Your favorite Disney resort and why?

[ENJDisneyFan]

I voted moderates because we enjoy the amenities they provide over the values (better pools, hot tubs, sit down restaurants, etc), but we don't spend enough time at the resort to justify the price difference between moderate and deluxe.

 

[TJA]

Our family favorites include GF, Poly, and BC. Reasons:

GF: Love the rooms, atmosphere, shopping, restaurants, Castle view being so close.
Poly: Love the tropical vibe, the views, restaurants, and TTC for direct Epcot and MK monorail.
BC: Love the location, pool, family atmosphere, walk to 2 parks, loop around the water for jogging.

 

[supitscarrie]

I've typically stayed at the values because staying at Pop means i can go more often and stay longer than if I pick a moderate or a deluxe. I love Pop's room refurbishments but if I had to pick an overall favorite resort I'd probably go Coronado... a lot of the amenities of a deluxe without the price tag.

 

[PSUGuy]

Board Walk on rented DVC points. Great themeing, a short stroll to half of WDW parks and in the evening when the buskers come out the 'boards are practically a park in itself. Before we started staying there we likes S/D.

Bill From PA

 

[cinnaminny]

I've only stayed at one resort at Disney World and that is the Contemporary. The second I got back, I started thinking about my next trip and where I would stay. After countless videos and suggestions we finally decided we are going to stay at the Contemporary again. For the things that we care about, we can not do any better. It was practically perfect. However if I ever go at Christmas, I am staying at the GF. lol

 

[mickeynut1]

We love the deluxe resorts. Having stayed at all but 2 (CR & YC), the Poly is our favorite overall, but we love all them and wouldn't hesitate to stay at any of them again.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I prefer deluxes, but don't have a favorite just yet. Staying at AKL and WL this year, so maybe one of them will win

 

[shocker]

I think Wilderness Lodge was our fav trip. We'd love to go back, but they've priced us out. Don't tell the kids, but I'm not entirely sure it was WL or that we just had a really great time overall. I am sensitive to transportation issues, so I enjoy boating to MK, bussing everywhere else. Also I can boat to contemporary & have all monorail resort dining options easily available.

POFQ for moderate was my fave, again because of transportation, short walk to one bus stop & boat to DS.

Off site, Staybridge Suites. We had a 2 bedroom, 2 bath, full kitchen, hot buffet breakfast daily, managers reception w/dinner 4 nights/week, free parking. Earning points to use on future trips. All for less than a moderate...yes!!

 

[sullyfam]

Deluxe resorts are my favorite. I love being able to either walk or take alternate transportation other than buses. That's probably the #1 reason to stay Deluxe. The Beach Club was especially great to be able to walk/boat to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. I like all the amenities offered at the deluxe resorts/the dining options and nicer pools etc. It just feels more like vacation.

The moderates are in general, too big and spread out for me. I'd like to try POFQ though as I know it's got a much smaller footprint. I don't like the internal bus systems at the other moderates. It feels like it always takes more time to get to the park or home because of all the driving around the resort you do. And at the mods, you rely on buses for all transportation which makes it even worse. Bus transport has always been spotty for us at mods too.

The values for me are not that appealing. The 2 times we've stayed value, the resorts just feel hectic, from the pools, to the buses to the onsite dining. We did AOA last time and while I enjoyed the ability for our family of 5 to spread out, that was about it. I would stay Value again but it would be my last pick for sure.

 

[Pmlocke]

The last ten trips my wife and I have taken, we have stayed at ASMusic 9 of those trips. I'm kind of a no frills person. I don't need a workout room or spa-I get my workout walking the parks every day. I'm 65. Walking those parks every day is more than enough exercise for me and my wife. I don't need a big luxerious room because I'm at the parks all day-except for the afternoon tanning time at the pool. When I get back from the parks I usually shower, brush my teeth and fall head first into the bed, snoring on the way down. Don't need a fancy pool or slides because we are usually in our chairs tanning and once in a while we jump into the pool to cool off. My reason for AS Music is because of the staff. As we are regulars now, we know many of those CM's that have been at the resort for years. We are always greeted with hugs when we arrive. We maintain email contacts with many of the staff throughout the year. It feels like family when we are there. I usually get an extra sausage with my bounty breakfast because I have been getting my breakfast served every year for the last 8 years by the same person. AS Music is not a resort as much as it is our Florida home and we get to see our Florida family while on vacation. 42 more days and I am back with the Florida family once again.

 

[Babsy]

All three monorail resorts - CR, Poly and GF. You can see the castle from those, the transportation to the MK is the best and the rooms are the largest on property. We love all three for different reasons! We prefer deluxe because we enjoy a balcony or patio in the am and PM.

 

[marchingstar]

Every now and then someone asks this and I always try to think but give up—it’s too hard to pick!

It makes me glad that there are so many options, because we always pick a resort that works for a specific trip (how many people, how much resort time, time of year, etc etc.). I would love to eventually stay at every resort. So far we have only tried deluxe and mods though. I love the look of the renovated rooms at Pop, but the only time I stopped by for a minute, the bus lines seriously raised my blood pressure.

so far we have stayed at:
Deluxes: GF (twice), Poly, CR, BC, AKL (twice)
Mods: POR, CSR (twice)

so I guess based on repeats, our favourites are GF, AKL, and CSR. they all have their own strengths.

GF: the rooms felt like a total retreat, somewhere restful and comforting. The pools are fine, but not standout. Same with quick serve and mid-level table service. Transportation is uneven—monorail and boats are awesome, buses are shared which means longer rides.

AKL: I’ll never forget walking into the lobby the first time. It literally took my breath away. Awesome shared spaces, especially spots to view the savanna and the pool, really great food. Rooms feel small, though, and transportation to parks takes a good while.

CSR: we haven’t stayed since the construction/renovating. I loved the colours and style of the rooms. Resort amenities are nice. We enjoyed the pool, and it’s completely picturesque at dusk. The location seemed great, too, with decent access to the parks.

 

[Lovetherodent]

• I stayed Mod way back when. It was nice.
• I went value to save money because now there were 4 of us. Loved the over the top theme, but felt so crowded (in the room, at the bus stop, at the pool)
• Went back to a Mod - oh wait! Disney closed it for refurb and offered to move us to ANY (but the GF) resort for an extra $25 a night. Picked Poly
• Disney had my number. Been a Deluxe gal ever since.
• Thought why not try a value again. Booked one night so we could fly in late and hit the ground running next day. Same experience as last time. Outdoor theme is awesome. Otherwise, felt like Super 8 with a Mickey picture on the wall.
• After all that, my favorite resort, hands down, is the GF. It smells wonderful. It's really peaceful. The lobby is magnificent and you step out of your building into a beautifully manicured landscape. The pool is zero entry and the courtyard pool, away from the "action" of the play area, if quite large. I love to take afternoon breaks at the resort, get out the NOISE of the parks, and GF is just the place to do that. Downside? Insanely expensive and I must be nuts for shelling out that kind of cash for a hotel room! I don't even have a second favorite. Stayed AKL on my holiday trip and just felt "meh" about it, even though it is a lovely resort.

 

[DisneyGirlMI]

Polynesian Village Resort. The relaxed Hawaiian vibe, scent, and music lowers my blood pressure as soon as I enter. Our room in Raratonga was large and comfortable. The close proximity to Magic Kingdom is awesome. I only wish that the volcano pool was larger. We actually love ‘Ohana, especially for breakfast. We really like Captain Cooks quick service, and the pool bar food is also great. Trader Sams is so fun.

My favorite used to be the Beach Club mostly because of Stormalong Bay.

‘Ohana is our favorite restaurant! Never been for breakfast though.

 

[jaiminee krikit]

I prefer the moderates, well, the Port Orleans resorts. We did a split stay a few years ago - first staying at AKL, then POR. I was unsettled in AKL. The only thing I liked about staying there was that we had a savannah view. I didn't like the rooms, I didn't like the food court, I hated the beds, we weren't blown away by anything there. As soon as we arrived at POR, I was home. I love the theming, the smells, the music, the rooms, the lobby, the food court, seriously there is nothing I don't like about that resort. And I like FQ even more!
We've also stayed at WL and that was fine, but I wasn't blown away.
I would rather stay at Pop Century than AKL.
And I can never justify the cost of the deluxe resorts. I would rather go to WDW 3 or 4 times and stay at Pop than stay at a deluxe one time.

 

[roydavid7771]

I'm not a f the values simply because of the room size. I was tripping over my luggage every time I tried to move around the room, and that was with only two people. We are now a family of four, I cant imagine four people in a value room.

We are also DVC members, so we tend to stay in the deluxe category. Becoming DVC members was one of the best decisions we have ever made as it allows us to stay in deluxe resorts we would otherwise never be able to afford.

Having said that, we always begin our vacations at a moderate for the first night, mostly POR. We do this because we love the ambiance of the resort and the boat to Disney Springs, which is where we always go for our first Disney meal of the vacation!

 

[Haley R]

I'm not a f the values simply because of the room size. I was tripping over my luggage every time I tried to move around the room, and that was with only two people. We are now a family of four, I cant imagine four people in a value room.

We are also DVC members, so we tend to stay in the deluxe category. Becoming DVC members was one of the best decisions we have ever made as it allows us to stay in deluxe resorts we would otherwise never be able to afford.

Having said that, we always begin our vacations at a moderate for the first night, mostly POR. We do this because we love the ambiance of the resort and the boat to Disney Springs, which is where we always go for our first Disney meal of the vacation!

The pop rooms are nice now because the luggage can fit under the new beds

 

[TinkFan74]

We like to try a new resort whenever we go to Disney, so far nothing compares to Kidani or OKW. We try to stay a few days at one of these resorts each year, in May we have four days at Kidani at the end of our week long Poly visit. What we like about these resorts is what most people don't like about them, we both have anxiety disorders and feeling far away from the business of the parks helps us cope. My favourite thing to do is to sit on my balcony at Kidani to watch the animals, sometimes I don't even want to leave the room because this is so much fun.

 

[CynBeth]

We visit every few years and try to stay at a different resort each time. Have never stayed at value tend to alternate between deluxe and mod.

 

[craigkerstiens]

The deluxe resorts if you can afford them are absolutely great, though we're immediately partial to any that your can walk/monorail to and from a park. Personally for us the boardwalk heavily wins in terms of location, a 15 minute walk to two parks really can't be beat. For us that convenience makes something like animal kingdom (even with savannah view) hard to choose usually cause you have to hop on a bus to get anywhere.

Swan and dolphin is definitely a great option in terms of convenience that at times can be cheaper (though isn't always), but you do lose out on some of the Disney feel.