For Marathon Weekend I am traveling soley with my sister, who has only been to WDW as an adult twice, and I think has only ever been three times in her whole life.
Her experience with onsite hotels has been, to date, restricted to Pop Century. A really fantastic value resort which I personally love. But I’m looking to plus the hell out of this trip.
At the present time we are booked two nights at POR, and then we move over to AKL-J for two more nights in a 1BR standard (pool) view. I have been stalking the site like you can’t even imagine trying to get us in a standard GDT room, but it seems like everyone and their sisters are traveling that weekend and all that has been left are king rooms and suited. And really at this point those appear to be sold out as well.
I keep finding offers for the following resorts/views. Are any of them worth the (significant) price increase to plus this out for her (ahem, yes, strictly for her, not at all for me). Note that the increase would be my treat (as is the DVC portion of the stay). It will just about double the current hotel cost, but business has been booming and in many ways I feel we deserve it.
Beach Club Standard View Deluxe Studio
Poly Standard View (hotel side)
Riviera Standard View Deluxe Studio
Or should I just leave well enough alone and enjoy (my first) stay at POR, woods view?
Um yeah you need the plus the ish out of that trip! You’re running a bazillion miles. In Florida. You’re already crazy so throw money at it and make it better.
Honestly for adults, I think POR would be as nice as anything. The second option would be Riviera.
I LOVE Beach Club and Poly. But mostly because I have kids and the pool is important, as well as being close to parks to reduce walking. But presumably you’d be as happy with an adult pool and bus transport.
If you really wanted to plus with an adult focus, I would recommend Riviera.
POR was our family’s go to resort for many trips. I really love the Alligator Bayou theming, the food court is excellent, and the boat to DS adds some bonus transportation.
Compared to Pop, POR and AKL should both be amazing for your sister (and I love Pop as well).
That said, Beach Club, Poly, and Riveria are all really great choices. You probably can’t go wrong with whatever you choose.
I have never stayed at Poly but am waiting for that to work out. I think you cant go wrong with the poly or Riviera, I love Riviera. Are you thinking of switching the whole trip or just the POR portion, cause hey AKL still my favorite lobby.
The Riviera standard view is great! I’ll dig up my room number. We basically looked over the front entrance towards the parks. And the cafe? Chefs kiss! I had a cappuccino every day.
Just the POR part. The other part is on points. I LOVE AKL too. When my sister did go to WDW with my niece and they ate at Boma she texted me all wide eyed and said, “You’ve stayed here?!?!” So I know she will love that.
I haven’t stayed at POR orBeach Club so can’t speak to that but the Poly I loved even before the renovations. Back then the rooms were tired but the monorail makes transportation so easy, the fireworks on the beach. I sat in one of the lounge chairs by the pool listening to the Hawaiian music and swore I was never leaving! Plus the food and drinks!!! We stayed at CBR last trip and ate most of our meals at Riviera. I thought it was beautiful. I’m usually all for cost cutting but if you want to plus it out for a sister trip I say go for it! Shocking that someone on this site would be an enabler😂
The crazy thing is, we will be at MK the day we would NOT be at Poly. We start off doing HS and AK; then we move to AK and do MK on Sunday because we need castle pics with our medals. So I agree on the monorail but it won’t be of any use to us this time. I just could not get Poly (though I keep trying) for DVC for that end of the trip.
Yes! Do it (this is absolutely not the place to get people to restrain you, lol)! I upgraded to AKL for a girls trip with my sister and niece a few years ago for nieces first trip and seeing how much they loved it made it so worthwhile!
