1 Trip - 3 hotels. Am I crazy ?

[Lily5170]

Hi,

As the title says I’m going to WDW with my son for his 16th from 25th October until 2nd November. It’s our first trip to WDW.

As we live in Belgium and this will probably be our only trip to WDW, we decided to book 3 different hotels as we couldn’t make up our mind.

We’re staying 4 nights in POFQ, 2 nights at the Poly club level and 2 nights at Animal Kingdom Lodge Savannah view.

Are we crazy or is this doable ?

Thanks for your input, help and tips

 

[Janir]

Very doable. Seems others coming across the Atlantic seem to do similar as they are planning long vacations, and a WDW trip is a bucket trip for them.
Its mostly just logistics of having to move around to other resorts , but the Bell Services can help you for a small fee to transfer luggage between resorts. I don't know how that all works with ADR planning and FP+ but someone in Guest Services number number or your vacation planner agent can probably help there.
I number of years back I did a POR for a week, 3 days in the Grand Floridian, then back to the POR (in fact we got the exact same room in POR) We moved our own stuff as it was our wedding and we had wedding stuff and our truck to do it so movement between resorts was no big deal. This was also before the advent of the magic band system.

 

[bUU]

We did the hotel swap thing a couple of times, and we'll still do it when we absolutely have to, in order to bridge a gap between the day we arrive and the day our "preferred hotel" is available, but we don't deliberately do it anymore. It just takes far too much time out of the vacation, even just in terms of the time needed to re-pack and re-unpack. Personally, if you could do either Poly club level or AKL Savanna view for the whole trip, then I'd suggest doing that.

 

[Lily5170]

Thanks for your reply. You have reassured me

 

[Lily5170]

Unfortunately Poly or AKL for the whole trip is just to expensive.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

You CAN do it, but it's a waste of time. I would never do it on a trip of 8 nights. 8 nights is my favorite length of trip, but there's no way I'd be wasting time unpacking and repacking twice in the middle of it.

Of those hotels, go to Animal Kingdom Lodge. Also, you can save a ton of money by skipping the savanna view. There are plenty of savanna viewing locations around the hotel and many of the rooms classified as "standard" have partial views of the savanna themselves.

Unfortunately Poly or AKL for the whole trip is just to expensive.

Drop savanna view and drop club level. 8 nights at AKL standard view is waaaaaaaay better than the current mishmash IMO, and probably a lot cheaper too.

 

[Master Yoda]

You CAN do it, but it's a waste of time. I would never do it on a trip of 8 nights. 8 nights is my favorite length of trip, but there's no way I'd be wasting time unpacking and repacking twice in the middle of it.

Of those hotels, go to Animal Kingdom Lodge. Also, you can save a ton of money by skipping the savanna view. There are plenty of savanna viewing locations around the hotel and many of the rooms classified as "standard" have partial views of the savanna themselves.


Drop savanna view and drop club level. 8 nights at AKL standard view is waaaaaaaay better than the current mishmash IMO, and probably a lot cheaper too.

This^^^

 

[Lily5170]

Oh my. What to do now. We really wanted to stay at AKL this is our favorite hotel but as it is far from everything we do not want to stay there the whole 8 nights.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Oh my. What to do now. We really wanted to stay at AKL this is our favorite hotel but as it is far from everything we do not want to stay there the whole 8 nights.

It's not any further from things as anywhere else, that's one of the biggest myths out there.

Polynesian to Magic Kingdom: 13 minutes
Polynesian to Epcot: 45 minutes (unless you're in one of the buildings that's close to the TTC)
Polynesian to Hollywood Studios: 20 minutes
Polynesian to Animal Kingdom: 26 minutes
Polynesian to Disney Springs: 27 minutes

Animal Kingdom Lodge to Magic Kingdom: 21 minutes
Animal Kingdom Lodge to Epcot: 20 minutes
Animal Kingdom Lodge to Hollywood Studios: 19 minutes
Animal Kingdom Lodge to Animal Kingdom: 18 minutes
Animal Kingdom Lodge to Disney Springs: 26 minutes

So it's 8 minutes further than the Poly from Magic Kingdom, but closer than the Poly to any other destination.

 

[Janir]

Oh my. What to do now. We really wanted to stay at AKL this is our favorite hotel but as it is far from everything we do not want to stay there the whole 8 nights.

It's far but the bus system is effecent. You could get and Uber/Lyft for anything that requires tighter timing than the bus system or rent a car if you can afford to Plus the resort nightly parking fees.

 

[Master Yoda]

Oh my. What to do now. We really wanted to stay at AKL this is our favorite hotel but as it is far from everything we do not want to stay there the whole 8 nights.

Here is the thing...Is AKL the farthest resort from most of WDW?

Yes.

The thing to look at is how much farther.

The farthest thing from AKL that you will commonly go to is Disney Springs. Drive time, 16 minutes.
From the Poly Disney Springs 11 minutes.

AKL to MK 13 minutes
The Poly to MK 7 minutes (if the monorail is running )

This all boils down to maybe 1/2 an hour of extra travel time a day at most.

 

[Lily5170]

We will be depending on Disney transportation for sure as I do not want to rent a car.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

The times I posted are Disney transportation times.

 

[Lily5170]

Yep I got that i will have to rethink. But we were really looking forward to different hotel expériences.

We are less about going on as many rides as possible and more about the atmosphere, dining etc. We’ve been to Disney Paris many many times, so we’ve done most of the attractions there.

You see I’m trying to convince myself that 3 hotels is a great idea

 

[Dave B]

We have a great time switching hotels, we do it every time, it gives us a great experience and the move is very easy, we also get to experience more pools and restaurants, WDW is so much more than just the amusement and rides, you also have picked three of the nicer hotels, in my opinion. The best moderate and the best Deluxe in POLY and I hear great things about AK, just not our cup of tea, HAVE FUN

 

[Lily5170]

Thanks Dave Ber. I have spent a lot of time on forums comparing all the hotels.

I also thought that because it’s just me and my son (16), packing suitcases wouldn’t be to much trouble.

 

[bUU]

Oh my. What to do now. We really wanted to stay at AKL this is our favorite hotel but as it is far from everything we do not want to stay there the whole 8 nights.

"Far from everything" should not drive your decision. Everything at WDW is far from something. The logic that families with young children should stay at MK resorts doesn't even hold water anymore, as all four parks hold some fascination for people of all ages. The difference between how long it takes to get to MK from AKL versus POR is trivial (especially compared to how long it takes to wait for a bus from/to either, but even if you're driving yourself).

Unfortunately Poly or AKL for the whole trip is just to expensive.

It makes sense for this to drive your decision, and as such I would suggest investing yourself in enjoying POR for all it is. It is a fantastic resort in its own right, and spending your full vacation there can be an excellent decision. I'd go so far as to raise one of the reasons for sticking with one resort that I don't think has been mentioned yet: If you go from a "great" resort to a "good" resort you may perceive it as "a step down", and if you go from a "good" resort to a "great" resort you may gloss over the highlights of the "good" resort in anticipation of the "great" resort later in the trip. Either way, you're short-changing yourself.

Some more fuel for sticking with POR for the entire trip: https://www.wdwmagic.com/resorts/disneys-port-orleans-riverside/reviews.htm

 

[LeighM]

We recently did this for our trip a few weeks ago. We had 2 nights at Caribbean Beach, 4 nights at Coronado Springs, and one night at Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani. My husband was dreading it originally but it became one of his favorite things this trip. When we made the first switch, we took our bags to bell services very early on our way to the bus stop at Caribbean Beach. They said our bags would arrive at Coronado Springs between 1-3pm and guaranteed by 5pm. By the way, bell services transfers luggage for free. Since we were going to be in AK park and we weren't expecting our room to be ready until 3pm anyway it worked out well. When we got our room ready text, we took a bus to CSR to check in and our luggage was already there. The second resort switch we didn't have a park day planned so we caught a Minnie Van to Kidani because we wanted our bags with us in case we wanted to enjoy the pool while waiting for our room. The only problem with our plan was that one night just wasn't enough at AKL lol. Especially when we found out our departure flight got bumped up a little bit earlier and Magical Express was picking us up at 5AM!!!!

 

[Weather_Lady]

It's not any further from things as anywhere else, that's one of the biggest myths out there.

Thanks for addressing the misconception. I literally sat down and did the math for the AKL-to-park commutes after we booked our upcoming stay (Feb. 2020) at AKL, and for comparison, ran the numbers for some other resorts. Not only are we talking about a negligible difference with other resorts as far as total transportation time (I calculated the travel time based on my family's typical 3 visits to MK, 2 to Epcot, 2 to AK and 1 to HS - no DS), but AKL actually has better transportation totals than, say, Wilderness Lodge.

To the OP: As for staying multiple places, I'm a fan - as long as you can pack light and smart enough so that the unpacking and re-packing aren't a chore, and you plan your "hotel switch" days to minimize the pain of temporary homelessness (e.g., drop bags with Bell Services for transfer, spend the day in a park, then head to the new hotel after you know your bags will have arrived). Last time we went to WDW, we did 2 nights onsite at Universal (Hard Rock Hotel), followed by 3 nights at Disney's Beach Club (we timed our visits to HS and Epcot then, to take advantage of the close proximity) and 2 nights at the Polynesian (with our MK visits during that part of the trip). We loved it, and the hotels were like new attractions unto themselves.

 

[danheaton]

It really depends on if you're trying to see as much as possible or want more of a relaxing experience. It is a lot of effort to switch hotels, but I can definitely understand with coming from Belgium that you want to see more resorts. It's just a balancing act. I think two resorts is easy, but three might be pushing it.