Thats me home

[JohnnySharp2]

For us, as many of you know a villa for so many reasons is always our choice.
Recent holidays we have tried to alter our thinking slightly and in 2006 stayed onsite for the first time at Disney's Boardwalk, a split stay with the majority of nights at a villa.

What I am finding more and more is a craving for a 'resort experience', any villa we look at now must have some sort of communal facilities, just to offer us that something extra.
Next year we are 'going for it' and staying at the Polynesian for the first few nights, before a stay at Terre Verde villa 'resort'.

We wouldn't consider a Disney budget hotel. To be honest whilst we loved the location of the Boardwalk and the villa was spacious and had everything we needed, the accomodation was a huge dissapointment.
The furniture in the room was tatty and the carpet unfit for my garage! I was tempted to pull the curtains down and bung them in the washer they were that dirty....I didn't I might add.
I expected more at a price of around $450 a night - though I am not sure the precise amount we paid as we rented DVC points.

You could get a room at Gaylord Palms, Omni Champion's Gate villas or many other place for less and the quality of accomodation would be 'different class'.
However, it's all about location the Boardwalk for example is a great 'location' but not necessaily the nicest rooms.
It does make you wonder though as to the standard of the budget/moderate resort rooms when one of the deluxe DVC resorts (in my opinion) looked in need of a re-fit.
Suppose they get 1000s of guests staying each year, it's an impossible task keeping everything in good nick, problem for the customer is the high prices we pay.
Why do DVC owners pay membership costs after all?

The budget hotels offer many people the chance to be on-site without paying 'top dollar' they wouldn't be for us but each to their own.

I would definitely always rent a car, irrespective of where we are staying - just gives you that freedom of going where you choose/when you choose.

 

[UKDEB]

I completely agree, Johnny. As I've mentioned (here and ad nauseum! ), the Disney hotels simply don't come up to the standard of their offsite counterparts. The nicest rooms we've had have been at AKL (brand new at the time) and SSR (virtually new). All the others have been a big disappointment - tired and shabby. The most disappointing of all (because of what it was) was the Grand Villa at the BoardWalk. We also find that the hotel bars lack a certain something. There are exceptions - the Crew's Cup Lounge at the Yacht Club feels like a proper bar. Hopefully, having been recently refurbished, you'll notice a difference in the rooms at the Poly.

What I am finding more and more is a craving for a 'resort experience', any villa we look at now must have some sort of communal facilities, just to offer us that something extra.

I know it's too late for your next trip, but you really need to consider Reunion. It fits the bill perfectly. It sets out to be a combination of hotel and residential community and it pulls it off to a tee. It has the feel and facilities of an upscale resort together with all the advantages of a villa stay. Apart from the private villa pools, it has a water-park and several community pools, plus 3 golf courses and several bars and restaurants. And when you tire of those, the Omni Championsgate is a stone's throw away .

Apologies for hi-jacking your thread, OP.

 

[trudis]

Sorry you experienced some downsides.
We've always stayed onsite @ POFQ & have been going since our girls were 3 & 6, they're now 13 & 16..our last trip was May'07.
We always stay 7 or 8 nights in Disney followed by 7 or 8 nights at Portofino or Hard Rock plus we always have a car.
We too would find it difficult staying onsite all the time but love the fact you can get around so easily & POFQ is a lovely resort, can't agree with the Travel Lodge comparison at all I'm afraid. We also eat in various locations throughout Disney too, did the California Grill last time which was out of this world, the fireworks from there are magical.
We love it all so much we're buying into DVC because we know as a family we just want to keep on going back

 

[wayneg]

can't agree with the Travel Lodge comparison at all I'm afraid.:

I hope the rooms have improved from 8 years ago but back then if you were sat in a ASMovies room or sat in a travelodge room you wouldn't know which you were in. The only difference was popcorn lights on the walls. We expected something like Disney curtains or Disney soap, anything Disney but there was nothing. OK outside the room the theming is there but we were very disappointed inroom.
I think the problem back then was using a travel agent and paying way OTT for the room and listening to the hype about staying onsite all made for a big disappointment for us. We are staying at AKL for 3 nights this August for only £8/night more than I paid for ASM 8 years ago.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

I know it's too late for your next trip, but you really need to consider Reunion. It fits the bill perfectly. It sets out to be a combination of hotel and residential community and it pulls it off to a tee. It has the feel and facilities of an upscale resort together with all the advantages of a villa stay. Apart from the private villa pools, it has a water-park and several community pools, plus 3 golf courses and several bars and restaurants. And when you tire of those, the Omni Championsgate is a stone's throw away .

It isn't actually too late as our cheque for the villa deposit goes off tomorrow, however the villa we have (bottom one in link below) is very nice, have seen overhead views on 'live maps' and it's pure south facing and very private.
http://www.sheardale-villas.com/

Reunion looks tooooo nice Deb, we wouldn't want to come home! Plus it's expensive and with PE upgrades etc etc would raise the cost to sky-high proportions, especially given the holiday fly-drive prices we have to pay.
If there were more of us maybe, but there are just 3 of us.

Apologies for hi-jacking Deb's 'hi-jacking' of the thread - though for me it's not the 1st time.

What did you think of US/IOA 'Bigbluebear'? did you go on any of the water rides?

 

[T16GEM]

I am glad that you had a good time and got to see most things.

We have never stayed onsite either, we prefer the space and independance of a villa really. I have stayed in hotels off site too but even still we keep coming back to a villa! DH and I plan to stay at AKL or the Poly when the kids are old enough to appreciate where they are. Both of our kids love the pool and would happily spend all day floating around, Shelby was most upset about having to share the pool at the public baths upon our return home!

 

[jen_uk]

Hiya, I'm glad you enjoyed most of your holiday.

We always stay at Pop and love it, for the amount of time we are actually in the rooms it is ideal, and with having a 6yr old the theme is perfect. This time we were there for the full 21 nights and are doing the same in 2010 . We have also done villas too but its the location of being onsite, the buses, extra magic hours, DTD check in, & Refillable mugs. I must admit the tv dosen't have much choice for the nights you do go home slighty earlier, but we managed. We do hire a car for the full stay so we have access to lots of different restaurants, but we do eat in pop too.

I agree, I love staying onsite. We have never stayed offsite so obv can't compare but I like being really close, I couldn't be bothered having to drive in, park etc every day! Plus the EMH, mugs etc are other things we take full advantage of. There are times I wish we could get offsite more and next year I really will drive over there so we can do this.

How far is it to the Crossroads from DTD? I've never thought of walking there but if its in walking distance might do it this year.

 

[wayneg]

How far is it to the Crossroads from DTD? I've never thought of walking there but if its in walking distance might do it this year.

DTD is #6, Crossroads #1, never walked it but would estimate 15 mins walk. Just go up Hotel Plaza Blvd and its in front of you.

 

[Bigbluebear]

What did you think of US/IOA 'Bigbluebear'? did you go on any of the water rides?

I love both of these parks. My girlfriend wasnt wanting to get soaked so we gave dudley doo rights ripsaw falls and popeye and blutos bilge rat rafts a miss as you get totally drenched on both of them. They are good fun though. The rafts are much better than Kali river rapids. The final drop on ripsaw falls is much better than splash mountains, but the themeing of the rest of the ride is nowhere near as good. And you get much much wetter. If you are planning on doing these then bringing a change of clothes is essential.

We went on Jurrasic Park though, as from past experiences ive neve been soaked on it. It badly baldy needs refubished. The dinosaurs look shabby, the sound wasnt working properly and one dinosaur was covered by an enourmous screen which just runied the effect completely.

By 12 o'clock we had been on Hulk, Spiderman, Jurrasic Park, Duelling Dragons, Poseidon, The Simpsons, MIB and Disaster and that was without the express pass. It was thos day that it finally got through to my better half that getting to the parks for opening means not much queues!! Shame that this was three days before coming home!!

I was never really a fan of Earthquake, but in its new guise as Disaster its excellent.

The Horror Make up show was the best show, and is IMO, the best show we seen in any park. Tears of laughter flowed! If you can manage shows with the wee guy then its a must see. Theres also a magic show in the magic shop across from the horror make up theatre, which although its basically just a sales pitch for the shops magic kits is pretty good.

Er, after typing all of that i hope you were asking as you havent been before, and not just what i though of them!!!!

 

[Bigbluebear]

I agree, I love staying onsite. We have never stayed offsite so obv can't compare but I like being really close, I couldn't be bothered having to drive in, park etc every day! Plus the EMH, mugs etc are other things we take full advantage of. There are times I wish we could get offsite more and next year I really will drive over there so we can do this.

How far is it to the Crossroads from DTD? I've never thought of walking there but if its in walking distance might do it this year.

A brisk walk and it would take ten minutes. Nice stroll would take 20. Its only about a mile or so.

The button for the traffic lights on the way back is broken though, so if it isnt fixed you'll need to wait for somebody crossing the other way to get back across the road!

 

[JohnnySharp2]

No we are regular visitors to Universal and have an annual pass for our next holiday.
I just wanted to see how much fun you had.

Popeye's Barges is brilliant, but you get soaked - my son loves it, a couple of years ago we rode it 4 successive times, he had a poncho on whereas I didn't, so you can imagine the state I was in after the 4th ride!
Jurassic we like but never seems to attract big crowds, and as you say best plan is to get there early as from 11am the parks can get really crowded.

The fact both parks are side by side is a big plus, and Citywalk also compliments Universal too with good shops, bars etc

My real 'petty' complaint at US is it's common for areas of the studios park to be closed until at least 10:00 - 10:30 am, kind of makes touring the parks on the less popular rides harder because a big percentage of guests head straight to Shrek and Jimmy Neutron.
Kind of defeats the object of getting on some of the other rides , especially for kid's as Woody Woodpecker, Barney and others don't open at 09:00am.
Jaws was 11:00am on our last visit, which is just plain daft.

 

[wayneg]

We went on Jurrasic Park though, as from past experiences ive neve been soaked on it.


The Horror Make up show was the best show, and is IMO, the best show we seen in any park. Tears of laughter flowed! If you can manage shows with the wee guy then its a must see. Theres also a magic show in the magic shop across from the horror make up theatre, which although its basically just a sales pitch for the shops magic kits is pretty good.

We took our friends on Jurrasic park a few years ago, she hates getting wet, I said no this ride is fine, never got wet on it. Well she got drenched, it was hilarious.

We have seen Horror make up about 10-12 times now, can't imagine going and not seeing it, DS loves it, he even found it on Youtube a few weeks ago to watch at home. Never knew they sold the Magic kits but we don't look in shops.

Our fave is Curious George water area, DW leaves us there to play while she goes to see a movie. A couple of years a go she joined in with us, she wet a grandma, she came chasing DW with a cup of water, Soooooo funny.

Need to renew my Annual passes. Can't wait to go again, I enjoy Uni more than Disney.
Anyone due for renewal that doesn't know yet they have increased the cost, $109.99 now, gone up $10. been $99 since we started about 5 years ago so I was expecting it.

 

[jen_uk]

DTD is #6, Crossroads #1, never walked it but would estimate 15 mins walk. Just go up Hotel Plaza Blvd and its in front of you.

Thanks Wayne

 

[Bigbluebear]

We took our friends on Jurrasic park a few years ago, she hates getting wet, I said no this ride is fine, never got wet on it. Well she got drenched, it was hilarious.

We have seen Horror make up about 10-12 times now, can't imagine going and not seeing it, DS loves it, he even found it on Youtube a few weeks ago to watch at home. Never knew they sold the Magic kits but we don't look in shops.

Our fave is Curious George water area, DW leaves us there to play while she goes to see a movie. A couple of years a go she joined in with us, she wet a grandma, she came chasing DW with a cup of water, Soooooo funny.

Need to renew my Annual passes. Can't wait to go again, I enjoy Uni more than Disney.
Anyone due for renewal that doesn't know yet they have increased the cost, $109.99 now, gone up $10. been $99 since we started about 5 years ago so I was expecting it.

Theres an offer just started for 6 months free when you buy an annual pass if you buy a large drink from mcdonalds, if you are going any time soon.

 

[wayneg]

Theres an offer just started for 6 months free when you buy an annual pass if you buy a large drink from mcdonalds, if you are going any time soon.

Not a bad offer anyone starting with a new AP but they cost $200+tax for a new one now, renewals are only $110.
Hopefully they will bring out the 2 years for price of 1 again, that was how we started.

 

[Bigbluebear]

Not a bad offer anyone starting with a new AP but they cost $200+tax for a new one now, renewals are only $110.
Hopefully they will bring out the 2 years for price of 1 again, that was how we started.

Thats a good price. It was $90 for just one day!

I wish we had taken the hire car now btw. At night time when not at parks we were quite bored.

 

[UKDEB]

Hopefully they will bring out the 2 years for price of 1 again, that was how we started.

Historically these deals never fell right for us - they always seemed to crop up when we already had an AP. However, we got lucky last time we needed one and we're planning on giving it another good battering in November (and again next May).

 

[dennyboy1]

a lot of folks dont think about getting a taxi to resturants just ofsite,quite a few within a $15 ride,plus while ofsite you can stock up on surplys
even without a car you dont have to eat everything onsite
As for the rooms even the deluxes are gloryfied travel lodges,hasent stoped us staying there
Paulh

agree with you there - stayed in the GF about 5 years ago - for the price we paid - the accomadation was shocking - hoping for better things this year though at POR

 

[paulh]

I completely agree, Johnny. As I've mentioned (here and ad nauseum! ), the Disney hotels simply don't come up to the standard of their offsite counterparts. The nicest rooms we've had have been at AKL (brand new at the time) and SSR (virtually new).

hope you will enjoy your future visits to the dvc resorts deb,we have always enjoyed all ours and we have always stayed in a studio
Which like most disney rooms is a gloryfied travel loge(isnt most hotel rooms)but we just use them to sleep
We love the fact that at night all the disney resorts from value to delux come to life in the evening
when we used to saty on international drive,used to hate evening as it always felt dead
plus anouther reason we use studios is we dont cook in studios(if you class makeing poptarts and rasan bread toast as cooking)so a room with all aminaties would be a waste
As long as there is a fridge for beers,coffee maker,toster in room good enougth for us
Paulh

 

[Red-Snapper]

We have never stayed offsite so obv can't compare but I like being really close, I couldn't be bothered having to drive in, park etc every day!

I think probably the majority of people that stay offsite dont see Disney as an "every day" part of their holiday, certainly after the first visit or so. Of course is a very major part but it is easier to go out and about and see other things in Orlando and Florida.
Of course Disney is designed specifically to try to keep guests in & I can still remember being shocked the first time I read on here some Brits went to Florida and never left Disney property except to go to/from the airport.

As someone said above very much "each to their own" however, but having researched the Top End Disney hotels on a regular basis I do agree I have never thought they were value for money when compared to the resorts available offsite but I can certainly see if you are really "into" Disney then paying for the magic 24/7 is acceptable.