Have you stayed at a Walt Disney World Resort?

Question

I haven't been since I was a child, and I'm planning on taking my children next year. I'm trying to pick a disney resort, they all look great but, I'd love to hear about your experiance at the resorts. Any recommendations?

Thanks for all the great answers!!! Keep them coming :)

Answer 1

I love all of them and have stayed at almost all the Disney resorts at least once. Personally, I think the Animal Kingdom Lodge has the most comfortable beds on property.

I would normally suggest looking into staying at a resort closest to the theme park you plan to visit most while visiting.

Answer 2

Yes, I've stayed at the All Star (Sports) and the Port Orleans (has a new name now). I highly recommend the All Star resorts. The pools are fun. The theming is fantastic, food court good and easy to use and the All Star resorts are priced lower than the others. All Disney resorts are great and going to be super kid friendly. But, the All Star resorts are cheaper and the theming is so fun. My son (10 at the time) is a sports nut so we stayed at the All Star Sports. Next time we go we will stay that the All Star Movies because I love the disney movies. If you don't need all the amenities (room service, etc.) go to an All Stars! Go to this website: www.allearsnet.com. It's like the Disney travel bible! It will answer any question you have about Disney and disney vacations. It's a great site I used when planning my trip!!!

Answer 3

For five consecutive summers, my family and I travelled to Florida for two weeks. We stayed at the Wilderness Resort each time. I highly recommend it. The lodging is wonderful: nice sized cabins with enough room to comfortably fit six or seven (I'm one of five children, plu my two parents), and you would definitely like the forests and wetlands in that part. You can get a club car and travel to the pool, golf course, horse back riding area, and many other places. There are always little lizards running everywhere, so if your children are young, like my brothers, they can chase them around and try to catch them. We also say some exotic wild birds just walking around, like a peacock or two. One of the highlights was the weekly movie night, in which you can gather round a huge bonfire, roast marshmellows, and watch a classic Disney movie on the big projection screen. It is simply beautiful, I don't think words do it justice. There is also the added bonus of being right near the park, with a shuttle that runs continuously to being people back and forth. We also pool-hopped quite a bit, as all of the resorts have spectacular pools to visit. Have a great time, hope this helps!

Answer 4

We stayed at the BoardWalk Villas in a boardwalk-view studio (renting points from a Disney Vacation Club member), and absolutely loved it. The Beach Club Villas across the lake from the BoardWalk has a huge sand-bottom semi-water park, so that's where we'll be staying on our next trip with our children.

I highly recommend renting Disney Vacation Club points from an owner and staying at a DVC resort. Renting points makes staying in a Villa very affordable, and you get all the perks of staying at a Disney resort as though you had booked a package (such as Magic Express and the Disney Dining Plan).

The DIS Boards' DVC Rent/Trade forum is a great place to look for DVC points to rent (look to spend no more than $10/point).

Answer 5

We have stayed at the Polynesian and the Beach Club on Concierge level and non-concierge levels. The resorts are very nice and family friendly. My family really believes it is worth the expense to be right in Disney Property. We love being able to get back to our resort as soon as we start getting hungry or tired. It's also nice to be able to go back to the resort for cocktails while we enjoy the fireworks.
We also like to split our stay between resorts. If we're enjoying Epcot, we'll stay at an Epcot resort. If we're in Magic Kingdom we'll stay at one of those. That way you get all the benefits without having to deal with buses and stuff.
I hope you have a great trip.

Answer 6

Every resort I have stayed at was fantastic! We've stayed at some expensive ones and some budget ones. Even on the lower end, things were great; the pools, the food, the room, etc. I don't think you could go wrong at any of them.

I've stayed at Coronado Springs, Wilderness Lodge, Animal Kingdom Lodge (GREAT for kids, get a room with a view of the savannah!), Beach Club, Caribbean, and All Star Movies.

Answer 7

First choice for me is Animal Kingdom Lodge. It a lower price deluxe resort. Watching from my hotel room while animals eat plants is relaxing. They have bunk beds if your kids need to sleep away from each other ($25 more/night for bunk beds).
Second choice is Port Orleans, French Quarter. The beds are smaller (not queen sized) but the pool as a great theme with a sea serpent slide.
Pop Century is my favorite for "value resort," but if you can afford it, stay in a mid or higher priced resort.
I would stay away from Coronado Springs unless you will have a rental car, too much walking because the resort is so spread out. Also, people in business suits for conferences spoil the vacation atmosphere.

Answer 8

They frown upon pool hopping, but would never actually kick you out of a pool. The only one you cannot use it the Yacht Club/Beach Club pool. They use wrist bands, so if you aren't a guest you can't get in. But that is the only pool where they enforce or even keep track of who is using it. Any other pool you are okay to use, just don't come out and tell anyone you aren't staying there. The Poly is my favorite. And as answered above, yes they still have the little boats you can rent. They have them in several places around Disney World, including the seven seas lagoon.

Answer 9

I love love love the Port Orleans Riverside. Its the nicest of the moderate resorts. Its formerly the Dixie Landings resort that they remodeled. Its nestled right on the river so there are boat rides back and fourth to Downtown Disney. They have a huge food court, Boatwrights restaurant, several pools and countless other amenities. I like it so much we are going back again in December. There are some really pretty beautiful pics of it on this website. http://www.allears.net

good luck!

Answer 10

The last trip I made was in 1999 and I stayed at the Wilderness Lodge. It was an awesome place and there's a boat dock right behind it to catch boats to the Magic Kingdom or the transportation center. The WDW buses also make stops there every 10 or 15 minutes. I loved staying at the Wilderness Lodge.