Have your impressions about a resort been wrong?

[disneymouse]

just curious! have you ever thought you would LOVE staying at a particular resort only to have been wrong and visa versa thinking a resort wasn't your cup of tea only to be totally surprised about how much you actually enjoyed it????? disneymouse

 

[joats]

I thought I would love Coronado Springs Resort, but I was majorly disappointed. I did the research, checked out people's websites and was very excited to stay there but for me it was a let down. I don't think I could have researched more without going there. It didn't hold any magic for me.

On the flip side. I never had any interest in staying at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. But, after going over for a visit for dinner at Boma on our last trip, I'm hoping to add a few nights stay at AKL on our next trip to try it out. It really was a neat place and just having dinner there was not enough. I would love to stay there at somepoint (soon).

I think honestly, it just goes to show that there is a resort out there for everybody and just because some people LOVE or HATE a resort, you really don't know until you try it for yourself.

 

[Simba's Mom]

I've found myself very surprised at 3 resorts. Visited POFQ and wasn't at all impressed. Then we had to stay there once, since it was the only resort available with a particular discount. Really enjoyed it and we returned the following year. Then, when we joined DVC, we thought OKW would be "OK". We'd driven through there, thought it was essentially themeless and too spread out. But we stayed there (hey, new DVC members-have to check out all the resorts) and we love it! It's definitely DH's favorite. On the other hand, we expected to love staying at VWL since the lobby was so beautiful. but we were unimpressed when we stayed there.

 

[babybunrab]

Interesting, Joats that I had the opposite impression of CSR!

I didn't think it would be all that great (b/c of convention traffic) but I loved it! It's my favorite of the moderates. I'm staying there a fourth time in January for the marathon. I love how spread out it is, love the Pepper Market and think the theming is great. I've also had good luck with CMs and mousekeeping there as well.

 

[CamColt]

YES!
I am not an animal person and the African theme doesnt appeal to me at all. Animal Kingdom is my least favorite park and we usually only spend a half day there. There were only 2 resorts I had no desire to stay at and AKL was one of them.

Then, we went to check it out during our last trip. Walking into the lobby I was just WOWED! Its beautiful! The CMs there took the kids and colored with them on the floor. The African theme is done very well and I actually found it appealing. We walked around and checked out some animals right outside the balcony. That would be a cool view to have. We then walked downstiars near Boma, saw the little waterfall there and again, I found everything to look very nice. We grabbed some food at Mara and took it out to the tables by the pool. The pool was another nice feature, as were the drinks at the pool bar.

After our visit there I found myself saying I actually wouldnt mind staying there sometime and that is something I never thought Id say. The only thing really holding me back is that there is no transportation plusses, like the other deluxes. If there were, Id probably spend a few nights there some time.

 

[HRCCrazy]

We were staying at the CR duing mid Dec. and had dinner tickets to the Christmas show at the CR, when we walked into our room, I had a bad feeling about the whole stay. We had a wing room, which over looked the walkway to the wing, so everybody who was walking to there wing room, was looking right into our room. The noise of the resort reminds me of staying at a downtown (any city) hotel, all pavement, no greens. I guess we were spolied by DXL.
We are now working on staying at a new resort each visit, so I hope to never have that feeling again.

HRCCrazy

 

[TWOOD]

My 1st impression of POR was just from people being dropped off by Mears before we got dropped off @ WL. I thought, "Yuck, I'll never stay here..." - WHATEVER! It's our now our favorite resort & we've stayed there over 10 times, & will be back @ Christmas, hopefully (wishing for those great AP rates) - I don't even remember why I ended up trying it, but we LOVE it!

 

[Demosthenes]

I was amazed at how much I enjoyed the Dolphin. I wrote a long post about my disdain for the place, and how that morphed into awe.

 

[travellady]

When I first decided to stay onsite a few years ago, I joined the Disney Club. I called for ressies and the gal I spoke to talked me into AKL. They had a special since the resort was fairly new, I hadn't been to Disney for quite awhile, and had only stayed offsite. I wasn't big on the African theme but thought my then 8 year old DS would like it. I thought what the heck, I'll pick something else next time.

Boy was I amazed when I walked into the lobby to check in. I was overwhelmed with the grandiosity of it all. We had a Savannah view and when I woke up the next morning, went out to the lobby to be greated by a couple of zebras.

Though the room was slightly small, it was fine - we were either out on the balcony, at the parks, or sleeping.

This past April I couldn't decide between the Poly or CR so split my stay and did both. I know my husband really wanted to stay at the CR and I really wanted the Poly. Well, though the Poly is nice, I didn't get the same feeling many of the posters on this board talk about. It was kind of dark, almost dank in the room we had and because we travel to Hawaii fairly frequently, it seemed like an imitation to us and more of the way Hawaii was back in the 70's, not the way it is now.

I was pleasantly surprised with the CR. We had a tower room and loved going out and looking down into Chef Mickey's and watching the monorail come through. Not to mention the awesome view of Magic Kingdom we had from our 10th floor balcony.

Next stop WL - though we have resorts we really like and some we like less, I want to give most of them a try. Probably not the values at this stage in our lives but may consider a moderate one of these days (especially as my son gets older and starts dragging a friend along - we'll need 2 rooms at that point!)

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

Yep, in no way did I ever want to try the Poly. I even made a comment to my DH on a past trip when we went past it on the monorail, "Who would ever want to stay at the Poly? Look at it! Yuck! Well we got a really good price on Poly conceirge in 2002. Know what? LOVE IT!!! One of my fave resorts!

 

[Strawberry Lemonade]

A friend recommended the CBR - she loves it and stays there every time she goes. We stayed there last year and were so excited, but in the long run we were not impressed. It's way to big and spread out for our taste.

I'm also afraid of spiders and they tend to lurk among all the tropical foliage.

 

[johnsonet]

I had stayed at GF 5 or 6 times and then AKL concierge and thought WL wouldn't be "deluxe" enough for my tastes but I wanted to try it at least once...especially b/c it's such a favorite with Disney lovers. So I split a stay there with AKL over Spring Break and just LOVED the WL. I had the greatest feeling while there. It is a wonderful resort and I will definitely go back someday.

 

[goofy4tink]

We really looked forward to staying at the Polynesian last summer. Our first deluxe resort. Well, long story short...it was nice but we didn't love it the way we thought we would. But, then when my dd,10, and I decided to make a quick, last minute trip to WDW before Christmas in '03, we stayed at AllStarMusic. Figured we could 'make do' with it for 5 nights. I mean, how bad could it be?? Well, we were so wrong. It was quite wonderful. Dd loved it more than the Polynesian (and that was her dream resort!) and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. So, I guess our preconceived notions are sometimes wrong. Now, let's see what happens when I stay at the CR for the first time in August.

 

[susy]

After all the hoopla about how great the Epcot resorts are, we stayed at the BC. I had been wanting to stay there for three years! It was wonderful, but not $100-more-a-night-than-the-WL-wonderful, if that makes sense!

 

[dcfromva]

just curious! have you ever thought you would LOVE staying at a particular resort only to have been wrong and visa versa thinking a resort wasn't your cup of tea only to be totally surprised about how much you actually enjoyed it?????

Yes! I am not really into theming (or maybe I didn't used to be ). I did not think I would like the Polynesain because because of the theming. We have stayed there 3 times and it is now a big favorite of mine.

The other was Beach Club. I just don't like the beach, sand, seashells or pastel colors. I reluctantly stayed there one year because they had the best price on a room. I have learned to really like the decor because of the convenience of the location. As a result of our stay there--when we found out they were building a DVC property at the BC, we decided that we would join DVC as soon as they offered it. (And we love our BCV! )

The third was probably the Contemporary. It was the first Disney property that we ever stayed at. At that time, we did not really have any previous experience staying at a "resort" and we didn't really know what to expect. Would it be worth the price as opposed to staying at a way cheaper price off-site? It was so wonderful that on our last day we were supposed to transition to an offsite hotel (to save money), but no one wanted to leave! We ended up cancelling our offsite hotel and extending our stay at the Contemp by 1 day.


VWL is probably another one. We just stayed there for the first time in April. I really love the theming at WL and I wondered how the DVC property could compete with something as magnificent as the WL lobby (and the fireplace), et'c. But, they did a wonderful job! I loved walking down the walkway and smelling that wonderful pine smell. I really felt like we were in Yellowstone. The wood carvings and the decor inside the DVC property were really wonderful, too.

-DC

 

[mirlow]

I was never really interested in the WL theme. On one of our winter trips I was trying to save some money so we booked a standard room. We got upgraded and could see the MK fireworks at night. This past Jan. we got upgraded again to a courtyard view. We love the resort for our winter visits. The only problem is now my youngest is 3 and we are officially a family of five and can no longer fit in a standard room

 

[hookedup]

I was very impressed with the CBR. We had a corner king room and it was large and clean and quite nice. Better than my expectations.
We had a split stay with 2 nights there and 4 nights at a dlx. We did not want to leave and move after our first 2 nights there. I could have been quite happy staying the whole 6 nights.
I think the moderates are a good value when you can get a deal on them!

 

[dreamflight99]

Originally posted by TWOOD
My 1st impression of POR was just from people being dropped off by Mears before we got dropped off @ WL. I thought, "Yuck, I'll never stay here..." - WHATEVER! It's our now our favorite resort & we've stayed there over 10 times, & will be back @ Christmas, hopefully (wishing for those great AP rates) - I don't even remember why I ended up trying it, but we LOVE it!

When DD was very young...~We thought we would try a Moderate resort (we always stayed in a deluxe CL resort). So we opted for a "split" between the CBR & POR. We stayed CBR first (lovely), then over to the POR.

We loved both, especially POR. We had a corner room, on the second floor of an end wing in OAK MANOR overlooking the river & courtyard. The convenience of everything, the MAGIC of housekeeping (arranging DD's plush animal menagerie in the window like a scene from Macy's on Fifth ave during Christmas!), the entire AURA...was incredible. I never, ever thought we would feel so strongly about these mods. We returned again, (split POR with a deluxe), and enjoyed every moment. We never experienced anything "negative" about these resorts. We still recall these visits with fondness and smiles.

TTFN...DF99

 

[mickeymouse710]

I like all WDW resorts, but the one I was the most suprised at was ASMu. We had never even considered staying in a value resort but when a short, unexpected trip popped up, we booked ASMu, thinking how bad can it be. Boy were we pleasantly surprised. For the price ($49.00 per night), this resort was a steal!!

 

[ScottOKW2K]

Only once and this experience was recent - last weekend. We have just returned from a 13 night WDW trip - 1 night POR, 5 nights OKW, 2 nights Poly, and 5 nights Beach Club Villas. Loved POR (again), loved OKW as always, and found the we enjoyed staying at BCV this trip more than staying at BWV in the Epcot resort area several years ago.

Our only disappointment was the Poly. The resort is nice, and the location is hard to beat but it just didn't bowl us over. The room was nice and the resort was as many have described but our main problem was that both nights that we were there all of us had trouble getting a good nights sleep. The beds felt uncomfortable, and we heard more noise from other rooms than we expected. This was actually the first time staying at any Disney resort where we felt the noise from other rooms was objectionable.

It just didn't "WOW" us. And with the rates for the Poly being $100 to $150 more than POR or AKL it won't be on our list as possible choices in the future.