Room Advice please!

[FutureBrideOfMike]

Hi boardies:

I will be travelling to WDW for my honeymoon this October.
I definitely do not want to stay at AS bc it is just too "kiddie" for our honeymoon. I love love love the Grand Floridian (never stayed there) but it is just too expensive for us.

Question is:
What would your recommend for us based on these specifics:
--Preferably Private Balcony
--Fewer Kids
--Maybe a resort with romantic/couples activities

Ideas?
Thanks so much!
Lindsey

P.S. Any chance of kidding a code/deal for GF that time of year? Have you ever seen this happen?

 

[momrek06]

We stayed at the CR for our Honeymoon one million years ago...well not really but 25 years ago and it was in October as well. ONE PARK ONLY THEN: MK!!

I will say it was fabulous. We have not stayed there since but would love to some day.

I really don't think that the Parks will be really crowded as October it tends to be quiet.

How about POLY or CR? Also my DS and his DGF just came back and walked through the BWI and LOVED IT! That seems to be a lovely Resort as well.

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S!!!!!!!!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Mike's Bride: Have you considered the Swan or Dolphin? They sometimes give discounts to government employees, nurses and teachers.

But SSR would be a good choice, close to DTD, private balconies. Nice king sized beds in the one bedroom. You could get a good deal by renting DVC points on this one. A one bedroom would cost you around $220/night Sun-Thur, $420/night Fri and Sat nights. This would be on points.

 

[precious pixie]

congrats! Our Disney-moon was June 5-12 last year. We rented points and stayed at the Boardwalk villas.I highly reccomend it! We had an amazing room right on the boardwalk. Thier was night life right there and many resturants. We could see illuminations from our room and one night we realized we could see a distant wishes too. We had such wonderful service there. During the morning and day we'd open our balcony doors and really enjoyed listening to the old time jazz music. in the evenings after getting back from the parks we'd stop by the Bellvue lounge to relax and have a drink before going out again for the night. I can't say enough about this resort. I think it is the perfect choice for a honeymoon. After staying there I am having a hard time convincing myself to stay at any other (and I always stayed at a different resort each time never the same twice in a row)
Have fun choosing and have a wonderful wedding and disneymoon

 

[Mike N Kathy]

Why not the Yacht Club instead of the BC? We love the YC and there is less kids in the YC then in the BC and you will be in the area you wanted anyway...Also the polynesian is very romantic

 

[KJHawley]

We rented points and stayed at the Boardwalk villas.I highly reccomend it! We had an amazing room right on the boardwalk.

Let me second that- rent points from a DVC member, and stay at a deluxe resort for the price of a moderate! If you're interested in how to do this, just reply, pm. or check out the DVC forum here on DIS.

As for location - we stayed at the Wilderness Lodge for our honeymoon. It's an absolutely breathtaking resort- secluded, very romantic.

 

[MICKEEP]

It definitely has to be a deluxe resort. If GF is out of the question then I would recommend YC followed by WL.

 

[chipper10]

We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge for our honeymoon last year, It is gorgeous. My fave resort that we have stayed at by far. It is a deluxe but on the cheaper end as far as deluxes go. This is why we stayed there. We have also stayed at Coronodo Springs and this is our fave moderate resort. It was very laid back and relaxing. We stayed in the Cabana section and one day we just laid on the hammocks for a few hours just the two of us. Hope this helps!!

 

[kaysmommie]

I think WL is a good choice also. The theme is wonderful! There are kids everywhere so that might be hard to come by at Disney. WL is more affordable but YC and GF might have a few less children running around. Then again all my friends stay at GF with there children and love it becuase it has so many special things for kids to do! Good luck with your choice and have a wonderful vacation!

 

[goofy 28]

stay any any one of the boardwalk area resorts. It has the best nightlife anywhere outside of pleasure island of course. You can WALK to Epcot and MGM-studios. There are plenty of restaurants and some great nightspots also.
Espn club is there as well as the atlantic beach dance club and if you go there you have to go to jellyrolls for the dueling piano's, one of the best club's in the whole complex. there are also a few more restaurants.
there's always something going on there, and just a fun place to be around at night time

 

[Buzz2001]

I recommend CSR!!!

CSR is a large resort that does not share services with other resorts and offers some deluxe amenities because it is a convention resort.

CSR has a salon, spa, and a gym that other moderates do not offer. CSR has full menu room service and offers an internal shuttle system provided by golf carts to assist in getting to and from the main building to the villages.

CSR has terrific transportation. It does not share with any other resort (like POR / POFQ) and it only has 4 bus stops within the resort (vs 8 at CBR). And since CSR is centrally located, you'll have a quick ride to all the parks.

And being a convention resort, the buses seem less crowded because guests are busy with their conventions.

CSR has the best pool of the mods and probably the second best on WDW property. Best mod pool. It offers a great slide (123 ft long), an arcade, a sand volleyball court, and a playground at the main pool area.

Photo by Ducky4Disney

 

[pinkminnie]

I think you should really consider the Swan. We have never stayed there, but I have heard so many people rave about it. It seems very nice and I am very partial to an Epcot- MGM resort. I know you can get some really good rates there and I think you would really enjoy the location. The Poly is also a really good choice, but you will definitely spend more to stay there. Good luck on your choice.

 

[MareQ]

Ditto on renting points and going for a DVC unit. I would try very hard to swing a 1 bedroom unit - you will get a king size bed and - a large jacuzzi tub!!!! Also all DVC units have a private balcony or patio.

WL is absolutely beautiful, very serene, quiet, close to MK. If you decide on here request a woods/quiet pool view. We also love the Boardwalk! EASY access to Epcot and MGM. It's great if you like to eat at sit down meals at night because the options are endless. The Boardwalk is fun - there's always something going on. If you stay here rent the points for a boardwalk view. It's great sitting on your balcony and seeing Spaceship Earth at night, seeing some of teh Illuminations fireworks and the "action" on teh boardwalk

 

[FutureBrideOfMike]

Thanks for the suggestions....

So can anyone help me with the DVC rental stuff.
I heard that it was more expensive to do it that way somewhere or maybe that was for renting points for the regular resorts.

Anyway, I am not too concerned with "night life" stuff like dance clubs and stuff. So if we did DVC I think WL would be the best.

I really love the idea of the Poly or GF but can't do that for a week for sure. Do they ever offer deals for these places, like codes that work there too?

I'm new so thanks for any help!
Lindsey

 

[pongoperdigirl]

I am going on my honeymoon in November, we are staying at the Contemporary. We made room only reservations and got a discount with my AAA card. You can call Disney and ask for AAA rates and rooms. SO that helped some. I have stayed at Movies and it was nice. I would stay at Pop for our honeymoon, but I figured it's this one shot so we better go all out.

 

[KJHawley]

Thanks for the suggestions....

So can anyone help me with the DVC rental stuff.
I heard that it was more expensive to do it that way somewhere or maybe that was for renting points for the regular resorts.

Anyway, I am not too concerned with "night life" stuff like dance clubs and stuff. So if we did DVC I think WL would be the best.

I really love the idea of the Poly or GF but can't do that for a week for sure. Do they ever offer deals for these places, like codes that work there too?

I'm new so thanks for any help!
Lindsey

As to your first question- it is expensive to try to rent points at a non-DVC resort. If your heart is set on staying at GF or Poly, renting points is not really going to work.

If you want to stay at VWL, BCV, BWV- and personally I think any of those would be great for a honeymoon- renting points is probably a good idea.

Basically, each DVC resort costs a certain amount of "points" to rent. Most people rent points for $10 per point (plus or minus a few cents). There's a point calculator on this site that will tell you how many points you need:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/resort/dvcpoint.cfm

It's cheaper to stay Sun-Thurs than over a weekend. However, for ease of calculations let's say you want to stay for one week. 7 nights in mid October would cost 106 points, or $1060. Divided by 7 nights, that's $151 per night. That's not much more than staying in a moderate. If you're only staying Sun-Thurs, it's only $120 per night.

The reason it's so cheap is that DVC members are alotted a certain number of points per year. The points expire on a certain date- if the DVC members don't use their points by that date, they expire. Instead of letting their points expire, many DVC members rent them out. There's a little risk on your part, since you're making a reservation with a person you've never met, instead of through Disney itself. However, the DVC owners are actually taking a bigger risk (that you'll back out on them). Each DVC owner has various policies to safeguard them (and you)- for example, you owe them one night in advance, or half the money by a certain date, etc. This board is a pretty common place to rent points, and I've never seen or heard of any kind of fraud or problems with renting.

If you're really interested, read the FAQ on the rental board here:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-vacation-club/RentTrade-FAQ.htm

And one more thing- the prices, points, and stuff I mentioned are for a studio villa- roughly equivalent in size to a deluxe room. One bedroom studios are roughly twice as expensive, but offer a full size kitchen, and a bedroom with a king size bed, and a bathroom with a big Jacuzzi tub.

 

[Bugsmom73]

I would recommend either WL or CR. Have fun we spent our honeymoon at Disney too.