considering switching to deluxe resort - any suggestions?

[cepmom]

We are booked at POR for our upcoming trip in August, and I have been diligently saving coins, can returns, rebate money, etc. in order to pay for everything up front. Thanks to a very generous Christmas gift from DH's uncle, we now have the whole trip paid for and then some! I am considering switching our reservations to a deluxe resort, but I can't decide which one (tough position to be in, don't you think? )

I think I have narrowed it down to the Polynesian, the Contemporary or the BC/YC. We haven't been to any of these resorts yet. In fact we've only stayed onsite once in 2002 at WL and while we loved it, I thought we would like to try out something different this time. Chances are, we won't be able to choose any of the deluxe resorts for any future trips, so this is our big opportunity to live it up!

We are a family of 5; me, DH, and 3 DD's ages 15, 8 and 5. MK is one of our favorite parks, so I thought being on the monorail would be great, but I love the look of the BC/YC too. Any suggestions?

BTW - if anyone has any suggestions other than these three resorts, I would love to hear them - I'm open to any help you experts can give!!

Thanks!
Jennifer

 

[blanq]

Lucky you! I wish I had a generous Uncle! Anyway, I would suggest the BC. The renovated rooms at the BC are beautiful and I think your kids would love SAB. Also, the Epcot resort area is such a great area because there is so much to do: mini golf near the Swan; the Boardwalk; within a hop, skip and a jump to MGM and Epcot; and very close to such wonderful restaurants.

 

[Momof5cubs]

The only deluxe resort I have stayed at is AKL and I highly recommend it! My 5 year old was in Heaven there! We could have spent the entire week at the resort and never visited any parks and he would have been perfectly happy!

 

[beccasmom]

I would choose the Beach Club resort. The pool area there is fabulous....it is a mini water park! Being able to walk easily to Epcot is great and walking over to the Boardwalk to try one of their restaurants is easy too.

My second choice would be the Contemporary, largely for sentimental reasons. The rooms are huge and the hotel has great shopping and eating locations. And you can walk to the MK, which is great when the line to the monorail is mobbed. I am not a big fan of the new decor of the rooms, but kids seem to like it.

 

[STEVEMED]

we own at bcv and love it.How about spending some of the trip at a mk resort and do the mk on those days and the switching to the bc/yc and do the epcot area on those days.....good luck

 

[chrismiss56]

Good Morning!!

We are a family of 4 - myself, DH and 2 DD 16 and 20. We have been going to Disney since before the kids were born and our favorite area is the Boardwalk area including Beach and Yacht Club!!

We stay there any chance we can because of all the amenities. Besides the fact that Beach, Yacht and Boardwalk are wonderful resorts, you have the whole Boardwalk area to explore!! It is great in the evening to wander around the Boardwalk and see the performers or rent a surry bike.

The walk to Epcot is very nice or there are boats running from the resorts to both Epcot and MGM. We have even taken the boat to Epcot walked to the front and then taken the monorail to MK.........

Just love that area!! Going back in March and this time staying at WL - no rooms available Been to WL and like the property but nothing compares to the Epcot area.

Have a magical Disney Day

 

[swilphil]

I would pick an Epcot area resort--BC or Boardwalk Inn. You will like being able to walk to two parks as well as the Boardwalk atmosphere. Bus service to MK is very good also. We love staying in the Epcot area though on our March trip we are staying at the Contemporary since there are no discounts at the Swan/Dolphin. We originally were going to stay two nights at POR, but decided to stay at the Contemporary the whole time.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

If you love spending time in the magic kingdom I would pick the Poly. It's very relaxing and has a nice view of the fireworks and electrical water parade from the beach. It's nice to be able to hop on the monorail or ferry and be there in no time. It's also close to the TTC for the Epcot monorail.

 

[cepmom]

Thanks for all of your quick replies...I knew I could count on some great advice!

STEVEMED - I think a split stay would be a wonderful compromise, but since we will only be there for 4 nights I think it would be too much moving around in too short a time frame. We'll be heading over to Port Canaveral after our stay at DW for a 4 night cruise then over to Universal for 1 night after the cruise. That's already too much moving around for me!

momof5cubs - AKL was one of my original thoughts too, but DH has no interest in staying there because of it's location. We do not plan on going to AK while we are there and I guess he feels it's too far from the parks we do want to go to.

The overwhelming thought from most of you is BC. I do love the look of it, although it's proximity to Epcot is not a huge draw for us. We are not huge fans of Epcot (no flames please - it's nice...just not our favorite and we won't spend a lot of time there!!) I would love to try BC; DD15 wants to try Polynesian. Keep your suggestions coming!!!

 

[mickeyfanmom]

Hello-

We have stayed at many hotels at WDW. In the deluxe category we have stayed at The Grand Floridian, the Yacht Club, the Beach Club, and the Wilderness Lodge. In my opinion- if you are willing to spend the money- the Grand Floridian is the way to go.

If MK is your favorite park the monorail from the GF is extremely convenient. We loved being able to jump on the monorail instead of taking the bus- IMO there is nothing "deluxe" about riding the bus!

While all of the above-listed hotels have great theming and service, the Grand Floridian definitely stands above the rest in these areas and is very convenient to the MK. The Y&B has just as good of service in our experience but the location is not as convenient to the MK. The Wilderness Lodge is our children's favorite deluxe resort, but the service wasn't as good as the others we had experienced and again the location was not prime to the MK.

We have not stayed in or seen the Contemporary since they have remodeled the rooms- my sister's family stayed there in 2002 and those rooms seemed to be getting a little outdated to us. But it was very convenient to the MK and might be much better now. We have not eperienced the Poly firsthand either, but it did look very nice from the monorail.

Which leads me to my last point. I think that if the MK is truly your favorite park and you plan on spending the most time there it is definitely worth it to stay on the monorail. We do like the Y&B and the AK sounds cool but for the extra money I definitely appreciate the convenience that the monorail provides. It added so much to our trip to jump on the monorail and head out. We also enjoyed watching the fireworks over the castle from our room.

Have an excellent trip no matter where you decide to stay!


Edited to add: PS- I wish that I could swing the GF right now, but we are staying at POFQ for one night after our upcoming Jan. cruise and have also stayed at the All-Star Sports and off-site before too. There is nothing like the Grand Floridian though!

 

[ufgator]

If you plan to be at MK a lot, stay at one of the monorail resorts or at least the WL. We just stayed at Poly and spent a lot of time at MK because we were right there. It's nice to have option of monorail or boat to MK and it's so easy and fast to get back and forth.

 

[mariamouse]

My favorite resorts are the GF/Poly/BC... so I can understand your difficulty in deciding. I am 15 and have always loved the BC because I grew up staying there and I love the theme, despite that I already live in New England. It is a great resort for when my family thinks we may want to split it with something else or do a lot of the Epcot area. Cape May Cafe and Beaches & Cream have great food and the pool can't be beat. It is also great to be so close to the fun Boardwalk area and the World Showcase.

But I am also in love with the Polynesian... I feel withdrawal when I'm not on the monorail or Seven Seas Lagoon and this resort is just so magical too! I think the fact that you want to spend more time in the MK area and that your DD is already interested in this resort make it the resort you should choose to stay at. Although it doesn't compete with Stormalong Bay, the pool here is great (with a volcano slide) and you can view the Electrical Water Pageant/Wishes from the long sandy beach there. Plus, Kona Cafe is one of my favorite restaurants in WDW. In addition, there is a short walkway to the TTC, where you can transfer quickly to an Epcot monorail. There is so much to do at the Poly since you can easily visit the other MK resorts and take boats out on the lake.. as you can see, I have so many great things to say about both the BC and the Poly.. you will be happy at either, although I think staying at the Polynesian is a better decision because of your situation.

Have fun whichever resort you choose!

mariamouse

 

[TJA]

cepmom, for your situation (not being especially fond of Epcot, but loving MK), I would suggest either Poly or Contemporary for your 4 days in Disney. We have stayed at both the Poly and Contemporary in the last year and had fabulous times at both resorts. The 2 resorts are very different, though both are on the monorail. Here are a few highlights for each resort, which might help you decide:

CR -- you can walk to MK in about 10 minutes! What a plus this is as you can avoid the crowds and have a quick and easy walk back and forth to your resort. Chef Mickey's is a very fun character meal and California Grill is superb on the top of the resort. Great arcade room for the kids.

POLY -- you can walk to the TTC, which has a direct monorail to Epcot. Great restaurants -- Kona and O'Hana's. Great theming, fun pool for the kids.

I'm not sure what you're basing your decision on -- for us, we would probably favor the CR only because we have 1 yr old twins and we greatly enjoyed and appreciated the walking path to MK. The restaurants are great at both resorts. Good luck.....!