B Resort & Spa
1905 Hotel Plaza Blvd., Lake Buena Vista, Fla., bhotelsandresorts.com. 394 rooms from $129 (U.S.).
Disney World presents a dilemma for many parents. If you’re there, you’re probably there because you adore the children in your life. But should that noble desire to do right by the wee ones automatically relegate you to a mind-numbing holiday of six-foot animated characters, wailing toddlers and chicken-finger meals?
B Resort & Spa has solved this problem. Stay here and you’ve got easy access to “the happiest place on Earth” without sacrificing your adult sensibilities.
There’s 80-minute B Indulged massages to be had at the Aveda spa, complete with footbaths for your weary feet, and adventure tours to nearby Boggy Creek to observe alligators in their natural habitat. Even the mini-bar is stocked with a nod to grownup tastes (think Boulder Canyon natural, non-GMO, kettle-cooked chips).
Location, location
B is right inside Orlando’s Walt Disney World Resort, just a short, complimentary shuttle from Downtown Disney. This means, of course, that you don’t have to commit to the kid zone all day long.
If you have a car at your disposal, it’s also well worth a trip out to the East End Market, where you’ll find the best of Orlando’s local food scene (pimento cheese, anyone?), along with a superb Basque eatery, Txokos, whose chef Henry Salgado has been nominated twice for a James Beard Award.
Eat in or eat out?
Room service is exceptional for breakfast: quick and delicious, with perfectly poached eggs and house-made sausage so tasty you’ll find yourself craving it for weeks to come. For dinner, American Q has insanely tasty house-made barbecue sauces and all-you-can-eat, Brazilian-style carved meat dishes from across the U.S. and Latin America (ooh, the flank steak). Or let the kids stuff themselves silly at the Southern-style buffet – housed in a vintage pickup truck, no less – that’s overflowing with macaroni and cheese, tangy coleslaw and the like. Warm cornbread is delivered to each table. The foods here will keep everyone in the family happy, and yummy pineapple mojitos should mellow out the grownups after a long, crazy day at Disney.
If I could change one thing
There was a low, electrical humming noise in the room; noise-sensitive types may want to pack earplugs. But then, let’s get real, are you really going to hear anything over Frozen as it blares away on your kid’s iPad?
Best amenity
A colourful, ornately carved Alice in Wonderland-style armchair designed by Alessandro Mendini in the lobby. It doubles as a playground (kids climb all over it) and the world’s most whimsical selfie station.
Whom You’ll Meet
Children galore, obviously. But lots of adults too, lounging by the heated, zero-entry pool, hitting the 24-hour fitness centre and reading the free newspapers, blissfully alone, in the lobby.
The writer was a guest at the hotel.