Located off I-95 at exit 156, between A1A and the ocean, two hours' drive south from Orlando, this was one of Disney's first vacation-club time-share operations (similar properties have since sprouted up in Hilton Head and Orlando). Little has changed here since the hotel renovated back in 2004, though new TVs are gracing the guest rooms.
Lining an angled beach that can disappear at high tide, the handsome, buff-color, four-story clapboard buildings are topped with Jiminy Cricket-green roofs. The hotel's seaboard styling is sleek and distinctive, and tried and tested Disney hospitality wins over families as well as couples. This operation strays nary an inch from the blueprint. Large groups are discouraged.
The three-story lobby is both stunning and welcoming, with polished wood
floors that have been intentionally distressed, stately pillars, and chandeliers with a hint of mission style. Meeting rooms, offices and shops line the corridors in the galleries above, and the new Internet corner off the lobby provides access to e-mail and the Web.
The ocean-view restaurant has an exhibition kitchen that turns out American fare, brick-oven pizzas and a Saturday character breakfast. Set into a back corner of the main restaurant, Sonya's, the more formal and elegant dinner-only restaurant, serves pricey steaks, chops and seafood, and a lavish brunch each Sunday. Beachgoers hike to the pool bar and grill, and the nautically natty lounge pours coffee and frosty drinks.
One of the pools is a free-form model with a waterslide that encircles a three-story-high lighthouse. 
Also providing family fun are minigolf, a croquet lawn, two lighted tennis courts, a basketball court, a fitness center and a game room. In the Disney tradition, children enjoy exceptional programs, that stunning pool, a large playground and a sandbox. Activities go sunup to sundown.
Meeting capacity is a modest 200. Parking is free. A tunnel connects the main inn to the parking lot, and a wooden boardwalk snakes down to the sand.
Accommodations are in the inn and in villas scattered about the grounds, all with ready access to facilities and the beach (though some villas are very far from the restaurants). The well-stocked standard units (Studios) are done in flattering ocean colors and appointed with imaginative furniture, refrigerators, microwave ovens, coffeemakers, toasters, 
two queen beds, small baths with well-lit dressing areas and balconies. The one- to three-bedroom units sport fully equipped kitchens with dishwashers and washers and dryers, and master bedrooms have king beds and spacious baths with whirlpool tubs. TVs with DVDs, irons and ironing boards, safes and wet bars are standard. Maintenance is back up to par. Ocean-view rooms are well worth the nominal upgrade cost.
Room service is limited, but the staff is terrific. Pets are not permitted. Smoking is now forbidden in the public areas and guest rooms.
This hotel plays down its affiliation with Disney, except for when Goofy shows up in the restaurant.