There’s a specific reason why Mrs. All in WDW and I were excited to stay at the WDW Dolphin for the first time back in 2010. We really love the Crescent Lake area of The World. “Everything” we want, it seems, resides around that large lake and its interconnecting waterways and walking paths. Epcot. Restaurants. The Board Walk. Lounges. Pool bars. Hollywood Studios.

Our love of Epcot has to be legendary, by now, but we’ve always been huge fans of Cape May Cafe’, for example. Cape May was the site of several Christmas Eve dinners for the All in WDW clan, and I can’t tell you the number of times that we waited to be seated for dinner in the lobby of Disney’s Beach Club and wondered if we would ever take the leap to stay there.

Frankly, for a long time, the sheer cost to stay at a Crescent Lake resort just seemed to be beyond my sensibilities. When I tripped over Travelocity’s offer to spend Labor Day 2010 at the WDW Dolphin for only $99 per night, our decision became a no-brainer. We’d be staying in the area of WDW that we like the most for less than we would normally pay for a Disney Moderate. We were in!

We were pleasantly surprised by the Dolphin, since it is a non-Disney establishment, but I have to confess that I was astounded by the multitude and diversity of their selection of restaurants. Now, years later, places like Todd English’s bluezoo and Shula’s Steak House hold a special place in our family history, but back in 2010, we were clueless. “There are how many restaurants?!”

If you visit the special web site that they have dedicated to their restaurants, you’ll see that the “Swolphin” houses four Signature, five Casual, and three Quick Service options. In addition, they tout five lounges. 17 restaurants and lounges!

It put me to thinking … I have already given you two of our family favorites. What are yours? I would love to know your top choices. And, folks, please look it at this way … if you haven’t been to any, don’t be shy. Tell us where you would LIKE to go.

Talk to you later!