Accompanying DH to Orlando conference, split stay or remain at conference hotel?

[elfling8]

DH has a conference at Gaylord Palms in August. I'm coming with! The conference is a Mon-Wed, where I plan on going solo to MK and AK two of those days. The last time we were at Disney was pre-Galaxy's Edge, so we want to stay the rest of the week (Thurs-Sat probably) so we can both do that. Price is comparable either extending the stay at Gaylord Palms, or moving to Pop Century. Would early entry be worth having to get into HS early and hit Galaxy's Edge, or with just two adults is it feasible to get everything done there in a day? I haven't started researching how to deal with the Genie+/LL mess yet, so I'm pretty ignorant other than it's going to be way different than our last trip. If we move hotels, we would do Epcot on Thurs/moving day, and HS Friday so we'd have the full day.

 

[BrianL]

DH has a conference at Gaylord Palms in August. I'm coming with! The conference is a Mon-Wed, where I plan on going to MK and AK two of those days. The last time we were at Disney was pre-Galaxy's Edge, so we want to stay the rest of the week (Thurs-Sat probably) so we can both do that. Price is comparable either extending the stay at Gaylord Palms, or moving to Pop Century. Would early entry be worth having to get into HS early and hit Galaxy's Edge, or with just two adults is it feasible to get everything done there in a day? I haven't started researching how to deal with the Genie+/LL mess yet, so I'm pretty ignorant other than it's going to be way different than our last trip. If we move hotels, we would do Epcot on Thurs/moving day, and HS Friday so we'd have the full day.

I like staying in the bubble myself, but the Palms is close too. If you have a car it might be easier to stay, but then do consider the cost of parking.

 

[elfling8]

I like staying in the bubble myself, but the Palms is close too. If you have a car it might be easier to stay, but then do consider the cost of parking.

No car, if we stay was planning on using hotel shuttle, or Uber for the day we want to get to the park early. If we move will need to uber between hotels.

 

[BrianL]

No car, if we stay was planning on using hotel shuttle, or Uber for the day we want to get to the park early.

Yeah, I don't trust those hotel shuttles. Sometimes they will only take you to one place, then you use Disney transport from there. It's weird. If it's the same cost, I probably do move to Pop. It has the Skyliner now too, which is awesome!

 

[ned911]

Take a look at the Swan and Dolphin, typically much cheaper than the other EPCOT resorts. Walk to EPCOT or DHS

 

[GoofyDad_4427]

Everyone will have a different opinion on this. For me personally, moving from Gaylord Palms to Pop Century would be such a monumental letdown that there is no way i would do it. But i don't care about the "bubble", I'd much rather be in a nice hotel rather than the cheap motel Pop Century is.

 

[KVH]

Wait a sec. If we're talking room only, mid-August, and figure rack rate at Gaylord is ~325-350 AVERAGE, then I'd pick up and head into the bubble. With current deals, POFQ is 275/nite, AKL is 350/nite, and Wilderness is 375/nite. To me, those prices would definitely merit some thought.

 

[MagicalAloha]

It helps to get the earl magic hours or if they have the later magic hours. Get there early as you can bc visitors start lining up sometimes more than 30 mins before the early hours.