Why do you pick your resort?

[Anntan]

What is it about a resort that makes you want to stay there? And what factors are at play when you decide?

I'm working on branching out into new resorts and I'm just wondering:

Why do you pick your resorts the way you do?

 

[WDWPolyFan]

location and price!

 

[dansdad]

Theme, amenities and affordability.

 

[MickeyMaz]

It depends on the kind of trip we have planned. If it's a short, total parks trip than we have no problem with a value and actually prefer it for the cost.

If we have extra days to enjoy the resort than we start looking Mod or Deluxe and then the best deal usually wins out. I'd like to say location would be key, but, when it comes down to it now-a-days, it's cash.

 

[minnie mum]

1. Price.
2. Price, including discounts
3. Price, including upcharges for particular room types
4. Location
5. Amenities specific to a given resort
6. Ambiance of a particular resort.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Location
Price/Discounts available
Transportation options
Theme
Amenities

And not necessarily in that order. What weight I put on the different factors depends on the length of the trip and where we plan on spending most of our time.

 

[ErinsMommy]

Our new home away from home is the POFQ (small in size so easy walking access to bus, dining, gift shop and front desk). DD loving the dragon water slide and the boat to DTD were bonuses.

Staying at the Contemporary this time to celebrate DH's 50th birthday and fulfill (in his words) his "lifelong dream" . The factors for me is easy access all around, for DH its the monorail running through the building, and for DD it'll inevitably be the MK view.

 

[Herbie]

The best deal on the resort i have not tried yet!

 

[bowbat]

Convenience
Room appearance/size
Amenities/dining options

 

[willowsnn3]

We always say we are going to try all WDW resorts and so far we've stayed at 1 deluxe (Contemporary), 2 mods (POR & CBR) & 2 values (POP & ASMU).
Loved CR but as often as we go (3--4 times a year), a deluxe in out of budget, lol.
Our very first trip we stayed at CBR & it was ok, but everything was so spread out it didn't appeal to us much.
We only stayed at POR because that trip we had a party of 5 and it was alright.
Also we only stayed at ASMU once because POP was not available---never again---we just didn't like it at all.
We have stayed at POP lots of times and we all love it!!! It is a great, fun resort and since we spend most of our time at the parks, it fits our needs perfectly!!

 

[elaw]

Location
Price/Discounts available
Transportation options
Theme
Amenities

Since we like to do split stays we've "quickly" gotten a chance to try all of the Moderates and most of the Deluxes.


Theme (we start here ... we now have our favorites)
Location(then we pick our preferred resort nearest the park(s) we will be visiting that portion of the trip)
Price/Discounts available (then we check here)

 

[kanderson89]

Ambience and feel is probably first for us. For example, we love wilderness and animals and quiet, so WL and AKL have been perfect. The Contemporary looks like any ole' hotel I've stayed at for conferences, so nothing special there. GF and Poly seem quite wonderful but can't justify the cost and "fit" wasn't quite there for us. We're also not huge Epcot people, so we don't care about those options close to nightlife. It's not a good or bad thing, just about the fit.

We certainly look at location, too, and cost, but we're lucky that we can afford our first choice.

 

[1Jackpot]

Looks like I'm in the minority here, but I really base it on how the resort makes me feel when I step through those doors. We're most at home at the Polynesian. It's relaxed, it's beautiful. I instantly feel at ease when I'm there. I feel like I'm home. When you add on the amenities (pool, restaurants, transportation), it's our most favorite.

 

[Karabee]

I really base it off of price, but I don't forget about what else I need to make my stay special. I'm the type who isn't up at dawn to go to the parks, I enjoy the resort as well, so i try to keep that in mind. I also love to try new resorts, but I make sure I'm comfortable with my stay. The last resort I tried I wasn't 100% sure about, and sure enough, I didn't love my visit. So price, theme and location are key - but I'm following my gut from now on.

 

[phillymummer]

This year was the first time I got to choose the resort. The main reason I picked POFQ bc it is within my price range. I liked the theme better than CS (New Orleans is on my bucket list). It also has queen beds. It is small as compared to POR or CBR. The slide looks fun! The food in the food court sounds yummy!

I know this isn't the question, but I can tell you that I did NOT pick any of the deluxe resorts bc all of them are out of my price range. I did not pick any of the values bc of the double beds and their distance from MK. That is where we are going two out of the three days at the parks.

I do want to stay at a different resort each time I go back and the Boardwalk is my dream deluxe resort (based the pictures, haven't seen it in person yet).

 

[mhconley]

1. Amenities (DW will not stay anywhere without room service)
2. Location (MK area now, may move to Epcot/HS area when DS is older)
3. Theming (Why I chose WL for our pre-Christmas trip this year)
4. Price

Martin

 

[Anntan]

Looks like I'm in the minority here, but I really base it on how the resort makes me feel when I step through those doors. We're most at home at the Polynesian. It's relaxed, it's beautiful. I instantly feel at ease when I'm there. I feel like I'm home. When you add on the amenities (pool, restaurants, transportation), it's our most favorite.

That's our thing too, We're GFla people, and we stayed at the Poly once before. We really spend most of our time at the parks, but not all of it. So when we come back to the hotel to relax or for dinner my family likes everything to be perfect. The convenient location and restaurant options are a biggie for them. But it's just so expensive!

 

[Tink3rbell86]

We LOVE POR. Last time we stayed at CBR. the resort was beautiful the pool was great, but we really missed POR. We origanlly picked Riverside because of the boat to Downtown disney, to try something new, and the fact that it was a quite laid back resort. Now even when we want to stay somewhere else we go back to POR. its our home away from home.

 

[skriegerjr]

Our new home away from home is the POFQ (small in size so easy walking access to bus, dining, gift shop and front desk). DD loving the dragon water slide and the boat to DTD were bonuses.

We feel exactly the same way about POFQ. Love everything about it! And since we usually dine while out & about, it's no prob with no TS restaurant. The pool & slide are big hits with our DS8 and DD4. And we all love the boat to DTD, take it several times!

 

[baby1disney]

I pick resorts based on how I feel when I'm there and the atomosphere around it. I've never had to pay for a resort before because my ex-husband's parents are DVC owners and we just had to pay for food and travel expenses. But, now that I'm gonna have to book and pay for my own, definitely price is included too!! Either way, I'm going next year..someway, somehow!! LOL