Why do you choose the resort you do?

[longrf01]

Business Trips:
POR since my client's office is right behind POR. I like the expansiveness (which I know isn't for everyone) and relaxed feel without in-your-face Disney theming.

Solo / single child trips:
Value to save money. I figured the kids would love the theming (especially my sports oriented DS5) but I was wrong. The winner is...

Multi-child / Family trips:
Beach Club - with two potentially tired kiddos proximity wins out. DS5 and DD9 say EPCOT and DHS are their favorite parks. MK doesn't really trip their trigger. Kids love SAB, thinking walking to EPCOT beats the bus, and beg to go to the lobby to watch TV. Ummm, guys, there's one right here in the room.

Romance trip:
POLY. I had a couple things happen during our romance week last year (left my electric razor at home and injured my foot) and Dennis at the concierge desk delivered the best Disney service I've ever had.

What I don't like - Swan and Dolphin. I did a visit there recently and it was just too much like the hotels I stay in the other 40 weeks of the year (I'm a road warrior at work) and just didn't give me the vibe. Great places, nice places, but just the vibe I want for R&R time.

 

[CraftyMommy]

Budget is my biggest factor. I would love to stay at the deluxe resorts. I love to visit them each trip and eat at their restaurants. But I am on a Value resort budget. We stay at Pop Century because its the value that appeals to me the most. It seems so much brighter in my opinion. My first stay was at All Star Sports and it was fine. Our second trip Pop Century was open, so we tried that. I could never go back to All Stars after staying at Pop Century. I was able to stay at the Wilderness Lodge once for a long-weekend girls trip with some coworkers where we split the cost of the room. We splurged for a deluxe that was not crazy expensive. I would love to stay at the Wilderness Lodge with my family but it is out of our budget.

 

[tianna26]

Space made us go with aoa-nemo suite

 

[fla4fun]

It really depends on what I want out of the trip.

For example, for my September trip, which is the peak of hurricane season, I want a kitchen/kitchenette so I can prepare basic meals in the event of a storm.

For December, I like to be in the Epcot resorts area, because I spend more time doing Christmas things at DHS and Epcot.

In January, I like to take advantage of the cooler temperatures to stay at resorts that require more walking outdoors. It's a great time for FW cabins and the other mods.

In May, I pick based on which park(s) I'd like to focus on. Sometimes it's MK (I stayed at WL this year), sometimes it's Epcot (stayed at BWV last year).

If I am taking a very short trip for a specific reason (like a hard ticket party), I'll go with wherever I can get the best rate, unless I need walking access to a specific resort (think OMDD - CR would be convenient).

I've stayed at all levels of resort, and had great trips at all of them. Granted, some I liked more than others, but I haven't had a bad trip at any of them. Budget is always a factor, but I would rather go to a mod instead of a deluxe than cut my trip short.

 

[Couchy]

We only will stay at Epcot area resorts now. We like the location. In particular BC is the one I want to stay at every time. SAB is the best and we love spending hours a day there relaxing in the lazy river. If BC was sold out we would do YC .

If it is during the winter months and pool time is not our focus or if $$ is tighter we choose the Swan or Dolphin.

Both these choices allow us a more relaxing style trip. 2 parks without within walking distance, so many restaurant choices which is so important to us and the abillity to stroll around the Boardwalk in the evening.

 

[Tammy296]

We've stayed at several resorts...

All Star Sports - This was on our first trip. Primarily the $ was a factor and since Pop Century (our first choice) wasn't available, this was our next. Plus our daughter is heavily involved in sports. So go figure!

It was a nice resort but the time of the year is everything for us.

The second trip we stayed at Pop Century. We've been back there twice! The kids love the theming, the sprinklers in and about the pool and we've always had a nice room (near the pool) which made it all the more worth it!!!

BUDGET has been a factor for these trips.

One year we were able to get a moderat same price we could stay at a value! So we took it and chose PORFQ. LOVED IT!!! We chose this moderate mainly for the boat access, the room size/bed size and the beignets!

This trip, PORFQ wasn't available so we decided to try POR in the new Royal Rooms. Again we got within our budget to stay at a moderate for the price of a value in the past so we took it.

We can only dream of staying at a place like the GF! I just do not make the kind of money to stay there.... On the other end, I don't feel so bad because I know if I did stay there I'd probably not want to go back to Disney unless we could do EVERY trip staying there...

Tammy

 

[tinkermommyof3]

All about price for me. I can take 2 trips to Disney if I stay at PoR. If I stay somewhere like the poly I can only swing 1. Hmmm.....1 trip or 2 trips?

2 TRIPS!!!!!!

I like the way you think! I wish I could do that! We are a family of 5 and my youngest is still small enough for Murphy Bed (4' 5"). We really liked POR (stayed in Bldg. 14) and love food court, boat to DTD, etc. Problem is we need (not want) more space when we are traveling 10+ nights. My family functions better that way. We choose the biggest rooms possible at the resorts with the theme and food we like. This ends up to be Deluxe and one trip a year. Not interested in Family Suites at Value (just personal preference).

 

[mickeynut1]

Our first stay onsite was at a mod (which we loved), but after trying the deluxes, we won't stay anywhere else now. We love the deluxes for the larger rooms, alternate transportation options, and a variety of TS options (just to name a few). We are also in the minority group that would shorten our trips if we had to in order to stay where we wanted. We probably spend more time at the resort than we do the parks, so the resort is an important part of our trips.

 

[iScrap]

After having stayed at a couple different moderate hotels and then finally splurging and staying at Beach Club Villas, I was hooked. I love being able to walk to Epcot, love the atmosphere of the hotel, walking around the lake and having a kitchen and couch in my room. I made a believer out of my now DH when we went on our first Disney trip together (when we got engaged at Animal Kingdom!)- so much so that he chose Disney too celebrate his 50th birthday. So we're off to BCV in Feb/March for his party!

 

[Belle & Ariel]

For us there are many factors in determining resort:

DVC --If we have theme park tickets we love our home resort of Boardwalk because our favorite parks are Epcot and DHS and we can walk to both. I love to hang out on the boardwalk at night. Of all Disney resorts this most feels like home.
If we book last minute and can't get there we like Old Key West in the summer and Animal Kingdom in the winter. OKW just doesn't seem right in winter--it should always be warm in the near tropics. The fire pits at AKL are a turnoff in the Florida heat of summer to me.

For free dining we love the values. I love the peaceful relaxing vibe at All Star Music and can relax and enjoy a week there.
If we want to save high DVC weekend points we often stay Friday and Saturday at a value. Our first choice is Pop. I love the bright colors and "loud" vibe there but a couple days is enough of it for me so I would hesitate to do a week there.

As DVC members we can pool hop and I love to spend an afternoon at the Poly. I love the quiet pool with the huts with fans and walking around the resort.
We also love strolling through Port Orleans.

Disney resorts offer so much--something for every taste and budget.

 

[Masonmj84]

Our first time staying on property, we stayed at a mod (CSR) with free dining (which we upgraded to deluxe) and loved it. After the trip, I was convinced that, from a bang for your buck standpoint, staying at a mod with free dining was the way to go.

On that trip, however, we didn't do any late night shows like Wishes, Illuminations, or Fantasmic. Instead, we ate early signature dinners at various deluxe resorts and got back to CSR well before MK, EP, or HS closed. We also did a lot of early morning, pre-park opening character breakfasts. But we were all in the same room are were used to going to bed early and getting up early. So we were fine with relying on buses (and building in extra time to wait for them).

On our upcoming December trip, we're still planning on a lot of early, pre-park character breakfasts and signature dinners. However, we're additionally planning to go to MVMCP, Fantasmic, and Illuminations. Moreover, we're going with my parents, who are coming in from the West coast and aren't too keen on the idea of needing to be at a bus stop by 6:45 am in order to make it to a character breakfast (they'll also be in a separate room from us).

Originally, I intended to do a mod (either CSR or POR) with free dining again, just because we'd had such a great experience previously. But the more I got to thinking about the logistics of our trip, the more tempted I was to stay deluxe, mainly for location/convenience purposes.

So when the AP discounts came out last month, I booked a split stay at Poly and BC. We'll do 2 days at MK, MVMCP, and have a rest/DTD Disney day during our Poly leg, go to EP on our resort transfer day, and then do HS, AK, and a second day at EP during our BC leg.

Along these lines, our ADRs are set up so that almost all of our meals are close to where we're staying at a particular time.

It will be interesting to see whether staying deluxe will ruin us for ever staying moderate again.

 

[peyjax]

Sometimes it is who is going with us and where they want to stay. Other times it is the budget and then other times it is just what theme seems the most interesting to us at the time. We eventually want to experience all the resorts. It is going to take many years though to complete that quest!

 

[I Love Pluto]

Cleanliness
Food Court
Overall price
Overall "feel" of resort - theme, kindness of staff
Any specials/discounts given
Mostly parks -(stay value)
More resort time (stay mod)

According to the situations we expect, then we choose where we stay.

As you can see in my sig, Pop & POR fit our personalities very well.

 

[*Fantasia*]

It's what I can afford. If I can afford deluxe, I would go with Poly and WL. If I can afford moderate, then I would go with POFQ. If I can't afford neither deluxe nor moderate, then I would choose ASMovies and POP.

It's about the theme..

 

[LucyBC80]

We're on our first trip together as family and my mom has some difficult with walking for an extended period of time. Since we know she'll be walking a lot during our park visits, we picked the resort which she wouldn't have to walk around that much: POFQ.

This trip is 22 days long so we couldn't afford the Contemporary this time around. Otherwise this would be our pick.

 

[awoogala]

We haven't gotten to choose often!
Trip 1 We were not sure if it would be a one time only (not much $), knew with little kids we would be in the parks or sleeping! Went frugal at POP so we could stay 8 days!

2. We won a trip- they chose the resort-stayed in boardwalk did not expect to like it as much as we did!

3. Went with a homeschool group, got a discount on Contemporary or a mod, went with Contemporary.Liked it, didn't love it!

4. We are going to Bay Lake with some generous friends that have dvc!

5. Not sure where we will be next time!