IloveDisney77
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 6, 2009
- Messages
- 200
Hello Everyone!
We just returned from 9 days at WDW...withdrawal has set in already. Just wanted to provide my perspective on the 4 resorts (wife has already said we will never again stay at 4 places in one week...I don't have the heart to tell when we go back in December we are at the Poly for 1 night, BLT Std view 1 Bedroom for 5 nights and then 2 nights at AKV in a 1 Bedroom Sav View
). I don't mind the split stay because by the end of week all we want to do is relax and AKV gives us that (for that reason though I can see why some don't like it as it is a little bit removed from the "action") Actually with that said, after 1 rather long wait for a bus (well, 20 minutes probably isn't that long but when your standing and watching all these buses to other places go by it is kind of annoying
), we simply drove ...You know what..it was so easy..did you know that if you drive you can be in the gates at DHS within 15 minutes...true story. We hit every light green and were able to park very close to entrance but it was sooooo nice and easy not to have to wait..thus, when we stay at AKV...No more bus for us from AKV.
This was our first trip as DVC members as other than the cold and quite a bit of rain we loved it!!!! Great decision...especially being able to stay in a 1 bedroom...after 1 Visit even my wife who was against buying in in the first place wants more points so we will always be in a 1 bedroom!!!
So...we checked in at Poly (garden view) for the first 2 night and was given an upgrade to a lagoon view in Tahiti...Having stayed at the Poly I knew what that meant!!!! We got to the room and all I heard was my 4.5 year old DD screaming are you kidding me...The reason, the curtains were pulled back all you saw was the bright Pink Castle...It was a fantastic room! We have always loved the poly for the theme and relaxed feel...so it was with a little bit of trepidation and based off a lot of negative views about BLT that we headed over there for our 3 night MK view room (I thought our luck would run out after our Poly upgrade and be giving a not-so great MK view but boy was I wrong).
We checked in and were given 9th floor. Didn't know what to expect, after day at park, we headed over to room and the view was unbelievable..definitely worth the points (We stopped at all floors going down and 7th and 8th floors are still very good, 5/6 are borderline and IMHO 4 and under should not be MK view). All of us loved the theme, view, location, artwork, and clean lines of the BLT. Am so glad we bought a lion's share of our points there. I thought the resort felt very Disneyesque...now with that said it could have been because of the spectacular MK view...I'll let ya know when we are back in December in a Std view...we had lots of rain last week and to be able to walk the 8 minutes door to door MK made it worth it for that alone...sure, we noticed a few odd things about the room: space in the door in the 2nd bathroom, some beat up furniture/carpet already, door to the balcony that didn't lock....but you know what, didn't care...I travel for a living and am in hotels 40 to 45 weeks out of the year and you know what...if you looked hard enough almost every single hotel room you will ever stay in has some issue...that is NOT to say that the rooms shouldn't "show" as well as possible, especially at Disney where we are all spending our entertainment dollars...for the door to the balcony I did call the front desk and within10 minutes someone was up there to fix it...now we were VERY sad to leave BLT to head over to AKV because now I can't imagine EVER going back to Disney without a 1 bedroom...D@@#@$#%$N DVC
AKV...Wife loved it...Daughter really loved...me, I didn't like the smallish studio. All in agreement though we loved theming, location, pool (not that we went in it), restaurants on-site and the very well thought out and decorated common areas. We were 2 sections over from the Lobby so we had a very nice view of the Savanna and an easy walk to Lobby...Very good location. Underground parking is very convenient as well. My only issue, comparing a "hotel room" at the poly and a "studio" the AKV-Kidani were night and day. Half of the Studio was made up of hallway, bathroom and adjoining door. The other half contained the living space. Personally, with 3 of us, we wouldn't stay in an AKV studio again but as I mentioned we are already adding on points to stay in 1 bedrooms there from now on.
Last but not least on way home back to NC we stopped at our favorite Disney Resort HHI to divide up our trip back home. We love HHI...so relaxing, quiet, peaceful and the best Cast Members of any Disney Resort. We love going there...especially with all the great deals that have come about recently through Disney Visa or Disney AP...
Anywho...great trip...loved the resorts...and especially loved BLT. I can see that the theming isn't for everyone and I respect that. For us though, we absolutely loved BLT, have always loved Poly and HHI and really liked AKV just not the studio.
Now I have to wait another 10 months...oh what shall I do...I guess I should start planning the next trip...
We just returned from 9 days at WDW...withdrawal has set in already. Just wanted to provide my perspective on the 4 resorts (wife has already said we will never again stay at 4 places in one week...I don't have the heart to tell when we go back in December we are at the Poly for 1 night, BLT Std view 1 Bedroom for 5 nights and then 2 nights at AKV in a 1 Bedroom Sav View
). I don't mind the split stay because by the end of week all we want to do is relax and AKV gives us that (for that reason though I can see why some don't like it as it is a little bit removed from the "action") Actually with that said, after 1 rather long wait for a bus (well, 20 minutes probably isn't that long but when your standing and watching all these buses to other places go by it is kind of annoying), we simply drove ...You know what..it was so easy..did you know that if you drive you can be in the gates at DHS within 15 minutes...true story. We hit every light green and were able to park very close to entrance but it was sooooo nice and easy not to have to wait..thus, when we stay at AKV...No more bus for us from AKV.This was our first trip as DVC members as other than the cold and quite a bit of rain we loved it!!!! Great decision...especially being able to stay in a 1 bedroom...after 1 Visit even my wife who was against buying in in the first place wants more points so we will always be in a 1 bedroom!!!
So...we checked in at Poly (garden view) for the first 2 night and was given an upgrade to a lagoon view in Tahiti...Having stayed at the Poly I knew what that meant!!!! We got to the room and all I heard was my 4.5 year old DD screaming are you kidding me...The reason, the curtains were pulled back all you saw was the bright Pink Castle...It was a fantastic room! We have always loved the poly for the theme and relaxed feel...so it was with a little bit of trepidation and based off a lot of negative views about BLT that we headed over there for our 3 night MK view room (I thought our luck would run out after our Poly upgrade and be giving a not-so great MK view but boy was I wrong).
We checked in and were given 9th floor. Didn't know what to expect, after day at park, we headed over to room and the view was unbelievable..definitely worth the points (We stopped at all floors going down and 7th and 8th floors are still very good, 5/6 are borderline and IMHO 4 and under should not be MK view). All of us loved the theme, view, location, artwork, and clean lines of the BLT. Am so glad we bought a lion's share of our points there. I thought the resort felt very Disneyesque...now with that said it could have been because of the spectacular MK view...I'll let ya know when we are back in December in a Std view...we had lots of rain last week and to be able to walk the 8 minutes door to door MK made it worth it for that alone...sure, we noticed a few odd things about the room: space in the door in the 2nd bathroom, some beat up furniture/carpet already, door to the balcony that didn't lock....but you know what, didn't care...I travel for a living and am in hotels 40 to 45 weeks out of the year and you know what...if you looked hard enough almost every single hotel room you will ever stay in has some issue...that is NOT to say that the rooms shouldn't "show" as well as possible, especially at Disney where we are all spending our entertainment dollars...for the door to the balcony I did call the front desk and within10 minutes someone was up there to fix it...now we were VERY sad to leave BLT to head over to AKV because now I can't imagine EVER going back to Disney without a 1 bedroom...D@@#@$#%$N DVC
AKV...Wife loved it...Daughter really loved...me, I didn't like the smallish studio. All in agreement though we loved theming, location, pool (not that we went in it), restaurants on-site and the very well thought out and decorated common areas. We were 2 sections over from the Lobby so we had a very nice view of the Savanna and an easy walk to Lobby...Very good location. Underground parking is very convenient as well. My only issue, comparing a "hotel room" at the poly and a "studio" the AKV-Kidani were night and day. Half of the Studio was made up of hallway, bathroom and adjoining door. The other half contained the living space. Personally, with 3 of us, we wouldn't stay in an AKV studio again but as I mentioned we are already adding on points to stay in 1 bedrooms there from now on.
Last but not least on way home back to NC we stopped at our favorite Disney Resort HHI to divide up our trip back home. We love HHI...so relaxing, quiet, peaceful and the best Cast Members of any Disney Resort. We love going there...especially with all the great deals that have come about recently through Disney Visa or Disney AP...
Anywho...great trip...loved the resorts...and especially loved BLT. I can see that the theming isn't for everyone and I respect that. For us though, we absolutely loved BLT, have always loved Poly and HHI and really liked AKV just not the studio.
Now I have to wait another 10 months...oh what shall I do...I guess I should start planning the next trip...
