Opinions: Which resort???

[whit8960]

FI and I are trying to figure out what resort we want to stay at for our honeymoon. FI is a Disney World virgin and I have never stayed on property. Everyone often recommends the Poly and FI and I like GF and CR, but we are worried that we will just be wasting money since we are pretty sure we won't be staying in our room for long periods of time and we would like to splurge on shopping and extras. We are contemplating the AKL b/c we have heard great reviews plus it is still a deluxe hotel, theming looks good, and the cost is a lot more reasonable. So should we splurge on the rooms or splurge on the extras?? Any suggestions???? Thanks in advance!

 

[disbridemimi]

depends on how many days you are staying and how much time around the resort.

I think as long as you go with a moderate or above you will have great theme and lots of amenities. How important is it to be on the monorail?

Id pick AKL cuz thats my favorite, but if your not renting a car, you might pick a monorail resort.

My fav moderates are Carribean Beach & Coronado SPrings.

 

[lurkyloo]

AKL (or even Wilderness Lodge) might be a good compromise between splurging on rooms and splurging on extras. Even if you guys are commando park tourers who only use the room to shower and sleep, you might want to change things up and relax more on your honeymoon - especially if you're going to be unwinding from the stress of planning a wedding.

On our honeymoon, we had days where we did nothing but hang around the resort, swimming or doing recreational activities like parasailing, and eating in nice restaurants.

 

[whit8960]

We will be bringing our own car and will be staying 8-10 days (not sure yet). AKL looks beautiful, but I'm worried that it will be too far out as that is one of the cons I am seeing on many ratings reports. Is the savannah room worth it??

 

[rcortese711]

I'd personally go for AKL. Caribbean was really nice but maybe on your honeymoon you'd rather not have to walk far lengths to get to your room. IMHO, between the infamous Poly and AKL, our hearts go out to AKL. But then again, it all depends on who you are.

Savannah view is not needed but definitely a perk. I would recommend it to anyone if they can budget it in. If not, no biggie. There's viewing areas around the resort. We originally booked a standard view but got some pixie dust and was upgraded to a savannah view for free. It was great!

Remember that this is your honeymoon, as lurkyloo mentioned. You want to relax! Go somewhere where you think it reflects both you and where you think you'd enjoy it the most. Good luck!!

 

[Robyn&Scott102409]

I have stayed many times at WDW and have stayed in all the different levels of resorts. My personal favorite is Coranado Springs. CS has a lovely design and usually has less children and noise as they try to cater to the convention crowd. I also like the fact that besides the main pool area there are also some pools between the buildings and they tend to be less crowded and are more adult oriented.

With all of the being said, when we get married we will actually be splitting our time between two resorts. We will be arriving 3 day prior to our wedding and we will stay at CS. For our wedding night and honeymoon we will be moving over to GF. We originally wanted to stay at CR but when we booked our reservation the price was 3 times as much as GF!!!! The agent told me that the price was more because that resprt was almost completly sold out but the GF was no so the rate was less! I stronly encourage you to call and get all the rates, you never know where you might find a good deal!

 

[Bride-to-be]

You could always do a split stay. My favorite of the moderates is the french quarter its very small and easy to negotiate.

GF screams wedding to me more than any of the other hotels. AKL is fun and the restaurants there are great, the only negative is that the bus rides are a little longer.

Once you have your dates I would just see what kind of deals are out there and work backwards from that. Also don't forget about AAA discounts. If you are staying for 10 days it might be the same price to get an annual pass as it is to get a 10 day park hopper. Sometimes there are good hotel deals for A pass holders.

 

[disbridemimi]

We also loved teh quiet pools at Coronado Springs! People mostly adhered tothe rules, not always.

I think for your honeymoon a savana view would be awesome! AKL is awesome and like nothing else. You can stay at a faancy hotel anywhere, but you can only see animals outside your window at WDW or in another country. Its very unique, and the theme is really well done!

 

[lurkyloo]

We will be bringing our own car and will be staying 8-10 days (not sure yet). AKL looks beautiful, but I'm worried that it will be too far out as that is one of the cons I am seeing on many ratings reports. Is the savannah room worth it??

AKL is only too far out if you don't have a car; with a car, it really doesn't take that long to get other places on property.

I would say a savannah room is worth it if you will be at the resort during the day - we never saw very many animals in the morning or the evening.

 

[PirateBride08]

The Poly is my favorite resort! That would be my first vote. I like being on the monorail line and (here come the flames) I do not like the Grand.

We are leaving Sunday for a week and I really wanted to stay in the AKL so we are doing a split stay betweem the AKL and the Poly. The reason we are doing that is because DH is concerned we won't like not being on the monorail and how far the AKL is. We stayed at the WL and did not like it because of the location.

Honestly though, I think it comes down to what you want to spend on the resort. I think they are all really nice and you won't go wrong with any of the ones you listed.

 

[disbridemimi]

and (here come the flames) I do not like the Grand. .

I agree! Its pretty and I like to eat at the resteraunts, but not a fan of staying there.

 

[Emilita44]

I stayed at AKL last time I was at Disney (when DF proposed) We loved it!

We actually didn't book a Savannah view but when we got there we asked them if there was anything available around that area. They didn't call it a Savannah room but every morning we woke up to giraffe's and zebras outside of our balcony. It was a little area facing the new AK villas. It was amazing!!!

 

[sbsteel]

Wilderness Lodge wouldn't be a bad choice, either. You're just a boat ride away from the MK and monorail, so you won't be as far out as AK.

 

[CharacterFan]

The Poly is my favorite resort! That would be my first vote. I like being on the monorail line and (here come the flames) I do not like the Grand. .

Agreed. DFi loves the Cont and WL. Anywhere near the MK is good for him. I enjoy the Beach Club because it's close to EP and HS and you can get a good deal renting DVC points. It also has the best pool complex on property.

 

[beach bride 2010]

I agree that it is completely a matter of personal taste. Grand Floridian is very elegant and that does not go with me or DF's personalities at all. Although it is absolutely beautiful I am just not a fan and would much prefer to stay at the Poly, Wilderness Lodge, Boardwalk, Beach Club, AK Lodge, or any of the moderates. Port Orleans French Quarter is my favorite moderate. It is smaller than the other resorts and has a nice, romantic atmosphere. The Poly is my favorite and is very easy to get to MK and Epcot from but it can be almost as expensive as the GF. I would check out all the resort pictures posted online and see what fits your personal taste. Staying at AK Lodge and being a little bit farther away has never bothered us. I think it would be more of a concern if we had small children.

 

[disprincessatheart]

DH and I always wanted to stay at the GF (ok, it was mostly me) and decided to splurge for our wedding. In most cases we do not spend a lot of time at the resort. Because we were spending the big bucks on the hotel, we did decide to make one day of our trip a resort day, and hung out and enjoyed the pool and hotel. I will say that with all the wedding stuff going on, we were around the hotel a lot more than I expected. I think it was also partly due to the convenience of the hotel to MK and EPCOT, the 2 parks we spend most of our time in, as well as the WP and CR where most of our wedding activites took place. (we did our RD at CM and had our wedding at the WP followed by dinner at Narcoosee's and it was nice to be able to run to the room in between).

Also, we found ourselves hanging out in the lobby of the GF some in the evenings and while waiting for others to join us for meals and parks a couple of times. It's very relaxing!! I think if you can afford it, splurge on a deluxe for this one trip - whichever one appeals to you most. A year after our wedding I wish we'd splurged more, not less on the hotel!! But then again we went less expensive on a lot of other things and I don't regret that at all. If I had it to do over again we would have stayed there 8 nights instead of 6!!

 

[dhay]

We stayed at the GF for our wedding and HM. This was the only time we could justify spending the money. While we enjoyed our stay there and were glad we did stay there, we will never stay at the GF again.

We much prefer BW and BC.

As a piece of advice- my company has a HUGE conference in Disney every year and the hotels the clients and sales people stay in are: Carribbean, Swan/Dolphin, Coronado, and AllStars. We stay at these hotels over and over because it is where Disney tells us too when the rooms are booked. Meaning this is where Disny wants huge groups housed because it NEVER changes. 6 years later and we always stay at those hotels.

IMO on your HM you should avoide those like the plague. Again, this is just my opinion based on my expereince. Maybe somethign to keep in mind,