What is your favorite Deluxe resort and why?

[hjohnson6]

DH and I are planning to go to WDW next year at the end of Nov. and beginning of Dec. We are taking DSs who will be 4 and 2 at the time. We want to stay at a Deluxe and it is hard to decide. I would love to stay at AKL and DH wants to be able to take the monorail.

Tell me your favorite deluxe and the reason why? Help me decide LOL!

 

[beattyfamily]

I'm a BIG fan of the monorail resorts when you have little ones (and even if you don't ).

It is SO convenient to MK which is where you'll spend most of your time with little ones.

I've stayed at the Contemporary and the GF and love them both. The Contemporary you can WALK to and from MK. It's the first stop on the monorail going home for the day. It's got the monorail going right through it. It feels, to me, like the heart or center of Disney World. I just can't explain it. The views are amazing! I love Chef Mickey's.

The GF is beautiful and I LOVE the new pool with zero entry. I love the restaurants. It's one stop when heading to MK on the monorail. Even though it's fancy and rich looking, we didn't feel out of place at all and neither did the kids. My girls enjoyed the Alice Tea Party and now they have the very expensive Princess Tea Party with Aurora.

I love them both. The convenience to MK is just wonderful. We stayed at the Contemporary last August and were able to run over to MK while waiting for our room and then once I knew our room was ready, run over to unpack and then head right back to MK for the parade. We'd go back and forth at least 2 or 3 times and it was SO easy, unlike non-monorail resorts. I can't stress enough how convenient it was.

Enjoy whatever you decide.

 

[Nik's Mom]

We've only stayed at 3 of the deluxe resorts (Poly, WL, AKL). We have a 6 year old and 3 year old.
I love each of the resorts for different reasons.
The pros to Poly are the monorail to MK and Epcot (you have to take a short walk to TTC to catch that monorail), the zero entry pool is also another big plus for the kids. It was also nice to sit on the beach at night and watch the fireworks and electrical water pageant! Another positive is the size of the room. Plenty of room to roll your stroller in. We were able to park our 2 strollers in our room without any problems!
The pros to WL was the nice boat ride to MK, the nice relaxing atmosphere, the view of the water pageant, and they also have bunk beds. I also loved that everything was in one building. This is great if it's pouring down rain outside!
The pros to staying at AKL, it's never a dull moment if you have a savanah view. My kids loved sitting on the balcony to watch the animals. There is no monorail, but the bus service was great! You don't share a bus with any resort! The atmosphere of the hotel is great! We loved strolling the grounds. And my kids were nuts over the bunk beds! Even though AKL is farther out than the other deluxe resorts, we didn't feel far from the parks at all.

We always struggle over where to stay, so I know how it feels. We are currently trying to decide on our next trip. I'd love to stay at Yacht or Beach Club, but we are also considering Pop. Decisions, decisions...

 

[PrincessCandaceMarie]

Love Love Love the GF!!!!! Gotta love the ambiance, the CMs, the views, the monorail, the meals, the rooms, who else is with me???

 

[CarolA]

AKL for the animals, YC/BC for the location.

GF was the biggest disappointment ever and I am not a big monorail fan. (IT seems to take longer then the bus by the time you stop all those times, it breaks down etc...)

 

[s&k'smom]

God this is always our biggest dilemma and we always change our original ressie. WL is a wonderful resort, very relaxing and the boat to MK and FW is really great.

Poly has the most romantic atmosphere and good size rooms. Excellent pool.

GF well yeah I like fancy but I did not feel out of place though DH did. I found the service excellent, they gave us a really nice corner room on the first floor as DS will not do elevators and we could see the monorail right outside.

CR-Chef Mickeys, great shopping.

AKL, last resort we stayed in, my kids loved it, found the bus service good. Boma's heavenly. See now we have not helped at all!

 

[SqueakyMouse]

I love all of the WDW deluxe resorts, but AKL has to be my favorite. It's just so unique! That's not to say I want to stay there every trip. We stayed at AKL on our past 2 trips, so dh and I are staying at WL in July. We can't decide between AKL and Saratoga Springs for an Oct. trip.

 

[Alicnwondrln]

I love the WL
the atmosphere and lobby
the music
i love the food choices and boat the MK
everything abbout it is great
i also the boardwalk but i love the WL more

 

[KimR]

Such a tough decision and one I am struggling with right now! Our two favorites are GF and YC. We like GF for the convenience of the monorail and the YC for its proximity to EPCOT. Both are beautiful resorts although I prefer the ambience of GF. YC, however has Stormalong Bay which is a huge hit with the kids. I just polled my kids earlier today and DD7 prefers GF, DD13 prefers the YC, and the 4-year-old just shouts out whatever comes to mind first. So - YC and GF are my recommendations, you can't go wrong with either one.

 

[susy]

We have stayed on the monorail, at the AKL, WL and the Epcot resort area. Our Ds is now 7 years old.

The deluxe I feel offers the most is the YC/BC. Just because your kids are 2 and 4 doesn't mean you will spend all of your time at the MK. As the parents, we decided that our son would go to all of the parks and he has always enjoyed them all.

Here is why I LOVE this resort:
Beautiful, luxurious theming
spacious rooms with mini bars
Large selection of restaurants
BEST pool on property- there is huge, shallow beach area and TWO water slides-a smaller one and the big one, 3 hot tubs, lazy river.....
BEST character breakfast at Cape May (they have Krispy Kreme's!)
Boat to MGM, Boardwalk, Epcot
You can easily walk to the Boardwalk and Epcot


#1 REASON-LOCATION
The practical side of things:

Here is where LOCATION really comes into play. In the morning, when we are fresh, we don't mind taking a bus to MK or AK (or boat to MGM for that matter). In the evenings, it's SOOOOOOOOOO nice to just put the kids in the strollers and meander over to Epcot or the Boardwalk, without messing around with transportation. Our son was always happy to do the slower paced attractions at Epcot in the evening and just happy to sit in his stroller as we enjoyed the World Showcase. If you want a character dinner-try the Garden Grill!!!

We stayed at the Poly this last trip and although it was really nice, we did miss the Epcot area at night....

That's why we are heading to the BWI for Thanksgiving!!!!

 

[TJA]

We've stayed at WL, AKL, Poly, CR, and BC. We have 2-yr old twins. I can tell you from personal experience that our family is much more relaxed when we don't have to take the buses every day. While we love AKL, we found it to be a bit of a nuisance constantly having to fold our stroller up. Now with kids ages 4 and 2, you may not run into that problem as much. However, the time that it is a real problem is when leaving a park at night and the kids are sleeping in the stroller. Obviously, it's much easier to just roll the stroller right on the monorail rather than wake the kids to fold up the stroller to load on a bus.

If you are going to frequent MK, then I vote for a monorail resort (I like CR and Poly the same & have never stayed at GF). If you are going to split up park time evenly, then I vote for BC. My all-around favorite resort so far? BC.

 

[Nik's Mom]

Suzy,
I totally agree that the kids should go to all 4 theme parks. My little ones enjoy all of the parks, not just MK. I have a question about Y/BC buses. How was the bus service?

 

[jacksmom]

My favorite resort is the GF! My dh's favorite resort is the Contemporary! Our compromise is the Poly! I don't think you can go wrong with any monorail resort! For us, the AKL is nice but to far away from he action!

 

[TJA]

Suzy,
I totally agree that the kids should go to all 4 theme parks. My little ones enjoy all of the parks, not just MK. I have a question about Y/BC buses. How was the bus service?

When we stayed at BC last month, we took the bus to AK and also to MK. We did not have any complaints. Service was quick and efficient. Incidentally, we also took the monorail to MK. We simply planned our morning to be in the front area of Epcot. Then we hopped on the monorail to MK afterward.

 

[minijeanie]

hey, no one has mentioned my favorite....

BW ALL THE WAY..

can walk to epcot,MGM or boat.. beautiful location...tons to do,,,jugglers, magicians always on boardwalk in evening to entertain adults, kids alike.
many,many places to eat. can boat or walk over to BC and have ice cream at beaches and cream.. can do character br at BC, have pizza, go to ESPN, the list is endless.
plus the pool is so much fun at BW..

but with small, small children, I would probably pick poly .....think kids would enjoy

 

[jimmiej]

AKL! Why? Animals, Boma, pool, theme...

 

[luvmarypoppins]

As you can see from my tag, the Polynesian is our favorite. We only get a garden view. The monorail transportation cant be beat. There are alot of dining options on site or a monorail ride away at either GF or Contemporary. The resort is peaceful and serene, the view from the beach of the castle, wishes and water paegent is fantastic. The rooms are large, the cast members pretty friendly and helpful, bus transportation is great, they have the on site kids club and lots of childrens activities, boat rentals, boat ride from the MK back to the resort,etc. Oh I could go on and on, the volcano pool, the slide, pool bar, o.k. somebody stop me!! The close tie is the Swan with a govt. discount. Its alot cheaper and our ds love the grotto pool, the only drawback is the room charging and quick snack place for us and we bring our own soda for that. Good luck picking a resort.

 

[LVSWL]

The Wilderness Lodge, especially at Christmas time because of all the beautiful decorations. We also just like the location, and we like to take the boat to MK, and we love the feel of the resort. It's like a big lincoln log structure. It is where we stayed the first time we came to Disney with our boys.

 

[hjohnson6]

You certainly don't make it easy do you! I am leaning towards either the BW/YC or Contemporary now. I did get DH to agree to take me AKL later on just the two of us. I would love to wake up in the mornings and see the animals.