What is most important to you when choosing a resort?

[sallytigger]

Location is important to us. My husband works out to keep his back from hurting, so we narrowed it down to ones that had a gym, with a location that matched our plans best. I need the deep room discounts to book ataa deluxe, so then we see which resorts have an opening for a lower priced room. Decision is kinda made for us at that point by the room inventory. Glad there are several great choices at Disney for us

 

[a742246]

Location, we love the Epcot area so we always try to stay there.

 

[nkereina]

When we first started going it never occurred to me, but in recent trips we've come to realize that food options at the resort are important to us. We do 1-2 character breakfasts during our trip, but the rest of the days we eat breakfast at the resort before going to the park. We got sick of the options at CBR and CSR's QS opened at 7am rather than 6am which was too late for us. A few of the deluxe resorts also lack good QS options. Just something else to consider.

 

[hookedonears]

Good morning everyone,

Planning our next trip and thinking about how our requirements for a resort have changed over the years. While budget is a consideration, my kids are now teens and space, bedding, and proximity to the parks have all become big issues for us. I also have a family member with special needs to consider when she travels with us.

What is most important to you when choosing a resort? Aside from budget, what else motivates you to choose a particular resort? I don't want to do a poll because you may think of things I don't and I'm interested! Thanks!

Location, location, location

 

[FantasiaMagic]

Good morning everyone,

Planning our next trip and thinking about how our requirements for a resort have changed over the years. While budget is a consideration, my kids are now teens and space, bedding, and proximity to the parks have all become big issues for us. I also have a family member with special needs to consider when she travels with us.

What is most important to you when choosing a resort? Aside from budget, what else motivates you to choose a particular resort? I don't want to do a poll because you may think of things I don't and I'm interested! Thanks!

Usually we will stay DVC with my Dgpa & Dgmas points. So usually we pick based on location and the pools, and maybe somewhere we haven't tried if all else fails. BC and BLT are my favorites due to location and amenties. SRR is my other favorite - when nothing else is available

Otherwise, I think of budget and space. I will be staying in the finding Nemo suite at AoA this spring with my 5 friends, and i knew I would have to find a room that would fit 6, or 2 rooms. the suite was cheaper and easier to book. AoA is great becuase it has a master bedroom, 2 bathrooms, and a kitchenette. It also has 3 separate sleeping areas, enough to give everyone their own space while in the room. AoA also has really nice pools, a great food court (LoF), and an amazing theme!

 

[GrumpyBelle]

We just pick whatever resort theme appeals to us when we are booking. Or whichever makes sense for the points we have available at the time.

 

[Kevin355]

Whatever my wife likes, I like. We like CBR because of the size of the resort and the proximity of the separate resort pools. Also, love the beach music near the dining/shopping area, and watching the Epcot fire works. It is relaxing to get up early each morning and take a lap or two around the resort then go to breakfast. And really don't mind the multiple bus stops in the CBR.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Queen beds

Awesome pool with a slide for my kids

Cost

That narrows us down to moderate and deluxe. I never thought we would ever afford the Poly but we got the magical deal and are very excited!

We stayed at CBR before it had queens but my kids were small then. Now we need the bigger beds.

 

[PrincessDaisyDuck]

My number one requirement is cleanliness, I'm not obsessed but I won't re-visit somewhere that was dirty. Second requirement is food, we eat a lot of counter service and like to have good options at our hotel. Third is bus service, we don't have a car most trips so that's also important.

ETA My current favorite is All Star Music : )

 

[FFMatt12]

I like to look at a combination that is in no particular order, when I know, I know sort of for that trip if it's the right one. It's a mix of location and budget (working also with how many days of parks we can afford too. Theming does come into play because there are certain locations that just don't interest me at all. (wishful thinking I'd like to stay at every resort at least once.. probably never going to happen, is there a golden pillow goal anywhere like the golden spoon?!)
I just started tuning into the DIS Podcast so I am anxious to get the different vibes from our friends there on their 7 Resorts In 7 days series this week! Happy travels!

 

[vettegirl]

Proximity to Epcot and nice pool.

 

[FFpooh]

To us, it really was a matter of cost vs time spent in the room. We usually go commando when touring the parks, so value or an offsite timeshare resort. This time we are building in some resort touring days and rest days because we aren't as young as we think we are at Disney. So we are going to try a moderate. Would love to upgrade to a deluxe, but I still can't stomach the costs of a deluxe per night.

 

[DisneyHoover]

For me, the most important consideration is theming -- if I could live forever at AoA I would because I love their theming so much. For my fiance, he's much more interested in being away from the young kid packed resorts since we don't have kids of our own and go to Disney for an adult vacation (yes there are kids everywhere at Disney but moderates and deluxes tend to to have fewer).

 

[Ceryssa]

For us the most important thing is larger beds--double beds are a dealbreaker. Next is to be near the Boardwalk--we love that whole area. If we can't make that work at one of the Epcot resorts with our budget or dates, then I'd look at a MK resort. It's a silly reason, but a big reason I prefer a deluxe is because they have hot tubs at the quiet pools--we loved going at the end of the day for a while last trip, and you can't do that at the moderates if the main pool is closed (and of course values don't have them). My kids love Storm Along Bay, so a good feature pool is a priority, too. Budget of course plays into it too, so I'm not opposed to looking at a moderate if necessary

 

[Babsy]

I look for comfortable beds and rooms where I will get to sleep easily. I also like to have fresh air in the room, so I prefer a luxury resort where I can leave the balcony door open at night. I don't want to even think about cooking while on holiday, so DVC with their kitchens are not places that appeal to me.

Theme, location and price come into the decision as well. Plus I like to try new places, so I look to stay places that I haven't stayed in before, or at least recently.

 

[Aerinha]

I go for location based on the purpose of the visit. On my first on property stay when I wanted to see all four parks, I went monorail. It is where I should have stayed for my december visit when I wanted to see all the decorations, but I was at an Epcot hotel. So this coming December visit I picked monorail. When I went for F&W I stayed st sn Epcot resort, monorail would have been second choice if they were all booked.

I stayed at AKL once and did like it. Yes the drives are longer, but there aren't extra stops so I found the travel time the same. And all hotels require buses for something. I know people say you can walk to HS from the Epcot resorts, but unless you are at BW, it is at least a mile which is brutal in heat, and the boats take forever, with only one for all five Epcot hotels at park close. I was really happy for a bus then.

 

[Monykalyn]

golden pillow goal anywhere like the golden spoon?!

what an awesome idea-would have to include the different views as well at each resort...hmmm-that could be fun!

 

[bluezy]

For us it's space, 2 TV's, and most importantly -- 2 bathrooms. We have 5 kids, though the older 2 are in their mid-20's so they don't travel with us very often. I'm on vacation when I'm at Disney so having a kitchen and laundry room in our room is not something that we would use or be willing to pay extra for. We also like to be at a resort that doesn't share buses or make numerous stops within a resort. Prior to 2013, we usually got connecting rooms at Pop Century. Once AoA opened, that became our resort of choice. We like having a separate master bedroom; the suites have plenty of space (and especially *storage* space) for us even when we're a party of 6; the kids love the pools; bus service has been very good -- and we like having the option to take a bus back to Pop Century if that line is shorter.

 

[AllyinWonderland]

For starters, our family is made up of two adults and a toddler.

Budget is our top concern, I don't want to spend a fortune on a hotel because we would have to cut back too much elsewhere. We like fairly reliable transportation that doesn't make many stops. I like the convenience of having good QS options at my resort, but am not concerned about having to travel for TS meals. It is nice to have everything at my resort within reasonable walking distance. I am not concerned about room size because we barely spend any time in the room. Cleanliness is obviously a concern, but I have never had any issues with that on Disney property.

I would love to be within walking distance of parks or on the monorail line but that goes against my top concern. Eventually we will probably stay deluxe, but not any time soon.

 

[AliceIn]

#1 is the pool, and #2 is location to the parks.

Same with us - though we are a family of 5, so very first priority is can we all fit in the room.