Yeah, you see the parking lot, but my photo above is directly from a BLT themepark view. I find it pretty easy to overlook. And when you’re in the room itself, the balcony covers up a lot.
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I haven’t stayed at too many but I’ll go with the Poly. Stayed there on our last trip. Had a great time. Wasn’t a huge fan of the food but also wasnt able to try all the restaurants. Just can’t beat the vibe and the location. Loved the pool and theming. Excited for the refurb.
Planning our next trip and I am tempted to try something new—because if all of your trip reports! But we keep coming back to the Poly! I think we would just head over to GF for some dinners.
Facts.
My nightmare resort stay was Coronado in 2019. I also have a voucher, but for a free meal at any restaurant on the hotel grounds. Don’t know that I’ll ever use it.
Did use the 5 free 1 day park hopper passes though.
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You beat me to this 
for all the reasons you stated. There isn’t a WDW resort that comes close for me… well maybe the CS. I stayed at CS, Poly in the 70s (CS later adult too) and they are the quintessential Disney resorts… the originals. Disney wanted to transport us away to a different place and time… the new Star Wars resort will be taking a page from the founders thinking there too. And if you look at the original plans Disney was going to build other resort destinations around the lake that were themed by destination not by toons.
We do like PO for its beautiful grounds, POFQ for the size and beniets (sp?), ASM for the over the top character theming and CSR for is quiet pools and the fact that my DH and I were married at that resort in a quiet garden.
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Oh you are so very right about Grand Californian. Worth every cent. I tried Disneyland Hotel one trip and nope.
Disneyworld so far it’s Boardwalk for me. So many I haven’t tried though including AKL. I’ve stayed at BLT, WL, BCR, ASMusic, AoA, CSR, CBR, Treehouse so far and eaten at Contemporary, GF and Poly. And rode horses and shot arrows at Fort Wilderness which I think I would love to stay at with a car and some time to just relax. I find that place gorgeous
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I have limited experience with resorts.
Stayed at Dixie Landings (aka Port Orleans Riverside) in 1995. Didn’t stay on-site again until 2020. In August, we stayed at Pop Century, and in December, we did a split stay…one night at BLT, and the remainder of the time at Boardwalk. During our December trip, we also were able to do a bit of resort hopping to see portions of Beach Club, Wilderness Lodge, Old Key West, Grand Floridian, and Poly.
From just a visual aesthetics perspective, I would say my favorite was Wilderness Lodge. It was jaw-droppingly gorgeous inside. I could have just looked around there for hours.
Our room (a 1-bedroom villa) at Boardwalk was amazing. Felt like home. And the location was superb for access to HS and Epcot. I would have loved to experience it when the Boardwalk was in full operation. Still, early morning walks around the lake was a great way to start the day.
For a relaxing grounds vibe, I did love POR.
BLT was nice from an access to the Monorail resorts and MK perspective, but I doubt I’d go back there. We were glad that it was our arrival day and not our final day. This allowed us to enjoy experiencing The Contemporary vibe before finding out how much better staying at Boardwalk was. I think if we had done it in reverse, we would have found ourselves disappointed. (Still, seeing the monorail going through the hotel is just so incredibly cool, to this day!)
Deluxe:
- My first love is definitely AKL: Kidani. It was my first experience staying at a deluxe resort, and I love the theming, the savanna views, and the quiet, peaceful atmosphere. The only downside for us was the bathroom setup–it only allowed one person to get ready at a time, and this was difficult with a teenage girl taking a long time every morning and night. I’m looking forward to trying it again sometime when it’s just DH and me.
- Our most recent trip was to SSR, and I fell in love with it (although that might have a lot to do with the fact that we got a surprise upgrade from a studio to a preferred one bedroom!). The newly remodeled rooms are gorgeous, and the horse theming is appealing to me, as I’m originally from Kentucky. The only downsides here were that the lobby isn’t grand or exciting and the dining options didn’t work well for us.
Moderate: CSR. Beautiful resort, nicely updated rooms, grand lobby, great dining options (I love Three Bridges!!).
Value: ASMovies. While I love the skyliner option at POP, I like the theming better at Movies. It’s a cute resort, and you can get some great deals on a room.
We’ve stayed at Pop, AoA, POR, Contemporary 2x, and Boardwalk. We liked all those but Contemporary is our current favorite mostly due to proximity to MK (and the kids love the monorail and Chef Mickeys). We’ve also visited several others and love WL and AKL but haven’t actually stayed there to get the full comparison.
Boardwalk was also great but we were there in November and everything but the DVC wing was closed. Proximity to Epcot and HS was amazing and we’re staying there for our next trip (September).
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That is absolutely horrible and completely unacceptable. I am so mad they made you feel that way. I have no words.
I will get over it…someday😉
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You’re a better person than me because I would carry that anger to my grave. It didn’t even happen to me and I’m really mad.
I would say Poly is my fav. Some of that is nostalgia as it was one of the first Disney experiences I had as a kid. Or at least when I was old enough to remember. I like it because it feels different to me. I live in the Mountains and in the South so the GF and WL are really not much different for me than other resorts like staying at the Greenbrier or Grove Park Inn or a Cabin in the Smokies. But Poly certainly is different and feels like vacation. We are pretty big Boardwalk fans as well. Just like the convenience and the ability to walk around. Great place. We had a great pre-COVID experience at CSR in a Club Level room in Gran Destino. It was arguably the nicest Disney hotel property. Not convenient to much though. And much to my surprise, I really have enjoyed Pop Century lately. The Skyliner is such a great selling point and my kids love it (DD5 & DD19MO). It is so different in every way but good experiences.
A few years ago, I would have said Poly by far.
Location, view, pool, vibe…
It’s just not the same after they put the pizza huts in blocking the view of the bay, and the changes to the lobby. It’s still great, but no longer #1.
If I had to choose one, I’d ultimately go with Yacht Club for the epic pool, and location, being able to walk and/or boat to two parks in addition to its elegance. I like it better than Beach Club, though BC is 1B.
For serenity, and the most relaxed vibe, I’d go with Wilderness Lodge. It’s also the best if one is (or was) doing hoop-de-do.
Poly is now #3.
I also love Port Orleans Riverside, very relaxing & bucolic along the river, nice pool, and (on days of olde) YaHaa Bob & boat to downtown Disney or whatever they renamed it to.
Full disclosure: Haven’t ever stayed at Grand Floridian (price) , Contempoary (price), AKL (price), Boardwalk (don’t get the appeal?), POFR, or Coronado, though I’ve at least visited & walked around POFR. Riverside seems nicer, and have spent a lot of time at the Contemporary for various reasons. Maybe someday I’ll splurge.
For value, I’ve enjoyed Pop Century and that was before the sky cars. Looking forward to riding them someday.
My wife & I stayed at Caribbean Beach on our honeymoon over 25 years ago, and enjoyed it, but I can’t really speak to it now as it seems to have changed quite a bit since then.
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