Molly Ford. Her job includes changing the music, like a radio jockey responding to the request line, to appeal to individual guests. Her profession, like any other, has its drawbacks. “It’s hard for me to be anywhere that’s silent,” she says. “I just can’t concentrate.”
Waldorf Astoria Orlando
For sheer hospitality bloodlines, you can’t beat the Waldorf, whose New York City predecessor invented services and dishes that hotel guests and diners take for granted today — from room service to eggs Benedict. The first hotel outside New York to carry the legendary Waldorf Astoria name, Orlando’s 498-room luxury resort has the twin benefits of being on Disney property as well as in the pristine Bonnet Creek nature preserve. It features a full-service European spa; an outdoor, zero-entry pool with private cabanas; six restaurants and bars, including Bull & Bear, Peacock Alley and Oscar’s; a championship golf course; and complimentary private transportation to all Disney parks.
Rosen Shingle Creek
Every evening, opera singers such as Vittorio Vidal and Anne Smith, top, serenade guests from a balcony overlooking the Harbor Piazza at the Portofino Bay Hotel. Accordionist Pasquale Valerio, left, is as authentic as they come: He was born in Napoli, Italy, birthplace of many of that country’s most cherished folk melodies.
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There are two distinguishing qualities in evidence at the Rosen chain’s premiere hotel. First, there’s the sheer size of the place: With 1,500 rooms and nearly a half-million square feet of meeting space, it’s Central Florida’s biggest convention hotel. It’s big, but it also occupies a beautiful and historic setting. The 230-acre property sits at the headwaters of the Everglades, where a 19th century trading post and one of the region’s first settlements once stood. In the early 1800s, pioneers would log cypress trees and float them down the creek. The trees were used to make — you guessed it — shingles. Rosen Shingle Creek features a full-service spa and fitness center, four outdoor swimming pools, more than a dozen restaurants (and a 24-hour deli!), lighted ORLANDO LIFE
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