Do you actually get to use your resorts amenities

[Disfan454]

So we are planning a February 2013 trip to WDW and staying at in the cabins at Fort Wilderness. They have the pool, outdoor movies etc... I was thinking, is it worth it to stay there because of those extras when more then likely you will be spending most of your day at the parks then come home and crash. Just wondering. I have only been to WDW once before and we stayed offsite. Do you get to take advantage of extras offered at your resorts?

 

[dopeyluvsgrumpy]

We do. We have young kids so we always head back to the resort for a mid afternoon break. We usually pick a resort based on the hotel pool and activities are a big plus on days when the parks are busy and we need to get away for a bit.

 

[Daisy-J&D]

So we are planning a February 2013 trip to WDW and staying at in the cabins at Fort Wilderness. They have the pool, outdoor movies etc... I was thinking, is it worth it to stay there because of those extras when more then likely you will be spending most of your day at the parks then come home and crash. Just wondering. I have only been to WDW once before and we stayed offsite. Do you get to take advantage of extras offered at your resorts?

It depends on how you experience Disney. We do use the extras at the resorts and take them into consideration when booking but we have a young DD and spend more time at a resort than a family with no kids or older kids. We'll spend entire mornings/afternoons by the pool.
BEFORE we had DD we would see the pool maybe once or twice at night but it wasn't as common.

 

[Disneyhenry]

We use the pool, I think if we stayed at the cabins we would go for horse rides and see the animals for sure. We have never done the movie thing, I think we will next trip for sure. My sis has 5 kids, they use then, pretty much all of them.

 

[dansdad]

We do. We like to schedule in 1-2 resort days. This allows us to go from RD to close on park days. We don't leave the parks for a mid day break. Our resort days are extremely helpful in keeping everyone happy and sane.

 

[clanmcculloch]

I think there are two types of WDW guests. There are commando park tourers and there are are those who see the resorts as part of their experience. For commando park tourers I'd say that the type of bed in the room is what's most important when choosing a resort since their rooms are basically a place to crash at night. Choose the cheapest resort that has the type of beds which will make you happy. For those who see the resort as part of their experience then ammenities are very important.

We're the second type of WDW guest. We spend only a few hours per day in the parks and take every third or fourth day off as a day completely around the resort. We definitely take advantage of the extras offered at our resort. That doesn't mean that we don't stay at value resorts. Even at Pop Century we enjoy the extras including little things like playing Twister, dancing in the food court, taking a stroll around the resort to see what's written on all the year signs and so much more. We'll be staying in a cabin during our upcoming stay. We're definitely planning on checking out the movies, seeing the horses, relaxing on the beach and playing tetherball and other games, swimming a lot and so much more. We love our resort time.

 

[Kay1]

We don't as much as we probably should. I'd just add that February weather can be a little iffy, though I'm sure you know that.

Have fun.

 

[JennyDrake]

I am an adult and I travel solo or with another adult. We regularly use the pools, but not the other extras. This is one reason why I normally stay at value resorts.

 

[TurtleGirl3]

Typically when my family goes the answer would be no. Our room is pretty much just a place to sleep. However, we were there in March for spring break and on our DHS day we left early and let the kids spend the evening playing in the pool and it was great. Usually for us though we are there during the months you wouldn't swim (well those of us from Florida anyway).

 

[Heather1979]

I think there are two types of WDW guests. There are commando park tourers and there are are those who see the resorts as part of their experience. For commando park tourers I'd say that the type of bed in the room is what's most important when choosing a resort since their rooms are basically a place to crash at night. Choose the cheapest resort that has the type of beds which will make you happy. For those who see the resort as part of their experience then ammenities are very important.

QUOTE]



I couldn't have said it better myself. When it was just DH & I, we were commando park tourers and Pop fit our needs. Now with 2 small children in tow, we are of the latter camp. I spent more time walking around AKL, swimming, seeing what's around, etc. On our last trip we scheduled a down afternoon/evening at the hotel and it worked out nicely for our family. This next trip which will be 8 days, we are already thinking of doing this twice.

 

[jlk806]

We always take time to enjoy the resorts we are staying at. We visit every year at the same time and stay 9-11 days. We are half-day park-goers. LOL. We have been to every park so many times we are very casual about our touring plans, and just kind of go wherever we feel. The only thing that dictates which park we will visit that day (we dont buy hoppers) is any dining reservations. We will often visit only in the morning and stay till after noon and then return to resort. Or stay at resort and go to park later in the day if we want to do the fireworks. We always make sure we have plenty of time to relax and enjoy the resort also, our son loves to play in the pools, poolside games if they have them, etc. We are on vacation after all, and I would never keep up with the morning-close park goers, but I guess we have been so many times that we vacation differently.

 

[wesjohnson]

For us, the benefits of a Disney resort are not worth it. It is nice to have the magical touches, but you really do pay for them. We recently began staying at the Wyndham Bonnet Creek and we can book a two bedroom/two bath unit with kitchen and washer/dryer for about $120/night (for a family of six). We would have to stay at the Cabins at Fort Wilderness and the rate there is about 2X as much, $300/night for six of us. Bonnet Creek is a very nice resort with awesome pools and extras. Plus, we enjoy renting a car and being able to get groceries and at least eat breakfast at home. Finally, we've found that we are very rarely in our room while at WDW. So, any resort amenities are wasted on us. We have saved a lot of money by staying off site.

 

[madalex]

So we are planning a February 2013 trip to WDW and staying at in the cabins at Fort Wilderness. They have the pool, outdoor movies etc... I was thinking, is it worth it to stay there because of those extras when more then likely you will be spending most of your day at the parks then come home and crash. Just wondering. I have only been to WDW once before and we stayed offsite. Do you get to take advantage of extras offered at your resorts?

We do not spend most of the day at parks and then come home and crash. We spend lots of time at the resort (this is true whether I am traveling with my kids or doing an adults only trip). As a result, we can and do take advantage of the amenities offered at the resorts.

 

[kanderson89]

I think there are two types of WDW guests. There are commando park tourers and there are are those who see the resorts as part of their experience. For commando park tourers I'd say that the type of bed in the room is what's most important when choosing a resort since their rooms are basically a place to crash at night. Choose the cheapest resort that has the type of beds which will make you happy. For those who see the resort as part of their experience then ammenities are very important.

Exactly!! We tend to go in the winter, and we pack our bathing suit, but honestly, have only used the pool once. But then again, we're not really pool people that much. I do like creature comforts, but for us (two adults) that means access to decent coffee, a balcony with a nice view, good food, and proximity. Pool and "activities" are optional. It all depends on how you roll.

 

[tink20]

The only reason I would stay at the cabins would be for the kitchen and to sleep 6. If I only needed the space I would get two rooms at a value, so I could have two bathrooms. I don't want to cook on vacation, so we would not need the kitchen. This is just my personal preference. Hope you have a wonderful trip, take time to stop and smell the roses.

 

[LazyDaisy]

We haven't really thus far, but this trip we're doing things a bit differently. When we lived in FL and came all the time, the hotel was just basically a place to spend the night so we didn't have to go home between the parks. Now that we're spending a few more days there (though a week is much, much too short!) I think we'll be relaxing a bit more. Especially since we've pretty much DONE most of the parks already... We still are going to enjoy our fav restaurants, and the food and wine fest, and some of the rides that we just love, but it's not going to be a mad rush. Plus, I'm pregnant, so I'm sure it'll be nice to go back in the afternoon and take a longer break before dinner reservations. We never really did the midday break before, we would do rope drop to mid-afternoon and then just go on to dinner and then bed. But now the kids have later bedtimes too so there will be more evening to enjoy. Thus... we want to have some pool time scheduled in. (Esp. now that we don't have a pool of our own - swimming is an event, now, instead of an everyday thing.)

 

[*Fantasia*]

We no longer do park commando where we go every day to the park from morning to dusk. We take mid-day breaks. During our break from the park, we take naps, just relax in the room, we go the the arcade room, we go swimming, and we eat at the food court.

When we are not at the park, we just hang at our pool resort, food court, arcade room, and in our room. We also utilize the bus and take the boat ride to Downtown Disney when we are staying at POFQ.

 

[DCLbrideSept2009]

We do like to use the resort amenities, which is why we like to do longer trips, like 10 days (although that's turning out to be not enough time even!) Right now, we are at Old Key West. The kids like going to the pool and the different activities at the pool. They also like the community center. We mix between rope drop days and late nghts. We are always at the resort midday for rest/swim and enjoying the resort. I keep saying that one of these times we should do a trip without parks, just the resort, downtown Disney etc. But I don't know if that will ever actually happen.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Our style of travel has changed over the years and we now allow ourselves more resort time. Now, we are able to take advantage of the resort ammenities such as the main pool, the quiet pools, the marina, the surrey bike and bicycle rentals.

 

[sunnysideup3]

We stayed at POR last year and used their boat transportation to DTD a lot. We also watched (parts of) the movies a couple times as they were right outside our building...Swam once in the main pool, once in a quiet pool. Just depends on your schedule and exhaustion level.