Best Disney World resorts

So you’re talking about the cost of 3 rooms, really

I would work the math on that one myself. A 2BR is going to be expensive, but it might work out to be similar cost-wise to what the DS and DDIL plus you are paying.

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We have stayed at Coronado Springs, Contemporary, Yacht Club, Swan and Dolphin. We keep going back to the Contemporary - mostly for the walking access to MK. Regardless of what park we do during the day, we ALWAYS walk over to MK each night. So fun!!

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WL is the best in my opinion - the themeing is outstanding, bus service is good to the parks, and the boat is a great way to get to MK. Comparing it to other WDW resorts I have stayed at or visited:

  • AKL is great for the animals, but overall the themeing just didn’t do it for me. Kind of like someone said “Make it like WL, but instead throw a lot of “African” stuff around.”
  • GF to me is indistinguishable from a fancy convention hotel. Nice, but why stay there?
  • Poly has zero appeal to me - if I want to feel like I’m in Hawaii, I’ll go there. Probably cost me a lot less, too. :wink:
  • CR has the monorail running through it, which is cool for about 1 minute.
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I have stayed at, in order:
Pop Century ( before the refurb)
Port Orleans FQ
Coronado Springs
All Star Movies
I loved every single one and can’t really pick a favorite. I loved Pop since it was our first trip and of course the mods are awesome for the extra amenities. I even enjoyed All Stars, the rooms were nice and fresh!

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We’ve stayed at the Poly and AKL. I absolutely loved both but would rank the Poly higher for the transportation options and having 2 bathrooms (showers) in a studio was fantastic. We have a split stay at CR & CBR that I am very much looking forward too.

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I’ve only stayed at POFQ and I don’t want to stay anywhere else. There’s nothing about it I don’t like. It’s not ridiculously huge, it only has one bus stop and the buses are reliable, the food is good, it has not only beignets but also boozy beignets, the pool is nice, the boat to DS is great, it’s a lovely and short walk to POR where you can also use their pools, it’s a really pretty resort. If I’m going to be picky, the rooms could have more Disney touches.

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You should have led with that

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I have stayed at Disney Inn (before it was SOG) POR, SOG, WL, and POFQ. I love POFQ and WL best. I like the smaller feel of those resorts. Plus the boats to DS or CR lodge are a fun addition. Of course now that I have 5 and my youngest is now 7, both of those get ruled out. POR was way too big of a resort. Our room was about as far from the main building as possible but was close to bus stops and parking.
SOG will probably be the most likely next place to stay unless Disney resort prices decrease. The theming is not great but the walk from there to the Poly, makes transportation pretty easy, it sleeps 5, rooms are deluxe size, and it is priced about the same as a value.

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We’ve done a handful of trips at POR. I can only recall one bus driving by without stopping because it was full from other stops. And I don’t think it was a rope drop type time of day. But now that I’ve told you this, it will happen to you, you’ll curse me and start poking fun of where I come from and our quirks, :wink:

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If it makes you feel better, I can just do that regardless :grin:

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Just going to highlight two:

Contemporary - I think it’s 99% nostalgia (I stayed here as a kid a few times), but I just love the atmosphere. My wife thinks it’s washed out. I like roaming the concourse floor in the evening. Theme park views are obviously awesome. The CL is pretty solid and the suites (we were upgraded after some room issues!) were pretty awesome.

Boardwalk - love the ambience outside. Location is of course among the best with Epcot and HS being walkable. Another one I stayed at when it was pretty new and have very fond memories. My kids also loved the pier even though they were too tired to really walk there much.

Two I haven’t been to but would probably like: AKL and WL

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My first stay in Disney was 15 years ago. For years I only stayed at POR (I think until 2013?). I had many great experiences with the buses. I had a couple of really bad experience with the buses. My last time (as in the last time I will ever take a bus at POR) I waited almost two hours at a stop. I was staying in the Royal Rooms and using the East Bus Stop. At first three completely full MK buses rode by. Then, the unsupervised teenagers (a high school graduating group) started arriving. Every time a bus arrived, more would come and basically shove adults, children, elderly guests -aside. To make the experience extra special, they threw their cigarettes at a couple of strollers.

I know that high school groups are usually an April issue- but I did not return to POR until 2019 and I had a rental car.

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I’ve stayed at AoA, All Star Movies, Coronado Springs, Port Orleans Riverside and FQ, the Contemporary, Boardwalk Inn, AKL, Poly, and Beach Club. I think as far as favorite memories of a vacation, Contemporary wins by a mile for me. We stayed in a theme park view room in the tower and it was just all-around magical. It’s also nostalgic for me since I remember riding through the CR on the monorail with my dad when I was a little kid in the 80s – it’s simply special.

I really like Boardwalk Inn and Beach Club as well for their location and overall feel. My kids LOVED the pool at BC, so they’d probably tell you that’s their favorite resort. Poly was just OK. I thought that the resort wasn’t very relaxing and incredibly busy. It had always been a place we wanted to stay but I don’t think we’ll be back there.

I’ve enjoyed CSR all the times we’ve stayed there. I won’t go back to POR or FQ unless there’s an insane deal – same with the value resorts in general. They’re fine but not that exciting.

So, I guess CR wins for me for favorite resort, but there are more places for me to stay! We’re doing WL next and I think that one could be a big winner for me.

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The buses at POR are the reason we won’t stay there again. I think it’s a lovely resort and I like the rooms, but the bus situation is out of hand there. It always took FOREVER to get back from the parks. And last time we stayed there for one night, the person trying to handle the POR/FQ buses coming back from MK made my 8-year old (who was in a wheelchair with a broken foot at the time) cry. Not magical.

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The buses are my biggest concern with with certain resorts. I can’t even begin to express how frustrated I would get with full buses because of multiple stops. I guess I technically see this at Swan/Dolphin because it is one bus for both hotels, but I don’t think it was ever a problem there. It seemed like there were rarely enough people to fill a bus. Maybe more people there just drive.

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Yep. I mean, I understand it’s not a perfect system, but we’ve had great bus service at many resorts, so I know it’s possible. What I’ve found frustrating at deluxe resorts especially is how they share the buses, which can make for a frustrating wait. When we stayed at AKL, my daughter was in a wheelchair and one morning we had to wait for three buses to come from Kidani before there was room for a wheelchair. It was beyond frustrating.

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I have stayed at:

AS Music
Caribbean Beach
Port Orleans Riverside
Beach Club DVC
Yacht Club
Poly DVC
Contemporary Resort

I probably preferred the Beach Club/Contemporary/Poly because of proximity to different parks. Also, monorail through the CR is awesome. Really liked the YC for an adults only trip (especially post renovation).

I enjoyed Riverside for the ambiance of the Bayou buildings, but proximity to transportation and food options were meh.

Caribbean beach was ho hum, but my Wife has never stayed there and is intrigued by the renovation and the skyliner, so I am open to giving it another shot. I have gotten to the point where bus transportation isn’t a thing for me since we usually drive to the parks now…

AS Music was mostly terrible, but it was for a marathon weekend stay, so, we were up at like 2:30 in the morning anyway…

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As a parent of little kids (well used to be little…) we chose the All Stars b/c of price but mainly for theming. Very good little kid theming.

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In order of when I stayed —

Poly
This is the worst hotel in the world. I cannot think of a worse hotel I’ve ever stayed in. I imagine there are American jails that are nicer that this tired, lazy, complacent, dismal hotel. I stayed one night — the most expensive hotel room I’ve ever paid for, and I’ve stayed in some really nice hotel rooms in some really nice hotels. That ridiculous banana bread thing sealed the deal — no wonder the US has an obesity crisis. It’s not even nice. Ugh. The whole place is so hugely unimpressive. Fail.

YC
The room was nice, if small. The view from the balcony was fine. The location is convenient. But there’s no wow factor. I was dumb to book it for only one night.

Pop
I loved my first stay at Pop. I love the newly refurbished rooms. They’re not huge, but then there’s only one of me. I had a great view and enjoyed the walk to and from the room. The buses from the resort to the parks were fantastic. The buses back from the parks were awful — always the furthest bus stop which often means a much longer walk at the end of the night.

CSR
What a stunning resort. And the Gran Destino tower has (almost) as much wow factor as any of the deluxes. It’s so beautiful. The room felt spacious and modern — I love the refurbished rooms. Excited to go back later this year. The buses are pretty awful and I ended up using Minnie Van / Uber / private car.

Pop (again)
My first stay was so good that it set unreasonable expectations. Had various issues when I checked in (though was richly compensated for these) and my room’s location was not as good. But this time I had the Skyliner. It’s a game changer. Love it.

Hotels I’ve visited but not stayed at . . .

GF
Totally has the wow factor. Love visiting. Love the look and smell of the lobby. Love 1900PF. From what I’ve seen online, the rooms don’t look particularly special. Not a fan of the monorail, though it’s convenient. When the walkway is complete that will be a real plus. But I can’t imagine staying here. Too expensive and too full of itself. I don’t like stuffy formality.

Contemporary
CR gives me a childlike sense of excitement. I mean, the monorail goes straight through the middle of it! I feel like the theme park views are overrated — there’s a lot of car park between you and MK. The lake views are surprisingly good, especially when the EWP is passing by. Not wildly impressed by CG. And their ludicrous dress code policy irritates me. They told me to take off my Club 33 baseball cap. As if. What nonsense. I think I’d like to stay here, though it is a bit soulless. Who doesn’t love the walk to and from MK?

WL
I so love WL. It’s my favourite architectural style for a hotel. The lobby absolutely has the wow-factor, but it’s cosy and welcoming, too. None of your GF snobbery here. Geyser Point is sublime, and I really enjoyed dinner at AP, even if Snow White ignored me. Twice. I’d love to stay here, if the rooms were refurbished. And I was rich.

AKL
I don’t love AK as much as I love WL. It’s really nice and the detail is really impressive, but I tend to end up feeling it’s all a bit overrated. They’ve redone the rooms, which makes the place more attractive to me, but it’s out of my price range.

BW
No wow factor, but it feels cosy yet opulent. I know a lot of people love it. Location is great, obviously. And breakfast at TAF has really excellent food. And Flynn Rider.

BC
See: YC. But not as nice.

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So my ranking . . .

  1. WL (assuming refurbished rooms)
  2. CSR
  3. Pop
  4. GF (the lobby)
  5. CR (walkway to MK)
  6. YC
  7. BW
  8. BC
  9. AKL (bad location)
  10. Every other hotel in the world
  11. A sewer
  12. Poly
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