For those planning a trip to Disney soon

steve_virginia

New Member
Original Poster
For the first time in 7 years in a row of going to Disney, my family and I decided to stay on the property instead of using our time share. WHAT A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE!

We used the transportation option in our package so the trip began on a good note. You get off the plane in Orlando, go to the first floor where the Disney reps are, they put you on a luxury bus, and you're on your way to the resort. No baggage to gather, they do that for you and bring it to your room in the resort.

We stayed in the Coronado Springs resort. We chose the 2 room suite option so our teenaged kids took one room, which was a normal hotel room with two twin beds but had more space than a normal hotel. And our room had a king size bed and was the same size as theirs.

One thing cool that I noticed about the room was in the bathroom of all places. When you flip on the light switch, the light comes on very dim and then grows in intensity very slow. Perfect for getting up in the middle of the night. No more getting blinded by turning on the light. What a great idea!

The resort itself was very nice. Not as nice as the high end resorts I'm sure but, it was very nice. There are hammocks stretched between palm trees along a sand covered lake front, stores, restaurants, boats to rent, bikes to rent, and anything else you would need or want.

The best part was transportation to anywhere you wanted to go within Disney just by going to the front of the resort or a bus stop near your room. Buses run about every 10 minutes to the various parks and to downtown Disney. And when you're ready to come back, hop the bus for your resort, and you're on your way. The buses run until all the parks are cleared and that is normally about 2 in the morning.

The food at the resort was so-so. Not too expensive, good variety, but got to be old after a couple days. We broke things up by going to downtown Disney for supper a few nights. Plenty of food to choose from there. Oh, DON'T GET THE MEAL PLAN WITH YOUR PACKAGE! We saw people having a hard time with that. It's easier to pay with your Key To The World.

Your Key To The World is like a credit card. It contains your park tickets, your room key, and can be used as a credit card for up to $1,000. How cool is that!? So we just paid for meals with that. Not much need to carry around a lot of cash when you have that. And every member of the family has one which is nice. The kids were able to go off on their own and when it was time to eat, they could use their cards to pay for it.

I highly suggest you stay at one of the resorts the next time you go if you have not already done so.
 

ssidiouss@mac.c

Well-Known Member
Yep :)

Staying on site is 1000000x better than offsite.

I love all the Resorts that I have seen on property.. but always stay at the Pop Century.. its a lower priced resort but I find it having more disney magic than the medium priced resorts.
 

Computer Magic

Well-Known Member
steve_virginia said:
For the first time in 7 years in a row of going to Disney, my family and I decided to stay on the property instead of using our time share. WHAT A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE!

We used the transportation option in our package so the trip began on a good note. You get off the plane in Orlando, go to the first floor where the Disney reps are, they put you on a luxury bus, and you're on your way to the resort. No baggage to gather, they do that for you and bring it to your room in the resort.

We stayed in the Coronado Springs resort. We chose the 2 room suite option so our teenaged kids took one room, which was a normal hotel room with two twin beds but had more space than a normal hotel. And our room had a king size bed and was the same size as theirs.

One thing cool that I noticed about the room was in the bathroom of all places. When you flip on the light switch, the light comes on very dim and then grows in intensity very slow. Perfect for getting up in the middle of the night. No more getting blinded by turning on the light. What a great idea!

The resort itself was very nice. Not as nice as the high end resorts I'm sure but, it was very nice. There are hammocks stretched between palm trees along a sand covered lake front, stores, restaurants, boats to rent, bikes to rent, and anything else you would need or want.

The best part was transportation to anywhere you wanted to go within Disney just by going to the front of the resort or a bus stop near your room. Buses run about every 10 minutes to the various parks and to downtown Disney. And when you're ready to come back, hop the bus for your resort, and you're on your way. The buses run until all the parks are cleared and that is normally about 2 in the morning.

The food at the resort was so-so. Not too expensive, good variety, but got to be old after a couple days. We broke things up by going to downtown Disney for supper a few nights. Plenty of food to choose from there. Oh, DON'T GET THE MEAL PLAN WITH YOUR PACKAGE! We saw people having a hard time with that. It's easier to pay with your Key To The World.

Your Key To The World is like a credit card. It contains your park tickets, your room key, and can be used as a credit card for up to $1,000. How cool is that!? So we just paid for meals with that. Not much need to carry around a lot of cash when you have that. And every member of the family has one which is nice. The kids were able to go off on their own and when it was time to eat, they could use their cards to pay for it.

I highly suggest you stay at one of the resorts the next time you go if you have not already done so.
Staying on resort is a great experience. Glad you enjoyed it.

My only comment is the Dinner Package. I would recommend it. We just returned from a 6 night stay and had no problems using the dinning plan. We saved over $150.00 on meals.

The meals are rather large portions so if you don't want all that food, you may not save as much.

We would have saved more if we would have picked more expensive meals and sometimes we split appetizers and desserts.

and the snacks on the plan allows you to avoid the mug refills as they expanded to include pop, cookies, treats, milk, orange juice.
 

s2jrston

Active Member
Nice report. Thanks for the info. I think trip reports are supposed to go in another area of the forum but this seems like a general discussion of your experience so I guess it's in the right area.

How were the fitness facilities if any and how much were the bike rentals? Were there walking or riding trails at the resort? Did you rent a car? Did you regret not renting a car?
 

steve_virginia

New Member
Original Poster
s2jrston,

To tell you the truth I didn't even notice if they had a fitness area. We normally have full days at the park so not much time for that anyway. The bike rentals were reasonable as I remember. Not sure what the price was anymore but the boats they had started at $23 for a half hour. That was a small two passenger thing you could tool around the lake in. They had bigger ones you could rent for more.

We did not rent a car and don't regret it one bit. There was really no need for a car unless you wanted to head down to International Drive or something. Everything you need is on the property. They even had a little General Store area where you could get chips, soda, cookies, other snacks, medicine for colds and things, and even liquor or beer. All were reasonably priced.
 

samshem

Member
Glad you enjoyed your stay on property. About the light in the bathroom though, I don't think that it is like that by design. I believe that there, as well as other Disney resorts, they use fluorescent lights which take some time to reach full brightness.
 

shari71

New Member
I agree with Computer Magic - get the dining plan. Especially if you like sit down meals. That is where you save a bundle and it is pretty straight forward. We used it for Cinderella's Royal Table, Storybook Princess Breakfast, Chef Mickeys, Crystal Palace, Polynesian Laua and Ohana's. The ones we went to were pre-decided meals or buffets, so we didn't have to fight the DP knowledge base. Counter service and snacks are the hardest, but my kids love popcorn and ice cream so the snacks went fast. Counter service at the resort was the hardest because they made up the rules as they went and each employee had a different version. We mostly used the counter service at the parks and it was straight forward.

Also, when we were there last week, they were adding a DP logo to the menus to make it easier to know what was available on the plan.

Dining Plan takes a little planning, so if you don't plan, then you might not get your money's worth, but I am a planner and it really paid off for us.
 

Computer Magic

Well-Known Member
shari71 said:
I agree with Computer Magic - get the dining plan. Especially if you like sit down meals. That is where you save a bundle and it is pretty straight forward. We used it for Cinderella's Royal Table, Storybook Princess Breakfast, Chef Mickeys, Crystal Palace, Polynesian Laua and Ohana's. The ones we went to were pre-decided meals or buffets, so we didn't have to fight the DP knowledge base. Counter service and snacks are the hardest, but my kids love popcorn and ice cream so the snacks went fast. Counter service at the resort was the hardest because they made up the rules as they went and each employee had a different version. We mostly used the counter service at the parks and it was straight forward.

Also, when we were there last week, they were adding a DP logo to the menus to make it easier to know what was available on the plan.

Dining Plan takes a little planning, so if you don't plan, then you might not get your money's worth, but I am a planner and it really paid off for us.
Good point about having to plan. If you not a planner this may not be the best option.

We used it for Yachtman's and Brown Derby which does take two each. Our biggest savings was using it for the Tier 3 of the Candlelight Processional. This is a $97 value. :sohappy:

To clarify the DP logo is used for the resort counter service. YOu can choose anything off the menu except Lobster.
 

coasterphil

Well-Known Member
When Disney offers a reasonable option for a family of 7 we'll try staying on site again. For now though, we're pretty happy staying in a 4BR with a private pool about 2 miles from MGM for 119 a night.
 

Texas84

Well-Known Member
Onsite vs. offsite is no contest! Time to buy into DVC! :D

My Dad promised my Mom they would never stay offsite again. Now he wants to try a Orlando resort from their non-DVC timeshare and my Mom is big-time mad! :lol:
 

Woody13

New Member
samshem said:
Glad you enjoyed your stay on property. About the light in the bathroom though, I don't think that it is like that by design. I believe that there, as well as other Disney resorts, they use fluorescent lights which take some time to reach full brightness.
Yes, but his version was so much more magical! After all, sitting on the toilet at 2 AM with a dim light is rather special. I bet that if we did some research, we'd find out that Walt himself designed these bathroom lights and that he never wanted to ever have them removed from his resorts! :lol:
 

1disneydood

Active Member
I have a dimmer back home in my bathroom for that very reason. Well really it's for romantic bath for two, but the throne with a dim light at night is definately a plus. :D
 

crazycalf

New Member
steve_virginia said:
For the first time in 7 years in a row of going to Disney, my family and I decided to stay on the property instead of using our time share. WHAT A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE!

My friend's timeshare let's her transfer a week so she can stay at a DVC hotel. Check with your timeshare, you might be able to do the same next time too.
 

CAPTAIN HOOK

Well-Known Member
steve_virginia said:
For the first time in 7 years in a row of going to Disney, my family and I decided to stay on the property instead of using our time share. WHAT A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE!
OK - but was it cost effective ???

In my experience it is cheaper to stay offsite in a private villa where everyone gets a bedroom to themselves (and a pool that isn't crowded)
 

Rob562

Well-Known Member
CAPTAIN HOOK said:
OK - but was it cost effective ???

In my experience it is cheaper to stay offsite in a private villa where everyone gets a bedroom to themselves (and a pool that isn't crowded)

Well, if money is a MAJOR factor, I would take off-site over no trip at all. That's sort of how my trip last week was. Money's tight, and as a birthday gift my parents gave me one of their timeshare weeks that they couldn't use anyway. We traded into a 2-bedroom condo at Orange Lake Country Club, about 3-4 miles west of World Drive on 192. If we didn't have the condo for lodging (combined with a VERY cheap rental car rate), I don't know if I could have afforded the trip.

The condo was nice. A bit 80's in its' design, but nice. Two bedrooms was nice to be able to separate out the snorer (i.e. me), it was nice to have a kitchen, washer&dryer, etc. But it was the travel to and from the parks that took away some of the "magic". US-192 is a tourist trap, and even though we cut out some of that drive by using Sherberth Road to get on and off property.

Also, it wasn't as convenient, because we only had one rental car. So if someone wanted to leave early, either they'd have to stick it out, or everyone would leave early. It was nicer to have the bus to take back to the hotel individually.

So in the future, I'm going to try my hardest to make sure it's on-site hotels. When I can afford it, I'm going to buy into the DVC. I think that would be the best option for me.

-Rob
 

samshem

Member
Woody13 said:
Yes, but his version was so much more magical! After all, sitting on the toilet at 2 AM with a dim light is rather special. I bet that if we did some research, we'd find out that Walt himself designed these bathroom lights and that he never wanted to ever have them removed from his resorts! :lol:

Oh yeah, thats right!:xmas:
 

d'Isigny

New Member
I would never consider staying offsite...

it's hard enough leaving at the end of the week, let alone every night to go back to a non-Disney hotel...


couldn't do it
 

Merlin

Account Suspended
samshem said:
Glad you enjoyed your stay on property. About the light in the bathroom though, I don't think that it is like that by design. I believe that there, as well as other Disney resorts, they use fluorescent lights which take some time to reach full brightness.

Actually, they are that way by design. But it's not for the reason that Steve_Virginia mention. It's not so that your eyes can adjust if you get up in the middle of the night (although that's a nice bonus benefit of them). It's actually a power-saving thing. The lightbulbs they use cut down tremendously on electrical costs. Several of the hotels in Las Vegas have been using these types of bulbs for some time now. Hopefully, Disney is passing some of that savings on to the Guest. :animwink:
 

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