eangel12
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2011
I have not had time to do a very extensive trip report, but I wanted to post some information about the hotels we stayed at and our opinions of each.
Our trip consisted of 3 adults (my husband, myself, my MIL, 4 year old and 2 year old). When I first planned the trip, we were going from a Thursday to the following Saturday. At the last minute, my husband took off the Wednesday before the trip too so we added on an extra night.
We knew with the group that we would need two separate spaces. For 11 days, 10 nights, being in each other's back pockets would have us at each other's throats before the vacation was over.
We started out at Contemporary Resort with a theme park view. We checked into the hotel at 11am and it was PACKED. The front entry way was so busy with cars zooming in and out. Total nightmare with two little kids, unloading luggage, etc. Luckily, a guy from bell hop was available to help us with luggage and he loaded everything up onto a cart pretty quickly. The second issue was parking. We were given the option to valet or self park. My husband wanted to self park which took him about 15 minutes. He said he had a hard time pulling out and then finding a spot. Our room wasn't ready, so we headed to Contempo Cafe and grabbed lunch. It was one of our favorite quick services of the entire trip. The turkey club was the best I've ever had. After lunch, our room still wasn't ready so we decided to walk over to MK. Huge mistake...hottest part of the day, tired from flying...we should have done the pool. We got a text at 2pm that our room was ready and headed back there around 3pm. The room was fantastic...beautiful view, bathroom was great. Our HUGE issue wasn't the room or the view...instead it was the elevators. OH MY GOSH...15 minute wait for the elevator...took FOREVER...FOREVER...FOREVER. Did I mention it took forever?? Definitely a huge issue and something that made us say, "we won't stay here again". I will say the hotel was super busy so I don't think that helped, but so slow.
We went from Contemporary to Animal Kingdom Kidani 2 bedroom suite with a savanna view. It was like nirvana...heaven...just perfect. We were in the farthest section from the lobby on the Pumba branch. The rooms were HUGE, elevators were super fast and the parking in the covered area was a huge plus in 100+ heat. We had zebras, giraffes, birds, etc out of our window at all times of the day and night. A herd of zebras slept right outside our patio area so we went to sleep watching them and woke up to see them all sleeping. Pretty cool. We loved the pool area and my kids loved the little kid slide. It was one of our favorite things and we would stay here again in a heartbeat. We had our own car so bus was not an issue and it took us 12 minutes to pull in to TTC from Kidani. Not too bad at all.
Our last stop was Wyndham Bonnet Creek. I rented a 3 bedroom timeshare for 850.00 for 7 nights. I was super apprehensive about going off site, but we needed space and I wanted to try it out. Room wasn't ready until 4pm so we had to wait around a bit but everyone slept in the minivan while I drove around. When we checked in, I was so pleased when I walked in. Three big bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, washer/dryer, full kitchen. I had groceries delivered from Garden Grocer so we loaded up the fridge and freezer and hung out at the suite. It was HUGE...HUGE...and clean. We had a car so it took us around 12 minutes to get to MK or AK parking lots. HS was right around the corner...literally and Epcot was 8 minutes to the parking lot. For the price, I would stay here again in a second.
Overall, the place I thought I would love the most was the place I didn't like at all...and the place I was the most anxious about turned out to be one of my favorite. I will try to add photos and more details later on!
Our trip consisted of 3 adults (my husband, myself, my MIL, 4 year old and 2 year old). When I first planned the trip, we were going from a Thursday to the following Saturday. At the last minute, my husband took off the Wednesday before the trip too so we added on an extra night.
We knew with the group that we would need two separate spaces. For 11 days, 10 nights, being in each other's back pockets would have us at each other's throats before the vacation was over.
We started out at Contemporary Resort with a theme park view. We checked into the hotel at 11am and it was PACKED. The front entry way was so busy with cars zooming in and out. Total nightmare with two little kids, unloading luggage, etc. Luckily, a guy from bell hop was available to help us with luggage and he loaded everything up onto a cart pretty quickly. The second issue was parking. We were given the option to valet or self park. My husband wanted to self park which took him about 15 minutes. He said he had a hard time pulling out and then finding a spot. Our room wasn't ready, so we headed to Contempo Cafe and grabbed lunch. It was one of our favorite quick services of the entire trip. The turkey club was the best I've ever had. After lunch, our room still wasn't ready so we decided to walk over to MK. Huge mistake...hottest part of the day, tired from flying...we should have done the pool. We got a text at 2pm that our room was ready and headed back there around 3pm. The room was fantastic...beautiful view, bathroom was great. Our HUGE issue wasn't the room or the view...instead it was the elevators. OH MY GOSH...15 minute wait for the elevator...took FOREVER...FOREVER...FOREVER. Did I mention it took forever?? Definitely a huge issue and something that made us say, "we won't stay here again". I will say the hotel was super busy so I don't think that helped, but so slow.
We went from Contemporary to Animal Kingdom Kidani 2 bedroom suite with a savanna view. It was like nirvana...heaven...just perfect. We were in the farthest section from the lobby on the Pumba branch. The rooms were HUGE, elevators were super fast and the parking in the covered area was a huge plus in 100+ heat. We had zebras, giraffes, birds, etc out of our window at all times of the day and night. A herd of zebras slept right outside our patio area so we went to sleep watching them and woke up to see them all sleeping. Pretty cool. We loved the pool area and my kids loved the little kid slide. It was one of our favorite things and we would stay here again in a heartbeat. We had our own car so bus was not an issue and it took us 12 minutes to pull in to TTC from Kidani. Not too bad at all.
Our last stop was Wyndham Bonnet Creek. I rented a 3 bedroom timeshare for 850.00 for 7 nights. I was super apprehensive about going off site, but we needed space and I wanted to try it out. Room wasn't ready until 4pm so we had to wait around a bit but everyone slept in the minivan while I drove around. When we checked in, I was so pleased when I walked in. Three big bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, washer/dryer, full kitchen. I had groceries delivered from Garden Grocer so we loaded up the fridge and freezer and hung out at the suite. It was HUGE...HUGE...and clean. We had a car so it took us around 12 minutes to get to MK or AK parking lots. HS was right around the corner...literally and Epcot was 8 minutes to the parking lot. For the price, I would stay here again in a second.
Overall, the place I thought I would love the most was the place I didn't like at all...and the place I was the most anxious about turned out to be one of my favorite. I will try to add photos and more details later on!
