Disney World Resort

Please tell me your favorite Disney Resort and whybyou love it. May start planning our first trip for next spring break. Kids will be 6 and 3. Want something in the park witha great pool area for the kids.
TIA

Re: Disney World Resort

We always stay at Port Orleans French Quarter, but we're staying at Port Orleans Riverside in April. I've stayed at Riverside before. I really like both resorts and they each have a great pool area. Riveraide actually has multiple pools.

Reach out to Jennifer Kern. She has already planned two vacations to Disney for us, and she's awesome!!!

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Re: Disney World Resort

We are Polynesian people

They just re did the kid area

Monorail is there. And my fav restaurant in the world. Ohana

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Port Orleans Riverside - LOVE it!!

Art of Animation - The theming is amazing and their pool area is awesome!

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Disney World Resort

for a first trip, with kids those ages--- definitely check out Art of Animation! the theme is just amazing!!! HUGE disney characters all over the place-- a whole lion king section, little mermaid section, Cars section... awesome! i think all except the little mermaid section are family "suites"- so you and your hubby would have a separate bedroom, and your own bathroom. they have a really great food court there, too.... and i'm pretty sure they have their own buses to the parks (they don't stop at any of the other resorts on the way) we stayed at Wilderness lodge in august and its AMZING!!! the boat to magic kingdom is just awesome!!and they just redid their kids splash area like last year- my 5 year old DS had a blast!! BUT they're doing major renovations there now--- so not sure if that will still be going on when you're looking to go....

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Disney's Grand Floridian or Epcot's Yacht Club. Both luxury hotels (for you) with Fantastic Pools (for the kids) and great restaurants/park transportation (for all). These will break the bank for sure - but worth every $ IMO. Have fun!!

Message edited 2/22/2016 3:53:56 PM.

Disney World Resort

we love both Beach Club and the poly.

Re: Disney World Resort

Disney World Resort

I would definitely avoid Art of Animation if you are going for Spring Break. That is a HUGE resort, and we just saw the bus lines at Winter break and they were LONG. And the Magic Kingdom bus stop is #35, which is FAR after you've walked all day in the parks. Not to mention, if you stay in the Little Mermaid section (the regular rooms, not suites), the trek to the bus stop and food court is a long one. We stayed in the Little Mermiad section over the 4th of July after a week long stay at the Yacht Club (extended due to weather here, and AoA is all they had) and it was a cute resort, but didn't care for it. Especially since it's still a value resort with double beds, cheap towels, very little amenities, way too crowded, the pool was not that great, no slides, no pool towels (have to bring from room). There is no sit down restaurant, just a food court.

If you want a great pool, I suggest the Yacht or Beach Club(they are connected) Sandy bottom, huge, a lagoon like area, slides, great for little kids. You are right next to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Beautiful resort. Lots to do on the Boardwalk right there, the Pirate cruise leaves from there a few times a week. Beaches and Cream is a great little diner type shop with great ice cream. They have a couple of sit down restaurants, and you can walk to others on the Boardwalk. Only caveat is the bus to Magic Kingdom stinks. Actually I think all of the deluxe non monorail buses to the MK stink. We just stayed at Saratoga Springs and the bus service to MK was a joke. But I think that's Disney's ploy to get you to WANT to stay on the Monorail LOL.

If you want a moderate, we stayed at French Quarter, small quaint resort, no internal bus stops. Pool has a slide, boat to downtown disney, horse and carriage rides, rooms are nice.

Message edited 2/22/2016 6:33:04 PM.

Disney World Resort

Crashing here's..which hotels have the monorail?

Re: Disney World Resort

We stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter & liked it. Room was on the smaller side, but had these curtains to partition the sink area to the bathroom which gave you a bit more privacy. Especially liked the slide in the pool, the Boat to Disney Springs, and that it's one stop from MK.

But really those busses.

Ugh.

What a drag.

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Re: Disney World Resort

Disney World Resort

We stayed in a suite at Art of Animation last year. My kids first time at WDW and they loved it. We're a family of 5 so the suite was ideal and the theming at the resort is amazing. If you have little ones this is where I would stay hands down. We used the bus transportation and found it to be good. However, we always rent a car wherever we go; so we never had to rely on buses During our trip. Because we had a car I can't speak for the food at the resort. We ate there once only. It's a quick service/fast food type place.

Eta we stay at high end hotels wherever we go, this is a value at Disney but I had no problems with thin towels, bad beds etc.. It was all good for a family vacation. I wasn't expecting luxury, but at Disney it's pretty much a luxury to have a separate bedroom. The excitement my kids felt seeing Disney movies come to life at this resort was priceless.

Message edited 2/22/2016 10:40:08 PM.

Re: Disney World Resort

Disney World Resort

I've stayed at a lot of hotels on the property. From the All Star to the Polyneasian. I will say the last time we went and stayed at the all star movie hotel, the room was not up to par with normal Disney quality (sheets were stained, bathroom wasn't cleaned well). We did say something and the rest of the stay was fine. This was not my first time in the more economy priced hotel, I've stayed there, all music and all sports. They are good hotels.

Port Orleans was also really nice and a step up. We also stayed at the Polyneasian for our honeymoon and that was beautiful (minus the fact that we were facing the magic kingdom and every morning by 8, the ferry would sound it's horn).

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We have dvc so we stay at deluxe resorts. Resorts we could never afford if we didn't have Dvc we have stayed at boardwalk and animal kingdom lodge. The girls loved both resorts. You can walk to epcot from boardwalk and dhs is a boat ride away. But you can't go wrong at any disney resort but if you stay at a large resort ask for a room close to the busses

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Definitely the art of animation for your kids ages! We stayed in a lion king family suite with a 2 and 4 year old and it was great. 2 bathrooms, private master with a queen sized bed, 2 additional sleeping areas, kitchenette that they keep stocked with plates, forks, etc. The food court has lots of good options and the pool is awesome for the kids. I can't speak to the regular rooms but the suites are in no way a downgrade from any higher end hotel there, in fact it may even cost more than a moderate and close to or the same as a deluxe but you get more space. Also, moderates have outside corridors and some don't have easy elevator access. The family suites are all indoor corridors with elevators in each building. The busses are only for art if animation with one central stop so there are no multiple stops on the way to the parks. It was a 3 min walk to the bus. Honestly, this alone has me thinking we will stay here again on our next trip. The only difference From a higher end hotel I could see when researching ( and I do tons of research for vacations, it's a sickness) is that it didn't have a table service restaurant or a water slide, neither of which we needed or would have used. I'm sure that there may be bells and whistles AOA doesn't have but nothing that would be significant to us traveling with young kids right now.

Re: Disney World Resort

Re: Disney World Resort

Everyone has their preferences. As you read the responses try to keep in mind what is important to you and how your family travels.

We do Disney a lot. My favorite resorts are the Contemporary and the Polynesian. I love the ability to be able to walk to MK from the Contemporary and I love the theming at the Poly.

With that being said, we have stayed and AOA and liked it. It has great theming and is a great choice for a first visit. The kids will be in awe of the super sized characters all over the resort.

If you do stay there I would HIGHLY recommend one of the suites - preferably in the Nemo building. This puts you closer to the main hall where all the amenities are. The suites are very spacious and you get two full bathrooms! TWO bathrooms!! The bedroom also has a queen bed rather than a double. If you stay in the Little Mermaid section (regular rooms) they have two double beds.

Because it is a value there are definitely some drawbacks. There is no sitdown restaurant there is only a food court. The food court, especially during peak times (spring break being the 2nd busiest of the year) is a MADHOUSE! There is no other way to describe it. If you go to the food court at non peak times it's actually quite nice. They have tons of made to order food and a good amount of seating.

We had our car with us so we didn't use the transportation to any of the parks during our AOA visit. They do have dedicated buses so that's definitely helpful.

Good luck! I know it can be overwhelming.

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Re: Disney World Resort

With the kids, we've done the Yacht Club and the Beach Club - they share a huge pool that the kids LOVE, and are convenient to all of the parks -

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Re: Disney World Resort

Port Orleans French Quarter
Why: Because it's a small moderate (the smallest Moderate)
Short walking distance to the bus
Only ONE bus stop (Means no watching full buses pass you, no waiting for your bus stop coming back either)
Lay back easy going atmosphere (which is nice after a day at the parks)
Riverboat to downtown Disney (or whatever they all it now)
River views
Garden Views
Great service with the lobby actually close by
We liked the food

I've stayed at Pop Century and hated it, cheap and cheaply kept. Horribly long walk to the front desk when I had to complain about shaving crème all over the phone, wall art and bathroom handles. I had to haul my stuff back for a new room. Way too loud. Pools were filled with bully kids and parents weren't paying attention. It was once and done for us. Never again.

I stayed at the Caribbean and AJ loved the Pirate Boat excursion and the beaches. It was such a large property tho. Lobby was a bus ride away. Cafeteria was a long walk and bus stop was through a parking lot. Very unappealing. But it wasn't horrible. Just pricier for more effort. However she loved the boat, we loved her going out on her own at 5yrs old on her own adventure. Food was good but French Quarter was better. Though options were wider. Waiting for buses was brutal and they were super crowded at the parks and going to and from our bus stop. Pushing and shoving to get off in time. Since it made several stops. We were stop two. The room was the same as French Quarter really.

We don't do the pools.

We go fall (late Oct/early Nov) we do the parks. I justify that as I pay a LOT of money to travel to Orlando to go to Disney World not to stay at the hotel and go to the hotel pool. I can do that at other places and Summers in Texas give us plenty of chances. We may rest and catch a movie by the pool but not go in. This year may be different since she loves swimming now. Still she loves Disney more.

I don't really 'relax' by the pool anyway. Never understood the concept. I am in the water with her or watching her and freaking out at other people's inattention of their kids. If I'm by myself yes, I relax. Not with my kid. But I admit I'm crazy.

We are up by 7, do Magic Hours
Back after fireworks if we aren't doing Magic late hours. LOL