Recommendation Help

[aljack33]

I can't take anymore! The stress is killing me. I read all you guys have to say. I ask some questions here and there, but I just can't decide where to stay! I go back and forth. I can't work. I just want to book and be done with it. HELP! Here is my situation. We are going (me, dh, dd 13, dd 5) on March 26 through April 5. Spring break! WE did the same exact time last year with the first wednesday after Easter. We had a great time. I read everything on here so I had my plan and we did great. Anyway, we stayed at the Poly. We loved it. The convenience, the food, the monorail, everything. We especially loved it after the fireworks at MK when my husband had to hold our 4 year old on the monorail to our room. Anyway, I cannot decide where to go this year. I would love to try something different, but I think we will be disappointed not having the ease of the monorail.

So, convenience and transportation to and from parks being the biggest factor, I think I have narrowed it down to these: Poly, BC, Pop, CBR, POFQ, I would consider WL or AK if I get some good reasons to go.

Can I get some opinions??? I am really struggling. It's maddening.

 

[disneyfan55]

I really loved the Wilderness Lodge. If you have ever visited our National Parks of the west and stayed in one of the lodges you will think you are there!! The pool area is beautiful, as are the geyser and lobby. It is not quite as convenient as the monorail hotels but I believe all you mentioned are not on it. You can take a short boat ride to the Magic Kingdom and all other areas by bus.

The Caribbean Beach has a great theme of the islands. It has a great layout and atmosphere. Not quite as upscale as the deluxe, but nice. We have stayed here a few times and have really loved it. It was especially beautiful when we visited during the Christmas holidays.

You should look at the style of each resort and pick the one you most like!! Have fun planning.

 

[rcraw45425]

I guess part of it depends on which park you plan to spend the most time in and what resort theme appeals to you. During Spring Break (very busy time) I'd definitely recomend a deluxe, probably the Poly or BC for convenience. Nothing beats heading back to your resort after lunch for a quick swim and rest. BC has stormalong bay which is an awesome pool complex and convenient transportation/walk to two parks. Poly has monorail access to two parks. WL theming is great but the resort rooms are smaller and there aren't as many transpo options. I'm including a couple of photos from WL to whet your appetite though:

view from room 6039, inner courtyard view:

view of geyser from same room:

 

[Jrabbit910]

If the monorail is something that you really enjoyed and it seems like thats one of the biggest reasons for staying at the poly again then why not look into the other monorail resorts... ? Poly, GF & CR.... All three of those choices are great...
As for your other picks of hotels BC is great because its next to Epcot and the ease of walking thru the back door is wonderful; you also have the boat to take you over to mgm...
Which park do you seem to spend the most time in? If its the MK then the WL would also be a great choice because you can jump on and off the boat for easy transportation... POR & POFQ has the water taxi to DTD but getting to the parks is all done by bus....
Again if its transportation that is your biggest concern and buses arent really what you are into, then I would say your best bet is sticking w/ the poly because you dont have the GF & CR listed as one of your choices....

 

[aljack33]

Thank you. I do hear great things about the WL, but I am concerned about their transporation. We like to do a lot of hopping. Last year, in fact, we did 3 parks in one day sometimes and it worked out great. We like to do more hopping then staying at one all day long. So, it was convenient a lot of times, to get on a bus and ride back to the poly and then jump on the monorail and go somewhere else. The poly bus system was excellent, I believe. That with the monorail, really made our trip. I would like to save some money this trip, tho, so that I why I am having such a hard time trying to decide.

I think we were able to do so much hopping because of the monorail and poly buses.

I could save the money on the hotel and try maybe the WL and use the extra money for taxis if the buses aren't up to par. Anyone do something like that?

 

[aljack33]

I actually tried the CR but they didn't have any rooms in our price range at that time. They were all the more expensive rooms. I'm not quite sure why. Maybe the construction? And the GF seems too much to pay. We stayed their 2 times before and for the price, we liked the Poly better. I really wanted to try the CR, but the prices were up there.

This last trip, we spent most of our time at MK. My dd 13 says she wants to spend more time at Epcot and AK this trip. But with a 5 year old, I know the MK will be on our list for a few days for sure. We were always there at opening and stayed till it got busy and then jumped somewhere else.

I was thinking of maybe doing a split stay between the Poly and the BC, but not quite sure about the split stay because of the dining options. We want to do the DDP, but would only do it for one half because of the expense in a split stay.

I would love to save some money this trip, but don't want to let the family down having to wait for buses, etc. I just don't know!

 

[aljack33]

Is the boat service at the WL good? Are their usually long waits in the early morning hours to get to MK and how about after fireworks to get back to WL?

 

[kimberh]

I have never had a problem with the buses at WL. Take the boat or bus to Magic Kingdom or take the boat to Contemporary and catch the Monorail from there. The buses run on a good schedule from the hotel. Did you read differently? Remember that all people can't be pleased all the time. Certainly no need for a taxi. Save your money.

 

[kimberh]

Is the boat service at the WL good? Are their usually long waits in the early morning hours to get to MK and how about after fireworks to get back to WL?

The boats run right on schedule all day long. They have a loading dock right before the Monorail ramp at Magic Kingdom. I think there are 3 boats, I may not be right on that, but they are constantly coming back and forth. Someone else may know, this is what I counted one night. We always get right on at WL in the morning, it is a beautiful ride across Bay lake.

 

[kimberh]

One more thing, When we hop, we hop from the parks... that seems to save some time, unless there is a reason to come back to the resort for something.

 

[aljack33]

How long of a boat ride is it from WL to MK? I have read that the buses at the WL are not great, but I have read them about every resort. To me, if you have to wait longer than 15 to 20 minutes, that is not great. So, I am not sure what some people consider horrible bus service and what others don't? I have read on the boards that waits can be an hour during the spring break season. To me, that would be horrible for us.

 

[rcraw45425]

Boat ride seemed to be about 20 minutes if I remember correctly, it was also going to Ft Wilderness back when we stayed there, don't know if that's changed in the past few years. As someone that has been there (WDW) during spring break I can attest to having experienced good transportation from the GF and YC. Our CR experience during that time was a few years back. WL was in October, as was the Poly. Our worst transportation experiences were at POFQ in July. The boat at WL is pretty good sized, but I could see it filling during peak times.

 

[kimberh]

In May, when we were there the resort was sold out, I would assume that it will be sold out for Spring break, the boat ride was about 15 minutes to the park. Now, I have never been at Peak season, but as I stated the resort was sold out, as it has been on other occasions when I was there. The ride did not count the 5-10 min wait that we had to wait for the boat to come. One day we did walk right on.

Once some stay at the monorail resorts, they are not happy anywhere else. Just something to think about.

 

[Redbudlover]

If you love the POLY and like the bus, I would urge you to stay at the POR. You save a LOT of money, so can use taxis whenever you want and having stayed at both of those - and the BWI and POFQ, I personally think the POR is as beautiful as a deluxe resort and with the new renovations the rooms are pretty close as well, though smaller. You have a great sit down restaurant there as well as a very good food court - better than the POLY, plus boat transportation to DTD....

 

[aljack33]

Thank you all so much for the advice. It's a lot to think about. I never thought of POR because I heard the buses were not that great. But, with the money that I would be saving by not staying at the Poly, if the buses were that bad at certain times, we could certainly take a taxi. So, that brings up another question,

Are taxi's readily available at all the resorts. I know they were at the Poly, because we did grab one one time to go to DTD because we didn't want to wait for the bus.

Also, and this may be a silly question, where is the bus drop off and pick at MK. We don't know because we always stayed on the Monorail!

 

[kimberh]

The bus depot is in front of security... to the right, If you are standing at security to enter the park, If you are coming off of the monorail, you would keep walking straight, instead of going to security to enter the park. There is a sign that directs you to the left or right side of the depot. It depends on which bus you are wanting to ride as to which side you will be directed to. If you are leaving the park, you turn to the left.