5. Contemporary Resort

Location: Magic Kingdom

Opening with the Magic Kingdom in 1971, the Contemporary Resort is eternally tied to the history of Walt Disney World and the Florida Project. The ultra-sleek A-frame main tower was a joint effort between Imagineering, the United States Steel Corporation, and Los Angeles architect Welton Becket. The resort is also the subject of many urban legends, chief among them being that modular pod rooms were hoisted and slid into place in the frame (which is true) and that they were meant to be removable but for the settled steel structure (which is false).

The Contemporary Resort is not really inside of a park like the rest of the entries on this list, but it is an inseparable part of the Magic Kingdom experience. The iconic building signals your approach to Magic Kingdom no matter if you arrived by ferry or monorail, but particularly aboard the monorail you can’t help but be absorbed into the resort – the monorail glides right through the resort’s open, hollow atrium center.

6. Animal Kingdom Lodge

Location: Disney’s Animal Kingdom Resort Area

Designed by the same architect as Walt Disney World’s Wilderness Lodge and Disneyland’s Grand Californian, Animal Kingdom Lodge follows in the same grand tradition of impressive and grand hotels that deliver deluxe experiences. The hotel is arranged in a classic kraal shape, meaning a horseshoe design. The lobby of the towering Jambo House building features African-style crafts and oversized sub-Saharan craft style chandeliers.

The real attraction of the Animal Kingdom Lodge, though, has got to be its placement on the Serengeti. Or so it seems. The resort is built around a savannah with free-roaming giraffes, zebras, pelicans, kudus, cranes, and ostriches. Talk about sleeping in the middle of the action. At the Animal Kingdom Lodge, you may forget that you’re in Florida and not on safari.

Again, Animal Kingdom Lodge is not technically inside Disney's Animal Kingdom. But its savannahs are undoubtedl an extension of that park's experience.

7. Hotel Breakers

Location: Cedar Point

Today, Cedar Point is affectionately referred to as "America's Roller Coast" for its pristine location on a peninsula jutting into Lake Erie and it's incredible collection of record-breaking coasters. But like so many parks of the era, Cedar Point actually started in the late 1800s as a picnic grove that grew very organically and gradually into the thrillseekers Mecca it is today. One of the last great remnants of its time as a family picnic park in the Victorian era is the Hotel Breakers, which opened in 1905 in hopes of creating in Cedar Point a "Coney Island of the West."

Of course, the hotel has gone through many renovations and rebuilds over its century-plus history. In fact, it's currently in the midst of a two-year rebuild that will renovate the exterior and interior in one of the park's largest cost projects ever. The point is that the Hotel Breakers is truly a historic treasure and one of the few remaining grand lakeside lodges of the early 1900s remaining. Plus, visitors are literally staying in Cedar Point and generally get early admission the mornings of their stay!

8. Cinderella Castle Suite

Location: Magic Kingdom

Like Disneyland’s Dream Suite, chances are that you’ll never personally see the interior of the Cinderella Castle Suite with your own two eyes. Given out as a daily, randomly-assigned prize during the Year of a Million Dreams celebrations in 2006, 2007, and 2008, the Castle Suite isn’t nearly as grand as you’d think. Like Disneyland’s version, it was envisioned as an apartment for Walt and abandoned after his death. It was then used for storage and then as a call center.

Converted into a luxury hotel space for the promotion, the space actually isn’t very big. It’s made of a salon, a bedchamber, a restroom, and a private marble foyer. Still the lack of space isn’t likely to be an issue for anyone who sleeps within. Talk about exclusive: the suite has vaulted ceilings, stained-glass windows, rich wood, porcelain, copper basin sinks, a lush garden tub under the stars, and a portrait of Cinderella that’s truly a flat screen HDTV in disguise. Plus, the only way to stay here is to win a competition or be very, very famous.

Even if you can’t see the inside, you can identify the location of the Suite pretty simply. It’s about 2/3 of the way up the castle, with stained glass windows on the North and West walls.

Conclusion

From pricy to impossible, the eight overnight experiences we've listed here are all deluxe, exclusive, and out of this world. Have you had a chance to stay in any of them? Which would you be most excited for?