Which would you choose?

[OJulie67]

My husband just surprised us with a Disney Land/sea package. It will be our first cruise...and our first family vacation since having our daughters (age 5 and 10 months at cruise time) We are scheduled to stay at the Beach club resorts on our land portion...but we can change that. We could also stay at the wild animal lodge, the dolphin/swan, or the polynesian.
What is your opinion on these hotels?
We are beach people...and I am not really into the whole wildlife/zoo thing...although the girls would probably like that. Just looking for opinions! Thanks!!!

 

[Topper]

With your 5 year old, I would stay at the Polynesian (very beachy!), as you have access to the monorail which would be convenient with stollers, et all that your small children will require! Enjoy!

 

[christinou]

With a 5 year old and 10 month old, the polynasian would be great, you probably will spend most of your time at the Magic Kingdom, and the hotel, pool and beach are beautiful.
Have fun

 

[kricket]

We are doing the land/sea in January with our two boys, 4 & 8. We were originally at Beach Club but have changed to the Polynesian for the reasons above. Close to the monorail was the biggest reason.

We really wanted to stay at Wilderness Lodge but that wasn't an option. What Cat. did you book? We are a Cat 5. I would still love to try and stay at W.L.

Kristin

 

[disneyrett]

Yes, I would have to agree! Stay at the Polynesian very tropical and the convenience of the monorail would make it my first choice. The Animal Kingdom Lodge would be my second choice. It is a beautiful and exotic property. Have Fun!!

 

[mjvans]

I'd stay at the Beach Club~~ I love that resort! It is tops on our list of places to stay!! The pool is incredible, and there is definitely a beach-like atmosphere! I'd keep my accomodations there for sure! You won't be disappointed!
Michelle

 

[mmouse37]

Another vote for the Beach Club!!! Poly was always my favorite but for convenience you cannot beat the Beach Club. It is close to two parks, not one. You can easily access MGM and Epcot by boat from that hotel. The pool is magnificent (much larger than the poly pool and it is a very beachy atmosphere....think New England.) We love it there. You can also walk to the Boardwalk, Swan/Dolphin hotels and experience those as well with their restaurants and night clubs.

Poly pool theme is a volcano...the beach club has a huge pirate ship that has a slide through it. The pool itself is called Stormalong Bay and is a huge, meandering free form pool that has whirpools and a lazy river. The poly pool dosen't even have a hot tub!!!

The Swan/Dolphin would be my last choice....they are not even run by Disney but on Disney property.

Never stayed at AKL so I cannot comment on that, but I do know you can only access the parks via bus or personal car from that resort.

Also.....have hubby check pricing for doing the cruise and hotel separately instead of a package....often you will find a better rate for the hotel. There is a site called mousesavers.com....I have a link here, that often lists "codes" that people can use to book their room stay at WDW. It varies by season and a few other factors but definately worth looking into. It may be cheaper for you to purchase the cruise and hotel stay as separate reservations. The site also has codes for car rentals and discounts for the cruise as well.

http://www.mousesavers.com/wdw.html



MJ

 

[OJulie67]

Kricket~We booked a category 6.
Thanks for all the input. My next question is, if we stay at the beach resort, how do we get to Disney World?

 

[mmouse37]

Well, you are in Disney World....I assume you mean the Magic Kingdom....you could take a bus from the Beach Club, or take a boat into Epcot and then walk thru the Park to the monorail station. That will take you directly to MK.

The bus may be easier unless you are going to do EPCOT first and then head over to MK from there. From the Beach Club you enter EPCOT in the World Showcase section, but you need to walk to the beginning of the Future World section of EPCOT.

MJ

 

[jilljill]

Originally posted by OJulie67
Kricket~We booked a category 6.
Thanks for all the input. My next question is, if we stay at the beach resort, how do we get to Disney World?

The Beach Club is located a the back entrance to Epcot and is accessible by boat or the walkways. You can also get to MGM bu boat. You will need to take the bus to get to Animal Kingdom or Magic Kingdom. You can also get to the Magic Kingdom by walking all the way thru Epcot and then taking the monorail.
With the ages of your children I would opt for the Polynesian. the monorail is right there and so easy to get to the Magic Kingdom. The children will need to be taken out of their strollers before getting on the buses, they can stay in them on the monorail.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Originally posted by jilljill
You can also get to MGM bu boat.

The walk to MGM is about 15/20 minutes depending on how fast/slow you walk. It's a lovely walk, as is the walk to Epcot. I'm definitely partial to Beach Club. BUT, I would advise that you do some research on all the parks to think about which you would spend most of your time at. Then, based on that look at the resorts and their transportation to those parks. For instance, we spend a lot of time at Epcot and MGM, so we'd prefer to walk there from the Epcot Resort areas. If we thought we'd spend much our our time at Magic Kingdom, then Poly would be ideal.

And although we've stayed at both Swan and Dolphin and have liked them, they are more 'hotel' than resort. They are listed as Deluxe, but in my opinion not as Deluxe as the others you mentioned. You can book the Swan/Dolphin on your own sometimes for under $200 a night. Get your money's worth at one of the other places.

 

[dclwdwlover]

Poly has long been one of my favorites for the decor & ease of transportation with the monorail. Now, after staying at the Beach Club this month, I have added the BC amongst my favorite WDW resorts. It is absolutely GORGEOUS & I love the location.

Although it sounds like the BC may be ideal for you as far as the beach atmosphere & the wonderful sand-bottom pool, I would still vote for Poly because of the transportation factor with the ages of your children. As was suggested, you should figure which park you will spend the majority of your time at & look at the transportation factor. I would venture to guess that you will be spending the majority of your time at MK with a 5-yo along.

To me, the monorail running right through the resort makes life so much more simple & less stressful than taking the boat or the bus. Even walking to & from EPCOT every day -although a favorite of ours NOW- is a very arduous task with small children, as you will probably not spend a lot of time in World Showcase at this point. I have never stayed at AK, but it is not as easily accessible - as was said - only by car or bus.

As our children grow, we get to experience different resorts. When they were young we always opted for the Contemporary or Polynesian. Now that their older we try a different resort each time, but we're not dealing with naptimes, strollers, diapers, bottles, etc., etc. anymore.

Have a great time, whatever you choose.

 

[vgaskin]

We had this same predicament and I had always wanted to stay at the Poly but by looking at all the info, Beach Club looked better for the kids. It was! My kids are hooked on stormalong bay and we have now bought into DVC at the Beach Club. My girls were 4, 5 and 14 at the time. They loved Stormalong bay, they have a huge section that is great for the little ones. It is no normal kiddie pool. Absolutely huge and sand bottomed. You can get to epcot and MGM really quickly and we didn't have a problem with the buses. I would pick the Beach Club infact we will be there on Thursday!