The Last Man at the Happiest Place on Earth: The Best Magic Kingdom Hotels for When the World Ends

In the premise of my book, The Last Man at the Happiest Place on Earth, a custodial employee wakes up one day to find that the world's population has died, and he is alone at Walt Disney World. The human race appears to have been killed off by a plague, and my character Jim determines he doesn’t want to be anywhere but on Disney property. So he decides to set up residence in the Contemporary Resort Hotel. He moves to other places throughout the book, which, if you wish to learn more, you can order my book.

Now that the book is released, I wanted to dive into my character’s thinking and explore why he made the choices he did. In this article, I look at the Magic Kingdom hotels, rate them against four specific needs of a lone survivor, and consider whether or not each hotel meets those needs.

Contemporary Resort

In my book, I have my main character choose the Contemporary Resort Hotel as his home base because he always liked the resort, and it is close to Magic Kingdom, where he plans to spend his days. Contemporary offers a variety of reasons why this would be a stellar choice for a survival location. The A-frame building offers a large open area that would give someone protected space during storms, as well as a location to spend time should the weather turn miserable. This is Florida, remember, and hurricanes do happen, even in my book. There are two restaurants that enable cooking, and there are rooms right near the open space of the fourth floor, which includes the Contempo Cafe and Chef Mickey’s. With ample ways to exit the building, plenty of space to sleep in comfortable rooms, and safety from severe weather, this would be the ideal place to hole up and rebuild the world, or at least preserve Disney World. 

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Wilderness Lodge

My character does end up moving to the Wilderness Lodge halfway through the book for a variety of reasons, which I strongly encourage you to read about in the book. The big reason why Wilderness Lodge is an excellent choice for survival is that it has many of its rooms all under one roof, and the restaurant area plus the gigantic lobby allows a survivor to have ample space while staying safely inside the building. From the massive fireplace to the store, and even the arcade, Wilderness Lodge offers the lone survivor a place to live, and not just survive.

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Grand Floridian Resort & Spa

Yes, this is the most elegant hotel in all of Walt Disney World. The furnishings and dining are wonderful, the food selection is incredible, and the proximity to Magic Kingdom can’t be beat. The problem is that Grand Floridian has a wonderful lobby, but there is little to no connection with the majority of the rooms. The hotel is massive, and laid out with some incredible areas that all have a great location for a visiting family from Pittsburgh, but not for the lone survivor. The survivor needs to have everything within one area: room, food, and entertainment, as well as protection. You never know — there could always be zombies, or worse, humans who have lost their own humanity. The Grand Floridian has too many buildings, too many issues for safety, and it’s on the other side of the Seven Seas Lagoon, making travel by car time-consuming.

Plus, if you read the book, you will understand why my main character only steps foot onto the dock once and never into the hotel.

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Polynesian Village Resort

This is one of my favorite hotels to visit when I spend an afternoon riding the monorail around the Magic Kingdom area. I love everything about this place, and while I will never be able to afford a night in this hotel, Polynesian is one place that is a must-stop for me on any vacation. 

The problem is that in a lone survivor situation, Polynesian suffers from many of the same problems that Grand Floridian has. The hotel is massive. It’s spread out too far, and you don’t get to have your room, kitchen, and safe area all in one building. The protection issue is another problem, because with the hotel having bungalows right on the water, if flooding happens, you would be in trouble. Polynesian looks great, feels great, and is one place to visit, but I would never go there to survive. 

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Fort Wilderness 

Some might be thinking, what about Fort Wilderness? That’s a childhood memory that brings delight and joy to me, and for all the years my family spent there, I will always love Fort Wilderness. The problem with Fort Wilderness is how isolated and alone you are. 

Should you choose to stay in a Wilderness Cabin during your end-of-the-world situation, one should know that on the busiest day of the summer in Florida, the resort can feel isolated and empty. Imagine being the only person alive on the planet, and you set up your life in a lonely cabin on a loop far back on Peacock Pass? That is not the best survival situation, plus the distance to Magic Kingdom is a factor. There is no main lobby, no restaurant that is connected to your enclosed safe lobby space which leads down the hall to your room, as you would get at Wilderness Lodge and Contemporary, and even if you chose to rough it at Fort Wilderness, the nighttime sounds of nature alone would ensure you never felt safe. Every day would be a struggle, and there is no sense in making your life more difficult by choosing a place where you would feel swallowed up by the trees and the landscape. 

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These are all my opinions. I have no idea what would be the true safest resort to stay at around Magic Kingdom during an end-of-the-world type of situation. However, I have an imagination which enables me to dream, write, and make these ideas come alive on the page. 

Check out my book The Last Man at the Happiest Place on Earth.