s always true. Personality and values are pretty hard-wired by a certain point, and I’m still tediously and unnecessarily frugal in a number of ways. I’ve eased up on that a bit and probably would further do so with a few hundred million dollars, but I still wouldn’t charter a yacht to cruise the Seven Seas Lagoon.
To be honest, this is just my dream splurge Walt Disney World vacation. It’s tailored more to our personal tastes and interests than it is offering the finest in luxury. My apologies if you’re an actual lotto winner or just an ordinary super yacht owner coming here for the epitome of elite ways to experience Walt Disney World.
Anyway, here’s my daydreaming way of having the perfect Walt Disney World vacation…
Hotel Room #1: Yellowstone Suite at Wilderness Lodge — This is one we’d absolutely love to do–even if we somehow never win the lottery. I’ve dreamed of staying in this suite or the smaller Yosemite Suite for a while, and might cringe at the price, but would nonetheless splurge on it. Little info exists online about these suites, but from what I’ve seen, they look like the perfect marriage of two of my favorite things: U.S. National Parks and Disney.
The Yellowstone Suite features an elk-horn chandelier, hardwood flooring, four balconies offering panoramic views of Bay Lake, and leather chairs; this room would make Teddy Roosevelt proud. (My only hope is that it still looks like this, and hasn’t been “re-imagined” in a way to make it bland.) All of that, plus Club Level access to the Old Faithful Lounge makes this my dream room at Walt Disney World. The Yosemite Suite would be a perfectly “satisfactory” alternative, as it looks equally impressive, just smaller.
Our thinking here is that we’d do change resorts halfway through our trip (see our How to Do a Split Stay at Walt Disney World for more on that), moving from the Magic Kingdom area to Crescent Lake for the second half of the trip. For our transfer, we’d go “all out” and use a Minnie Van. Additionally, we’d go from having alone time with just the two of us to a larger trip with family joining…
Hotel Room #2: BoardWalk Inn Sonora Suite or Grand Villa – My favorite Crescent Lake resort is Beach Club, but in perusing images of the Newport and Nantucket Suites, neither of those are to my tastes. Unfortunately, there are no Grand Villas at the Beach Club Villas.
This leaves us with BoardWalk Inn as a “consolation” prize, which is probably the better option, anyway, as having a balcony overlooking the BoardWalk is another bucket list dream. Here, the Steeplechase Suite is the peak of luxury, but from the photos I’ve seen, I actually prefer the look of the Sonora Suite.
Depending upon how many of our family members could make the trip, we might just jump to a Grand Villa instead. Presumably, we could make this more economical by renting Disney Vacation Club points, too. (Even lotto winners need to save–you don’t stay wealthy by wasting money!)
Dining: Eating is an integral part of any Walt Disney World vacation for us, and that’d be no different here. These are splurges we’d absolutely would do, and restaurants at which we’d dine with regularity if I could ignore the total on the bill at the end of each meal.
Here’s a partial list of where I’d want to dine for the first half of the trip:
- Victoria & Albert’s Chef Table
- Monsieur Paul
- California Grill
- STK
- Capa
…and for the second half:
- 50’s Prime Time Cafe
- The Boathouse
- Hoop Dee Doo Revue
- Biergarten
- Sci Fi Dine-In Theater
- Be Our Guest Restaurant
- Whispering Canyon Cafe
The first half of the list should be pretty self-explanatory, as it’s mostly romantic, fine dining. We’d probably round out our dining with restaurants we did during our honeymoon and for which we have nostalgia, like ‘Ohana, Beaches & Cream, Kona, and maybe even Le Cellier.
The second half is less about the food, and more about fun group experiences or things we did with our families growing up that they’d enjoy. The Boathouse is the one exception to this; it toes the line between fine dining and fun, with a wide-ranging menu that would appeal to everyone.
Even if you’re not planning on winning the lotto, you could probably draw some ‘inspiration’ from this mix of good and fun restaurants. Balance is one of the keys to great dining experiences at Walt Disney World.
Touring: We wouldn’t do the $12,000 World of Dreams VIP Tour…or any VIP tour, for that matter. It seems like everyone raves about VIP tours, but the notion of them makes me uncomfortable. For one thing, we aren’t even remotely concerned with getting as many attractions done as possible on either half of the trip.
For another, we’re pretty savvy when it comes to using FastPass+ and planning efficient itineraries. Most importantly, this is about enjoying time with one another and it seems like a tour guide would be an unnecessary third wheel to that. I could be totally wrong, but I’ll never find out.
Also, if I were going to drop a few grand on a tour guide, it would absolutely be one of the Country Bears. This is where celebrities have it all wrong. Sure, it’s “cool” to walk around with a plaid and feel importance and exclusivity, but I already know I’m not cool. Plus, I own plenty of plaid shirts and hang out with humans all the time; I never hang out with bears. Finally, what better way to exact revenge on all of your family members who have wronged you than by having Liver Lips McGrowl stalk them around all day, stealing their hats?!
In reality, we’d do regular ole FastPass+ coupled with the Early Morning Magic and Disney After Hours events a couple of times. Those seem like something our families would enjoy, and would be a much more approachable splurge than a VIP tour guide. Additionally, this would open up the daytime hours for all of those ambitious restaurant plans above.
If you’re like us, we’d recommend a similar approach, and splurging on the early/late park access–or even the niche interest tours, which are mostly excellent!
For the ‘just us’ portion of the trip, we’d focus on the dorky and unpopular stuff we enjoy, like Impressions de France, Carousel of Progress, Country Bear Jamboree, TTA PeopleMover, etc., and also round out our days with non-VIP tours. Things like Behind the Seeds, Caring for Giants, DiveQuest, and maybe Wild Africa Trek.
That’s really about it. Not exactly a thrilling or grandiose vision of how we’d spend our lottery winnings, but we think this would be an incredibly satisfying trip that we would remember for the rest of our lives. Even this “modest” dream WDW vacation would require a mega jackpot, as my ballpark estimate puts the budget for this north of $30,000. Perhaps higher if Walt Disney World would actually let me do a VIB (Very Important Bear) tour.
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
What would your dream Walt Disney World vacation entail? Do you have grander visions of how to spend your lottery winnings? Any huge splurges you’d make? Other thoughts? Any questions we can help you answer…aside from the winning numbers? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
More posts like this please!
Coming from one of your blog fans who enthusiastically planned and enjoyed WDW many times on a budget in the early years when our kids were young, and who has been blessed with good fortune in more recent years, allowing us to enjoy WDW with every “Belle” & whistle you can imagine, I just want to say that this is the most entertaining post I’ve read yet! And the comments… even better! Keep up the great work! Love it!
Golden Oaks. They are still building.
But…the actual, statistical odds of one of us winning any nationwide lottery is approximately the same as someone mailing us the winning ticket. So I’m going to look in my mailbox now… nope.
In statistics, as in life, .0000000000000000000000000000000384 is exactly ZERO.
This is a great discussion.
After splurging on most to the things already mentioned I would try to work for Disney and do VIP tours (10-12 per year) or create a new VIP tour that you could only do by winning my VIP Lottery (like Masters Tix). Can you imagine how fun that would be. 1 day a week meet a new group of excited Disney fans and plus you would get to live like a VIP every trip.
Love this article, especially because I do things like this all the time. I just got done pricing my over the top Disneyland Paris trip (with the help of your articles of course). Would love to see more of these “fantasy” planning guides in the future!
Our splurge would be a higher-tier hotel room. The Yosemite/Yellowstone suites would be nice, if they’re available. Otherwise, one of the Copper Creek cabins for one week, and then a 1BR villa at AKL (savanna view, naturally ;)) for a week. And we’d probably splurge on a few additional restaurants. The luxury of enough time to really deep-dive the parks in a way we haven’t been able to do before would, I think, be the biggest experience difference.
Specific restaurant hits:
– V&A’s
– Sanaaaaaaaaaaaa
– Tiffin’s
– Artist Point (though I wish it weren’t a character meal, even if it’s a good character meal)
– Spice Road Table
– Monsieur Paul
– Crystal Palace, but I’d find a way for the money to make that secret super early breakfast reservation time available
I wouldn’t try to be conspicuous about it, though. After all, one of the first lottery-winnings lessons one should learn (after “the first call is to your wealth planner, the second is to your lawyer, and THEN you call your family” lol) is: money shouts, but wealth whispers. 😉
I want to have private dining on the terrace of Tower of Terror. Then some dancing in the lobby, with the appropriate music of course. And a stroll to the Solarium on our way out.
I want to do private dining on the terrace of Tower of Terror. Maybe some dancing in the lobby after, to the appropriate music, of course. Could we stroll through the solarium?
Maybe private dining by the falls of Canada one evening. too.
LOVE this idea.
I too would find a house very close, so you could say I lived in Disneyworld. I would wake up happy everyday deciding what wonderful park to go to and where to eat. The rest of my life would be an amazing fantasy !
Golden Oaks I believe is the luxury neighborhood that is technically inside Disney. I think annual passes & transportation come with home purchase, starting at about $2M. Big time lottery winnings needed there, but it would sure be fun hosting family & friends. I would spend the first several years escorting friends & family who have never been to Disney World.
I’ve discussed this extensively with my better half. The first thing we’d do the day we won would be to buy the Lego Cinderella Castle and a takeaway and build it before stuffing ourselves. There is still debate over which specific cuisine the food would consist of.
Day 2 we’d book a trip to Florida and start looking at Golden Oaks options!
I’ve only twice stayed on property (Coronado Springs and Caribbean Construction Zone) and it’s a bit of a trek from the UK so I think I’d spend one night at each resort, working my way from the values to the deluxe, with a few stops in some villas along the way. And I’d probably get a VIP tour if it would allow me to explore backstage / literal onstage areas of my favourite attraction – Carousel of Progress!
There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow…
Thank you for finally acknowledging that your blog was neglecting lottery winners. It was really becoming quite upsetting. 🙂
Forget the bear….should request an Ursula and have her shoulder check your way through the crowds doing that scary hand walking thing she did in the movie.
If it weren’t an amount of winnings that would allow me a purchase in Golden Oaks, my preference would be a bungalow at the Poly or the top notch suite at AK…I’d go all out…seriously.
And for those of us who can’t be bothered with the hastle & expense of buying that lottery ticket, I’ve done the numbers: Your odds of winning are exactly the same whether you play or not.
My husband was curious- no Bull and Bear for your romantic fine dining portion of your trip?
Simply because I didn’t think of it while writing the list–it probably should make the cut, though. Thanks!
I think this is all part of some grand evil master plan to get Disney to read this and say, “yes! We should instate the VIB program immediately! Call that Bricker boy up and get him to do this for a good bit of PR!”
At least, if I had a blog I would be hoping for that! If that’s the case, well done sir!
This entire blog is bankrolled by a generous endowment from the Ursus H. Bear Foundation with the express mission of spreading the good word of the Country Bears. Every post is actually, somehow or another, in service of that noble mission.
Don’t tell anyone.
I approve entirely, and am giving you a round of applause!
I may or may not have spent hours of my life planning out trips like these. I would have multiple trips, with all manner of friends and family, staged out over the course of a few years. My first trip would be more about spending time with my 5 siblings and their families – not very luxurious, but most standards. I imagine our family hanging out in WDW for a couple of weeks, with 17 of us spread out over 6-7 Fort Wilderness cabins. (3 of my siblings love camping, and haven’t been to WDW). My dining list for the family is similar to yours. I imagine we’d do all the extras that I flinch at paying for now – dessert parties, early morning magic, wild Africa trek, etc. One of these days I’ll actually play the lottery and give myself a chance…
” I imagine our family hanging out in WDW for a couple of weeks, with 17 of us spread out over 6-7 Fort Wilderness cabins.”
Really solid idea on this one. Our families would also really enjoy something like this!
My wife always jokes that my immediate response to winning the lottery would be:
1) Buy house at Golden Oak
2) Tell her I won the lottery
In that order.
In your defense, what if the homes sold out while you were telling her?! That’d be embarrassing!
OMG! That’s EXACTLY what I’d do FIRST!! I keep saying if I’d hit for enough to be double the cost of a Golden Oaks property, I’m on the next flight to house shop…my family can catch up if needed HA HA HA!!
Not sure…. The Minnie Van is a little much, don’t you think??
Haha, fair point–maybe we’ll splurge on one of the premium Ubers instead!
With my lottery winnings I would send the kids to Disney with (our newly hired nannies) and the wife and I would spend the two weeks in Ireland, Paris and Scotland.
🙂
It sounds as if you’ve been plotting this for a while…