Where to stay on travel day before checking into Poly next morning?

[DisneyFave]

We have a 4-night DVC reservation at Poly that we can't extend and starts on Monday Feb 28, but we need to fly to Orlando on the 27th. Need either:

1) a convenient place to crash for the night before we take Mears from MCO to the Poly in the morning. We have a toddler and a preschooler so I am leaning toward the ease of staying at the in-airport Hyatt (and not having to deal with a shuttle or car with the kids). Are there any other options where we could walk off the plane and into the hotel without a shuttle?

2) OR... should I consider staying at a value Disney hotel or Disney Springs? My son was really into the pool pics at All Star Music... The biggest hurdle there seems to be extra round (on Sunday) of loading the kids and the bags into the car, which we would avoid if we stayed at the airport.

 

[PepperjackDragon]

We have a 4-night DVC reservation at Poly that we can't extend and starts on Monday Feb 28, but we need to fly to Orlando on the 27th. Need either:

1) a convenient place to crash for the night before we take Mears from MCO to the Poly in the morning. We have a toddler and a preschooler so I am leaning toward the ease of staying at the in-airport Hyatt (and not having to deal with a shuttle or car with the kids). Are there any other options where we could walk off the plane and into the hotel without a shuttle?

2) OR... should I consider staying at a value Disney hotel or Disney Springs? My son was really into the pool pics at All Star Music... The biggest hurdle there seems to be extra round (on Sunday) of loading the kids and the bags into the car, which we would avoid if we stayed at the airport.

I would try to stay at pop century. They can transfer the bags for you once you stack them on a cart and you can just hop on the skyliner in the morning, though at some point at least one adult would need to pick up the car of course.

 

[Minnie1222]

Depending on your arrival time at MCO, if it's earlier in the day, I personally would go to a Disney hotel. If later in the evening, then the airport Hyatt.

Unfortunately there are no other hotels connected to MCO besides Hyatt. It has a cute little pool if your children want to swim.

 

[DisneyFave]

Thanks for these replies! We arrive Sunday at 2:15 pm (right after toddler's only nap of the day), if that makes a difference.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

We did the MCO hotel thing….once. It’s fine for some travelers, but we learned it wasn’t for us. Our kids were probably 4 and 8 at the time, or somewhere in that zone. We arrived 8ish I think….but with travel adrenaline and excitement NO ONE could get to sleep and it sort of drove me a little bonkers knowing WDW was just 30 mins away.

On future “one nighters” we’ve opted for AoA.

With your early afternoon arrival, I’d go for a WDW or Disney Springs resort, if this were me.

 

[Marthasor]

With such an early arrival, I would opt for a WDW resort - you will only need to shuttle to WDW property once, you can have your luggage transferred between resorts and you can utilize WDW transportation to get to the Poly. I think it would be the easiest, logistically, of all of your options. If you were arriving later in the evening, I would recommend the MCO Hyatt, but I would not want to spend an entire afternoon/evening there when you could be enjoying some WDW atmosphere instead.

 

[OKW Lover]

I'd opt for #1 with a toddler. Especially if you are arriving later in the day.

 

[SCWildcat04]

Where is your first day park reservation? If it is on the skyline route I’d definitely opt for Pop and just have them transfer your luggage the next day.

With an early afternoon arrival I know I’d go bonkers at the airport instead of closer to Disney and probably exploring Disney Springs that day.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

On the Disney transferring your bags topic, just wanted to note (in case you don’t know) that generally Disney delivers your bags to resort #2 late afternoon - like 3-5’ish. You sometimes hear stories of it being earlier or (yes) later.

If you plan ahead and are ok with that, then no worries. But if being away from your bags (especially with a toddler) poses any concerns, I’d definitely use your car to head to Poly the next morning. Your room probably won’t be ready that early and you can store your bags with bell services (where you can always get something if needed). I know when ours were younger we always seemed to “need something in our bag” no matter how well we planned our day bag.

 

[SCWildcat04]

On the Disney transferring your bags topic, just wanted to note (in case you don’t know) that generally Disney delivers your bags to resort #2 late afternoon - like 3-5’ish. You sometimes here stories of it being earlier or (yes) later.

If you plan ahead and are ok with that, then no worries. But if being away from your bags (especially with a toddler) poses any concerns, I’d definitely use your car to head to Poly the next morning. Your room probably won’t be ready that early and you can store your bags with bell services (where you can always get something if needed). I know when ours were younger we always seemed to “need something in our bag” no matter how well we planned our day bag.

Good point, I haven’t brought my toddler to DW yet so I haven’t ran into that situation yet.

 

[eandt]

We have a 4-night DVC reservation at Poly that we can't extend and starts on Monday Feb 28, but we need to fly to Orlando on the 27th. Need either:

1) a convenient place to crash for the night before we take Mears from MCO to the Poly in the morning. We have a toddler and a preschooler so I am leaning toward the ease of staying at the in-airport Hyatt (and not having to deal with a shuttle or car with the kids). Are there any other options where we could walk off the plane and into the hotel without a shuttle?

2) OR... should I consider staying at a value Disney hotel or Disney Springs? My son was really into the pool pics at All Star Music... The biggest hurdle there seems to be extra round (on Sunday) of loading the kids and the bags into the car, which we would avoid if we stayed at the airport.

We were able to snag a value studio for arrival night (before BWV check in) on our drive down last month. Well worth the 9 points. We drove so much easier to just carry in what we needed for the night.

 

[DisneyFave]

Thanks for these great great ideas, as always!!

I might regret this with the extra bag hauling on day 1 but we did snag a room at the Dolphin. AND dh is a federal government employee so we even got a $75 discount!

I’m going to take advantage of it by making the next morning our DHS day (hadn’t planned to go at all this trip because I’m doing a couple of the park visits while solo parenting — it’s a partial work trip for hubby — and the double stroller makes buses very unappealing).

Any other great tips for staying at the Dolphin?

Here’s hoping for a good night of sleep and availabilty at Sci Fi when my window opens this week!!

 

[CarolynFH]

Any other great tips for staying at the Dolphin?

Ask on the Swan & Dolphin thread.

 

[PortieOwner]

What I did recently for a late night flight was a) rent car at MCO, b) drive to Springhill Suites in LBV, c) have early breakfast at hotel and put bags in trunk and drive to Polynesian. Park the car there, go to parks for rope drop, return to Polynesian when room is ready and retrieve bags from trunk.