How Do You Make Your Resort Choice?

[AllieBoo]

Probably the most important to us is price, so we have worked our way through staying at all of the moderates. Last June though , we decided to try the Yacht Club, since there was a summer discount available, and we absolutely loved it! We will most likely be staying deluxe going forward as long as I can find a discount. Being able to walk to Epcot, which is one of our favorite parks, was just awesome! If you are trying to decide between the Contemporary and the Boardwalk, I would try Boardwalk. The location is fantastic, and that whole area around the lake is beautiful.

 

[sallytigger]

Location, amenities (husband likes a gym; kids care about pools), but mainly what is available when the discounts come out.

We love Disney planning, so we talk about what our dream top three would be, which are off the table for whatever reason, and what would be second level choices.

Waiting for summer discounts to come out so I can take our family list of choices and pick best room available.

 

[gorkt]

I am going through the selection process in my head right now.

My criteria are:
1) Novel location - with all the variety at WDW I like trying a different resort every time. I don't go all that often so I still have a lot of places to try.
2) Space - DH prefers having a separate bed away from the kids, so that limits us usually to DVC, wilderness cabins or family suites. I am going to try to talk him into a Poly villa this year though because I think the location has too many benefits to pass up. We usually rent DVC points.
3) Cost - Since we only go every 3-4 years, cost is less of a factor, but it is still surely a factor. It prices us out of Grand floridian or Bay lake Villas.
4) Amenities/dining/transportation options - we stayed at the AoA family suites last time, and while we did not care for the cartoony look of the resort, we loved the fact that the central location meant short bus rides everywhere, plus we were close to the main hall so we had a very short walk to the food court and bus stops. It really makes the daily flow so much better. The mornings were more leisurely and I could grab a quick snack anytime. I will definitely put more thought into that aspect of planning.

Our choices for our next trip are:
1) Poly villa - provided I can talk DH into not having a separate room. Fantastic location, pool, dining options etc...
2) Old Key West - lots of space, inexpensive, but a pain to get anywhere unless we rent a car, which I really dislike doing.
3) Animal Kingdom lodge - the most expensive of the three options, especially with a savannah view. While there are a lot of dining options, I think, from our experience at Boma years ago, it isn't our families favorite type of cuisine. It would be cool to see the animals though.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Probably the most important to us is price, so we have worked our way through staying at all of the moderates. Last June though , we decided to try the Yacht Club, since there was a summer discount available, and we absolutely loved it! We will most likely be staying deluxe going forward as long as I can find a discount. Being able to walk to Epcot, which is one of our favorite parks, was just awesome! If you are trying to decide between the Contemporary and the Boardwalk, I would try Boardwalk. The location is fantastic, and that whole area around the lake is beautiful.

Boardwalk is what I am leaning to. We missed too much at Epcot last time and I feel if we are that close we can do more.

 

[Kiren]

We've never stayed on property or been as adults and I didn't really get a say. My DH has wanted to stay in the Contemporary since he went with his dad and "wants to stay at the hotel with the Monorail going through it!". I swear I married a small excitable child.

 

[SaintsManiac]

We've never stayed on property or been as adults and I didn't really get a say. My DH has wanted to stay in the Contemporary since he went with his dad and "wants to stay at the hotel with the Monorail going through it!". I swear I married a small excitable child.

Sounds like my DH. That's where he stayed as a child and that's where we stayed for our honeymoon. Now he is spoiled and hated riding the buses last trip lol

 

[Nancyg56]

We've never stayed on property or been as adults and I didn't really get a say. My DH has wanted to stay in the Contemporary since he went with his dad and "wants to stay at the hotel with the Monorail going through it!". I swear I married a small excitable child.

My DH loves his memories of the CR. WE stayed there on our first trip together over 30 years ago, and again when the kids were youngsters. He continues to suggest it because he thinks the little ones will love the monorail going through the resort. In all fairness they do love that monorail (the youngest insists it is her limo) but so far we have not been back. It is on his list too!

 

[HM2012Butler]

Whenever I have family or friends come to town I am always the planner. They enjoy not having to worry about anything and just let me handle it. I too agonize over the details of where to stay. Typically I see what is available and go from there. I try to mix it up but sometimes new places arent available. what I look for is size and location of resort and themeing. I am a sucker for good themeing. The best place in my opion to stay is based on location is CR and BLT. Size of rooms is OKW. And DALK for the best themes. Yacht and Beach are spectacular and score well in these categories as well.

 

[RMColosimo]

My DH loves his memories of the CR. WE stayed there on our first trip together over 30 years ago, and again when the kids were youngsters. He continues to suggest it because he thinks the little ones will love the monorail going through the resort. In all fairness they do love that monorail (the youngest insists it is her limo) but so far we have not been back. It is on his list too!

I stayed there as a Kid with my parents, and keep looking at it to stay there, but with 3 kids I am not sure that they have any rooms that allow 5 people in them. Well that were in my price range anyway.

 

[Corbinator]

We had "plan" for this Oct trip but completely changed our minds mid-booking. Thought we were going to make this one our deluxe hotel stay, big pools with slides, near all the action...nope. Our 5 and 8 year old kids would never appreciate it. Changed to AoA for the characters, let the budget take it easy, take the bus (lets face it, for my preschooler, riding anything out of his carseat is a treat). We figured we'd go deluxe when the boys are older and know what they want (something sophisticated like Boardwalk near Espn, get a car to go around other attractions in Orlando, etc). So for us it was a stage of life decision.

 

[Mousemommy1]

We have a goal of staying at every Disney resort, so we essentially just pick from whatever is left on the list at this point. We have hit the majority of them at this point, and knocking two more off next month!

 

[Mousemommy1]

I stayed there as a Kid with my parents, and keep looking at it to stay there, but with 3 kids I am not sure that they have any rooms that allow 5 people in them. Well that were in my price range anyway.

All of the CR rooms allow 5 people. We stayed there last year and it was great. The location to MK was amazing. If you're worried about price, check out the garden wing rooms that tend to be cheaper.

 

[RMColosimo]

All of the CR rooms allow 5 people. We stayed there last year and it was great. The location to MK was amazing. If you're worried about price, check out the garden wing rooms that tend to be cheaper.

Really? I thought that they were 4 person max. That is awesome to know. We are staying at POR this August, and got a very good deal. I will keep that in mind for the future, thanks!

 

[Dreamin192]

We are two months out today and I just this morning finally made up my mind on a resort. I have literally been agonizing over it, to split stay or not, monorail or epcot area...it's actually been a huge problem haha. I have booked and cancelled so many stays that I am pretty sure I am on a black list at Disney and my credit card company. For us it ended up being room size as the most important thing, followed by location. We stayed at Poly last year and loved it, nothing available there for our whole stay now (2 months out, go figure lol). We ended up at the Grand Floridian, still on monorail, about the same size rooms, and someplace I have always wanted to try. I've had rooms booked at Poly, Contemporary, GF, BC, YC, and POR. If it's a big issue for you, like it was for me, I highly suggest making a list of pros and cons, prices, etc. and deciding that way.

 

[epsmith921]

Sounds like my DH. That's where he stayed as a child and that's where we stayed for our honeymoon. Now he is spoiled and hated riding the buses last trip lol

This is my issue, although it's me, not my husband! I am way more excited than my oldest (almost 5) about the monorail. Of course walking to MK is the best for my bus-hating husband. That is how we chose our resort this time.

We stayed boardwalk last time with our then 2.5 year old and it was great, but we knew we would be in our room a fair amount so we wanted to stay somewhere we were happy. Crescent lake is crazy relaxing to me.

This time, one older kid, one younger, had beach club booked, no discount, discount available only on deluxe room at yacht club CL. Then found a club level theme park view room at contemporary for a bit of savings over the deluxe yacht club room and that's where we'll be!

If Boardwalk had been available during our trip we would have happily booked there and never really looked elsewhere. It's nice and quiet, and we love walking to Epcot and HS

 

[AquaDame]

Theme and price... sometimes the price is too high for the theme, so we'll stay somewhere else, but mostly just on what theme I like the most. For our next trip we chose the Beach Club so we are within walking distance to Epcot (going during F&W) and to try out Stormalong Bay though.

 

[disneygolfer1985]

We usually based it on where will we spend the most time. When I was younger (5-18 years old) we stayed at the Beach/Yacht Club for our vacations because I loved swimming, so the pool was a big hit. Also, being able to walk to Epcot was nice. in 2005, we joined DVC and made BWV our home resort. I enjoy Epcot, so I like being able to walk to the WS and grab a beer and just people watch. I have always loved the Epcot resorts just because you can walk to 2 of the 4 parks.

 

[willwork4cruise]

We have 3 young children, so we choose based on location primarily. We have stayed at Wilderness Lodge, Contemporary, and Beach Club. We leave next weekend for the Polynesian! We decided to splurge on Club Level this time since I planned to spend a good bit of time enjoying the resort to make it a *little* more relaxing. We may skip a year since we are building a house now, but the next visit could be Animal Kingdom. The kids will be a little older and we will make sure to get a car to avoid the long Disney transportation.

 

[Corbinator]

I agonized over the cost of the suites at AoA since it's not a deluxe. After 4 months of going over the money in my mind and living with our reservation for a LM room...dh got a bonus that would allow us to afford the upgrade and we found out sleeping with our children for 4 days in July was misery. I am willing to eat pop tarts for a week to be able to have my own bed with a door and bathrooms we can all share.

 

[TJA]

Boardwalk is what I am leaning to. We missed too much at Epcot last time and I feel if we are that close we can do more.

And this is exactly what we base our resort decision on . We've stayed at all the deluxes and a couple moderates, so we know by now which resorts we like best. What I usually do is rotate the trips -- this trip we'll stay at a monorail resort, next trip we'll stay at an Epcot resort, and so on. You're right and if you stay in the Epcot loop, you can easily go to Epcot every night if you want (that's what we usually do). And now that you can book additional FP's on your phone, it's so easy to go to a different park in the morning and make a FP for your favorite ride in Epcot for that evening. We had great luck with this scenario over July 4 week last month while staying at BWI.

Also, I should add that I don't book a resort if there isn't a discount offered. Deluxe prices are way too high for us to not consider that. And from our few stays at a couple moderates, we liked them well enough but we know that they're just not for us. So we zone in on which park we want to be closest to (MK or Epcot) and then we choose the resort based on best deal. Though we do prefer Poly and GF in the MK area, and BC in the Epcot area.