Originally Posted By Captain Jack Sparrow Captain Jack is taking the crew to Disneyworld. I need advice on which Disney resort to stay at. Calling all pirates for advice. To the ship!
Originally Posted By Captain Jack Sparrow Around $300 max per night but would like to hear all options / or experiences as well.
Originally Posted By HokieSkipper Personally, if you don't mind spending the coin, I'd stay at one of the Epcot resorts. They're all within walking distance to Epcot and Hollywood Studios, as well as the Boardwalk, Fantasia Gardens mini-golf, and other entertainment.
Originally Posted By Disneymom443 I love Wilderness Lodge. What time of the year are you planning? That will make a difference if you want a Deluex or not. I've been told that Port Orleans Riverside and Port Orleans French Quarter is nice. They are mods. If you want to have lots of infor one any of the Deluex and Moderate Resorts allearsnet.com is a great site. Go to accommodations.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom First of all I would recommend that you read up on all the various resorts on www.allears.com (.) I would also recommend checking www.mousesavers.com for any discounts going on during your stay. For a truely incredible experience I would recommend either the Wilderness Lodge or the Animal Kingdom Lodge. At either Lodge don't go for the parkinglot view. I would recommend pool view and not the Savannah view at AKL. In the Moderately priced room range, for a truely "Pirate" experience there is no place like the Carribean Beach Resort. Many people on this board in love Port Orleans Riverside with it's unique boat access to Downtown Disney. Oh course there are always the Poly and Contemp. If you have teenagers in your party look into the EPCOT area hotels like Yacht Club, Beach Club and Boardwalk. Don't forger the Swan and Dolphin in the same vacanity. By staying at any of these locations you and your party will have walking access to both EPCOT and Disney's Hollywood Studios. If you have very young children in your party the Port Orleans French Quarter the smallest of any Disney resort ( you won't get lost ), and shares a bus with Port Orleans Riverside. I think your going to have an incredible stay regardless of which ever resort you choice. You simply can not go wrong. Most of us here have stayed at various resorts although we all have our favorties! Personally, I have stayed at four various Disney resorts ( wait is the campground a resort?). Make that 5.
Originally Posted By Captain Jack Sparrow We are arriving in Orlando mid July. Great ideas so far everyone. It's great hearing where you like to stay and why. My boys are 12 and 17 if that makes a difference. Captain Jack
Originally Posted By RoadTrip For an accommodation far nicer than you thought you could afford, I would recommend renting DVC points and staying in a Value One Bedroom at the Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas. About 50% of the value units have a Savannah (animal) view, for which no additional points are needed. I would guess though that at this time it would be impossible to get a reservation for one of those rooms in July. The value one-bedrooms are in the Jambo House, which I feel is a better location than Kidani Village where the rooms are larger. Jambo House has the magnificent lobby and two of the best restaurants on property... Jiko and Boma. The one-bedroom villas have a living room with a sofa bed sleeping two, a full kitchen with full-sized appliances... a refrigerator, stove, dishwasher and microwave. There is also a breakfast bar and a table that seats four. The bathroom is in two parts... one with a shower, toilet and vanity, the other with a vanity and whirlpool tub. The bedroom is quite generous sized and has a king size bed. There is also a laundry closet with a stacked washer and dryer. The value one bedrooms are 629 square feet while the standard one-bedrooms are 710. As a basis for comparison, a standard room at the Yacht Club, an Epcot area Deluxe resort, is 380 square feet. It takes 188 DVC points to rent a value one-bedroom villa for a week in July. Since the going rate for DVC rental points is $10 per point, your cost for a week would be $1,880, which averages to $269 per night… well within your budget. Be sure to have the DVC member you rent points from check with DVC first to make sure the room type you want is available before committing to anything. I think this is by far your best option for a WDW accommodation that will blow you away. I hope the Spirit sees this thread and comments on it. I would be surprised if he did not share my view on this.
Originally Posted By Bolna RoadTrip, I think your suggestion is really great. But availability will be the big problem since July is only two months away. One thing to consider might be room and bed size which might be of importance when travelling with two teenagers. The best would obviously be a one bedroom villa, but those are very expensive. All Star Music also has family suites and then there are the cabins at Fort Wilderness. Of the deluxe resorts all have two queen beds, the Animal Kingdom Lodge and the Wilderness Lodge have somehow smaller rooms however. In the moderate resorts, Caribbean Beach has the largest rooms (I think only a couple of square feet smaller than the smallest deluxes). But Coronado Springs has queen beds while the other moderates only have doubles. I have read that Port Orleans French Quarter is changing over to queen beds as well, but I am not sure wether the whole resort has been done already. And the value resorts have the smallest rooms and only double beds. My personal favourite is the Animal Kingdom Lodge and I have allways been happy staying in a pool view room there. The savanna is beautiful, but there are a lot of places where everyone can go and look out on the animals. I really enjoyed exploring those. Some people think it is too far away from everything, but I think distances at WDW are allways an issue. No hotel is close to every park. I rather like the feeling of being far away, it helps me to imagine that I am really in Africa. The hotel also offers a lot of great special activities, I once really enjoyed a talk by one of the African CMs about her home country. In the evenings they also have night vision goggles to look out over the savanna.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip PLEASE NOTE: It appears the value one-bedroom units DO NOT have the two part bathroom I spoke of, but a more typical resort bathroom with a double sink vanity and separate ares for a toilet and tub/shower combination. I'd had trouble finding a room layout for the value one-bedrooms, but finally found one at the DVC site.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<RoadTrip, I think your suggestion is really great. But availability will be the big problem since July is only two months away.>> Bolna is correct... at this point availability may be an issue. Another option would be a one-bedroom unit at the Old Key West resort. While it certainly doesn't have the "wow factor" of the Animal Kingdom Lodge, it is a very nice resort and the one-bedrooms units are by far the largest of any DVC resort at 942 square feet. They do have the two-part bathroom I spoke of with the whirlpool tub. They also have a laundry room rather than a laundry closet, with a full-sized washer and dryer. It is generally one of the easiest DVC resorts for getting last minute reservations due to its huge number of units. Many of the units have been recently renovated and are VERY nice. Although you can request one there is no guarantee you will get one. I've stayed in the older units several times and have no problem with them. This property would be a little beyond your budget... a week in July at an Old Key West one-bedroom would cost 222 points. That would amount to $2,220 or an average of $317 per night. Although that is slightly above your budget, you have to remember that at the DVC resorts the points cover EVERYTHING... there is no additional sales tax, resort tax, or resort fee. The OKW units also have parking virtually right outside your door, so there is no need for valet parking like there is at most other WDW resorts. Because of its large size it is very desirable to have a rental car while staying there. I've been there several times without one and got along fine, but now that rental cars in Orlando are so cheap due to Magical Express, I would rent one... especially if you plan to spend a day at Universal (which I would highly recommend).
Originally Posted By A Happy Haunt At that price point go for Port Orleans Riverside!! Figure out which Park you'll be spending the most the most time at & pick a Resort near by. The cabins at Fort Wilderness should be in you're range.
Originally Posted By Kennesaw Tom Captain Jack, I guess the bottom line is going to be just how much room do you think your party is going to require? Will your party be comfortable with a traditional room or do you think a large one bedroom unit might be better? Options for larger accomidations include: 1) Getting two resort rooms. 2) A Ft Wilderness Cabin at Disney's Fort Wilderness ( a boat ride away from the MK ). 3) Getting a one bedroom DVC. 4) Getting a "Family Suite" at one of the Value Resorts. 5) Perhaps a suite at one of the non-Disney hotels on property; Swan, Dolphin, Bonnet Creek, or perhaps one of the Downtown Disney Hotels. Of course if you believe your party might not need that kind of room you may opt for a tradional resort or hotel room. Please check out www.mousesavers.com for various discounts that might be available to you. For example it might be cheaper for you to purchase one WDW annual pass and then order the accomidations and tickets using that pass as you will get a discount on rooms and tickets ( again check out www.mousesavers.com). I have done that in the past where I have purchase an annual pass and got three rooms for my party and tickets for everyone. The Swan and Dolphin offer a limited number of discounts on accomidations for nurses, teachers, police and government employees. Disney offers a limited number of discounts for individuals empolyeed in the travel and airline industries. All of this is explained on www.mousesavers.com Lots of decisions to make!!!!!
Originally Posted By MPierce I say for under $300 get a waterview room overlooking the river at PO French Quater. You get on the bus before the folks at Riverside, and you get off the bus before them. A very big advantage. Plus it's a smaller resort with all buildings close to the bus stops.
Originally Posted By Captain Jack Sparrow Wow, wonderful information guys. This is a tough one, because I haven't been to WDW before I am relying on my friends here at LP. Kennesaw Tom...more room is always nicer with older boys but not necessary if you guys think there are rooms that are nicer with better ammenities. I bought one of those WDW books and it shows where the hotels are but, there is nothing better than personal experiences. Convenience of location is also a thought.I'm also finding it hard to gage the travel times between resorts because I'm so used to Disneyland. Roadtrip, thanks for the info,and I will be renting a car. How cheap are cars to rent in Orlando for about 10 days? Does everyone rent cars when travelling to WDW or do you take the buses, shuttle or monorail? Captain Jack
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Roadtrip, thanks for the info,and I will be renting a car. How cheap are cars to rent in Orlando for about 10 days? Does everyone rent cars when travelling to WDW or do you take the buses, shuttle or monorail?>> I checked Travelocity.com for the dates July 16-26. For an in-Terminal rental the cheapest was Budget with a compact available $418.04 including all taxes. The have an economy car for less, but I wouldn't recommend that size unless you are just traveling with your Toy Poodle. If you get a quote be sure to get a TOTAL COST quote... the Florida taxes on hotels and rental cars is OUTRAGEOUS and can add substantially to the list price. The cheapest was Payless, with an out-of-terminal location that you get to on a shuttle. Their total cost for 10 days for a compact was $281.60.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 I would ask first if you have to and/or want to stay on property. If you can and do, and can get a one bedroom at DAK Lodge for the price Trippy quoted you (and can afford it) by all meams go for it. But if you're planning on simply using your lodging to sleep and shower at then I'd say you're crazy to stay on property. You can get two rooms at a 4-star hotel in O-Town for less than half your $300 a night budget ... much less if you go with something like Priceline.com's Name Your Own Price service. And you absolutely want to have a car, so you aren't a prisoner of the Mouse. If you just leave property and go 2-4 miles in any direction then you'll find dozens and dozens of dining and shopping options. I also guarantee that you can better that car rental price. There are constant deals in that department ... and, again, that's leaving out consolidators like PL.com too. A 10-day O-Town rental shouldn't set you back more than $300 tops if you check around.
Originally Posted By WDWdreamin My husband and I have only been once. I insisted we stay on property. We stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter and thought that it was amazing. I don't think we would have liked the Value Resorts, and we're lucky we could afford the moderates. Would have considered the Deluxes if we had the money, probably the Animal Kingdom Lodge winning. If we had more people we would do the Wilderness Lodge. We rode the buses and thought that they were great. We only had one long wait, in the morning, for MK. We rented a car for one day to go to Kennedy Space Center and got totally lost (think 20-30mins) trying to find out hotel after going to F!. I don't think I would ever rent a car to travel around site (maybe if staying at the AKL) and I don't think I would ever go to WDW and stay off-site.
