Parks and Resorts- Hotel Identity

Disney is very skilled at giving each of their hotels a distinct and strong identity so that the guest feels transported to that setting, but this skill has seemed to have gotten muddled in the recent past. The Las Vegas strip, known globally as the center of debauchery and excess, is the absolute master of the hotel with an identity concept, and is what Disney must repurpose themselves to aspire to. Hotels in Las Vegas include such strong concepts as medieval England (Excalibur), Egyptian pyramids (Luxor), New York sky line (New York New York), Romantic Italy (Venitian), etc. These hotels SET THE STANDARD for deluxe resort that represents a DESTINATION rather than simply lodging. Disney needs to re-invigorate their resort experience so that guests are excited to stay at THAT hotel, so that guests garner a strong loyalty to one hotel or decide they have to stay at every resort at least once. I've evaluated the U.S. hotels by presenting the good and the bad...

  The Good themed hotel experiences
- Wilderness Lodge (I think this is the strongest ambience hotel Disney has)
- Grand Floridian
- Polynesian
- Animal Kingdom Lodge
- Value themed resorts (All-Star Suites, Pop Century, Art of Animation) These resorts are essentially warehouses with large cartoony figures out front, but they still deliver an experience to the guest.
- Yacht and Beach Club
- Boardwalk
- Caribbean Beach (the idea is good, the execution is weak)
- Fort Wilderness
- Grand Californian

- Disneyland Hotel (Though the identity of this has been waning)
- Aulani

  The poorly themed hotel experiences
- Coronado Springs (What is the actual theme here? Location is not simply enough, there needs to be a connection and feeling the guests feels)
- Saratoga Springs resort (Golf is not a feeling, this needs more)
- Port Orleans Riverside/French Quarter (They need more distinct feelings. Not just present New Orleans  sights, but how does that apply to the hotel experience?)
- Paradise Pier hotel (It's VERY obvious that this was a non-Disney hotel which was simply re-packaged)
- Hilton Head resort

- Vero Beach resort

One of the best themed resorts on property isn't even owned by Disney. The Swan and Dolphin resorts offer a distinctive and fun EXPERIENCE at a LOWER PRICE than Disney resorts and is NEXT TO EPCOT. These three factors help make them a dominant force in the hotels at Walt Disney World.

Possible hotel ideas
- Under the sea theme (The art of animation does not count, I mean a real underwater experience)
- Flight and air theme
- Dream theme
- Life/Living a full life theme
- Land of Giants theme (where everything is overly large)
- Marvel Superhero/Comics theme (value resort obviously, but if done properly with a hall of galleries and life size statues then this could be very successful)