What's your favorite Deluxe or Villa Resort?

[Donaldsgirl26]

Hello,

I'm new to the discussion forums, well I guess I've been lurking for awhile but never a participant! My family just set dates for our next visit to Disney World for Dec. 29, 2011-January 7 2012. We are a party of 7 consisting of my mother and father both late 50's. My sister and her husband 30 and their daughter who will be 18 months. My husband and I will also be attending and are mid 20's. We have gone as a family, minus my new niece, several times and were last at the parks in Dec. 2006 over Christmas week-so we've been there at the most crowded-we had a great touring strategy and no line problems!

In the past, we've always stayed at a moderate resort and gotten two rooms-one for the parents and one for the rest of us. We've stayed at all three moderates and decided we'd like to try a Deluxe or Villa at this point. We know that once I start having kids and we get really large we're going to need more budget lodging so this is our chance to enjoy!

I was immediately drawn to Beach Club because of Storm Along Bay, but am wondering...what is your favorite Deluxe/Villa? Why is it your favorite? We really love good theming, a nice pool/hotel recreation, and great Disney Spirit from the staff...

Love to hear your suggestions/stories or words of caution!

Thanks!

 

[bitohoney]

My favorite out of the 2 that I've stayed at was AKL. It's a beautiful, peaceful resort with great theming and amazing views!

 

[Adistar]

Loved the villas at the beach club! We just stayed there in May in a 1bdrm and it was amazing! I loved the whirlpool tub after a long day in the parks!

We also stayed at the wilderness lodge in 06 and loved that as well.

 

[honeydiane1953]

Hello,

I'm new to the discussion forums, well I guess I've been lurking for awhile but never a participant! My family just set dates for our next visit to Disney World for Dec. 29, 2011-January 7 2012. We are a party of 7 consisting of my mother and father both late 50's. My sister and her husband 30 and their daughter who will be 18 months. My husband and I will also be attending and are mid 20's. We have gone as a family, minus my new niece, several times and were last at the parks in Dec. 2006 over Christmas week-so we've been there at the most crowded-we had a great touring strategy and no line problems!

In the past, we've always stayed at a moderate resort and gotten two rooms-one for the parents and one for the rest of us. We've stayed at all three moderates and decided we'd like to try a Deluxe or Villa at this point. We know that once I start having kids and we get really large we're going to need more budget lodging so this is our chance to enjoy!

I was immediately drawn to Beach Club because of Storm Along Bay, but am wondering...what is your favorite Deluxe/Villa? Why is it your favorite? We really love good theming, a nice pool/hotel recreation, and great Disney Spirit from the staff...

Love to hear your suggestions/stories or words of caution!

Thanks!

How many adults and how many kids? Sometimes things get lost in translation to me.

 

[figment_jii]

I've stayed at the Villas at the Beach Club and the Boardwalk. Both had the same layout, but slightly different themes. Both were very nice, so the main differences were ameneties and location.

Overall, we liked the Beach Club Villas slightly more because the Marketplace was a good place to grab something quick to eat and it's slighly closer to Epcot. If you like swimming, then Stormalong Bay is amazing (and you must be staying at the Yacht or Beach Club resorts to use that pool).

 

[SusanWasHere]

My favorites are Beach Club Villas and the Villas at Wilderness Lodge. We've stayed at BCV 4x and you can't beat the pool or the location. We stayed at VWL for the first time this summer and WOW did we love it! We were actually sad to leave there after 5 days to head to our week at BCV. You feel like you're in another world at the Lodge. Walking to Epcot is amazing - so we got over it after a day or so!! Both are awesome!!

 

[Rania]

Love the location of Boardwalk Villas and Beach Club Villas.

 

[Figment2]

You might want to think about sleeping arrangements. The 2BR villas consist of a 1BR with a king bed, a queen sleeper sofa in the living room and depending on the resort either a double sleeper sofa and a queen bed or two queens in the 2nd BR. BWV are all lock-offs (meaning it's a 1BR with a studio attached (with the double sleeper & queen bed). BCV has a few dedicated two bedrooms but those are usually booked by members.

You might want to stay at a regular DeLuxe Resort so all the couples would have a queen bed. My question would be who would get the main bedroom if you did a villa?

JMHO

Cyn

 

[Kanga1]

We've stayed at the GF (MK View), Poly (GV), CR (Water View), and BC (Club Level/Water View).

Hands down the favorite was the Poly. Loved the atmosphere. Followed by GF, BC, and CR in that order.

 

[kdfogliano]

this sounds like my family!

we went last year with my parents, sister and husband and my husband an 18month old

2BR villa at BLT was great b/c my DH and i had the master bedroom with the baby

But, the location was great b/c we could walk to the MK, it was so nice
This year we did a 2BR in AK kidani (on rented points) with my MIL, DH, son now 2.5 and 3 month old

It was nice too, animal were great and buses were great, but we did miss walking to the MK!

We like the BWV and BCV when its just adults, or we think when our kids are older

 

[junglecruiseheadhunt]

Can't beat the Poly for overall theming!

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

My favorite Deluxe Resorts is the Contemporary and Boardwalk Inn.

 

[dizct]

Well, for what you folks are doing, with just one very small child, it seems a stay in the Boardwalk area would be best. Don't place too much importance on SAB for the time frame you are going. We go in mid-January regularly and it is often too cold for anyone but young kids and immature dads to swim . It might be in the 40s during that time of year! Nevertheless, any of the resorts on the Boardwalk should be great for your party. Lots of stuff to do all day and all night. Have fun!!!

 

[RMulieri]

Our favorite is the Beach Club villas

 

[MUFFYCAT]

We've stayed at the Polynesian, YC, BC, GF and WL.
Our absolute favorite is the Polynesian.

Never tried any of the villas.

 

[Donaldsgirl26]

Thanks for all the great tips, a lot to consider! For the record there are 6 adults and 1 baby traveling (someone asked that) I appreciate the point about the bed situation in the Villas. I think we'd be okay with a set up of 1 master bedroom for my parents and the second room with two queen beds and we can put my niece in her Pack and Play out in the main area. But, perhaps we'd like it better to just get rooms at a Deluxe since we will be on dining plan and don't really need a kitchen area.

I'll definitely check into pricing. As for the weather I HOPE it is not in the 40's! We usually go this time of year and it's generally mid 70's during the day and lows we've seenare in mid 50's at night. With the heated pools, and our Northern background we have all gone swimming each year!

Thanks again all!

 

[chrisw127]

My personal favorite is Kidani Village because I like being away from everything at night and it's very relaxing, but last weekend I went to Beach Club and thought it was beautiful. It's also incredibly convenient to Epcot and DHS. You get kind of spoiled by huge lobbies like AKL or GF and I have to admit that's my favorite kind of resort, but this resort really had charm that I wasn't aware of before. I'll definitely be checking it out in the future.

 

[larryz]

Treehouses. They're way out of the way, but they'll sleep a small army.

 

[asdfghjkl13]

Beach Club/BC Villas are my favorite. I love the walk to Epcot (its very short, about 5 mins), the pool is soooooooooooo amazing, the atmosphere is great, and the location.

If you want to stay at a monorail resort, choose the Polynesian, but BC is still my #1.