Planning a trip but unsure on which hotel to choose

[Allensfan]

Hello out there in Disney world...I am excited to say that we are planning a trip to see Mickey!

Details about us:

Just the 3 of us, me hubby and 9 year old son

Want to stay in a Deluxe hotel

Love swimming and wonderful places to eat

Have only been once before and stayed at AKL (enjoyed it but want to try something new)

Considered the poly but have never really given much more thought than that about which hotel.

will be staying about a week

Hope this helps, all opinions are welcome. Really want to make this a special trip and deciding the right hotel will get us off on the right foot!

Thanks in advance

 

[luv2plan]

I would stay at the Poly. It is wonderful. The resort is beautiful and the food at Kona Cafe is terrific. You are just a monorail from MK. The pool there is great too.

Happy planning!

 

[danalin]

Hi I would have say with a 9 yr old if he likes pools and will be swimming go for the Beach Club great pool, walkng distance to Epcot, The Boarwalk area, boat ride(or walk 15 mins) to Hollywood Studios it's a great area!! If you want to be near Magic Kingdom Poly is a good choice & you have the monorail to MK & Epcot, other resorts(Floridian&Contempory) also you can take a boat to MK and Contempory& Fort Wildrness. Hope this helps Any of the deluxes are good just different surroundings! Whatever You choose have a great stay!!

 

[Allensfan]

Thanks so much for taking your time to respond.

We were worried about the poly pool. I have never seen it but I heard it was small and crowded. But I hate to assume that if it is not true.

I love GF but felt my son would not enjoy it as much. We really loved AKL and would stay there again but it was our first time ever at Disney and feel like we should try and explore something new.

 

[Allensfan]

Oh and one more thing....a bit off topic...

I am not sure if any of you remember me, I was here last year and had just found out my husband has cancer and we almost cancelled our trip. Well, we ended up going, wheel chair in tow, and had a nice time.

He was sick during our trip and it was tough with a young child, sick from chemo hubby...and me doing all the heavy lifting...but I am still glad we went. We still talk about the great times we had.

Happy to report he is doing great and we will be able to return with NO WHEEL chair this time! We are all on our own foot power.

Thanks for your support

 

[Shmily1]

I would say BC too. There's just nothing not to like about it. It has the most awesome pool, great food, is so convenient to Epcot and DHS, has great gelato in the Marketplace (gotta try that!!), character breakfast at Cape May Cafe, and you get to see Art and he is wonderful!

BC is just awesome!!!

 

[uva185]

My personal favorite is the Grand Floridian (but I'm young, unmarried, without kids ). As far as pools they have 2 big pools (one with zero entry & a waterslide), a kiddie pool, and a hot tub. The pool at the Grand Floridian is open 24 hours a day which I value but someone with kids could probably care less about swimming at 2am. As far as restaurants they have 1900 Park Fare which has Character Meals -- Cinderella & Friends I believe, a few other nice restaurants (Narcoosies (sp?) Citricos, and Victoria & Alberts ($125 per plate, but worth it ), and 24 hour snack bar / arcade.

The Poly would be great too, I have never stayed there but I *think* they may have more restraunts themed for children while the Grand Floridian has more restaurants which are upscale / themed for adults.

Another good choice would be the Beach Club. They have without a doubt the best resort pool for kids in all of disney. It is a sand bottom pool with a giant waterslide. There is also a smaller regular pool off to the side which is never crowded. I know nothing about the restaurants at Beach Club even though I have stayed here.

 

[Allensfan]

I ate at V & A the last time we were in town and I enjoyed it. We had our son stay at the Simba's playhouse at AKL because it was really no place to take a child. It was a fun treat but I think I would try another place at GF next time...just so I can say I have tried them all

I have not ever considered BC, and due to all these posting I will have to check it out.

 

[uva185]

I ate at V & A the last time we were in town and I enjoyed it. We had our son stay at the Simba's playhouse at AKL because it was really no place to take a child. It was a fun treat but I think I would try another place at GF next time...just so I can say I have tried them all

I have not ever considered BC, and due to all these posting I will have to check it out.

For dinner, Narcoossee's is nice. It is down by the dock with a view of Magic Kingdom. You can see the fireworks and they will pipe the music into the restaurant. The dress code is much more casual than V & A and even more casual than Citricos.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/dining/diningDetail?id=NarcooseesDiningPage

 

[Allensfan]

For dinner, Narcoossee's is nice. It is down by the dock with a view of Magic Kingdom. You can see the fireworks and they will pipe the music into the restaurant. The dress code is much more casual than V & A and even more casual than Citricos.

Oh I will have to pick one of those, either Citricos or Narcossee.

 

[KatMark]

Oh and one more thing....a bit off topic...

I am not sure if any of you remember me, I was here last year and had just found out my husband has cancer and we almost cancelled our trip. Well, we ended up going, wheel chair in tow, and had a nice time.

He was sick during our trip and it was tough with a young child, sick from chemo hubby...and me doing all the heavy lifting...but I am still glad we went. We still talk about the great times we had.

Happy to report he is doing great and we will be able to return with NO WHEEL chair this time! We are all on our own foot power.

Thanks for your support

Great news about your DH's doing better and all being on "your own foot power" this trip. We love the Polynesian and if the main pool was too crowded (which we seldom found), we used the smaller "quiet" pool. However, that was years ago...so it may have changed since then. But the resort itself is lovely.

 

[Sleeping Becca]

9 year old boys are probably not much into MK, so I wouldn't go for a monorail hotel, you pay for convience to MK, and probably won't use it to the fullest.

You mentioned he loves swimming........then no question, Beach Club or Yacht Club. They have an amazing pool and are very close to Epcot and the Studios. Boys his age are normally really into thrill rides and video games and those two parks deliver.

Now if I'm wrong and your boy is all about MK, then you may want to consider a monorail hotel.

Happy to report he is doing great and we will be able to return with NO WHEEL chair this time! We are all on our own foot power.

That is wonderful news! I pray that your husband stays well for many many many years to come.

 

[Allensfan]

Thanks so much for the advice and the best wishes.

No big thumbs up for poly, which is a little surprising. I don't really know anything about that hotel but when I was booking my trip to AKL I kept seeing so many people talking about it that I figured that would be our next hotel.

My son is a little on the young side. What I mean by that is last year he did not feel great about many of the rides at MK because they were loud or dark...even Peter Pan he hesitated to get on. And he hid his face during P of the C. The darkness combined with the cannons scared him.

So I am hoping with the older age, he will enjoy the park more.

 

[Sleeping Becca]

Thanks so much for the advice and the best wishes.

No big thumbs up for poly, which is a little surprising. I don't really know anything about that hotel but when I was booking my trip to AKL I kept seeing so many people talking about it that I figured that would be our next hotel.

My son is a little on the young side. What I mean by that is last year he did not feel great about many of the rides at MK because they were loud or dark...even Peter Pan he hesitated to get on. And he hid his face during P of the C. The darkness combined with the cannons scared him.

So I am hoping with the older age, he will enjoy the park more.

I totally understand, my DD is developmentally delayed and has autistic tendencies. She is 10 and is about 7 or 8 maturity wise. She also does not like loud noises, she covers her ears when a toilet flushes, and doesn't like to be in the bathroom when the water is running in the tub. We bring ear plugs for loud rides, and that seems to work really well. Darkness doesn't bother her as much it is mainly sound. I'm not assuming your son is like my daughter, I'm just letting you know how she is and what works for us.

The responses above assumed that your boy would not want to spend a whole lot of time in MK, that is why you didn't get a Poly recommendation. I don't know your son's particular situation, but if he is really into MK then the Poly is an awesome choice.

Poly has a great pool, although at times it can be very crowded. The Poly IMHO is one of the most beautiful (landscaping) and relaxing hotels.

Hope this was helpful!!!

 

[Allensfan]

Thanks for the advice, great tips.

Actually he does not have any delays in development but he has never been really keen on loud noises or the dark. He is a big chicken

But Big pat on the back to your for being such a good mom to your DD, I know that must be difficult.

I thought the GF would be too formal, I have never been attracted to the Contep. hotel, we have tried AKL (super) and the WL seemed a bit far away since we were already far away once before. So poly seemed like a good choice. I now am looking into BC because so many here like it.

 

[GoofySon'sMom]

Another vote for the Yacht or Beach Club. We stayed there when my son was 10 and we just loved the pool. The sandy bottom is amazing, the pool is huge with a whirlpool and waterfalls to play in. And as everyone said, it is walking distance to Epcot and a short boatride to Hollywood Studios. We loved being able to walk into the 'back' entrance at Epcot. We ate a lot of our dinners in the World Showcase and it was nice to just walk back to the Hotel and not be depending on Disney transportation.

 

[TeddyToo]

Another vote for the Beach Club. We love Magic Kingdom but the pool, Beaches and Cream, walking access to Epcot and the Boardwalk, we couldn't stay away from the Boardwalk area.

 

[Booyakasha]

I would vote for BC also. Maybe a villa which if you are staying for a week witll give you more space. The ability to walk to all the restaurants at the Boardwalk and Epcot are great. Stormalong bay is a great pool but he needs to be a decent swimmer to use the slide and some of the "lazy river" areas get pretty deep.

That being said we couldn't decide between the BC and an MK resort one time so we did a split stay. It actually works out really well the only downside is that you have to put your stuff back in to the suitcases half way through your trip but Disney takes care of everything else. We would pack in the morning go to a park for the day and show up at our new resort and the luggage would be there. Really made it fun for us becasue we get to stay at 2 resorts in one trip. Our kids love checking into new rooms and exploring everything so it worked out really well and we are doing it again on our next trip.

B.

 

[MAKHayes-DisneyDiva]

DH, DS(then 6) and I stayed at the YC 2 years ago and LOVED it! The location was perfect and the pool is (same as BC) amazing. I wish we had planned a day to skip the parks and hang out at the YC.
This thread is excellent because we are trying to choose a deluxe for our 2009 trip! I'm getting some great tips!

 

[Allensfan]

DH, DS(then 6) and I stayed at the YC 2 years ago and LOVED it! The location was perfect and the pool is (same as BC) amazing. I wish we had planned a day to skip the parks and hang out at the YC.
This thread is excellent because we are trying to choose a deluxe for our 2009 trip! I'm getting some great tips!

Happy trip planning!

I have to tell you that I am so surprised. I figured the suggestions would be all over the map, but it seems that BC is the #1 spot. Just never would have even considered it before today.

I also wondered if any of the hotels are getting a make-over...that would influence me too.