Need advice on resort choice

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

WL or POFQ get my votes. Adore both resorts. Although not on the monorail WL had the best transport options in my book. So fast to get to each park offering boat to MK and good bus service. Charming resort. Good food choices.

Love POFQ or PORS nice boat to Disney Springs. Good food courts. Nice pools. Nice grounds. Cheaper.

 

[cszuber]

We just got back and my kids were 5 and 3. I also debated poly, cr, and beach club. We could afford to stay there, but I just could not justify the cost. It was almost double the cost of POFQ. We booked there and then received and amazing discount to stay at AKL. One reason I picked POFQ is because they just built a kiddie splash pad with a small slide that my kids would have loved.

We took the monerail to CR and poly for meals and the convience is definitely there. It is a quick ride to poly and CR and the kids did not need to get out of the stroller so you would not have to wake a sleeping child. However, you need to decide if that is worth the extra money.

My experience is that we went to the park in the morning and stayed until the kids were tired, around 7-8pm and then headed back. I feel it would have been crazy to take a mid day break because with waiting for the bus and driving, the travel time could be around 30-40 minutes. We never waited more then 15 minutes for a bus, but we were also a 20 minute ride from our hotel to MK. My kids also do not nap. If they did, I would have tried having them nap in the stroller. This worked with my youngest when we were at a local amusement park.

We rented a city mini double and it folded easily. My DH did not have any problems carrying it onto the bus. There were several nights that our kids fell asleep on the bus and when this happened, DH quickly jumped off to open the stroller and then came back on and we each carried a sleeping child to the stroller. They were so tired they stayed asleep during the transfer.

Great info, thank you. How did you come by one of those "amazing discounts?" Thinking if I had one of those it might help the decision If I book one of these and then a discount opens up later for a different resort, can I switch? I have a travel agent that I use but have really just started the early stages of this and don't have her on the "hunt." Will she look for discounts and be able to provide them later on?

 

[megs1313]

Yes, will be swimming i'm sure.

No car, using magic express

Not sure, I've got one that doesn't nap and one that should nap but not sure how he'll be in a year. Could go either way.

Likely not bc the little one won't be old enough.

Probably MK since the kids are littler

Probably, haven't gotten that far yet.

In the action.

Not as important as convenience.

Thanks!

Based on your answers, CR gets my vote. Followed by WL, then Poly. Have a great trip!!!

 

[megs1313]

Great info, thank you. How did you come by one of those "amazing discounts?" Thinking if I had one of those it might help the decision If I book one of these and then a discount opens up later for a different resort, can I switch? I have a travel agent that I use but have really just started the early stages of this and don't have her on the "hunt." Will she look for discounts and be able to provide them later on?

If you let your TA know that you want her to keep an eye out for discounts, she should have no problem checking for you. Your reservation can be changed no problem.

 

[bek]

I'm assuming with a 2 & 5 year old, you will be focused on MK. So I'd say WL or Poly.

WL has bunk beds, a very nice pool and boats to MK. The larger boats don't require stroller folding. In the past, WL has had discounts that brought it reasonably close to moderate pricing. If your November dates are later in the month, the holiday decor is one of the best. We enjoyed the boats much more than the monorail. There's something relaxing about floating back to the resort.

The Poly has a great pool, good food, proximity to MK. The drawbacks are the monorail can be unreliable and the price is high. However it is nice to hear MK sounds from across the lagoon. The monorail went down a few times when I stayed at GF and transportation to MK was a bit of a nightmare. Buses were sent that shared with CR, Poly and GF to MK but they were super crowded. There's also a boat from MK to GF and Poly but it was quickly overwhelmed with the crowds.

I think the Contemporary, the Epcot resorts and the moderates lack the kid appeal of WL and Poly. When my grandkids reflect on their various WDW trips, it's either the pools or the beds that trigger their memories. My DIL and I were chatting with the youngest the other day about his WL visit when he was 4. It was the bunk beds that brought the flood of memories back. Then he brought up the soaring Christmas tree and the huge fireplace at WL

 

[Princess Minnie321]

I booked directly with Disney and maybe a month or two after I booked, I received a unique pin code offer to upgrade. I was very lucky and now they spoiled me for next time haha!

I agree with what the pp said about the bunk bed rooms at WL. We had bunk beds at AKL and my kids loved them!