Help! Which resort for our Disneymoon?

[PrincessKelly86]

Hi everyone!

My fiance and I are getting married June 1, 2013 (only a few more months to go!), and it looks like we are (85% sure) going to Walt Disney World for our honeymoon!

We are planning for one week, have a budget of $2500 (with a little wiggle room to go up if we need to), and we know airfare will be about $500 total roundtrip. Our first choice is the Polynesian, but even with the current discount promotion it's out of our price range. So we are looking at either Animal Kingdom Lodge or possibly dropping down to a moderate resort and staying at Coronado Springs. I've never stayed at a deluxe resort, so I'm not sure how "worth it" it is as compared to moderates. AKL will push us just slightly above budget, which we know, but he says since it's our honeymoon this isn't the time to sacrifice accommodations just to save $200.

Here's our situation: We technically had a $4000 budget for our honeymoon if I was willing to sacrifice my Disney World fund ($1000) and add it to the $3000 his parents are giving us (SO kind of them!). That budget basically knocked out everywhere we thought we'd possibly be going (Japan, UK, France). We can do a Caribbean location for a week, and barely have enough money for food, or an all inclusive in the Dominican Republic and I give up all of my saved up Disney money. He knows how much I love Disney, so his compromise was that we take the $4000, use $2500 on a Disney honeymoon and then save the other $1500 to start a fund for an international trip to Japan. I agreed (naturally!), but I know he isn't really "into" Disney, so he's not very excited about it.

What do you guys think? Is AKL worth the slightly higher price tag to stay at a deluxe resort for a honeymoon (considering DF isn't all that whipped up about going to Disney anyway)? Or is Coronado Spring just as nice for a lower price? Or should we look at a different resort entirely? Thoughts? Suggestions? Help?

Thanks in advance!

 

[bradleyjess]

For your honeymoon, I'd stay at a deluxe if it's possible. I'd also suggest renting DVC Points for a deluxe resort. The price works out to be about the same as a moderate for a deluxe room. That's what I'm doing!

The DIS has a board dedicated to renting points, or you can go through a site like David's Vacation Club so you don't have to deal with owners individually.

 

[asunnysideup]

I can't recommend AKL enough! It is SUCH a gorgeous resort and really offers an "away from it all" feeling more so than other Disney resorts.

 

[Talli16]

I would def pick a resort with a king size bed which funny but a lot of deluxe's you cannot guarantee one like some mod and values. CBR is gorgeous and will give you that caribbean feel and you can def book a king bed room there.

 

[Talli16]

imo i do not like coronado for a honeymoon. too many conventions and not romantic. mod wise i would def do carribean beach. pretty, great ts restaurant, king bed, romantic, etc

 

[lurkyloo]

I second the suggestion to rent Disney Vacation Club points. It sounds scary at first, but once you understand it, it is the ONLY way to go. I wrote up an explanation HERE. Animal Kingdom Villas shouldn't be too booked up yet, either. We actually stayed 4 different places on our honeymoon because I wanted to try so many, and we used DVC points for Animal Kingdom Lodge and the Beach Club. As the pp said, we paid what we would've paid to stay at a Moderate resort and got much nicer accommodations.

 

[PrincessKelly86]

Wow thanks for all of the quick responses everyone!

I hadn't even considered renting DVC points, so I'm definitely going to look into that. Better accommodations for less money? How can I say no?

I think if we don't do DVC points, we'll do AKL since it looks so fantastic and comes so highly recommended. I think it'd be worth the money! I'm glad to know that several people recommend CBR over CS. I've stayed there once before and definitely liked the tropical feel it has! I'll show it to DF tonight!

Thanks for the link to your DVC point renting post lurkyloo! I'll be reading through it while cooking dinner tonight.

 

[marshmeloh]

Wow thanks for all of the quick responses everyone!

I hadn't even considered renting DVC points, so I'm definitely going to look into that. Better accommodations for less money? How can I say no?

I think if we don't do DVC points, we'll do AKL since it looks so fantastic and comes so highly recommended. I think it'd be worth the money! I'm glad to know that several people recommend CBR over CS. I've stayed there once before and definitely liked the tropical feel it has! I'll show it to DF tonight!

Thanks for the link to your DVC point renting post lurkyloo! I'll be reading through it while cooking dinner tonight.

I'm going to 3rd the Dvc point rental. Were doing that for our honeymoon, went through a broker and are paying about a thousand for 6 nights in a studios old key west plus one night in a savannah view room at animal kingdom. Plus, you can save on breakfast by utilizing the kitchenette and maybe even bringing some nonperishables like coffee and cereal from home. Can't beat it in my opinion!