Southwest Splendors: The Good, The Bad and the Thunderbird

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Originally Posted by WeLoveABD

That said, we stayed at the El Tovar rather than the Thunderbird--and loved El T. I wondered about why Disney chose the Thunderbird, and one maid told me (as she was tossing us out of the Thunderbird) that the Thunderbird lodge has the most "canyon view" rooms of any in the park--and in fact, the El Tovar only has two rooms that overlook the canyon. With a national parki, it is always a limited choice so I imagine Disney opted for view and location over the amenities in the room. (Our experience for out of US ABD trip is that there is usually a hotel in the middle that isn't in the same league as the rest--you start and end strong, suffer slightly in the middle). But as you say--the location location location was great! Welcome back!

Actually, we were told by our guides that the El Tovar refused to work with Disney. There's only one tour group (I don't know which one that is) that the El Tovar allows to reserve blocks of rooms, and they did not wish to work with Disney. So the Thunderbird was the best they could negotiate. People complained about the Grand Hotel, as well, so I guess ABD decided that as long as people were going to complain anyway, they might as well get the hotel with the better location.

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