Favorite Deluxe Resort

[izzy25]

What is your favorite deluxe resort and why? We are planning for a 2017 trip to Disney and I'm starting to lean more and more towards a Deluxe resort.

Thank you in advance for your input! Happy planning!

 

[TJA]

Something very important to us is overall ambiance of the resort, location of the resort in relation to parks (walking path to park, monorail), and views from the resort. That puts a lot of different choices in there for us. We've loved BC for many years, mainly when our kids were babies/toddlers as the sandy bottom pool was almost better than the parks. However, now our kids are almost teens , and we've grown to love Poly for the reasons listed above -- the atmosphere is very tropical and relaxing, monorail, TTC, Ohana dinner, and the views at Poly are the best we've seen so far. Having said that, we've recently returned from our first stay at GF and we were blown away by how much we enjoyed it! The main building offered great shopping, the band or piano always playing beautiful music, monorail, short boat ride back from MK, great balcony and views!

We've also stayed at CR and loved the walking path to MK...also loved having Chef Mickeys right there when our kids were really into that restaurant. Again, like BC this resort was special to us when our kids were younger. We will be staying at BWI in a couple months and suspect we will love it there as well -- we stayed there when our kids were around age 2 and thought it was just "ok," but I'm thinking now that they're a bit older we will feel differently.

We've also stayed at WL and AKL and while we think they are both architecturally gorgeous, we did not care for the room size (kind of cramped for our family of 4) or the bus service. The view at WL could've been pretty good but we had a closed panel balcony so we really couldn't enjoy it too much. AKL obviously has the nice view of animals if your family is into that. All in all, we prefer the resorts that offer walking paths to parks and/or monorail service.

So right now, Poly and GF seem to fit the bill for us as favorites. I do think your favorite may depend on the ages of your kids (if you have kids...) and what type of resort atmosphere you enjoy.

 

[Tambu Lounge]

My Favorite is the Polynesian Village Resort , the island atmosphere is what keeps me comming back , very relaxing

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

We have stayed at Poly and Yacht Club and visited Grand Floridian, Boardwalk and Contemporary and our favorite is Yacht Club. We like to be able to walk to Epcot for a snack/meal/drink or just to walk around, the pool at Yacht Club is clearly the best on property and we always take a midday pool break and you can walk or take a boat to Hollywood Studios. We don't spend as much time at MK as we used to since the kids are older. Yacht Club just offers more of what we are looking for now.

 

[margot31]

I have only stayed on 1 deluxe 2 times...but checked out some of the others at christmas this last dec.

Wilderness Lodge is where I have stayed and have really enjoyed staying there. My first time was in the villa's for a huge family trip and that was nice. This last trip was just my husband and I and stayed in the main lodge and really enjoyed it. We had a pool view and it was lots of fun. Loved being able to see the light parade at night from the pool. I thought the room was just fine for the size just for DH and I. Love taking the boat to the MK.

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

We love the EPCOT resorts because our kids are older and love the nightlife of the Boardwalk and love to be able to walk right to the countries of EPCOT. We also love the MK resorts - especially the CR because you can walk to MK. We do love the Poly too - we eat there all the time. We didn't love the GF - the CMs are not as friendly as the other resorts. Plus we stayed in the Sugar Loaf building and would rather have stay in the main building.

 

[buzznina]

We have enjoyed all our deluxe stays, truthfully we have enjoyed all our stays no matter which level we stayed at. We pick the resorts just based on their theme. Location, transportation, indoor/outdoor hallways are not a big deal for our family. So, for us it would be GF, just a perfect resort especially around the holidays. Then it would be BW, AKL, CR (CR more for a sentimental reason, since that was the very first resort I stayed at when I was a child, so many moons ago), then WL. POLY, so far, has been our least favorite, we had a great trip but just not a resort we feel like we want to go back too.

 

[izzy25]

I do think your favorite may depend on the ages of your kids (if you have kids...) and what type of resort atmosphere you enjoy.

We have 1 daughter who will be 9 next year when we would be going and i swear was a fish in her previous life because she loves to swim! Beach Club would probably be her choice because of the pool

 

[westie55]

For me, AKL had the most "wow" factor and the best immersive theming. Despite the distance that some complain about, I prefer AKL to the WL and Epcot area deluxes. I haven't stayed at Poly, GF or Contemporary yet but hope to do so soon.

 

[AshleeH]

We enjoy Contemporary/Bay Lake Tower for the ease of access to Magic Kingdom and I've never stayed in Grand Floridian, but I'm sure I would love it and it would top the list! However, Animal Kingdom - Kidani Village - was the most peaceful, relaxing place we have ever stayed. Waking up early and enjoying that balcony while watching the animals - there's nothing like it.

 

[lustergirl]

I like the Animal Kingdom Lodge for the animals and the savannah view. I also like the Poly.

 

[Eastern]

We have stayed at BWI, BC, Poly, and CR. When the kids were young, I liked the pool at BC. When they were teens, they liked the atmosphere at BWI. Our current favorite is Poly. I still want to try the others but Poly will be hard to beat overall for food, location, and theming.

 

[Shellyb84]

We have 1 daughter who will be 9 next year when we would be going and i swear was a fish in her previous life because she loves to swim! Beach Club would probably be her choice because of the pool

Sounds like my DD!

Beach Club is our favorite, closely followed by the Poly. Location of both resorts is great. We just prefer the relaxing atmosphere at the BC a little more, we're big Epcot fans, and we spend a pretty good bit of time at the resort so the pool is very important to us. Stormalong Bay is fantastic! DD would be fine not even going to the parks with that amazing pool!

 

[busymommy2pink]

We have 1 daughter who will be 9 next year when we would be going and i swear was a fish in her previous life because she loves to swim! Beach Club would probably be her choice because of the pool

My two daughters have loved and preferred beach club since they were very little. We've stayed at BC and AKL, but have toured and spent extensive time at all the deluxe resorts. Our girls have made us promise we will always do beach club, so for now that is what we will be doing. If your daughter is a fish I would stay there, but have a resort day in the middle of your trip!! Our kids love this day and we always do the pool party, movie on the beach and camp fire this day.

AKL is gorgeous, but we didn't like the buses, especially back after leaving magic kingdom. We have decided we will stay here again, but only as a resort only stay or we must have a car.

We are doing a resort only 2 nights at grand Floridian next May for Mother's Day before we start our beach club and park part of the trip. This is for me, they have very little interest being here.

The do love poly. It's ambiance, torch lighting ceremony, lush grounds, beach with the MK fireworks is all incredible. I want to stay here and so do they, but it'll have to be our next split stay.

Boardwalk is lovely, but doesn't speak to me or the girls. Plus they are terrified of clowns and my daughter almost cried when we had to stop and use the rest room by the pool on our walk from Epcot to Hollywood studios lol.

Wilderness lodge is too close to what we do here (muskoka cottage country in Canada) so we've never been willing to spend the money to experience what we have at home. We want s different feel. That being said. We loooove the breakfast at whispering canyon cafe and highly recommend it.

Contemporary is another one that doesn't speak to us. Doesn't scream Disney in the rooms. The only feature w edo love is the walking path to MK. At night we will usually walk to contemp and get a taxi there back to our home resort.

 

[McKelly]

AKL and Poly are our two favorite. We like the theming of both and both have decent food courts, which we find important on vacations to Disney.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

We have only stayed in 2 deluxe resorts (The Contemporary & The Grand Floridian). Out of those 2 I think I liked the Contemporary better. I liked everything being under 1 roof and not a far walk from the monorail. I also liked the fact that you could walk to the MK from there. Another fact that I loved was the view, we have TPV room and it was truly magical to wake up every morning and see Cinderella's Castle or to go to bed every night and see the Castle all lit up! My son also liked the water slide there...The pool itself wasn't as nice as the Grand Floridian's thought bc I liked Grand Floridian's zero entry pool better than the Contemporary. My older DS also loved the arcade in the Contemporary. We really enjoyed our stay at the Contemporary. The Grand Floridian also had its perks. We liked the zero entry pool and the grounds were just gorgeous...the staff there were very friendly and helpful as well. Next year we are going to try and stay at the Poly. We like the Poly a lot bc we eat there often on trips so we are going to try staying there...although I will price match resorts and I think it will come down to who has the better deal when it comes time to book. My older son really loved Contemporary but we shall see what happens!

 

[FantasiaMagic]

I love the BC - location, pool, feeling, everything about it is wonderful in my eyes

I also love all the monorail resort, POLY is probably my favorite though!

 

[Mollydolly334]

The deluxes I have stayed at are Poly, YC, and BC, although we have visited every deluxe except the WL. My personal favorite has always been the Poly, the theming is gorgeous and the location is prime (although similar to buzznina, it also has large sentimental value for me). However, we are staying GF next trip, so my opinion may change . But for now, I am a die-hard Poly fan and always plan at least a visit there every trip. WL is also on my bucket list.

 

[mickeynut1]

What is your favorite deluxe resort and why? We are planning for a 2017 trip to Disney and I'm starting to lean more and more towards a Deluxe resort.

Thank you in advance for your input! Happy planning!

We've stayed at WL, AKL, BC, Poly, & GF and while we loved them all, the Poly is our favorite for the following reasons:

~ relaxing tropical atmosphere
~ large, spacious rooms with all rooms having a daybed
~ 2 monorail stops from MK
~ 5-7 minute walk from the TTC to catch the Epcot monorail
~ Captain Cooks is great for quick CS meals/snacks
~ convenient to a variety of great dining options at the GF and CR
~ nice pool that backs up to the beach with a distant view of the castle

With that said, the GF runs a very close second, followed by WL/AKL and then BC.

 

[ArmyWife3-4]

We are die hard WL lovers! Having lived in Alaska for some time, we love the rustic, woodsy feel and all of the cozy nooks. Plus, you can't beat the boat to MK!