Theme Park Views. Worth it? Which Resort? What is your personal experience?

mrskirk

Earning My Ears
Joined
Feb 8, 2013
Hi first time posting here. We've been several times and stayed on site at WDW. The only time we have splurged for a theme park view was at the Contemporary. It was wonderful. A clean view of the castle with the fireworks from our balcony. It wasn't disturbed by any trees or buildings in the way. I've heard that Disney can get a little crazy when you pay for a view. For instance people paying for a lagoon view and you can barely see the water except if you poke your head out of the room a certain way and squint haha. I was just wondering people's experiences when they have splurged for the theme park view. We are thinking about going to the Poly (we've been before without paying for the view) and the GF (we've never been except to eat). We have toddlers, so I want to be able to sit on our balcony at night and watch the fireworks if they are tired and need to lay down instead of staying up late. So please let me know everything :) If wanting to know, we are going in October for my 3 year old's birthday (she will be 4). Thanks in advance.
 
The GF has a lot of construction going on so I would not pick now for a first stay there. I have stayed GF RPC twice, once with a TPV and once without. I would not pay the difference for a TPV there as I don't think the view is worth it. My outer building stay didn't have a TPV so I can't answer to that.

I thought the CR view was better than the GF view. I can't answer to the Poly as it's the one resort I have not tried.
 
Prior to being DVC BLT owners, we did a split stay between BLT and GF. In both cases we took theme park view and let me tell you there is NO COMPARISON!! BLT (and Contemporary wins hands down!!)

We started our stay at BLT and we were on the 12th floor with an awesome view and balcony. We then moved to GF and for theme park view we were in the farthest building (from the main building) and on the 3rd floor (highest floor in that building). We saw trees and the underside of the monorail going by. The balcony was really tiny and littered with cigarette butts. Had we done the reverse, we might have been somewhat impressed by the view at GF but certainly not after having stayed at BLT.

GF has its special charm and I would stay there again for that but NEVER would I splurge for theme park view. Perhaps the villas, once completed, will offer a better view. Time will tell.
 
We stayed at the Dolphin with an Epcot view and it was great. We could see Illuminations every night and could even hear some of the music. I know it's not a Disney resort, but for the money it was worth staying "Offsite". BTW, we loved the Dolphin and would stay there again in a heartbeat. So it was a little difficult to walk by the Beach Club every time we went back to the room. Again, the price difference made the walk bearable.
 


Staying at the CR is wonderful. We felt we were part of all of the activity of MK, in the morning we could hear the ferry, hear and see the train at the station and the monorail. We felt like we were overlooking the park. It was wonderful.

I don't think I would pay for theme park view at any other MK resort.
 
Have stayed at the Poly many times. Only once did I request a lagoon view and the view was a stretch to say the least. MK views I hear are nice but we always request a Garden view for several reasons. First, considerably less expensive and the garden views at the Poly are beautiful. Second, we spend the evening at the Poly beach letting the kids play in the sand while the lagoon Electric water pagent and MK fireworks are going on. Third, after spending a long day out and about frequently seeing the lagoon and MK, once we finally retire to the room we close the curtains as most of us probably do.
 
The Contemporary has the best view of the Magic Kingdom hands down. It is awesome to watch the fireworks from either your bed or your balcony,and wake up to the castle in the morning. Not to mention,the monorail runs straight through it:)
The lagoon view room at the Poly has a bunch of trees and then the castle far in the distance. The Grand Floridian has very few rooms that even face that direction,and the views from those is not worth the rate. You get a lower rate with a better view at the Contemporary.
 


The Contemporary has the best view of the Magic Kingdom hands down. It is awesome to watch the fireworks from either your bed or your balcony,and wake up to the castle in the morning. Not to mention,the monorail runs straight through it:)
The lagoon view room at the Poly has a bunch of trees and then the castle far in the distance. The Grand Floridian has very few rooms that even face that direction,and the views from those is not worth the rate. You get a lower rate with a better view at the Contemporary.
 
Welcome to the boards!!!

stayed at BLT, CR and Polyn in a mk view.

have not and will not stay at the GF - the resort has no appeal for me.

the Polyn we stayed in Tahiti and really enjoyed the views on the 3rd floor.

now lower floors would probably not get a good view - saw part of the castle - and yes the trees on that island definitely interfere with the views of both Polyn and GF.

they don't interfere with the fireworks.

now CR the MK views were really great. but like BLT - you are seeing the fireworks in a different place than main street. on main street and the Polyn they look like they are behind the castle. In fact they are not - they are behind a lake a few miles away (I think) - so to CR AND BLT they look like they are in Tomorrowland.
 
The best view I've had at WDW was a LV room (now I think TPV room) at the Poly. It was a CL room, so in the Hawaii building, but I think any TPV room would be amazing. Yes, we relaxed on our balcony in the evening. And watched the EWP. And had a direct-on, centered, view of the fireworks over the castle.

I've had TPV rooms at the GF, both RPC (main building) and in Boca Chica (outer building). Loved the views from Boca Chica more since they are looking over the whole lagoon, not the marina.

Worth it or not? Hard to say. Depends on the price and how much time we expect to spend in the room. But the castle view from the Poly was really special (they keep the color-changing lights on all night).:cloud9:
 
I paid for a theme park view at two resorts: the Dolphin (where we had the Epcot fireworks view), and the Poly (where we had theme park view, third floor Tuvalu longhouse). My daughter was barely out of preschool so I wanted a nice balcony to relax on because she was in bed by the fireworks. So I was able to go out after she went to bed and enjoy the fireworks from both parks while she slept away. When she was younger, we spent a lot of time at the resort for some downtime, and we would sit on the balcony and watch everything going on. Our favorite things at the Poly was watching the monorail make the trip around the circle, watching the boats come and go, and listen for the steam train to start up in the morning and watch the puffs of smoke as it would slowly move along. I would get up often in the middle of the night to watch the castle to see what color it was. That just never got old. And then there is the Electric Water Pageant. I still go to the Poly each year to catch that beautiful little show, but it will never be the same as watching it from our own balcony! At the Dolphin, we loved watching the friendship boats come and go, and all of the action from the entrance to the Boardwalk. We could see the families drive by on those four person bikes and we would enjoy watching the men of the family struggle to pedal :) And the fireworks at night were spectacular, as well as seeing the Epcot ball all lit up at night. We enjoyed both theme park views, and because we spent a lot of time in our room, we were able to truly enjoy the view :love: It was worth every penny! P.S. Hi mmmears! It's been a long time! :wave2: (she was the one who sold me on the Poly years ago!)
 
Thanks everyone for your input! I believe we will be booking Contemporary TPV for the last week in October. We will be keeping a look out for any pin codes or offers from Disney, so we may change before the trip even gets here. :)
 
we have stayed at CR and BLT -- both theme park views... I love BLT, but the CR has a better view of the fireworks.

(blt is cool to watch the fireworks from the bathtub):rotfl2:
 

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