Help me choose a resort!

[courtney1188]

In an effort to stop obsessing over COVID19 and our annual pass drama, I am looking ahead to our next trip, which is a year and a half away, but hey I like planning in advance and need a distraction from cancelling our trip this summer!

As much as I consider myself a Disney expert, I could use some opinions on this one - which Disney resort do you think is best for transportation? Our next trip will be a celebration for my parents, who are retiring, and my husband and I are treating the whole family (us, our two kids, my parents, my brother, and his girlfriend - so a total of 8 people) to Disney hotel rooms. We always stayed on property when I was a kid, but since then my parents bought into a timeshare they usually stay off site at. But for this trip, I'd like to splurge a bit and treat everyone to rooms that allow us to stay in the magical Disney bubble =) My dad has always been the kind of person to rent a car because he doesn't want to deal with Disney transportation, but with 8 of us on this trip, we'd be renting multiple vehicles, paying more, etc. I'm trying to convince him to give Disney transportation a try, but need to make sure I choose a resort that will be good for this.

We'll either be getting two (hopefully attached) rooms at a value or moderate (if a value, I'm definitely thinking Pop Century) or renting points to stay at a DVC resort. Our most visited park is Magic Kingdom, with second place being a tie between Epcot and Hollywood Studios. I would like a resort that does not share their bus and have multiple stops, and would like at least one option that involves direct non-bus transportation to a park, whether via walking, monorail, skyliner, or boat.

What would you choose within these parameters?

 

[Eastern]

This question is too hard for me but maybe someone else knows.

 

[SamFaniam]

I think the challenge with renting DVC in your situation is either having to take buses to all the parks, or having shared buses. The DVC resorts in the Magic Kingdom area do share buses. You would have monorail and or walking transportation to Magic Kingdom and Epcot.. The DVC resorts in the Epcot area allow walking and boat transportation to Epcot and MGM, but share buses to the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. POP would allow you to use the Skyliner for Epcot and MGM, and direct buses, which are almost never shared, to Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. In the past sometimes, when demand is low, POP has shared a bus with AOA. But, this is not common.

please sub DHS for MGM, I’m not sure I’ll ever remember to do that on my own!

 

[Stitch577]

I would suggest the Boardwalk. It has one of the best prices if renting DVC points by far and you can walk to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. If they don't wish to walk, there are also the boats to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. However, those do make stops between Swan/Dolphin, Yacht and Beach, and Boardwalk. I would even go as far as saying the Epcot Skyliner station is so close that you could consider it a Skyliner resort. In my experience, the buses normally aren't shared with any other resorts, but we have jumped on a Yacht and Beach bus at a park and walked from there so we didn't have to wait in the heat any longer. I always love the multiple transportation options while I'm there and being minutes away from Epcot is great. Bay Lake Tower is also a good option, although more expensive. You can walk right to Magic Kingdom in 10 minutes.

 

[courtney1188]

I think the challenge with renting DVC in your situation is either having to take buses to all the parks, or having shared buses. The DVC resorts in the Magic Kingdom area do share buses. You would have monorail and or walking transportation to Magic Kingdom and Epcot.. The DVC resorts in the Epcot area allow walking and boat transportation to Epcot and MGM, but share buses to the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. POP would allow you to use the Skyliner for Epcot and MGM, and direct buses, which are almost never shared, to Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. In the past sometimes, when demand is low, POP has shared a bus with AOA. But, this is not common.

please sub DHS for MGM, I’m not sure I’ll ever remember to do that on my own!

I’m surprised to hear that they all share buses! We stayed at Contemporary on our honeymoon, and I don’t recall sharing a bus with the other MK resorts, but now I’m questioning my memory.

 

[SamFaniam]

I’m surprised to hear that they all share buses! We stayed at Contemporary on our honeymoon, and I don’t recall sharing a bus with the other MK resorts, but now I’m questioning my memory.

The Contemporary sometimes shares with the Wilderness Lodge. And the Epcot resorts have been known to put all five on one route, Boardwalk, Swan, Dolphin,, Yacht and Beach. Although, usually it’s just Boardwalk with Swan and Dolphin. Depending on the time of day, and where you’re going, it is possible that one resort would just go out/ come back on one bus, but because that seemed important to the OP, I thought I should mention it.

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

For transit, I'd say Polynesian, but this is one of your most expensive options. You'd be looking at two studios or the very expensive bungalows. You can walk to the TTC for the direct Epcot monorail. You also have boat or monorail to MK. You would have to bus to DHS and AK, and the bus does share with the Grand Floridian, although I haven't had issues with it. I found even the shared bus to be less crowded than the non-shared bus at Pop.

For a moderate, I'd consider POR or POFQ. They have the boat to Disney Springs and they otherwise rely solely on buses. However, they're quite centrally located to the parks. POFQ has only one bus stop, but it often shares with POR, which has four stops of its own.

 

[The Sasquatch]

Beach Club! Best pool around and great for some down time with the whole family. Great dining options at the beach club, yacht club, boardwalk, dolphin and swan. Lots to do in that area and either walking or boat transportation to Epcot and studios. Skyliner transportation to other resorts and studios. If it’s food and wine or flower and garden you are right there. awesome location and beautiful resort.

 

[kylenne]

I have to second the Poly rec if transportation is your number 1 concern and MK is your most visited park followed by Epcot. Poly has the best transportation of the monorail resorts by far imo. That’s due to being able to quickly walk to TTC to get the Epcot monorail direct and CR’s walking advantage to MK will be only be proximity based by the time you go because GF’s walkway to MK will be done by then and Poly can use it too (it’ll be about the same distance as BC/YC to the Studios). MK is also the next stop on the GF/Poly resort launch from Poly and that little boat is a great alternative to the monorail at the end of the night. Bus sharing is totally not a problem either, 99% of the time Poly shares with GF and always gets dropped off first coming back from parks. The buses are never packed and the stops at parks are pretty much always at the front of the depots, right next to CR/WL which my tired feet appreciate at the end of the night.

The Crescent Lake resorts have the walking advantage to Epcot and HS but going to/from MK can be annoying depending on the buses and Skyliner resorts have the same problem. POFQ/POR might be more centrally located than Poly but in my experience last August it afforded no real time savings on the commute to parks any time besides rope drop given the bus sharing and time wasted going around POR’s 9 thousand stops before you ever get on the road. I gave up after a couple days of this and just took Lyfts.

 

[TTA Rider Matt]

I think you're going to get very similar answers here, in that Boardwalk, Beach Club DVC rentals give you walking distance to Epcot and HS, or Poly/Bay Lake Tower/Grand Floridian DVC rentals for monorail/boat/walk to MK. For DVC rentals, Bay Lake and Boardwalk are going to be the cheaper of the options. Swan/Dolphin are also generally less expensive than the Boardwalk/Yacht/Beach. I have never personally stayed at Art of Animation but my brother goes every year and stays there for 2 weeks, and he says it's his favorite hotel (he has a 8 and 5 year old), and being on the skyliner is convenient. For me, it's all about Boardwalk/Beach Club or a monorail resort.

 

[happymommy]

A lot depends on your budget. Cheapest would be three rooms at Pop Century, getting a room for you, husband and kids, a room for brother and girlfriend, and a room for your folks. You can request two to connect, but it’s not guaranteed. A 2 bedroom DVC will mean if your folks take the master, your family takes the studio, then brother and girlfriend are stuck on a sofa sleeper in the living room. Not as much privacy. So you could always add another unit, be it a one bedroom for your family for the space or a studio. It will end up costing a lot more even renting points.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

The Riviera has three bedrooms and use of the skyliner..
Not sure of the price cause thats everchanging

 

[shoegal9]

The buses aren't always shared. From the Poly, sometimes you share a bus to/from AK and DHS with the Grand Floridian. But not always. Perhaps it's during the slower hours that the buses are shared? But when staying at Boardwalk and the Polynesian we did have some direct park and Disney Springs buses.

Those would be my two suggestions. Rent DVC points and stay at the Polynesian or Boardwalk. The Polynesian is my favorite resort. But for me, nothing beats being able to walk to two parks. Sometimes I even cut through EPCOT to get to the monorail to MK (when hopping is allowed of course).

 

[disney144]

Are you sure that staying onsite is a good option for your family? With that many people, the timeshare may be a better option to give everyone more room. Your parents clearly enjoy certain aspects of the timeshare or they wouldn’t have gone that route. Also, there is no way that I, as the girlfriend, would be comfortable sharing a small room with my boyfriends parents.

it’s very generous of you to offer to pay for the hotel portion, but just be sure that you can afford a comfortable situation that everyone is happy with. Otherwise, it may be best to let people stay offsite.

 

[mcurran]

For a moderate, I'd consider POR or POFQ. They have the boat to Disney Springs and they otherwise rely solely on buses. However, they're quite centrally located to the parks. POFQ has only one bus stop, but it often shares with POR, which has four stops of its own.

I love these resorts but if transportation is a desire these are just terrible choices. POR has 4 stops in the resort for any bus prior to leaving. Relying on busses is just lousy there. I would pick either AOA or POP to have the skyliner option and use busses to the front door of MK (a big time saver over driving to that park) and bus to AK (does anyone know why the parking lot in that park is the hottest one in wdw?

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I love these resorts but if transportation is a desire these are just terrible choices. POR has 4 stops in the resort for any bus prior to leaving. Relying on busses is just lousy there. I would pick either AOA or POP to have the skyliner option and use busses to the front door of MK (a big time saver over driving to that park) and bus to AK (does anyone know why the parking lot in that park is the hottest one in wdw?

The OP mentioned the possibility of a moderate. All the moderates have multiple bus stops except POFQ, but even POFQ often shares with POR, which ends up making 5 stops. CSR has 4 bus stops, and CBR used to have 7, although I don't know how many it has currently.

For a Value, which OP also mentioned as a possibility, Pop or AOA are the clear transportation winners over the All Stars, given the Skyliner option.

 

[disneygolfer1985]

Based on your request, your best choice would be an Epcot resort. Can walk to 2 parks and is centrally located so the bus to MK and AK is not bad time wise, maybe 15 minutes. From a MK resort could be closer to 25 minutes and you will share buses. We typically go over the holidays, but since about 2015-2016, the boardwalk does not share transportation with the swan and dolphin.