Portofino or Desert Palm or Park Vue or BWPPI or? Suite needed

[limace]

I keep posting different threads as I keep changing my mind, or as my first choice gets ruled out :/.

Going for 7 days in early August, prob the 8-15 but we're flexible, as long as it's before the 20th.

5 of us, one teenager, so really need more than two queen beds. We'd like to be within relatively easy walking distance, to have the ability to prepare some food in the room, and ideally to have some separation of space between kids and grown ups. Free breakfast is a perk.

Portofino: kids' suite looks nice, like the door between the room. Cheapest of the four hotels. Farthest walk, though looks walkable (.7 mile or so?). No breakfast. TV in kids area and in adult area.

BWPPI: very close. No door in room. Almost as expensive as the kitchen suite at the Desert Palm. Breakfast, though it looks minimal.

Park Vue: closest of all! No door in room and room appears to be the smallest. Pretty expansive free breakfast and afternoon snacks. Reviews are great though pics don't look that fabulous.

Desert Palm: a little closer than the Portofino. Can get a full kitchen suite, with good separation of space, for about the same price as the DWPPI.

Thoughts? Other recommendations? I'd like to stay at about 1400 total for the week, including tax.

 

[skiingfast]

Since you are going for a lot of days and have a lot of people, the PVI will allow you good value through their food options.

Also I would guess you will get in some decent pool time and the PVI and Portofino have nicer pools. The other two have building enclosed pools that will be less enjoyable.

Making a lot of back and forth trips from Desert Palms or Portofino will be a drag. From BWPPI and PVI a pleasure.

You may want to cook on your trip and use the Desert Palms kitchen. Do you really want to cook on vacation?

 

[Butterfly123]

Is the PVI room you are talking about the 3 queen suite? We are staying there this summer. I thought it had a door, which makes getting ready in the morning easier (I have three teens!). I could be wrong though, I haven't stayed there before. Last year we stayed in the mini-suite at BWPPI, and it worked fine for us. No separate room, but we all get along, so it wasn't a big deal. I'd stay there again.

We stayed at Portifino a long time ago...when our kids were small. The door was nice, but I much prefer staying closer on Harbor.

 

[limace]

Totally don't mind cooking on vacation-way less stressful than eating out 3 meals a day with a 2 year old plus cheaper. Last WDW trip we stayed DVC and enjoyed being able to cook simple meals in our room.

No big suites available at PVI-just the queen and bunked rooms.

 

[skiingfast]

Totally don't mind cooking on vacation-way less stressful than eating out 3 meals a day with a 2 year old plus cheaper. Last WDW trip we stayed DVC and enjoyed being able to cook simple meals in our room.

That is one of the nice things about the Park Vue Inn. A light dinner of kid appropriate food, snacks during the day and a decent breakfast. So you can work it where you are only buying lunch. This is great value when you have 4 or 5 people.

The walk to the Desert Palms about 12 minutes, is going to add up and not be fun. This may end up costing money when you decide you want to use the ART shuttles.

 

[blackjackdelta]

That is one of the nice things about the Park Vue Inn. A light dinner of kid appropriate food, snacks during the day and a decent breakfast. So you can work it where you are only buying lunch. This is great value when you have 4 or 5 people.

The walk to the Desert Palms about 12 minutes, is going to add up and not be fun. This may end up costing money when you decide you want to use the ART shuttles.

Have to agree with SF here, everyone has energy in the AM and when that walk at that time may take 12 minutes +/-?, at the end of the day most people to not move as fast and peoples feet are not feeling the same. Stay as close as you can to me the needs of the family but be aware...distance is mental and physical pain.

Jack

 

[limace]

I agree re distance-though it seems about the same as the Hojo-few folkss on the boars complain about that walk. How do they compare?

 

[skiingfast]

I agree re distance-though it seems about the same as the Hojo-few folkss on the boars complain about that walk. How do they compare?

BWPPI and PVI are right across from the park. The rooms rival the distance of rooms in the GCH for being close. It's about 4 minutes from their driveways to the park gates. The crosswalk into the DLR entrance is just steps from the driveways.

The Desert Palms is about 12 minutes. The Portofino about 15. I would call them long walks but doable in regards to being in walking distance.

 

[smiley_face2]

Here you go, some pics of Park Vue Inn. In the room layout photo you can see there are 2 different 2 seperate room suites. We are going to be in the 2 queens (in a seperate bedroom) and fold out queen sofa sleeper with full kitchen suite in July. the other photos are from either their website, or trip advisor pics. The rooms have been updated with new carpets and they look very nice to me

You can see here the kitchen area, nice looking fireplace & flat screen tv, and the door to the (seperate) bedroom with 2 queen beds in it.

this is the bathroom in the above suite

Pool area, you can see the top of the matterhorn in the background, so the view of the fireworks from here should be perfect!

another outdoor dining area by the Coldstone Creamery icecream parlor, you can see the entrance into Disneyland Resort right across the street

the outside dining area, I love how the mission style tower looks like the new carthay circle tower in DCA!

Can you tell I am soooo excited about staying here?? Lol...

 

[skiingfast]

Just one comment about the post above.

The picture of the pool, has Grizzly Peak in the background. In the last picture from the dining area you can see the Matterhorn, up there is a good fireworks view.

 

[limace]

Great pics, smiley face! I wish the larger suite was available for our dates-it would make the choice a no brainer. Still not sure the bunk bed plus queen will be big enough for the five of us for a week-especially after the CHARMING day I had with my 15 year old today. :/

 

[limace]

Ugh, or how about Desert Inn and Suites? I do like that they have a door between rooms, and the suite looks a little roomier than either Park Vue or BWPPI.

I did book a completely refundable stay at BWPPI yesterday through Costco, as it was a good rate and I wanted to get at least something locked in.

 

[skiingfast]

Ugh, or how about Desert Inn and Suites?

It's not a bad place, has good location, but is not as nice as the PVI or BWPPI which you will walk by going to the parks.

DIS usually has low rates, you can expect it to be about 3/4 or 2/3 of those closer locations.

 

[Maddie2]

Question for OP - what is available at the PVI during your dates? Is it just one set of bunkbeds and one queen? If so, where would you put your third teen?

We stayed at the PVI in Jan 2011 with our two teen boys in a queen/bunkbed room and loved it for the 4 of us. It was great having separate beds for the boys! The breakfasts were fabulous and the light supper was pretty good too. It wasn't overly exciting, but very nice to have. Also, fyi, there are fresh baked cookies, apples and bottles of water in the lobby 24/7 (all free). Plus, we had a small fridge and a microwave too. Generally, we paid for lunch and an evening snack in the parks - keeping the food budget very low (which was wonderful - esp. w/two growing boys!

Let me know if you have any questions. I'd be happy to help!

 

[mmlover74]

What does the PVI serve for the light supper? My son has multiple allergies. Are we able to ask for substitutions for him?

 

[Cagirl767]

Excuse the barge:

Smileyface - nice to see you here, hope you're doing well!

 

[limace]

Maddie, a queen plus a bunk is all that's available. We only have one teen-the others are 2 and 6. We can do a crib for the little guy, he can share with us, or the two little ones can do one at each end on the bottom bunk. But yeah, the space issue is the one drawback I have with this hotel.

 

[Maddie2]

Maddie, a queen plus a bunk is all that's available. We only have one teen-the others are 2 and 6. We can do a crib for the little guy, he can share with us, or the two little ones can do one at each end on the bottom bunk. But yeah, the space issue is the one drawback I have with this hotel.

Oops! I guess I ready your original entry too quickly. Yes, the space might be a bit tight for you. Really though, at least for us, we didn't spend much time in the room other than sleeping and a shower and then out the door. We would stay there again in a heartbeat. Loved, loved, loved being so close to DLR. As others have mentioned, other hotels are not far away, but when you've been on your feet all day, it sure is nice to be so close.

 

[Maddie2]

What does the PVI serve for the light supper? My son has multiple allergies. Are we able to ask for substitutions for him?

When we were there the entree was different each night - mini chicken sandwiches, nachos, sliders and chicken wings. There was also salad, baby carrots, soup (chicken noodle & tomato) & crackers and jello. We stayed there 7 nights, but we were away from the area 3 of those evenings. We were there in January. The menu may be different during the warmer months.

I doubt they do any substitutions as they don't have a restaurant, just a large dining room and a small prep room. The dining room opens up to a large outdoor terrace.

Just had a second thought - I don't think they would do evening meal substitutions, but if your child was able to eat the breakfast food, maybe they would allow you to take more food back to your room (in the a.m.) to reheat later in the day? The breakfast is all-you-care-to-eat, but it must be eaten in the dining area and you cannot take the food back to your room.

Breakfast consisted of waffles, fruit, pancakes, yogurt or cottage cheese, eggs, a breakfast meat (changed daily - bacon, ham, sausage), toast, donuts, rolls, danish, bagels. I think there may have been hashbrowns on some days too. Of course, the earlier you got there, the more selection there was. We like our sleep, so sometimes we were pushing the clock, but still always had plenty to eat. It was a great start to the day.

 

[smiley_face2]

Excuse the barge:

Smileyface - nice to see you here, hope you're doing well!

thankyou!! Doing quite well right now, last scans were all clear busy planning our next trip to California, I say California and not just Disneyland, because it will be a 3 week road trip all over the place and I am soooooo excited! We will be at the Park Vue Inn for 9 days so far....