If you had to pick one resort for ease of transportation...

[Happyjen27]

What would it be?

Our second ever trip to the World will be a 5 day trip with 6 yo twins in December.

My "nice to have" list:
3 beds (1 for me and DH, one for each kid so the 3rd can be a daybed or murphy)
Decent QS, turns out we ate at the resort quite a bit last trip.

If the world were your oyster, balancing price and convenience to all 4 parks where would you stay? On site? Off site using a car?

 

[minnie mum]

IMO such a resort does not exist. You will not find a single place that will give you complete ease of transport to every park.

Staying on site will make it easier to come and go. Staying at monorail resorts makes it easier to get to MK and Epcot. Staying at an Epcot resort will make it easier to get to Epcot and DHS. Some of these resorts will have 2 beds and a pull out sofa or daybed. But they are not cheap.

 

[RookieLady]

If the criteria is transportation ease, given the age of your children, I would choose a Magic Kingdom resort. I have stayed at all but the Grand Floridian. I prefer the monorail, but that puts one kid on a day bed at either the Poly or the Contemporary. At the Wilderness Lodge, you can get bunk beds, but then you lose the monorail (although you still have direct access to the MK by boat, and the monorail by boat to the Contemporary). If you're set on separate beds, I would go with WL. If you can put the two in the same bed or are willing to put a kid on a day bed, the Poly or Contemporary are great. I preferred the Contemporary because we stayed in the Tower. At the Poly, you are in an out building, which didn't appeal to me. Theming was great at the Poly though, and I thought the pool was way better than Contemporary.

 

[bowbat]

If the criteria is transportation ease, given the age of your children, I would choose a Magic Kingdom resort. I have stayed at all but the Grand Floridian. I prefer the monorail, but that puts one kid on a day bed at either the Poly or the Contemporary. At the Wilderness Lodge, you can get bunk beds, but then you lose the monorail (although you still have direct access to the MK by boat, and the monorail by boat to the Contemporary). If you're set on separate beds, I would go with WL. If you can put the two in the same bed or are willing to put a kid on a day bed, the Poly or Contemporary are great. I preferred the Contemporary because we stayed in the Tower. At the Poly, you are in an out building, which didn't appeal to me. Theming was great at the Poly though, and I thought the pool was way better than Contemporary.

ITA with Rookie Lady. Added bonus of the Contemporary is you can walk to MK, and walking is the most reliable form of transportation at Disney. Another option would be Beach Club, which would give you a daybed and walking distance to Epcot with boat to DHS, and I'm pretty sure it has a QS option. Little kids tend to like MK best, though.

 

[mmmears]

Poly or YC/BC

Poly because you have easy transportation to both MK and Epcot (boat and monorail to MK, monorail to EP). (Better IMO than any other monorail resort transportation-wise because you can get a direct monorail to Epcot -- from the GF and CR it's a pain since you have to change monorails at the TTC).

YC/BC because you can walk/boat to DHS and Epcot. Less counter service choices here, but there are some options.


We've stayed at all 3 and like them all (plus some others, but most resorts are convenient to one park, not to two). I guess you can add BWI -- same convenience as YC/BC but I prefer YC/BC).

 

[mulberrybush]

Contemporary- 2 queens with daybed, monorail transport and short walk to MK (big advantage after wishes!).

There are a lot of places I like but DH says for convenience, cr is his number 1.

 

[designermv]

Poly. Monorail to MK (which is popular with younger kids), monorail to EPCOT, Wishes from the beach, and easy walk to TTC.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Almost any of the deluxe resorts except for AKL will work, except for your desire for a decent QS. Deluxe resorts don't really have much in the way of QS. A smaller counter service, but no food court. Alligator Bayou at POR does have a smaller murphy bed, and a very good food court, but you take a bus everywhere you go unless you have a car. There is a boat to DTD.

 

[baler31]

What park will you spend the majority of your time at ? With the ages of your children, most likely it will be MK. Walking to and from MK is INVALUABLE with small children. At that age we frequented the Contemporary a lot.

The QS is decent, it does have a daybed. If you are willing to rent a car you will make travel to all the other parks a breeze. If budget is a concern and you still want onsite the Wilderness Lodge is nice as well. Bus (does not share and direct to MK) or boat to MK, rent a car for the others. Book a bunk bed room for the 3 sleeping spaces.

 

[twinboysmom]

I would choose the CR, then the Poly, then the GF in that order if MK and Epcot will be your focus. The CR is number one for us because of the walkway to the MK. It never breaks down, no waits, and it's about 7-10 minutes. It also offers large rooms for usually less only than the POly and GF (the garden wing rooms are a good value but usually go quickly). If your focus would be DHS and Epcot, I would choose either beach club, yacht cub, swan or dolphin, or boardwalk.

 

[dvcHammer]

a 1 bedroom villa at Old Key West (or other DVC properties if you must)

Everyone gets their own bed. The parents get their own bedroom - and their own whirlpool tub in the room. Full kitchen, good QC and great TS food. etc.
Bus transportation at OKW has been the most consistently fast of any resort I have stayed at with lines being rare and the fellow passengers pleasant.

If I was going the mod resort route, POR for the best food and decent bus service.

Transportation - Unless you are walking or boating to the parks from the resorts that are close to them, the bus rides average out in the end to all be about the same by the end of a trip.

 

[detarica]

I agree that there is no one answer. For most resorts, the bus systems works well and doesn't really require long wait times. With six year olds, I wouldn't sweat having to take the bus anywhere. We were there four times last year with our girls (3&8). You can learn some tricks like when staying at Art of Animation or Pop Century, you can take either bus since they are connected by a bridge. Or taking the POR or POFQ buses accordin to which one qets there first.

I would choose the resort based on how comfortable you will be while you are there. FOr example, one thing I like about the CBR is that it has multiple bus stops around the resort, but I don't like that it has a full size bed versus a queen. I love the Art of Animation family suite because it comes with a magical bedroom door to separate the sleeping spaces and has two bathrooms. I love the All-star prices when we want a quick cheap trip. When we stay there, we have a car and don't take the buses because of the crowding and the walking distance to the bus stop, so we work around the transporation issue. My favorite resort is POR because the scenery and peaceful vibe is a nice contrast to the parks.

 

[Hooked On The Mouse]

No resort will give you good access to all the parks. But Poly will give you very fast access to 2 of the 4. The Contemporary or GF will give you fast access to the same 2 out of 4. Yacht Club, Beach Club, and Boardwalk will give you quick access to 2 out of 4 parks as well. So I guess, prioritize which parks are more important to you and then pcik your favourite theming. I personally would pick either Poly or Boardwalk, but that's just a personal preference.

 

[mickeynut1]

I would choose a monorail resort or WL. Our favorite resort is the Poly as the tropical atmosphere is beautiful, the rooms are big and spacious, all rooms come with a daybed, the beach is great for watching the fireworks, and Captain Cooks is great for quick meals and snacks. Plus, it's in a great location as it's just 2 monorail stops from MK and is a 5-7 minute walk to the TTC to catch the Epcot monorail. WL is also a great choice because it has the boat to MK (as well as to the CR) and you can get bunk beds, giving both kids their own bed. Roaring Forks is also great for quick CS meals. If you want to be close to Epcot, the YC or BC would be great choices; however, only some rooms come with a daybed. You could request a room with a daybed, but it would just be a request and would not be guaranteed. There are some CS options available at the YC/BC, but there is not the variety (IMO) like that of the other deluxe resorts. Good luck.

 

[vinotinto]

We've stayed at BC, Poly, YC and AKL.
Re: close to one resort - Most deluxes are close to at least one park. The monorail resorts are close to MK, but not particularly close to Epcot, DHS and AK. While you can take the monorail to Epcot, you must first go to the TTC and wait for the monorail, etc., so it does take a bit of time to get there, and the Epcot monorail does not start running until later, so you cannot do the pre-opening time breakfasts. The Epcot resorts are close to Epcot and DHS, but far from ML and AK.

Re: food - NONE of them have a good QS option. None of the Epcot resorts have a "true" QS - it's a counter with maybe a few sandwich options, and maybe a couple of tables. No real hot food - really terrible. Poly and Contemporary are a bit better than Epcot resorts in terms of QS, but not by much. All are OK if you are in a pinch and need to have an occasional breakfast or a snack, but I would not have a meal at any of these. We always go with the deluxe dining plan and eat at one of the table service options when we are at the resort, which are quite good at all the deluxe resorts I have mentioned.

Re 3 beds: Contemporary, Poly, GF will guarantee you a third bed. AKL and WL will guarantee a third if you book the bunk bed option. All other deluxes: the third bed is on request only, and they will give preference to families of 5.

All in all, if you can live without the QS, I would pick one of the monorail resorts or WL.

 

[mickeynut1]

Re 3 beds: Contemporary, Poly, GF will guarantee you a third bed.

CR and Poly are the only ones where a daybed is guaranteed as all rooms have them. Most rooms at the GF have a daybed, but there are some that do not. We are a family of 4 and on our December 2010 trip, we were assigned a dormer room that did not have a daybed. We were able to change rooms and get a daybed, but there is a chance of not getting a daybed if one is not available.

 

[Sammie]

If you are strictly going with distances to all 4 parks, OKW and SSR and POR and POFQ are the most centrally located to all 4 parks.

Transportation is something I never factor in when considering a resort. There is no resort with perfect transportation to all 4 parks, due to the size of WDW.

 

[Happyjen27]

So much to think about!!

It seems that CR is a front-runner. This was my thinking too. I'm also looking verly closely at WL, so I'm not relying on the unreliable monorail.

We stayed at Poly last December, and while it was nice, the monorail was down 3 of the 9 days, and transport those 3 days was such a headache! From what I've learned on the DISboards, when the monorail is working, it's the best, but it's a fickle means of transportation.

YC is a close 3rd. I've been kind of saving the EPCOT resorts for when the kids are older and our trips are more EP based. Right now, because it's only a 5 day trip (because of the 4 night Disney Cruise we're trying this year!) the parks will be pretty evenly distributed, which is making this decision so difficult!! MK might edge out the other parks as far as frequency of visit. Which points to CR or WL.

I hadn't even considered SSR, but, it looks really, really nice! And, since I'm bussing to 3 of the 4 parks at WL, and 2 of the 4 (or 3 of the 4 if the monorail is down) at CR, maybe just have a nice bus ride to 4 of 4? It's so hard to decide!!!!!!!

Any flaws in my logic? Am I missing something? Thanks for the help, keep it coming!!