Trying to pick a resort while also avoiding buses, when possible..

[aprincessatlast]

you could do a split dvc rental stay if you were going for 7 days. Like 3/4 days at BLT and 3/4 at Beach Club/BWV. You would be over budget by a few hundred though but that is not bad. That way the only park you need to ride the bus to would be AK.

or you could stay at a mod or value and use your savings to use Uber to take you everywhere. During the mid day the busses are not too bad and you could reserve Uber for early mornings/evenings.

 

[freediverdude]

I second the "don't walk through Epcot to get to the monorail". It's a lot of walking, plus two monorails to get to MK. You have to walk from your resort to the Epcot back entrance (which is a ways for all of them except Beach Club), then walk from the back of Epcot to the front (another good 15 minutes of walking), then get on the Epcot monorail and take that to the transportation and ticket center, and then switch monorails to the MK monorail (or ferry boat from there as well). It's just easier to put up with the bus and get on the MK bus from your Epcot resort.

If you're going to spend multiple days at MK, I would say either try to rent points to stay at one of the monorail resorts for 5 nights, or decide on a moderate for 7 nights.

 

[antkim]

I don't like the buses or renting cars. We stay where we want each time and take cabs or now Uber. Cheaper than car rental usually and so easy. When going to MK tell them you are going to Contemporary and then you can walk to MK from there...otherwise they will take you to TTC and then you have to take monorail or ferry over.

 

[lovesdumbo]

I don't hate the busses but do prefer to drive to the parks. I do drive to MK most of the time. At most parks when I arrive for rope drop I have no problem walking to the entrance or TTC at MK. It does seem however whenever I go to AK we are parked way out so I take the tram.

I really like staying at BLT. I walk to MK and drive elsewhere.

The other factor that no one has mentioned yet is that the studios at BLT are pretty tiny. I actually like the set up but it might be tight for more than 2.

 

[loves to dive]

Have you considered Swan/Dolphin? Their rates tend to be less than the Disney hotels, you do have to factor in the resort fee when comparing rates though. If you have AAA or are a teacher or military or have Starwood points you can get a discount most times. You get most of the perks of the disney hotels, are within walking/boat distance of both Epcot and HS.

 

[havoc315]

Beach club has never been a consideration thus far because the decor really wasn't my style. I see BCV are now being renovated though. I wonder if we would get a refurbished room by the time June rolls around.. hmmm

The thought of being able to walk/take monorail to three out of the 4 parks is awesome! And of course.. Star Wars.. Duh.

Taking monorail to/from Beach Club/MK is very indirect, as others have said.

The only time I would do it, is when returning from MK morning for a mid afternoon break. For example, leave MK at 12:30. Get to Epcot around 1-1:15. Stroll to World Showcase by 1:30... Have lunch in World Showcase from 1:30-2:30. Back to hotel by 2:45-3, to rest up another couple hours.

But I would never take the indirect route to start or end the day.

 

[bare necessities]

7 night stay in late may early june at BLT is going to be close to $2000 for a studio. Not sure $1500 can get you on a monorail resort in June.

 

[goofy4tink]

I'm not sure why you're so bus adverse. Yes, you have to wait sometimes, and yes, they can get crowded. But, to spend the money on a deluxe resort, to be able to walk (or boat or monorail) to a park, maybe two, is not money well spent, at least to me. Car rental at this time of year is bound to be high.
As far at BLT goes, I love it there. I own DVC there. But, you need to keep in mind that you'll have to bus to DHS and AK. And take the monorail to the TTC and then transfer to the Epcot monorail line. It gets time consuming.
As far as cost goes....it's going to be a bit over $1500 for the end of May, into June. And close to $200 for that first full week in June! I just checked.

As far as going with a moderate goes, they are terrific resorts...especially POR, my personal favorite! The bus system is as good as anywhere else. But, some just don't want to bother with buses. So, a rental car may be your best bet. You can always take DME to and from the airport. Then rent a car when you get there....Alamo/National has a counter at the Dolphin as well as at the Car Care Center.

 

[GreatLakes]

Staying at one of the Boardwalk area resorts would allow you to avoid buses to 3 of the 4 parks provided you don't mind walking. You can easily walk to Epcot and DHS, the walk to DHS is quite beautiful, and you can walk through Epcot to the monorail for MK provided you have park hoppers and are doing so while the park is opened. You could always use the walk and monorail route for just the morning or evening travel and the buses at other times depending on Epcot's hours.

 

[buzznina]

my hubby is not a big fan of buses either. We usually drive down from NJ to Disney, LOL, (I don't do planes). We usually stay at a Monorail resort bc our main parks is usually MK and Epcot bc my kids are young. Then each year we go (we are skipping next year) we alternate between DHS and Animal Kingdom. When we go to either of those parks My older son and me usually take the bus bc I don't mind them and my hubby takes the car, lol. We have races to see who gets there first, lol. When my youngest is older and can walk the parks (so we won't need the stroller) I am dying to stay at Beach Club. Its a beautiful resort and its within walking distance to a lot of different things. Its like a big community between beach club, board walk, yacht club, and swan and dolphin. Anyways If you could swing it I would go for BLT that way you have the monorail to epcot & MK plus you can walk to MK from there. Its not a bad walk either maybe about 10 minutes.

Was there a big time difference between you taking the bus and DH driving? We did this one trip (bus vs car) to all the parks and noticed it did not save much time, if any, now we leave our car in the parking lot

 

[paisleybell]

Thank you for all of the information and replies! It's all very helpful in my planning.
The bus aversion is not a disney specific thing. We will ride them when needed, we personally prefer to avoid them when possible to keep stress levels down.
Our plans are not set in stone yet, we will hopefully be booking next week.

As of now, the longer stay would be 2 days at cabana bay, 6 at a disney resort (most likely boardwalk). The longer stay is dependent on a few life factors, so if it doesn't work out timing-wise, we'll be doing 1 day at cabana bay and 5 days at a disney resort, again, most likely boardwalk. Longer stay vs shorter stay is not really based on costs and hotel choice.

It sounds like we will have a 3rd person joining us, in which case our disney resort budget is more like 2.5-3.5k, but the requirement from the 3rd person is that it is a 1 bedroom rather than a studio. (The 3rd person wasn't 100% going previously, so I was trying to price things out without them before.)

I love the idea of a split stay between boardwalk and blt (I so wish Poly had 1 bedroom dvcs...)
But I just wonder if it will be too much of a hassle to switch rooms. Since we'll have a kitchen, we plan to stop at a grocery store on our way from cabana bay and do most breakfasts in the room, pack sandwiches for lunches, and do dinner at the parks/resorts each night.
That being the case, I have no idea how we'd keep the groceries cold between switching..
Can the resorts store cold groceries for us until the room is ready?

 

[StirlingSilver83]

Was there a big time difference between you taking the bus and DH driving? We did this one trip (bus vs car) to all the parks and noticed it did not save much time, if any, now we leave our car in the parking lot

LoL, most of the time we both got there the same time. There was this 1 day though, we had an early ADR for Akershus and we were staying at The Grand Floridan. I had a scooter rental so I had to rely on buses bc I wasn't about to try and break it down to fit it in our car. Anyways we called the conciarge and asked like 3 times about a bus to epcot early morning bc the epcot monorail doesn't start until 8 and thats when our ADR was for. All 3 times we asked they told us the same time to take the bus there. The next morning I was at the bus stop at 7. The bus wasn't suppose to be there until 7:15. Anyways 7:20 came around and still no bus. Finally around 7:25 a bus attendant came to the stop and asked what bus I was waiting for and she told me there was no bus to epcot. My dilema was my hubby had already left, the resort monorail was down (so I couldn't even take it to the epcot monorail) and now no bus. I was starting to have a panic attack and then this nice bus driver pulled up who was going to Magic Kingdom and he made a special trip to Epcot for me and we ended up making our ADR right on time. I don't think I am going to made that early ADR at Epcot anymore though bc its always a hassle to make bc the Epcot Monorail doesn't start running until 8 AM and there are no direct buses to Epcot from the monorail resorts.

 

[Kimberle]

Thank you for all of the information and replies! It's all very helpful in my planning.
The bus aversion is not a disney specific thing. We will ride them when needed, we personally prefer to avoid them when possible to keep stress levels down.
Our plans are not set in stone yet, we will hopefully be booking next week.

As of now, the longer stay would be 2 days at cabana bay, 6 at a disney resort (most likely boardwalk). The longer stay is dependent on a few life factors, so if it doesn't work out timing-wise, we'll be doing 1 day at cabana bay and 5 days at a disney resort, again, most likely boardwalk. Longer stay vs shorter stay is not really based on costs and hotel choice.

It sounds like we will have a 3rd person joining us, in which case our disney resort budget is more like 2.5-3.5k, but the requirement from the 3rd person is that it is a 1 bedroom rather than a studio. (The 3rd person wasn't 100% going previously, so I was trying to price things out without them before.)

I love the idea of a split stay between boardwalk and blt (I so wish Poly had 1 bedroom dvcs...)
But I just wonder if it will be too much of a hassle to switch rooms. Since we'll have a kitchen, we plan to stop at a grocery store on our way from cabana bay and do most breakfasts in the room, pack sandwiches for lunches, and do dinner at the parks/resorts each night.
That being the case, I have no idea how we'd keep the groceries cold between switching..
Can the resorts store cold groceries for us until the room is ready?

Yes, bell services can keep your stuff in the fridge. I saw the ones at the BC, and boy, were they beauties!

 

[lovesdumbo]

That being the case, I have no idea how we'd keep the groceries cold between switching..
Can the resorts store cold groceries for us until the room is ready?

Yes. Bell services have fridges to keep your cold stuff cold if your room isn't ready when you check in.