Disney Deluxe VS. Gaylord Palms

[leopardspot]

What are the differences?

 

[flynnmnstr]

We stayed at the Gaylord Palms last January when my husband was there on business.

The positives are that the grounds are amazing; my 2 1/2 year old had a blast just exploring the hotel-lots of waterfalls, bridges and tunnels, the pool area for children is amazing- water playground, sand area with toys and a huge octopus slide, there is a nice children's center with all day care, and the restaurants are amazing, but geared towards grown-ups (I ordered room service almost every night b/c DH was in meetings and the food was good), there are so many rooms you are bound to get an upgrade- DH and I got bumped up to a huge suite with two balconies, living room, and kitchenette (it was bigger than our first condo).

The negatives are that you are kind of out there on your own at this hotel. The food though good is very expensive and there are no quickie breakfast spots unless you want a bagel. There is transportation to the parks but its not as efficient as Disney's transportation. Getting to the parks in the morning is pretty easy (although the one bus stops at all the parks) but the first pick up in the afternoon is not until 2:30 at one park and then every 15 minutes after that at the other parks. I used to take the bus over in the morning and then take a taxi back to hotel after lunch; my DS needed a nap. The taxi from every park but MK cost about 10-15 dollars. You should probably rent a car if you choose to stay here.

If given the choice I would stay on property even though our accomodations at the Gaylord were much bigger and more efficient than any of the deluxes. I like the efficiency of being on property, many more dining options (especially as a parent with young children), and recreation options. But we also never rent a car and rely totally on Disney transportation when we are there. That's part of the vacation for us.

But at the same time, we loved our stay at the Gaylord Palms and if we were going to other parks in the Orlando area (Universal, Sea world etc.) and not Disney we would definitely choose to stay there again. Great service and wonderful facilities. Especially if we could get a good deal.

 

[leopardspot]

Thanks. We will be driving so transportation will not be an issue. We are going for Thanksgiving wekkend so i am not sure if we will get an upgrade or not. I do know that the rooms are biigger than the deluxes although I am guesssing that I will miss some Disney Magic by not staying on property.

 

[domestic goddess]

I think that you would definitely miss the magic. The last time we were at WDW we went to the Gaylord Palms just to look around. My father lives in FL and he wanted to take us and show us around. I got the feeling of stuffiness almost as soon as we walked in the door. It was gorgeous and everything, but it did not feel at all kid friendly. We were not staying there and we did not use the pool and stuff, but this was just our overall feeling. Just my 2 cents!

We also always stay on site and LOVE it! The transportation situation is awesome and even though it may take a little time sometimes, it is much better that driving and parking, etc. We like the kid friendly atmosphere, dining, flexibility, activities, etc. We own DVC because we wanted more space with 5 of us(DH, Myself, DS12, DS9 and DD4). It works great for us! We can't wait, only 30 more days and we leave for another Christmas at WDW!!!

Have fun which ever way to choose!

 

[CaliforniaDreaming]

I think Gaylord Palms compares very well to the Grand Floridian. In one respect, with quality, Gaylord Palms wins hands down. But, if its the Disney Magic that is #1, you'd have to go with a Disney Deluxe. While the Gaylord Palms is an awesome luxury resort, there just isn't the Disney Magic.

However, I would definetly stay at the Gaylord Palms again. We were in Emerald Bay, the views were great (we had a "Florida View" which was a pool view, and an "Atrium View" which overlooked the huge atrium). Be aware, though, the Florida View rooms don't have balconies, while the Atrium View rooms do.

 

[brettb]

Originally posted by domestic goddess
...
We also always stay on site and LOVE it! The transportation situation is awesome and even though it may take a little time sometimes, it is much better that driving and parking, etc. ...

We stay on site (recently, only in MK monorail hotels), but drive everywhere except the MK. We have found driving and parking to be better than the buses.

We typically arrive early enough that we're parked so close to the entrance that we just walk in and if we switch parks (go between AK and Epcot or MGM on Disney Transportation!) or take a break and return to a park later in the day, we can usually find spaces near the entrance where people have left. A pro is that there are no hordes at bus stops to deal with when a parade or fireworks have just ended or a park has just closed. The con is that the car has been sitting in the sun all day and is hot--but at least you're guarenteed a seat. On our earlier trips, we found that even if we had to ride the parking lot trams, it was usually quicker than waiting for a bus somewhere. Perhaps they've gotten more efficient since way back when. Back then, we had annual passes and we found that we could get to and from parks (including the MK) from certain off-property hotels faster than we could do it on buses from on-property hotels. (The one exception was MK area hotels to and from the MK.)

My intent is not to contradict the domestic goddess--just to point out that there may not be a clear winner as far as the transportation goes. We're sort of hybrid folks. We stay at an MK resort because the MK is really our priority these days and we drive to the other parks. Perhaps some day we'll be more interested in the Epcot resort area. But based on our experiences quite some time ago, we don't feel that on-property Disney tranportation is necessarily better than driving from an off-property hotel, especially for the Disney resorts that don't have monorail, boat, or foot service to a park. Also, given the choice between driving and riding a bus, I'd pick driving. But that's another personal factor.

On our August '03 trip, we even got hosed by the Epcot resort Friendship boats (weather related delays) and the Epcot monorail (it started hailing and when we got to TTC, we were stranded on the platform -- and no, not in the monorail -- for quite some time during a thunderstorm complete with tornado warning). But that was just bad, bad luck.

Brett