Sorry if this post is poorly organized - I’m scrambling to put together a “last-minute” trip to WDW the weekend of 5/28-6/1 and need some advice about hotels. Quick preface: extended family is doing a big beach trip the week leading up to this, and instead of going straight home, I’ve convinced DW to tack on a “quick” 4-day trip to WDW afterwards.
Here’s what I’m thinking for hotels…
Thanks to the really useful DVC tool built by @JJT, I’ve found a 3-night stay at BCV for $391/nt and then a 1-night at Poly for $572. This is heavily discounted over paying cash, but there’s no cancelation policy. So I can’t adjust the plan once I pull this trigger, and I’d more ideally like to stay 2 nights at BC (there is a 2-night option @$368/nt), and 2 nights at Poly (this is not available right now). Main reason: Stormalong Bay is a construction zone, and I’d love to spend some time at the Poly pool/beach - we won’t have time for it on departure day, and maybe none on our “homeless” day either (plan to do MK from mid-day to fireworks). However, we’ll be spending 5 days at the beach/pool leading up to WDW, so maybe the kids won’t care about it anyways.
So… Should I just go ahead and pull the trigger or wait and see if 2 nights at the Poly becomes an option? I’m thinking that chance is low, and the BCV dedicated reservation is going to get snagged quick.
Some quick research shows me these options, sorted by price/nt:
An alternative I’ve thought a lot about is booking the Dolphin instead of BCV. It is significantly cheaper, but it is also a longer walk. I envision very whiney kids (aged 6, 8, and 10) at the end of the day, and walking longer than necessary is a big consideration.
Also, I know theres going to be some harsh judgement on those WDW icons I’ve got on that itinerary sketch. Blame ChatGPT for that. I’m not wasting time making my own cartoon symbols, just using the best ChatGPT could give me after a few prompts. The Tree of Life is the real tragedy. I spent 5 minutes going through a dozen iterations, and thats the best I could get. Sad…
I’d pull the trigger but I’m more of a pessimist (realist?) in thinking this close to the trip you would be unlikely to see much additional availability at the Poly pop up.
As far as Dolphin/Swan, it’s really not much farther away than BC from Epcot and you can always hop on the boats right?
I bet you’re right about the BC pool and your kids being pool/beach satisfied from the prior days’ adventures!
My kids and I are planning to be at BC right before y’all - May 19-22. Using up some DVC points so keep us in Orlando between our DCL cruise that’s been booked/rescheduled several times over the last 4 years and Epic Universe opening!
If we decided to go Dolphin over BCV - is there anything I’m not thinking of in terms of onsite advantage? Still get early/late hours, all that right? Free parking?
I forgot about the boats, that might be a good alternative, but we love riding the skyliner, which is right next to BCV
That’s true. I think the boat dock for IG is right there outside of the IG gates right? Right next to the SL station…so you could still utilize the SL to get to HS if you wanted to! Just would take more time. But I agree with your fam, the SL is the best.
We loved our stay at the Dolphin when the kids were 5 and 7! We ended up walking a LOT less than I thought we would because we discovered how easy and convenient the Friendships boats were - especially for the way back home at the end of a long day. Walking is probably quicker for rope drops (at least for Epcot - DHS might take around the same amount of time) - and it allows you to arrive super early for front-of-RD crowd, if your family is into that style of touring. We ended up using the boats even for EE rope drop, and did just fine for FEA at Epcot and MMRR for DHS.
We never had to wait long for a boat (even after F! at DHS) and it was a life-saver for tired little legs.
I know… I was crying more and more after each ChatGPT iteration. I gave up and just went with it.
On a related note… I proposed this idea to DW with the intention of only doing 2 days at WDW - Thurs/Fri and then coming home. I sadly had AK omitted in favor of the other 3, which was hard to reconcile in my head because its my favorite park. But having to skip a park, it is the right choice for our family. However, to my complete and utter surprise, DW’s response to my idea was “why only 2 days? if we’re going all the way there we should do 3”. So AK is back on the plan! Whoop!
That said, it remains to be seen how the water parks are in terms of crowds. They’ve recently been busy to the point of turning away non-resort guests. As a resort guest you’re probably okay but with that much crowding it may not be all that enjoyable. I guess we can only wait and see
I just noticed that Dolphin shows a room capacity of 4 on Marriot and Disney sites, but Travelocity has it listed as 5. I’m assuming the real number is 4, which means it is not an option for us. Anyone have experience with Dolphin as group of 5?
ETA - just rechecked Marriot and it does say 5. So maybe that is what we’ll do.
So the question is whether BCV is worth extra $65/nt compared to Dolphin. I’m leaning towards a yes to get the Disney “feel” and have a murphy bed vs a rollaway at Dolphin. I’m also hoping to make it to a Beaches and Cream reservation at 9pm (we’re probably arriving 30-45 minutes before that).
Guess I’m going with BCV for 3 nts and then Poly for 1!
