Hotel for 2 nights precruise in June, Port Orleans/Animal Kingdom/Swan/Yacht?

[jessandtwo]

We are going to be at Disney for a 2 night stay prior to going on a cruise in mid June. It’ll be me, my husband and our two teenage boys (17 & 16). The boys will be basically doing the park from rope drop to closing and park hoping. Dh and I will be doing magic kingdom and Disney Springs, we may also do Epcot. We have a room booked at Doubletree in Disney Springs but I think it will be better to be on the Disney transportation system and some of the reviews for that hotel haven’t been that great.

I am currently debating between the following resorts:

Port Orleans French Quarter
Animal Kingdom
Swan/Dolphin (can get premium studio at Dolphin for same cost at Yacht club)
Yacht club

Any pros/cons/advice would be appreciated.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

My vote would be for the Yacht Club or the Swan (with caveats). You mention going to EP and the boys will be park hopping. YC will be the most convenient, spacious and will offer, at the very least, 2 queen beds (with possibly a day bed as well). What room are you considering at the Swan? The premium studios at Dolphin only have one real bed and a pullout which might be very uncomfortable for the boys. AKL is not very convenient for your purposes, neither is POFQ. I love the Swan, but if you need to use Magical Express, you won't be able to utilize it there.

I would do YC or Swan (as long as you don't need DME as booking transportation on your own will add to your costs).

 

[TXAKDisneyFan]

We stayed at the Boardwalk Inn the night before our cruise (March) and Beach Club for a couple nights after. This allowed us to take DME from/to the airport; and we met a rep for the cruise transportation in the Boardwalk lounge and she walked us to the bus.

As far as travel to/from the parks, we like the boardwalk area bc you can easily walk or take a boat to both EPCOT and DHS (no waiting for packed buses). You could also take the monorail to MK if you don’t mind a hike through EPCOT, but we do take the bus there. The Port Orleans bus lines were pretty crazy last summer - we waited for half an hour plus several times before any even showed up, and/or we had to wait for several buses bc the lines were so long. I’d like to stay at AKL sometime (it’s beautiful and we like the dining options), it’s just really inconvenient.

Also, the Yacht/Beach Club pool is really nice.