Please help me decide!

[AprilJ26]

Poly vs. Beach Club vs. Contemporary vs. Bonnet Creek
Which would you choose and why!?

We are planning a trip for May 26-31. There will be 4 adults, a 2 year old, and a 9 year old. I know it will be tight in one Deluxe hotel room BUT we aren't in the room much.. just to sleep.. so I think we can manage. My worry with Bonnet Creek is the lack of Disney transportation (primarily for MK).

 

[disneybliss2]

I could be totally off on this, but I thought only the suites, POR, and villas had rooms for 5. I'm sure there are other resorts that allow five + guests that someone will come along and name. With four adults and one child, you'll have five (the two year old doesn't count because it's assumed an adult would carry the two year old out in case of fire; room occupancies are set for fire/building codes). I'm pretty sure most rooms (including the ones you have listed) have a limit for four of the room occupancy.

 

[AprilJ26]

I could be totally off on this, but I thought only the suites, POR, and villas had rooms for 5. I'm sure there are other resorts that allow five + guests that someone will come along and name. With four adults and one child, you'll have five (the two year old doesn't count because it's assumed an adult would carry the two year old out in case of fire; room occupancies are set for fire/building codes). I'm pretty sure most rooms (including the ones you have listed) have a limit for four of the room occupancy.

I checked on the occupancy limits. Poly, Beach Club, Contemporary, and Boardwalk all have 2 queen beds and a day bed with an occupancy of 5 plus 1 child under 3 in a crib.

 

[lililoo12]

I think contemporary has the biggest standard rooms of all the deluxes. I am 2 adults and 4 kids, 2 under 2 and felt tight at BC and poly. I couldn't imagine 4 adults, but by Disney standards you are allowed. I would go poly because there are three sinks if I remember two in the vanity area one in the actual bathroom. May make getting ready easier.

 

[KrazeeK120]

You'd be AWFULLY cramped in 1 room. If you had 2 adults and 4 kids, I'd be tempted to try it. But 4 adults? No way, no how. Trying to get 4 adults through the bathroom in the morning and again at night would likely be a nightmare, particularly if you're all traveling together (thus arriving and departing at the same time), not to mention taking care of the kids.

If I were you, I'd either get 2 rooms or a suite. With little kids, I think that Contemporary or Poly would be the best choices due to their proximity to MK (with bonus points for the Contemporary because you can walk).

 

[disneybliss2]

I checked on the occupancy limits. Poly, Beach Club, Contemporary, and Boardwalk all have 2 queen beds and a day bed with an occupancy of 5 plus 1 child under 3 in a crib.

Wow, I'm surprised by this information. I guess that's one more perk to these deluxe resorts.

Sorry for the wrong information, OP.

 

[allthingsmickey]

You could do 5 plus the 2 year old at any of those resorts. With a 2 year old, there is great benefit of being so close to Magic Kingdom and only a monorail ride away from Epcot with the Poly and Contemporary. I could imagine that with your party, at some point, you may need or want to take the 2 year old back to the room for a break while the 9 year old gets one more ride on something.

It would be really easy for 1 adult and the 2 year old or even if 2 of the adults needed a break while the rest of the family stayed in a park if you are staying at a monorail resort -- at least when it comes to going to Magic Kingdom and Epcot.

Of course from the Beach Club, you can walk back to the room from Epcot and Hollywood Studios (or take the boat from DHS), and I bet the 9 year old would LOVE the pool there.

If I could swing it, I would stay on-stie for those reasons if you think you can be comfortable in the room. That just depends on your party and if you think they can sleep in the same room.

I took my parents once, and we all stayed in a room at the Beach Club. I only have 1 child, but we fit just fine. It was for 5 nights. We spent alot of time at the resort, but not necessarily in the room all at the same time. My parents would usually take a rest in the room while my husband and I would take our daughter to the pool. By the time we got back, they were usually showered for dinner and then the rest of us would get ready.

 

[Dis703]

We have a party of 6 but with 2 infants we count as a party of five. We are booked to stay at the BC and I know the Poly also had rooms to fit 5. Not sure about the others. Personally if you can afford to stay on site I would skip Bonnet Creek. I know some people love it but the only draw for us was when we were trying to save a few bucks. But we decided to splurge and go with A split stay with POR and BC.

I guess it depends on what you want access too. Personally, the Contemporary theme doesn't appeal to me at all, so if I wanted to be close to MK or on the monorail line I would pick the Poly. I've never stayed at either but have been in the Contemporary.

But I am super psyched to be staying at the BC this next trip because being able to walk into Epcot or walk or boat to HS and have the Boardwalk right there every night is a big draw for me.

 

[AprilJ26]

Thanks for the info everyone! I know it will be a tight fit but I really am not concerned about that. We've stayed in a room together before without issues and this is only for 5 nights. I think we can manage, hopefully! Honestly, I wouldn't consider a deluxe unless we were splitting a room and the cost. I have never been able to justify the prices. We're only considering it this time because we all want to stay in the same room.
What are some pros and cons of the transportation at each of those resorts? We don't mind standing on busses but wouldn't want to do it every day. We've stayed at Pop and CSR, but thought CSR had much better transportation. We'd be booking 2 rooms at CSR this time if it wasn't booked up for that week.

 

[bethclayton]

I think contemporary has the biggest standard rooms of all the deluxes. I am 2 adults and 4 kids, 2 under 2 and felt tight at BC and poly. I couldn't imagine 4 adults, but by Disney standards you are allowed. I would go poly because there are three sinks if I remember two in the vanity area one in the actual bathroom. May make getting ready easier.

we stayed in a "larger" standard room in tahiti and a "normal" standard room in hawaii and neither of those had 3 sinks.

Thanks for the info everyone! I know it will be a tight fit but I really am not concerned about that. We've stayed in a room together before without issues and this is only for 5 nights. I think we can manage, hopefully! Honestly, I wouldn't consider a deluxe unless we were splitting a room and the cost. I have never been able to justify the prices. We're only considering it this time because we all want to stay in the same room.
What are some pros and cons of the transportation at each of those resorts? We don't mind standing on busses but wouldn't want to do it every day. We've stayed at Pop and CSR, but thought CSR had much better transportation. We'd be booking 2 rooms at CSR this time if it wasn't booked up for that week.

i have never stayed offsite, and don't care to if possible, so i can't comment on bonnet creek.

we LOVED poly, transportation was great being on the monorail. when we stayed in tahiti, we were also close to the epcot monorail but when we switched to hawaii we were (imo) really far from the epcot monorail.

a huge pro for both BC and CR would be the ability to walk.

as far as buses go, the only problem with poly and CR is that they share buses with each other and GF and it makes for an insanely long ride anywhere.

honestly- i think from those choices if you pick the theming that most appeals to you, you will probably be happy. they are all great choices.

 

[Wood Nymph]

Beach Club is my favorite of the resorts you have named. We love the five minute walk to Epcot, the boat or walk to HS, the entertainment options of the Boardwalk, and the theme of the resort. It has the best pool of all the resorts, too. There is a bus to MK which is shared with the YC, and BC is the last stop on the way to the park. It sometimes is shared with Swan and Dolphin, although it wasn't shared the last few times we've been there. If you plan to spend a lot of time at Epcot and HS, this is a wonderful choice.

The Polynesian has the largest rooms of all the resorts. I don't care for the Poly because it of the separate buildings which require walking outdoors to get anywhere, annoying in the rain. It does have the convenience of the monorail and it is a short walk to the TTC where you can catch a monorail to Epcot. If you plan to spend most of your time at MK, then you might want to consider this one. It is pricey though and is badly in need of a refurbishment.

The CR has the monorail and the convenience of having a walkway to the MK.

You may want to check out each of the threads that are dedicated to the resorts you are interested in. You will find plenty of information in the first posts of each thread, including plenty of pictures. It really all depends on what resort looks most appealing to you.

2013 Beach and Yacht FAQ

ALOHA! The Polynesian Resort Information Thread

Disney's CONTEMPORARY RESORT and BAY LAKE TOWER Information Thread

 

[allthingsmickey]

I think contemporary has the biggest standard rooms of all the deluxes. I am 2 adults and 4 kids, 2 under 2 and felt tight at BC and poly. I couldn't imagine 4 adults, but by Disney standards you are allowed. I would go poly because there are three sinks if I remember two in the vanity area one in the actual bathroom. May make getting ready easier.

We've stayed at the Poly 3 times and I have heard that some rooms have 2 sinks, but all 3 rooms we've stayed in only had a single sink. Maybe the club level rooms have 2 sinks, but we've never done club level.

 

[bethclayton]

We've stayed at the Poly 3 times and I have heard that some rooms have 2 sinks, but all 3 rooms we've stayed in only had a single sink. Maybe the club level rooms have 2 sinks, but we've never done club level.

oddly enough, i am pretty sure it was our NON-cl tahiti room that had two sinks. not the cl room.

 

[mickeynut1]

I checked on the occupancy limits. Poly, Beach Club, Contemporary, and Boardwalk all have 2 queen beds and a day bed with an occupancy of 5 plus 1 child under 3 in a crib.

All of the deluxe resorts (with the exception of WL and AKL) accommodate 5 + 1 under the age of 3 in a standard room, with the Poly and CR being the only resorts that all rooms come with a daybed (although I'm not sure about BWI as we haven't stayed there).

My vote is to stay on property. With that said, I would go with the Poly or CR as those 2 resorts guarantee a daybed in every room and the rooms are some the largest on property. Out of your choices, we have stayed at both the Poly and BC and the Poly rooms are alot bigger than those at the BC. We also found there to be more storage space at the Poly than at the BC (and we are a family of 4). Good luck deciding, although I'm sure you'll have a great trip no matter which resort you choose.

 

[DVCMikey]

I would take the beach club. There is alot to do, its so close to Epcot and DHS and it seems nicer.

I have been hearing that Poly is getting old and starting to show its age pretty bad.

 

[Peanut]

I will always choose on site over off site if I can afford it. So, with that being said, I would choose CR or Poly. I do love the BC area though. But since there are kids in your group, CR or Poly would probably work out better. I haven't stayed at CR before, but I' ve always wanted a tower room. I love the idea of not having to leave the building to get on the monorail!! I have stayed at Poly before and it was great! We were in the building closest to the TTC. Took about a minute to walk there! It was wonderful!

 

[AprilJ26]

Thanks for all the great advice!

For those who have stayed at CR or Poly, how was the transportation to the parks? I know this can vary, but I want to know your experience. I'm assuming it was fine to MK and Epcot because of the monorail. BUT, was the monorail packed with bottlenecked lines at MK closing time? I know the one time we stayed offsite, the biggest headache was the lines leading to the monorail or ferry after MK closed. Is it like that for the resort monorails? What about busses to AK and HS? Were they PACKED all of the time or just sometimes? Just curious. Trying to make this decision is stressing me out! Haha!

 

[allthingsmickey]

The monorails will be packed after MK closing, even the resort ones as the savvy travelers know that the resort monorail stops at TTC center as well. So that is a benefit of staying at CR.

Of course from Poly, you can walk straight to the TTC to hop on the Epcot Monorail and you are only 2 stops from MK on the resort monorail. From CR, you take the resort monorail to the TTC and then switch to the Epcot monorail.

We don't usually make it until after closing at MK with a small child, plus if you are staying at the Poly, you can watch wishes from the beach while enjoying a Dole Whip. So much nicer than fighting the crowds in MK.

At the CR, they have an observation area to watch wishes as well, it's just not as nice as watching on the beach at the Poly or from the Marina at the GF.

We never had really crowded busses to the other parks from either the Poly or CR, but lately we've been driving to DHS and AK since we usually drive to WDW anyway. Our car is there and then we know we won't have to wait on a bus. The self parking at both the Poly and the CR are really convenient.

 

[KrazeeK120]

Thanks for all the great advice!

For those who have stayed at CR or Poly, how was the transportation to the parks? I know this can vary, but I want to know your experience. I'm assuming it was fine to MK and Epcot because of the monorail. BUT, was the monorail packed with bottlenecked lines at MK closing time? I know the one time we stayed offsite, the biggest headache was the lines leading to the monorail or ferry after MK closed. Is it like that for the resort monorails? What about busses to AK and HS? Were they PACKED all of the time or just sometimes? Just curious. Trying to make this decision is stressing me out! Haha!

If you're going with one room, I would advise staying at the Contemporary. You can walk back after Wishes, which is a huge help with the transportation issue.

We were there in March (busy spring break time) and didn't have noticeable issues with transportation to any of the parks.

 

[bnk1120]

OP- you asked about transportation from Poly and CSr, have you ruled out BC? I love the BC, but have had nothing but problems with busses there. I would go with CR. Stayed at BLT this summer and the walk to MK and monorail access were amazing.