Disney resorts

What is your preferred Disney resort, and why? Or if you don't stay on property, where?

Disney virgin here!! We are working with an agent for a trip this fall and she has opinions, but wanted to crowdsource!

Also, is Park Hopper needed / worth it?
Any do not miss dining experiences?
Do you get the dining plan?

Disney resorts

No park hopper, we don't get the dining plan (I don't like to sit for hours and eat and waste park time). We love the Yacht/Beach Club because of the pool and proximity to Epcot (you can walk). Or the Wilderness Lodge because of the boat to the MK, and their great "National Park" theming

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We took a somewhat last minute family trip & we wanted a 2 bedroom with kitchen. The only thing available was a 2 bedroom at Saratoga Springs. It's not the closest resort to MK and there are a lot of internal bus stops but we didn't even bother with the bus. We rented two cars and it turned out to be perfect. You get a free parking pass for all the parks when you stay on property and having a car allows you the flexibility to leave when you want, have a guaranteed seat (not always possible when you're on the bus) and just makes life easier.

We did not do the dining plan. We did do park hopper and so glad we did. We sometimes went to 2 or 3 parks a day, with breaks in between at our hotel. Or going to one park later on the in the day for fireworks, etc.

The only character meal we did was lunch at Hollywood & Vine in Hollywood Studios. It's all the Disney Jr. characters, which my daughter is into. We had other character meals planned but I ended up canceling them b/c DD was afraid of the characters when we would see them around the parks. Luckily the H&V reservation was on our 7th day so she had warmed up to the characters by that point

Message edited 1/10/2018 5:15:03 PM.

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Idk how Disney books so many rooms at the prices it charges, even when they have 20-30% off. There must be discounts I don't know about (would love to know). We've only stayed onsite when we had a conference rate.
I wanted to splurge on the Contemporary for convenience to MK our last trip, but it was completely booked. In fact, there were very few rooms available at any on site hotel.

We always do park hoppers for flexibility. It's not something we needed every day, but I like having it. I don't think the cost difference was much.

Disney resorts

We stay at the contemporary. For us, you can’t put a price on the convenience. We also do the theme park view bc our kids are so little (2 and 4) and we like watching the fireworks on the balcony after they go to bed.

We don’t go often, we’ll go very two years, so the splurge is worth it to us.

We do park hoppers bc we like the flexibility. We often spend a morning in one park, and get dinner at Epcot. Or go back to a park at night for fireworks.

We also do the dining plan bc we do a lot of character meals so it’s well worth it for us.

As the kids get older the dining plan and hotel will probably change.

Disney resorts

Are park hoppers worth it . . . it depends. DH & I prefer the dining options in Epcot over all the other parks. For us, that alone is worth the added price of the park hopper. However, there are plenty of occasions where we book a package (dinner & reserved seating someplace) and stick with one park for the day.

We do not get the dining plan. For us, it is not cost effective. We tend to prefer appetizer to dessert. It includes more food than we generally eat. Unless we go during the Food & Wine Festival, we often had snack credits left over.

Preferred resort is Port Orleans French Quarter. The theming is wonderful. The pool is great. It's an short walk everywhere withing the confines of the resort. It's a moderate, so not too expensive (relatively speaking), and has the queen beds vs doubles in the value.

Not miss dining experiences are based on individual preferences. Like Winnie the Pooh? Go to Crystal Palace. Can't miss the Fab 5, go to Chef Mickey. Have girls that will die unless they see the princesses? Go to Akershus or Cinderella's Royal Table. My favorite character meals are breakfast & dinner at 1900 Park Fair at the Grand Floridian. Any meal at Tusker House in Animal Kingdom, or Garden Grill in Epcot. Breakfast at Akershus or Cape May Cafe. My favorite non-character meal is dinner at O'hana.

Disney resorts

our favorite resort is Wilderness Lodge. Just love the overall theme/ "feel" of it, and the quick boat ride to Magic kingdom. plus, its small and easy to get around. We also like French Quarter and Pop Century too. it just depends on who you're traveling with and what you're looking for....

we usually do the Park Hoppers just because we like to have options, so we build the extra cost into our budget. BUT we also go every year so we know the certain things at each park that we hop around for. for a first trip, i would say you might not need them because you'll want to stay at the park the whole day and see everything you can at that park.

dining plan- its nice that its prepaid, BUT its also a lot of food, and a lot of figuring out credits and feeling like you have to do big meals to use up the credits. we usually just buy discounted Disney gift cards, and use those to pay down our room charges...

dining experiences- again, depends on your tastes and who you're traveling with. i would say at least one character meal is a must for a first trip. We really like Garden Grill in EPCOT, and Tusker House in Animal Kingdom. Sci Fi drive in at hollywood studios is also pretty neat, you get to eat in a "Car" like a drive in movie theater... makes for a nice lunch as a quiet, dark break from the sun And Dinner at O'Hana is a really neat experience, too....

Disney resorts

Stayed at AoA - Nemo Suite this last trip and kids loved it. We are a family of 5 so we needed that extra space and having a 2nd bathroom was awesome!

We always do dining plan because I book a lot of character meals.

I also like the flexibility of park hoppers. Start at one park, back to Resort for nap/relax, and evening at another park.

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My favorite resort is Polynesian. But it's out of budget for us now as a family of 5. On our last few trips we've stayed in the AoA Cars suites and at Pop Century. I like them both. I like that you can walk between them too for food court variety and just a change of scenery.

We've also stayed at Beach Club and Coronado Springs in the past and I love them too.

Park hoppers are not worth it to me. Maybe when my kids are older, but right now hopping is more hassle than it's worth.

We also don't do the dining plan. I find it confusing with the snack entitlements and counting credits. Plus we don't eat that much. We rarely get appetizers or dessert and we usually drink water.

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hat is your preferred Disney resort, and why? Or if you don't stay on property, where?

Disney virgin here!! We are working with an agent for a trip this fall and she has opinions, but wanted to crowdsource!

Also, is Park Hopper needed / worth it?
Any do not miss dining experiences?
Do you get the dining plan?

Preferred resort really depends on what park we will be visiting the most. If it's going to be an Epcot or Hollywood Studios heavy trip, we like the Beach Club. If it's Magic Kingdom, we like Bay Lake. We love Animal Kingdom lodge for it's savannah and uniqueness but it's not super convenient for park visits. We love Saratoga Springs for ease to Disney Springs. Overall favorite recently has been the Poly because it's convenient to Epcot and Magic Kingdom.

Park Hoppers? We always get annual passes (DVC members) so we park hop. I can't imagine not being able to have lunch in say HS and dinner in Epcot, but if you have young kids it might not be worth it. Also, since we go frequently, we never really do a park all day long. We know we'll be back and don't worry about missing anything.

DH and I usually get the dining plan. We've crunched the numbers and since we do signature dining almost every night (2 credits per meal) in the long run, it works out about even for us. Remember, nothing that Disney really does will ever save you money!!!

Disney resorts

Poly, Animal Kingdom, beach club - in that order

For your first time at Disney - definitely park hoppers. I feel like your first time you don't really know which parks you will like. We ended up going to HS and hating it so we left by noon and went back to MK for the rest of the day. Also, I am glad I could do epcot but my kids were over it by dinner - so we were able to eat and go back to MK after.

Also suggest the dining plan for your first time. You will want to do all the character and $$$ dining's... its worth it. Now that I have been there 3 times in 4 years, I go without the plan bc we did so much already

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We just got back from our first trip with a six, two and one-year-old. We stayed at the Polynesian. I highly recommend it if you are all about convenience because that's all i cared about and it was great. It's great for the sheer convenience of rolling on and off the monorail. Having to use the bus with the big double stroller would've been a giant pain. In terms of park hoppers, we got them and I initially thought it would be a waste of money. Turns out, we used it a bit. For example, the one day we ended up finishing one park early so we went back to the hotel, use the pool, and then decided to go to MK for night time activity. Glad we had them.

Dining plan- if you are doing character dining or sit down meals, then absolutely. I was going to skip it until about 2 weeks before my trip I started asking my friends how much to budget per day for food and I almost passed out. I then asked our TA about the dining plan. I paid $815 for the 3 of us for one deluxe, 1 quick service and 2 snacks per day for 6 days. We had to pay for 2 meals out of pocket because there was 1day we did 2 character meals and one other day where we did a sit down breakfast rather than a QS. Breakfast was $90. The dinner we paid for was around $200 (including all of my self medicating margaritas). The dining plan was definitely worth it for us

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Disney resorts

I havnt been to Disney in a while and never while having 3 kids. Been reading blogs like a nut. I feel like Disney doesnt do great on a moderate resort (just my opinion!) I really liked New Orleans but then saw that they are motel like entry just like the values. If im paying more for a moderate I feel like I definitely want a more hotel like feel then that. So now I am between Pop century because it really has rave reviews especially for the price and I feel like kids would like the look and feel of it over the themes of the $$$ hotels and Wilderness Lodge because it is not as shocking of a price as some other deluxes and also has a nice theme overall. I am also torn on dining packages and am leaning towards adding up all my receipts while there and then seeing if its worth it on a future trip lol Also another thing that makes this soooo much more expensive are the flights (especially for a fam of 5) so I am also leaning toward not booking until flights are open for next year and using the cheap flight dates to book my trip by.

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Disney resorts

I've stayed at Poly, Contemporary, and Yacht Club, and really liked them all. We've also stayed at the Waldorf at Bonnet Creek and loved it. Dh and I were just there without dc for the marathon and stayed at the swan and I thought it was great-just as convenient to Epcot and DHS as the other Epcot resorts, but so much cheaper. We never do the dining plan, and sometimes do park hoppers, depending on where we stay.

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Depends on budget and age of kids. Looking at this site makes you think everyone is dishing out serious $$$ to stay at the best places. But, there are a TON of hotels there for a reason.

Of course, the monorail resorts are most convenient for those with Littles. They are very expensive.

I stay off site. I think I get more for my $, it’s more relaxing for me and my kids travel well. We also go often, so only spend 2-3 days at the parks each time. We like staying and playing in pools. I’ve stayed everywhere from under $100 a night to the Ritz Carlton. I haven’t had a bad experience. I have stayed on site. I wasn’t impressed by that stay.

I don’t do park hopper. It was a PITA to do it as an adult. No way with a kid. Again, we pick parks and if we want another one, we will do it in the future.

Meals, we eat one a day in the parks. The food is pretty bad there. It’s a convenience thing.

I thought a can not miss experience was Bippidty Boppity Boutique. We went in Disney Springs, did the basic package but my girl and her “fairy godmother” literally had a special time. Disney Springs is really getting to be a destination. We had a great time there and ended up spending more time than we thought.

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Message edited 1/12/2018 4:55:03 PM.

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A dedicated reservation is just that. I (a dvc owner) make a reservation for set days at a set resort. For whatever reason, I decide not to use it. I can cancel it but may not get all my points back, so I decide to “sell” the reservation. Or I make a reservation at a popular resort for a busy week (say Christmas at the grand Floridian) knowing that someone somewhere will want it. There are many reasons for it but that’s what it is.... a vacation that is already booked.