Which disney villas should we book, any suggestions?

[kyl]

Hi all, just me nagging again. We haven't booked our disney accomodation yet. Thinking of boardwalk villas standard 2 bedroom. As there will be 3 adults and 3 children, ages 11,7 and 3. My mother in law is coming along and we thought boardwalk villas as she has offered to babysit a few nights for us so we can go out by ourselves. would love to hear of other suggestions or anyone who has stayed at boardwalk villas. We thought we would book a standard 2 bed villa and then ask if possible when we arrived to a water view? Does anyone know what my chances of this happening are? Thank you all again

 

[PrincessInOz]

LOL!!

I had the same dilemma in trying to decide which villa to choose. I'm sure if you give it a while, the other Aussies will post their favourites.

I stayed offsite in my previous visit. Whilst this was a cheaper way of doing things, we decided that we were going to stay on site for our next visit.

My family consists of me, hubby and 9 year old son. So for us, we just needed a room or a studio room.

We are doing a split stay are Port Orleans Riverside, which is a moderate, and then transferring to Beach Club Villa. I chose BCV because I wanted access to StormAlong Bay.
I found the deluxe villas/resorts to be much more difficult and challenging to pick from. I'm flying out in 4 days and I'm STILL debating whether I've picked the right deluxe villa or not.

From what I can gather, the choice other people make depends on:
1. Whether they want to be on the Monorail and therefore have easier access to MK
2. If at Epcot, the pick is based on views (BWV) vs StormAlong Bay (BC/YC).
The choice between 1 and 2 seems to come down to whether there are kids in the party and whether the group will spend more time at MK or at Epcot.

Then it comes down to the rest of the deluxes as to whether the experience outweighs the benefits of staying along the monorail or at Epcot.

The other options are the family room at POP or taking two rooms at a moderate (from memory CBR has recently been renovated)....but then that comes down to a price thing.

 

[queenie82]

Hi all, just me nagging again. We haven't booked our disney accomodation yet. Thinking of boardwalk villas standard 2 bedroom. As there will be 3 adults and 3 children, ages 11,7 and 3. My mother in law is coming along and we thought boardwalk villas as she has offered to babysit a few nights for us so we can go out by ourselves. would love to hear of other suggestions or anyone who has stayed at boardwalk villas. We thought we would book a standard 2 bed villa and then ask if possible when we arrived to a water view? Does anyone know what my chances of this happening are? Thank you all again

I'm not sure how things work if you PAY to stay at a Villa, but if you stay using points as a DVC member (or renting from a DVC member) you pay extra points for a view.
So you are unlikely to get an 'upgrade'
The Boardwalk view is the MOST popular view of them all and it almost always sells out...and I means sells out in that people pay extra points to stay there with that view which they specifically book.
The 'problem' with this popular view though is that it can be noisy with the drunks stumbling out of the nightclubs at 1 and 2am.

As for where to stay. We have stayed at Boardwalk, Beach Club, AK Villas, Bay Lake Tower and OKW all in Studios.

I was unimpressed with Boardwalk because there is very little choice in terms of Counter service and the table service is either 2 credits or poor value 1 credit (Beaches and Cream.)
If you are into nightclubs though it might suit you.

As for Stormalong bay...I was underwhelmed but this is possibly because of all the hype it gets. BUT...it is the best of all the resort pools in size. And as a resort it is much more children friendly than Boardwalk and it actually CLOSER to Epcot than Boardwalk.
If you want this Epcot location I would suggest Beach Club over Boardwalk especially given the ages of your children.


If you are willing to look beyond the Epcot location then
The advantage of an OKW 2 bedroom villa is that the studio component is 2 queen beds and has the MOST room of them all. The resort has multiple pools with adult and children ones, but you aren't walking distance to any facilities beyond those onsite.

BLT was my favourite as you can WALK to the Magic Kingdom and the pool is lovely. It is also quick access to the monorail line.
You can get Bay lake or Magic Kingdom views but again you determine your view by the points you pay.
I don't know what happens when you pay cash though (other than that is costs more)

 

[ehsmum]

Do people really go to nightclubs at Disney? I'm preparing to be totally exhausted from the day time activities, I can't think of anything worse then going out at night!

 

[kyl]

Hey Thanks queenie82!,
No not planing on nightclubing....to old for that these days he he! But thought we might wander around and look at shops or something you know some kid free time while we have my mother in law there. We never get much time to ourselves so we thought a couple of nights out is on the agender!. Which villas do Beach Club Resort did you stay at. When I looked into it, it looked like the villas were quite far away from the main pool and shops etc? We also want to be able to go into downtown disney pretty easily at night. Thanks for all your help, I think I will book Beach Club Villas now after your advice. I was looking into renting points? Just a little scared, I would rather wait and see if disney is going to offer some discounts and book direct through them. So fingers crossed!

 

[aussietravellers]

Hey Thanks queenie82!,
No not planing on nightclubing....to old for that these days he he! But thought we might wander around and look at shops or something you know some kid free time while we have my mother in law there. We never get much time to ourselves so we thought a couple of nights out is on the agender!. Which villas do Beach Club Resort did you stay at. When I looked into it, it looked like the villas were quite far away from the main pool and shops etc? We also want to be able to go into downtown disney pretty easily at night. Thanks for all your help, I think I will book Beach Club Villas now after your advice. I was looking into renting points? Just a little scared, I would rather wait and see if disney is going to offer some discounts and book direct through them. So fingers crossed!

If you are really wanting discounts then that may limit your options. When Disney release their discounts they are not always for all rooms at all resorts, they often have limited availability in some of the resorts depending on the bookings they already have for that resort (if that makes sense ). Many people end up having to change their accommodation choice as when they go to book with a certain offer, it is not available where they were wanting.

I think with the Villas it really depends on what is important for you and your family. If you have children then they would probably love the pool at Beach Club Villas and the Broadwalk villas have the clown pool and great slide. Animal Kingdom Villas would be wonderful if you have children (or adults , keep forgetting about the adults) who love animals. We always now have to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge as my son just loves animals so much and that is his very favourite resort and also it has some of our favourite restaurants, Boma breakfast, Jiko and Mara is our favourite CS at WDW. But we are split staying this time with AKL and the Beach Club because we love to be in the Epcot area and because of the pool, we absolutely love that pool (down side is the lack of CS restaurants).

So I think just have a good look on these boards, have a look in the resorts area of the boards as there are lots of great photos of the different resorts and see which best suits your family. I think they all have advantages and disadvantages and maybe have a second choice incase when the specials come out the resort you doesn't have any rooms available.

 

[aussietravellers]

Do people really go to nightclubs at Disney? I'm preparing to be totally exhausted from the day time activities, I can't think of anything worse then going out at night!

I'm with you I think I'm getting old, but I have no desire to go nightclubbing at WDW. But in saying that, I have done it when I was younger, I am guilty of hitting Pleasure Island when it was there many years ago

 

[Willow25]

We have stayed at OKW a few times, Boardwalk and Animal Kingdom. We always rent a car and shop alot so we actually prefer OKW as you can park your car in front of your door. I walk enough at Disney and after a long day at the parks I don't want to walk miles through a lobby to my room. Also OKW has the biggest rooms and it has always been really quiet for us. Having said that Boardwalk was wonderful in terms of location a lovely boat ride to both epcot, mgm and beach club. We also really enjoyed Jelly rolls piano bar but that was before children.

Animal Kingdom is beautiful but a lot of walking and of course it is not conveniently located.

Renting points works out to be the same deal point wise so as Queenie said it will cost you extra for the view.

 

[queenie82]

We have stayed at OKW a few times, Boardwalk and Animal Kingdom. We always rent a car and shop alot so we actually prefer OKW as you can park your car in front of your door. I walk enough at Disney and after a long day at the parks I don't want to walk miles through a lobby to my room. Also OKW has the biggest rooms and it has always been really quiet for us. Having said that Boardwalk was wonderful in terms of location a lovely boat ride to both epcot, mgm and beach club. We also really enjoyed Jelly rolls piano bar but that was before children.

Animal Kingdom is beautiful but a lot of walking and of course it is not conveniently located.

Renting points works out to be the same deal point wise so as Queenie said it will cost you extra for the view.

I TOTALLY agree on OKW.
It is GREAT being able to park at your building. We also drive everywhere.

Hey Thanks queenie82!,
No not planing on nightclubing....to old for that these days he he! But thought we might wander around and look at shops or something you know some kid free time while we have my mother in law there. We never get much time to ourselves so we thought a couple of nights out is on the agender!. Which villas do Beach Club Resort did you stay at. When I looked into it, it looked like the villas were quite far away from the main pool and shops etc? We also want to be able to go into downtown disney pretty easily at night. Thanks for all your help, I think I will book Beach Club Villas now after your advice. I was looking into renting points? Just a little scared, I would rather wait and see if disney is going to offer some discounts and book direct through them. So fingers crossed!
A

It is a relative thing. You are closer to Epcot and further from the Boardwalk. But it is maybe 5mins walk? 10 if you walk especially slowly.
But of all the Epcot resorts Beach Club is the best.

As for distances from rooms.
There are no truly close rooms to anything. Especially if you go with standard view rooms.
The walking distance to Stormalong bay? I'm trying to remember...I think it was maybe 5mins walk at most.
Now there were corridors that went further but seriously you could end up anywhere.
I mean where we were in Boardwalk I would think it was the same distance between our room and the pool as where we were in Beach Club.

Even if you are the furthest room it is SO much better ending up at Stormalong bay than the Clown pool!

 

[kyl]

O.k so now I am totally in two minds which resort to pick. I like the idea of OKW but can you park anywhere around disney or downtown disney. I mean is there alot of parking or is it hard to find? And are the pools at OKW as good as beachclub? Thanks so much for letting me know about the whole pool distance thing as well guysYou have all been so helpful, just too many nice choices to choose from

 

[queenie82]

O.k so now I am totally in two minds which resort to pick. I like the idea of OKW but can you park anywhere around disney or downtown disney. I mean is there alot of parking or is it hard to find? And are the pools at OKW as good as beachclub? Thanks so much for letting me know about the whole pool distance thing as well guysYou have all been so helpful, just too many nice choices to choose from

Indeed decisions decisions. This is why we stayed at 5 resorts over the 2 weeks we were there so we could sample everything to find out what we like the best.
Stormalong bay is the biggest pool area. There are multiple pools, one is zero entry. Some have sandy bottoms. There is a whirlpool in part.
It has a longer slide than most but I found it not as much fun as the BLT one.
It is very much a personal choice. There are pros and cons with all.

We didn't actually have time to sample the pools at OKW but we saw the main one. The main pool with the slide is smaller than average but it did look fun. However it is not near where you are likely to be staying.
It is a spread out resort which is the attraction. There are villas scattered all around. There are multiple pools spread amongst the villas though.
So you could be near a pool...but not the main pool with the slide. To get to this one you could get the bus that goes around the resort though.

If a pool with a slide is going to be of importance then go with Beach Club.
If a more relaxed Pool experience is your kind of thing then go with OKW. But OKW is basically best for people who drive. You can't walk to any parks.

See below for a map of OKW to see what people are talking about.
Beach Club and Boardwalk have central carparks you need to walk to and from. As do most DVC.