Which resort? Magical gathering

[fmelchor88]

I am in the process of planning a 8 day trip for 10/29/04-11/06/04. I am currently planning a trip for 10. This will the 1st time for 8 of the people in my group. I need everyone's help. I have never stayed onsite and I have several resorts in mind.

1) Pop Century
2) Coronado Springs-Water view
3) Riverside-Water view
4) Wyndham resort in downtown Disney.

 

[jordanyosh]

We just returned from a WDW trip with 13 family/friends. If you have any questions let me know. Where to stay.......first stay on-site at a Disney run resort. With a large group, it will be easier to split the group up, if folks want to move between the resort and the parks. Busses/monorails/boats run much more regularly between Disney resorts than they do other resorts. If you stay off-site or even at a DTD hotel, busses run less regularly. If you rent cars and stay off-site, you have to do more coordinating with rides, times to meet, etc.--you have much less flexibility which is imperative if you have a large group.

Now which Disney resort? Any of those you selected would be fine. It really depends on your group and what they want. We(my cousin and I) always do surveys and ask folks to look at WDW websites and buy Birnbaums or The Unofficial Guide to get a better idea of what they want and don't want. We avoided lots of potential roadblocks by knowing what people wanted up front. Even with as much planning as we did, we had to do some changing around of itineraries once we arrived.....

Good luck.

 

[Kimberle]

Welcome, Frank!

I'd really recommend staying on-site. You just will not capture the "magic" staying off site. Plus, Disney transportation will make it so easy for people to come & go. I'd really doubt all 10 would want to spend 24/7 time together.

I'm sure you'll all have a wonderful time at which ever resort you choose.

 

[hmp2z]

It really depends on what you are looking for in a resort. We, personally, will never again stay at a value resort. Too noisy, too motel-y, too many kids. We vastly preferred the Coronado Springs resort. It has the same open corridors and rooms opening to the outside, but the resort itself has a more elegant feel, and was a bit more "adult", at least when we were staying there. If your group has several children in it, you might like the value resorts, though. It really depends on what you look for in your resort. I agree that the onsite properties are more convenient, especially if you want to take a midday break.
Cheers!
Heather W

 

[dizkidz2]

We had a group of 30 a couple of years ago Thanksgiving week.
We all stayed at the Coronado and everyone was very happy.
We were the ones made in charge of the trip and became very over whelmed trying to please everyone. So what we did was to give each family that had never been to DW before a copy of the Birnbaums unofficial guide, and couple of websites to look at. From there WE made an itinerary and gave a copy to each family, of what we were going to be doing with our resv.# for breakfast, lunch or dinner and told them it they wanted to join us at any time they are welcome to, just make whatever resv. they needed. I took care of making the Thanksgiving resv at Chef Mickeys for the whole group & it was great.
It is better to stay onsite and at the same resort. The CSR has alot to offer. The PepperMarket has a good variety of food choices along with the Maya Grill that has a wonderful Breakfast buffet.
Good Luck and have a wonderful time, its always fun to go with a group, just don't try to everything together you'll go crazy with all the planning.

 

[eeyore0062]

Take advantage of all that the Magical Gatherings have to offer. Call and talk to a representative and ask these questions! This is a new program and one that Disney is very proud of, so definitely don't do yourself and your family short by not taking advantage of the planning help! Also, STAY ONSITE! You will not be invited to EMH if you stay at the Windham, and the busses from the Hotel Plaza are near DTD are not as convenient as those from the Disney owned parks.

 

[fmelchor88]

Thanks everyone!. I made the ressie this morning for the Coronado Springs resort. Now the planning begins!

 

[Vlahakis2001]

Good choice to stay on site.