Walt Disney World

M

Marie1120

Cathlete
DH is signed up to run the Disney Marathon (full and half)in January 2008. We want to stay on the grounds.

Any recommendations of places to stay or avoid? I was thinking of the Yacht Club or Beach Club because you could just walk to Epcot and there would be many options for dinner without hopping on a bus but maybe that isn't a big deal.

I've been reading about the accomadation options and am totally confused!

Thanks.
 
Marie:

Both those choices are terrific (but with a pretty steep room rate). Have you been to WDW before?

I live in Sarasota (about 1h 45m) from WDW and go quite often. I have stayed at all the of WDW resorts except for the Contemporary and the Carribean Beach. We mostly stay at Port Orleans River Side. The rooms are about half the price of the EPCOT Resorts and very nice. You would have to get a bus to get to EPCOT and sometimes that can be time consuming. But if you are planning on renting a car, it is very easy to get around between the hotels and the parks.

If money is not object :D definately stay at one of the EPCOT resorts (the Swan and the Dolphin are also beautiful).

If you are not bringing children, I would definately avoid the All-Stars Resort. It can be somewhat overwhelming.

My husband and I are planning to do the half marathon in 2008. My friend ran this year's full marathon and had a great time.

Hope this helps.

Debbie Russo
 
Debbie,
Thanks for the info. We aren't planning on renting a car and it would just be us. Definitely would prefer a place that doesn't have a lot of young kids.

DH is doing the Goofy in Jan 2008 - so the half on Sat and the full on Sunday. So we will be there at the same time.

What do you think of the Yacht, Beach, and Boardwalk? I go back and forth on whether to stay at a deluxe or a moderate. The Wilderness looks interesting and priced between the moderates and the ones by Epcot. But it is more remote. I am thinking we will spend the majority of our time at Epcot since neither of us are really ride lovers and we both avoid rollercoasters.

I have been reading comments on allearsnet and also some travel guides. Anyway the reader comments for the moderates were often complaints about the buses and lack of places to eat on site.

I was there over 20 years ago but stayed off site. DH has never been there.

I appreciate any advice you can give to help us make this decision!
 
We love Disney. The happiest place on earth. We always stay at a moderate resort because we're just never in the room. The rooms are lovely and I rather spend the money having fun!

The love the Disney transit system. It's quick and convenient. IMO, it doesn't matter which park you're closest to as they make it pretty easy to travel anywhere. We don't rent a car either. I think it's more hassle than it's worth. I personally LOVE all of the parks, but Epcot is my favorite!

We stayed out of the park once - mistake!

Have fun!!!!!!!

Nancy
 
Nancy,
Which moderates have you stayed at and what did you thinkof the different ones? If we went with a moderate, we are leaning toward one of the Port Orleans or the Carbibbean Beach.

Thanks.
 
We're leaving tomorrow for Disney! We're so excited! We've gone other before and always stayed at the value resorts. This will be our first time at a moderate. We're staying at Port Orleans French Quarter. It's great being onsite. My sister is there right now at Carribbean Beach I can give you a report when we get back if you like? Kim
 
Kim,
I would love a report on the French Quarter and also what your sister thought of Caribbean Beach. We will probably be booking in a couple of weeks so there is time.

Have fun!!!!
 
Our last stay was at the Caribbean Beach. The rooms were spotless (as is everything about Disney) and roomy. Like I said, we only spent enough time in the room to get a decent night's sleep. We ran ourselves ragged the rest of the time.

We did take one easy day while we stayed there and bicycled around the lagoon and hung out at the pool and enjoyed that immensely too. It was our last day there and we were exhausted.

I can't wait to go back.

Nancy
 
We've been to Disney many times and have stayed at the Beach Club and also at the Boardwalk. They are both wonderful properties and having the ability to walk to Epcot is really nice!

We've stayed at Caribbean Beach twice and don't really care for it. It is (I think) the largest resort at Disney, which means that the lines waiting for the buses when leaving any of the parks is usually the longest and they don't always have the most buses running. We waited one night when leaving the Magic Kingdom for an hour to get back to our room! French Quarter is on the same price level as CB, but isn't as large and I don't remember having any problems with transportation while there.

Animal Kingdom is really nice! My kids loved seeing the animals from our balcony.

Have fun! I'm bugging my DH to go the Disney in May. We love it!!!
 
Hi!

I was just at the French Quarter in October, great location!!! Granted, you will rely on the bus system, but it is very quick and efficient. The rooms are nice, clean and priced well. We like the ability to take the boat right into Downtown Disney in the evenings for the nightlife.

However, if you want more upscale amenities, I would go for the Yacht or Beach Club, depending on which had the most restaurants. Bear in mind that you will be in great proximity to the wonderful cuisines in Epcot itself.

Next time we go ( hopefully in 2008 ) , we will stay at the Grand Floridian, which is our favorite place to stay, but it is a splurge!

Have a great time!!!
 
I've done both moderate and deluxe and am currently a DVC owner.

Dolphin is nice and you can usually get good discounts. One thing to remeber is that you can not charge to your rooms (from the parks, and dd) like you can if you stay at a disney owned property.

Carribean beach is wonderful. I've stayed there 3 times. It may look remote, but it's not and the bus service is usually great. I've also stayed at the Coronado and I love it there too. Closer to AK, but I find that the bus rides are not as long as they appear.

AKL, lovely, but you said you won't spend much time out of Epcot, AK doesn't have lots of rides, lots of shows and walking and looking at animals.


WL, is a beautiful resort too. AKL is similar to AK. I found that the transportation was hit or miss here!!

OKW, look into it if you want a studio room with a microwave and fridge. Lovely resort and nice big rooms!! Saratoga springs, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. This is where I brought my dvc. However, bus transportation was not the best.

Did I help any or only serve to confuese you more??? BTW the only really, really bad thing about the EPCOT resorts is that all 5 (Swan, Dolphin, Boardwalk, Beach and Yacht club) all share the transportation. Lots of filled buses and boats!!!! So unless you walk, sometimes you end of waiting for another boat and the round trip since it goes from EPCOT then dropoffs to resorts then to MGM, and then back again is usually 20-30 minute wait!
 
>I've done both moderate and deluxe and am currently a DVC
>owner.
>
>Dolphin is nice and you can usually get good discounts. One
>thing to remeber is that you can not charge to your rooms
>(from the parks, and dd) like you can if you stay at a disney
>owned property.
>
>Carribean beach is wonderful. I've stayed there 3 times. It
>may look remote, but it's not and the bus service is usually
>great. I've also stayed at the Coronado and I love it there
>too. Closer to AK, but I find that the bus rides are not as
>long as they appear.
>
>AKL, lovely, but you said you won't spend much time out of
>Epcot, AK doesn't have lots of rides, lots of shows and
>walking and looking at animals.
>
>
>WL, is a beautiful resort too. AKL is similar to AK. I found
>that the transportation was hit or miss here!!
>
>OKW, look into it if you want a studio room with a microwave
>and fridge. Lovely resort and nice big rooms!! Saratoga
>springs, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. This is where I
>brought my dvc. However, bus transportation was not the
>best.
>
>Did I help any or only serve to confuese you more??? BTW the
>only really, really bad thing about the EPCOT resorts is that
>all 5 (Swan, Dolphin, Boardwalk, Beach and Yacht club) all
>share the transportation. Lots of filled buses and boats!!!!
>So unless you walk, sometimes you end of waiting for another
>boat and the round trip since it goes from EPCOT then dropoffs
>to resorts then to MGM, and then back again is usually 20-30
>minute wait!

All this info is helping. I have been reading so much but hearing things from people who have been there is so much better. I am starting a list of recommendations and good and bad comments. I'm sure some of the issues might be related to time of year. Since we are going Marathon weekend plus some before and after, I am expecting that it wil be packed but since it is mid-January there might be fewer kids (at least school age). The marathon was going to be right after New Year's but now it is the following weekend.
 
I stayed at the Caribbean Beach in October and loved it. It is a very relaxing and lovely property. The bus service was prompt, but at Epcot you have to walk a ways to get back to your stop in the evening. Starting from farthest World Showcase it was about a one mile walk back to the bus. I think you'd do the same amount of walking to get to the Yacht and Beach, but then you would be there and not have to take a bus in addition to that. Its just very expensive to stay there which is why I picked the CBR. I ate at the parks so I didn't care about having resort restaurants. But I noticed that there are a ton of restaurants in the epcot hotels as well as epcot world showcase, so if you are big on that experience that would definilty be the place to stay (at epctot resorts.) I don't think January is very crowded, nothing like holidays or summer.
Beth
 
Beth - thanks for sharing your experience. We keep going back and forth between the cost and the convenience. We can afford if but trying to decide if it is worth it. The boardwalk also looked like a fun place to hang out and that is also walking distance. Since this will be marathon weekend, I think the park will be packed but maybe not quite as bad as holidays. It is Martin Luther King weekend though so between the 2 it could be just as crowded.
 
Any comments on The Polynesian or Wilderness Lodge? The Polynesian is my dream place to stay but the Wilderness Lodge is a deluxe but on the lower end price wise.

For the moderates - I haven't seen any comments on the Coronado Springs. Any thoughts on that one?

Another question - if we stay somewhere else but want to go to the show at the Polynesian, can we jsut take the monorail from Epcot right to the Polynesian? Some book I was reading said you needed to go to Magic Kingdom and then take the monorail to the Polynesian.
 
The Polynesian is beautiful but the grounds are on the small side, so you feel sort of cramped. Upside is that you can take a small boat to the Grand Floridian and to the Magic Kingdom. It is a very short walk to the monorail transfer center to catch the rail to EPCOT. You can get the monorail right at the Polynesian to Magic Kingdom.

The Wilderness Lodge is also amazing. Very scenic location but also very remote. You have to take a boat to Magic Kingdom and then take the monorail to the monorail transfer center and then take another monorail to EPCOT (of course there is always the bus option at all the hotels).

The Animal Kingdom is one of my favorite places it feels very authentic, but the downside is very little walking around area.

IMO the EPCOT resorts don't really give you that over the top Disney feel. They are absolutely gorgeous, but if you remove the subtle little Disney touches you could really be at any high scale resort.

If you are looking to stay at a "deluxe" resort, my money would be on the Animal Kingdom. Sure it might be a little more time consuming to get from there to one of the other parks, but the whole African ambience is incredible and the restaurants there are very good.

I love Disney World and could go on and on. If you have not been there in 20 years, don't sell any of the parks short just because you aren't crazy about rides. I HATE rollercoaster type rides but I find tons of things that I love.

How old were you when you were last there? If you were just a little kid you will be surprised at how grown up WDW can be :)

I bet you are totally confused by now:7

You can't go wrong where ever you stay.


Debbie Russo
 
Debbie - yes I am very confused. I like water and tropical - Mexico, Caribbean, East Coast so probably more drawn to resorts with that type of theme although the Wilderness Lodge still appealed to me. That might be why I wasn't drawn to Animal Kingdom but I will check it out some more.

I was at WDW as an adult with my ex-husband. Got divorced soon after. Horrible, very boring vacation but very boring, controlling ex-husband. So not a great experience with WDW and hoping not to repeat it. Would like to keep current DH around.
 
I stayed there when I was little with my family, but 20 years later we're going to share the experience with our kids...We are going to stay at the Wilderness Lodge...

We don't plan on spending too much time at the hotel, so it works well for us...

We'll be going down in April. Hope you get to report your experience when you get back.

And remember, HAVE FUN:):):)


Carrie

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I would just add that I found the allears web site to have really great info on all the hotels and restaurants. I think you will be well prepared with your final choice after reading all the comments on their boards. Just pay attention to the "majority opinion." Every place has some weird negative experience that some reader just had to post about.
Beth
 
We have been twice with the whole family--the first time stayed at Coronado Springs, which we absolutely loved. The food court was better than expected and the lines for the food court weren't too bad. Plus, they have an upscale restaurant, and they have a gym (the only resort, or one of the only, to have one). Last time we stayed at Port Orleans Riverside. The grounds were magnificent, and there's a little boat that takes you to Downtown Disney (a lot of fun), but the food court was very overcrowded! We ate there the first night, and the rest of the nights ate elsewhere. I have friends that have stayed at the Wilderness and loved it. You have the boat that gets you to the Magic Kingdom, and from there you get on the monorail. It's a very rustic feel, however, so you have to like that. The pool has a gyser in it, which is really cool! I also have friends that rave about Animal Kingdom Lodge.

I highly recommend going to the library and getting out a couple of books, like the Insider's Guide to WDW--they are really helpful, and give you a lot of insight into the pros and cons of staying at each hotel.

HAVE FUN!

:) :)
 
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