Park proximity

[LeCras]

I have been lurking on this board since before we bought our first points in 2003, and one of the subjects that seems to always be on the front page is resort preference - which resort is better/worse, favourite/wouldn't want to stay there etc. Now, everyone has different reasons for preferring a certain resort to another. Good thing too!

However, one thing I have noticed is that a lot of people state park proximity as a reason for preferring certain resorts, e.g. "we love BWV because it's so close to Epcot/MGM", or "we'd never stay at OKW/SSR because it's too far from the parks". What I was wondering is, do the people who feel this way actually visit the park they are close to every day? The reason I am asking is, whenever DH and I go to WDW we visit all the parks. We spend one day at most of them, except for Epcot which usually gets two or perhaps three days (we just love the World Showcase hehe). For us, being close to one park wouldn't make a difference, as we would still be as far from the others if that makes any sense.

I am not trolling or trying to upset anyone, I would just genuinely like to know what other people's park habits are and how this plays a part in their preferences when it comes to resort. Now, DH and I have no children. We bought at SSR for several reasons. The financial incentive at the time was good, but we also really liked the proximity to DTD. For us, it means we have several excellent eating options a short walk away, as well as places to just go for a drink or catch a movie. We catch the bus to the parks wherever we want to go. We have been "home" once and absolutely loved it. Next time around we may stay in OKW, as we have invited my family along to celebrate my father's birthday and would need a GV and we haven't got enough points to stay in one of those at SSR.

Anyway, any feedback would be very welcome

Charlotte

 

[DukeStreetKing]

As a Floridian, my WDW visits are probably more relaxed than someone from out of state. My GF and I visit many times a year and sometimes don't even go to one of the parks. If we really want to get away from everything, we stay at OKW. If we are going to visit Epcot, I try to book either BCV or BWV so we can have a nice leisurely walk home or to the Boardwalk for drinks or snacks or just people watching.

SSR is also our home resort and we enjoy being within a very easy walking distance to DTD and all that it has to offer. We stayed there for our latest New Year's Eve trip. We were in MGM for the celebration and left right after the fireworks. Actually, we were right outside the turnstiles during the fireworks and walked to the bus stop as soon as they ended. It took us only about 15 - 20 minutes from the time the fireworks ended to the time we were back in our room and we practically had the resort bus to ourselves.

I hope you enjoy your stays as much as we do.

 

[jnrrt]

Hi Charlotte,

Well, I am one of those people - we bought BWV because of the proximity to MGM and Epcot. We like it for the same reason you like being able to walk to DTD. Yes, we hit all the parks, and pretty much equally, although we're often there in the off-season when Epcot is the only one open late, so we're there to end most days. Walking home afterward is awesome - you don't fight the crowds, you can go on your own schedule, we just like avoiding the hassle. We drive when we go to AK and DTD, and we take the bus since it's direct when we go to MK. But you figure, even if we used busses to get to both of the other parks, we've cut our bus usage down by half. And if we want to get crazy, we can walk through Epcot and take the monorails to MK, but that's a little extreme.

Some people love the busses. I think you hit it on the head for us though, when you mentioned that you don't have kids. We have three, and trying to load them and all the gear and our stroller on and off a bus versus packing them all into the stroller and going is a no-brainer for us. Also, we come back to the room a lot for naps and stuff when the busses aren't as frequent, and the proximity is very nice then too.

We're also staying in a GV at OKW for our next trip because we have family coming and it's such a good value. Am I worried about taking more busses? Not really. Would I have gotten the GV at BWV if the price was the same? Probably. But I'll also be very happy to try a new resort. We just wanted our points to be where we wanted to be most of the time.

 

[1BigDisneyFan]

I will preference my comments by stating that I am a fairly new DVC owner and will be making my first trip home in about two weeks.

That being said, I find that we often eat dinner at the World Showcase and of all of the fireworks shows we tend to like Illuminations. This means that we often park hop, jumping to Epcot for the evening. Staying at BCv means we can wander back to our room instead of waiting on the bus lines to travel home in the evenings.

Will this save us tons of time over the course of a trip, probably not, but being in the middle of things (MGM/Epcot) for an easy morning walk or evening stroll to and/from two of the four parks just seemed convenient.

I can tell you more after this upcoming trip though!

 

[disney junky]

We used to stay at PORS for all our visits before purchasing at BW. We had to bus everywhere. I really had no problem with that except that it is hard to budget timewise. You can find that a bus is full, or you just miss one and are forced to wait for the next. Perhaps your room isn't all that close to the pickup area. And let's face it. You can ride busses everywhere. But at WDW, you can ride boats and monorails to destinations. To me, that's part of the magic. I love being able to walk home from Epcot or MGM. Sure, we visit all the parks, but having options for transportation is a perk IMHO.

 

[CarolMN]

We own at BWV and really do spend most of our time at EPCOTfollowee closely by MGM - in fact, we're at EPCOT almost every evening. We always visit the MK at least once and the AK at least once, but find that for our annual early December trips, EPCOT and MGM are the places we spend most of our park time.

Even though I've read the complaints about the MK buses from the BW, I don't feel it takes any longer to get to the MK from the BW than it does to get to the MK from the WL via boat. To me proximity to the parks means the ability to walk there - no waiting for a crowded bus, monorail or boat! That's why I think the location of the BWV and the BCV just can't be beat for those who love EPCOT and/or MGM.

Best wishes -

 

[d-r]

That's a good question. I think dvc'rs in general probably take a more personal, and slower paced, approach to the parks.

I know for us, we like to go to different resorts to eat occasionally, and that can be sort of a pain on the bus system. When we stay at bcv we tend to do epcot a little more and mgm a little more. But we also tend to eat more at epcot, at boardwalk, at palio, etc. We went to cape may last time and that was fun. When we stay at wlv we tend to go to magic kingdom a little more, and this is when we tend to eat at contemporary, 'ohana, trails end, artist point, etc. If we were at bcv we might go over to big river for a beer, we wouldn't do that at vwl, for example.

If you are at okw you can still drive to the resorts easily, for that matter. Especially to the other dvc resorts where you can valet park for free.

So at BCV we'd probably go to epcot at some point most every day, we'd probably go to MK once or twice, we'd probably go to MGM a couple of half days. At vwl, we'd probably go to MGM one half day. Actually, we'd probably bus to mgm one morning and leave about lunchtime and go have lunch at epcot. We'd probably take the monorail to epcot, or the bus, a day or two. We'd probably go to the MK two or three times. So it isn't exclusively the close park, but we tend to favor those. We don't usually stay in a park all day. We end up in epcot a lot of nights, and it is nice to walk back from there.

I do like to go to the park close to home and eat at the places close to home. My ideal trip would be one week at bcv going to mgm and epcot and eating over there, and one week at vwl eating over there, going to magic kingdom, ft. wilderness, etc.

We don't always go to DAK or downtown disney. We've never went to a water park, but I'd like to sometime. We just kind of do our own thing, we don't go everywhere.

 

[LeCras]

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to reply, interesting to see how different people like to spend their time "at home". It seems most people love Epcot as much as we do - our last stay was during the Food & Drink Festival and we went there every day! From that perspective I can certainly see how it would be nice to just have a short stroll to get home at the end of the night.

And d-r, you certainly seem to make the most of where you are staying! To be honest I have almost been a bit apprehensive of staying at OKW - we just love SSR so much - but we will definitely take a page from your book and make the most of where we are staying!

Again, thanks to those of you who took the time to reply

Charlotte

 

[OneMoreTry]

I couldn't drag my family to the parks more than once a year. That means one day at each park once a year -- and then they want to skip a year. Personally, I would visit them a lot more. But I think their preference gives me a view of reality some here don't have. I'm constantly trying to think of an excuse to go to WDW.

 

[dianeschlicht]

We stay at OKW most of the time, and we spend nearly every evening at Epcot. I say that, because I also wish to point out that walking "home" from Epcot isn't necessarily a plus. Sure, we have to make our way all the way to the front of the park after Illuminations, but if you stroll and take your time, you find that by the time you get to the bus stop, the crowds are gone, and you can have a liesurly ride back home in a nice air conditioned bus.

Now, I will also say that BWV is my least favorite DVC. I just hate the long hotel hallways and the impersonal feel of the resort. It just isn't worth it to me to stay there just because of it's proximaty to Epcot.

 

[DemoBri1]

Charlotte...In my mind at least, I like the proximity of either BWV or BCV because if the family decides they want to go to MGM or Epcot we're right there. You can actually walk to both parks if you want to, but kids prefer the boat ride over to MGM. Yes, we do go to all of the parks on our stays normally, but DW likes the World Showcase, and being able to pop over there for a leisurely evening stroll and maybe take in a snack or two is really nice. We can even simply go and take in Illuminations at the last minute if we had nothing else planned, and of course there are the restaurants, both on the Boardwalk, in and around the resorts, and the World Showcase.

It's just a thing where you basically have 2 of the 4 parks outside your door. Now, if the rumors about CR turning one of their wings into DVC is true, you're going to see a skyrocket rise in popularity of that resort, seeing that it will be on the monorail and near MK.

OKW and to an extent SSR don't provide you with the convenience of the parks right outside your door, but SSR does have proximity to DTD if clubs and shows are up your alley. WLV, while technically serviced by a boat to MK is also somewhat isolated in that the boat really isn't that large, and the boat ride takes a few minutes to get you there.

If the parks weren't your goal to visit on a particular trip, or if you needed more room to spread out, then I think SSR or OKW is right at the top of the list. It's really just a personal preference.

Brian

 

[tjkraz]

We just finished our second stay at BWV and about my ONLY complaints were transportation-related:

1. The self park lot is just so inconveniently located. (we did Valet at times, but my strong preference is to self-park and have immediate access to the car when needed.)

2. We did soooo much more walking (and that's walking behind a stroller with 70 pounds of toddler on board) than when we stayed at a resort with full bus service. It takes a solid 15-20 minutes to reach Epcot or MGM. So, including our afternoon breaks, that's over an hour of solid walking just to reach the theme parks daily.

And really it's the kids that pushed me over the edge. Our first trip to BWV was just DW and I. This issue wasn't as noticable then. In fact, we enjoyed being able to walk over to Epcot just to see Illuminations one night. But because of this, I doubt we'll stay there again as long as we're in the stoller ages.

3. A reluctant #3 would be that the bus service isn't the greatest either. The bus stop was a solid 4-5 minutes from our room, and then the bus routes always seemed to include stops at the Swan and Dolphin.

In the end, I've come to the realization that my #1 favorite mode of transportation is car. I'll take a resort like OKW or SSR where my car sits just outside my door.

When driving the car to the theme parks isn't necessarily practical (like going to the Magic Kingdom), we're just fine with using the Disney busses. OKW and SSR both have many stops on property, ensuring that you don't need to walk far at all to catch a bus.

 

[crisi]

We own at BWVs. In a weeks stay, we will eat seven sit down dinners, and four or five of them will be at Epcot. So we do get a lot of benefit from being able to take our afternoon pool break and stroll into Epcot for dinner. Then stroll back out after dinner.

We haven't been to DTD in five years (OK, my husband was there for a conference last year). This year we might do DTD.

We spend two or three mornings/days in the MK and one or two in AK. We haven't spent much time in MGM.

This changes as the kids age. I expect more DisneyQuest and MGM in future trips, less MK. But I suspect we will continue to spend a lot of evenings at Epcot.

We do take a lot of cabs, which cuts down on some of the transportation issues. And we haven't been big on rental cars.

 

[mikesmom]

We own at BWV and OKW. If we are going to the parks at all, I reserve at BWV. Epcot is by far our favorite and we go there any day we are doing the parks. If we are going down for a non-park trip we stay at OKW. For DH and I it is the ultimate relaxing getaway.

That being said, if I had expendable money (which we won't for quite a while as DS is in college) I would buy at WLV. We have spent some enjoyable time there strolling around the grounds and on the little beach. I think that it would also be a great getaway spot for us.

 

[CHOPR]

What's all this talk about relaxing strolls to/from parks. My ds- 9 yrs. complains about having to walk to the bathroom. We end up going to all the parks each trip because we only go once a year and we still are pushing a stroller. WDW is very good at moving people around but we will probably go to BCV & BWV the next couple of years for the proximity to Epcot and MGM with a few days of more travel for MK and AK. With an 11,9 and 4 yr.old
we probably won't use our home base at SSR for 3 years.(new to DVC but not new to WDW) DTD is not a real big draw for us at this point. I don't see us going to WDW for the next decade or so without doing the parks,but DVC can maybe slow down the pace a bit ,if I can slow down my dw which may take a decade She's got enough energy for three That said,I look forward to those days in the future when we go to WDW to relax!

 

[Mississippian]

Personally I would MUCH rather walk than have to ride a bus anywhere.

Assuming I'm not trying to get to the Magic Kingdom at opening time, I get there from the BC and BWV by walking through Epcot and sometimes do the same on the way home.

Like many people, I like to schedule mealtimes in Epcot.

There seems to be a restaurant synergy to the BC and BWV resorts. You have access to all the good restaurants in Epcot, plus each resort has very good restaurants, not to mention Swan & Dolphin.

The only way to match this would be a DVC on the Magic Kingdom monorail, and I'm all for it.

 

[mowog]

We bought BCV resale because we ended up at YC/BC for most of our vacations. We tend to start at a park and do a few hours and then move on to another park. If we're doing the parks we do at least 2 and often 3 in a day. I think being so close to Epcot/MGM make it more feasable to do- If we were staying say VWL or SSR we would probably modify our routine. On a typical day we would hit AK early for a few hours and maybe through lunch, then go back to villa to freshen up/use bathrooms/change shoes. We would then walk to EPCOT or walk/boat to MGM and do some things. For dinner we may go to either park. Another is start at MK then monorail to EPCOT, walk from there to room, then go out later. I can't imagine spending opening to closing in just one park- I'd rather bite off little pieces during each visit. Everybody is different so I guess you have to analyze how you like to do things and help that determine what resort is best for you.

Jean and Bob

 

[jade1]

We avoid the buses as well if possible. Seems like we always get to a bus stop just after the bus was there, plus the wait for the bus after the park we are in closes (we always close a park) is annoying. We also enjoy walking anyway-we go end to end in the parks with the FP and all, its not much more to walk from EPCOT to BCV or BWV (even MGM). I think it may be shorter from France after Illuminations to BCV than the bus line up front. Also we like taking boats as a change of pace as well.

We also change parks often. We walk from EPCOT (or MGM) back to the resort to rest and swim, then back for a night FP and show. Sometimes monrail from EPCOT to MK also. AK is about the only bus we have no alternative for. We never use our car for a park either-thats only for "outside" world stuff.

 

[bicker]

We too bought at BWV because of the ability to walk into Epcot, and the promise that some day we'd be able to walk into D-MGM (which has happily come to pass). It's a great benefit.