Never Again!. Nope I Mean It.

[SecondStarTilMorning]

Before I mention the resorts I will not be staying at again, let me go ahead and post my favorites from each category:

Value- Art of Animation Little Mermaid Section

Moderate: Coronado Springs

Deluxe: Grand Floridian and Boardwalk Inn

Off-Site: Wyndham Bonnet Creek 1 Bedroom Deluxe

WORST

Value- All Star anything

Moderate: Caribbean Beach

Deluxe: Animal Kingdom Lodge, Old Key West

If you are forced to stay at a value, the art of animation blows away the competition. The theming, the pools, the quick service restaurant- it's awesome. It's the only value resort worth visiting even if you aren't staying there.

For moderates, coronado springs is almost the the level of a deluxe. It has really excellent facilities and amenities, but it is still an enormous resort that is far too spread out. The other moderates are mostly just exhausting because of their large size. What good is a gift shop or a restaurant when it's three quarters of a mile from your room or more? The rooms are big enough to work but small enough to make you feel like "hey, you should have paid a little more to get more space"

Deluxe is the only category truly worth using if you are staying on site in my opinion. Why? Because you can stay at the hilton bonnet creek, the waldorf astoria, the swan and dolphin, or wyndham bonnet creek for the price of a moderate or even a value. They are all located inside of walt disney world right next to caribbean beach resort. They are all phenomenal properties. In the case of wyndham bonnet creek, you can get a beautiful 900 square foot room with a full kitchen, dining area, living room, jacuzzi, large balcony, california king bed, and two vanities/sinks. For $100 a night! Less than a value most times of the year!

I also notice a massive amount of complaints about transportation. Everyone says it's so great to go to WDW because you don't need to rent a car. Well let me submit to you that if you do rent a car for a week, which runs about $125 if you shop around, that gives you the ability to go where you want, when you want. Feel like taking a stroll on the boardwalk but don't want to wait for bus connections? Get in your car and go. Last minute ADR at the Poly? Yep, just cruise on over there. Exhausted after a long night at the studios and do not want to wait in a crowded line for a bus? Get in your car and drive back to your resort. Park near your room. ENJOY your vacation, on your own time schedule.

On to the WDW deluxe resorts. Animal Kingdom Lodge has beautiful rooms, the savannah is awesome, and the lobby is stunning. Why won't I go back? Because we stayed at Kidani village and the walk from our room to the lobby was like an ETERNITY. Want to fill up your mug? Time for a walk down the world's longest hallway. Want to grab something from the gift shop? Get ready for a long stroll man. Our room was so far away from the lobby at Kidani it was kind of like the room was its own separate resort, complete with zero amenities.

The Grand Floridian, now that's the place you want to stay. Gorgeous. Luxurious. Magic Kingdom is one stop away on the monorail. Your choice of five different table service restaurants, each of which are excellent. Minzer's lounge. An orchestra performing in the lobby. The garden view tea room. The beach. The best cast members on property. Rooms just refurbished like, a week ago. The place exudes beauty and luxury. Oh yeah, and the hot tub is MASSIVE. The pool areas are phenomenal. It's ten steps above the poly, fifty steps above the wilderness lodge, and a million steps above a value.

So really, either stay off site or stay at the grand floridian if you can afford it. Don't use Disney transportation. Book lots of great meals at table service restaurants and get the heck out of the parks at the peak time in the afternoon. If you take my advice and do these things you will avoid almost all of the complaints you hear about on these boards and Disney World will be your favorite vacation destination ever. Or you could convince yourself a week in a motel room at all star sports while riding the bus all week is going to be great. You just don't know what you're missing.

 

[sabbyxxo]

Good Morning Folks..After some interesting thoughts on the GF. I was wondering. Have you ever stayed at a Disney resort that didn't live up to your expectations,and you swore never to stay there again..Having only stayed at three mods..CBR....POFQ...and PORS....I loved all of them tho my heart belongs to Riverside. But I'am curious ( as ever ) if anyone has had a "not so magical time" at a resort.?

The beach club is the only other resort my family loves because of it's location, atmosphere, location, etc, but other than that, the character/kid resorts are where we love! Pop century, and now art of animation have the coolest people! You have an atmosphere where it's all big colorful buildings, and feel like you're in the park all over again! At night it's quiet, and there are walk areas for adults to go, and kids too, clean pool areas, and there aren't high expectations because it's meant to be fun! The other resorts are gorgeous, yes, more adult like themed, but the kid resorts have buses running every 10 mins, everyone's colorful, and it's just a thrilling atmosphere to let go and live around more fun. I see older couples there as well, not just big families. Trust me, try it !

 

[Brian Parish]

Ok so I just laughed and also gagged. I have a HUGE PROBLEM with hair of any sort anywhere, especially squiggly "bodily" ones on what is suppose to be a clean bed. This whole thing sounds awful. Wow so sorry this happened!!!

It was a terrible experience, but now its more funny than it was shocking (at least for me) my mom literally sat outside and watched them clean the entire room from top to bottom. Funny to look back on now.

 

[LiveyMouse22]

Never say never I guess because I will always give Disney second chances to do it right! But I wasn't happy with Pop because it was sooooo crowded. Always had to wait for like 3 buses to get a bus home and all the baseball teams and cheerleaders and yada yada yada that come to compete in Disney would stay there. Don't like that!

 

[LuvtheGoof]

We have stayed at the cabins in FW, POR, POFQ, BWV, OKW, the SSR Treehouses, and SSR. I guess we are lucky because we have not had a resort that we can say we'll never go back to.

 

[sring]

The one resort I won't stay at again is All Star (anything).

Many years ago, I had a business trip to Coco Beach. I flew in the day before and had to pick my boss up at MCO the next morning, so I thought I would get a *relatively* inexpensive Disney fix in and booked a room at one of the All Star resorts.

In the reservation and at checkin I noted and asked for a non-smoking room. The cast member at the check in desk's reply was, "well none of the rooms are on fire," and I was given a smoking room. When I entered the room, there was trash from the previous guest in the trash can and one of those thin glow sticks (no longer glowing) that young children use as necklaces on the dresser. Definately NOT the Disney experience I am used to.

They pretty much lost my business. I'm more of a Deluxe type on vacation and Moderate on occasion, but I've stayed in budget properties with better customer service and housekeeping (I've also stayed in worse).

To be fair, this trip was circa 1998, so I'm sure the experience is likely to be different today, but it still left a very bad taste in my mouth.

 

[DisneyJunkie]

Good Morning Folks..After some interesting thoughts on the GF. I was wondering. Have you ever stayed at a Disney resort that didn't live up to your expectations,and you swore never to stay there again..Having only stayed at three mods..CBR....POFQ...and PORS....I loved all of them tho my heart belongs to Riverside. But I'am curious ( as ever ) if anyone has had a "not so magical time" at a resort.?

The majority of my stays in WDW have been at Deluxe resorts - WL, Poly, Boardwalk. We did try staying once at the Caribbean Beach Resort to see what difference it would be and we did NOT like it there at all. The reasons being: (1) the LONG distance to walk from our area to the main hub to refill our drinks and walk back to our room again, (2) the fact that the rooms are not within the buildings but when you open the door, you're outside (with outside lighting penetrating even closed blinds), and (3) HATE the different buses having to travel from stop to stop within the resort BEFORE even leaving the resort to go to the park you're heading off to. Takes so much longer to get places when you have to wait on all these stops.

 

[mickeysshoes]

I would not say never....never say never. But the last time we stayed at POFQ (8/2009) we had issues. Issues with keys to our rooms and managers not doing what they say they would do. We went thru 3 sets of KEY TO THE WORLD cards before we got 4 that would always work. Had to move rooms because the card reader would not work. Kids had gone off to dinner on their own and we had to have the 3rd set of cards made which made the cards they had NO good because we could not get our cards to open our room. So someone at FQ had to drive down to DD to find the girls and give them the new cards so they could pay for dinner. I would head to PORS before FQ

 

[Figmentation]

So far I'm not too keen on any of the All-Stars stuff.

I've really only stayed at All-Stars, POP, and Caribbean Beach... and I had good experiences with all three.
Now All-Stars, as mentioned above, while I had a good experience I didn't enjoy the beds, food, or rooms too much.

I love POP, just everything about it makes me feel like I'm at Disney.

Caribbean Beach - I loved it. Was very relaxing... however: DEAR LORD THE SIZE! It is so spread out. If you use Disney Transporation, you have to ride a bus all the way around the resort area before you get to where you want to go. The same with leaving.. if your early in the resort, you have to ride the bus all the way around it before it even leaves. If your late in the resort, you have to wait when coming home from a park to even get to your area.

Even the food court is a mile hike away from everything.

 

[S. Paridon]

Probably the Polynesian. We stayed there in 2010 and were super excited to stay as both my wife and I had wanetd to for a long time. While the monorail was nice, the rooms were old and outdated. I second someone else's mention of that fact. The rooms were larger than our favorite's, the WL, but not worth the cost.

 

[bebert]

Personally we really enjoy POFQ, never had any issues there that were major. We especially enjoy it now that the rooms are refurbished. I always recommend POFQ to anyone going to WDW.
CS and CBR were nice but, just too large. I would never stay at either one again, not because of issues just to large.
All-Star Movie was fine as we were there for only 4 days in September (got a good deal to do my sons first hair cut at the barber shop in MK) and knew going into it we would not get a updated, large room. So our expectations were not high to begin with.
Stayed at BLT this past November and thought the rooms were nice but, was shocked there were no drink stations in the hotel. We had to walk to Contemporary to refill our mugs. Seems really silly to not put at least one drink station in a nice resort like that one.
OKW was fine but, really needs to be updated. I would never spend that kind of money to stay there, luckily each time we were staying on someone else's points.

 

[bebert]

Probably the Polynesian. We stayed there in 2010 and were super excited to stay as both my wife and I had wanetd to for a long time. While the monorail was nice, the rooms were old and outdated. I second someone else's mention of that fact. The rooms were larger than our favorite's, the WL, but not worth the cost.

One thing you learn quickly at most WDW resorts is that cost does not equal nice, most of the time you are just paying for the extra space.

 

[TheBeastMom]

We're spoiled....We're DVC since 1993.
Before that we stayed at the POP Century....(TOO FAR)
Contemporary Garden Wing was a great experience except for the screaming adolescent cheerleaders.
OKW is heaven.
Wilderness Lodge Villas is relaxing.
Beach Club Villas is my FAVE for the pool
Boardwalk is nice.
BUT.....never again will we stay at Bay Lake Towers.....everything from the Towers concierges to the size of the rooms and the icky leaves in the pool. NEVER AGAIN......

 

[ZodIsGr8]

Good Morning Folks..After some interesting thoughts on the GF. I was wondering. Have you ever stayed at a Disney resort that didn't live up to your expectations,and you swore never to stay there again..Having only stayed at three mods..CBR....POFQ...and PORS....I loved all of them tho my heart belongs to Riverside. But I'am curious ( as ever ) if anyone has had a "not so magical time" at a resort.?

I have loved all of the resorts that I have stayed at but of all the deluxe resorts the GF would be my least favorite. It just comes across as a very snobby resort even though it probably is not. My favorite resort by far is PO Riverside. You just can't beat the atmosphere and surroundings of that resort in my opinion.

 

[Skibum1970]

Only reason I wouldn't go is if the DW said "No". She isn't a big fan although she enjoys going every now and then (once every three years or so), whereas I could go probably twice a year. Or more. I love staying onsite at WL or PORS because it just makes it all so nice. I have thought about the properties like Wyndham and others that are very close but, this may sound stupid, they don't say "Disney". I am sure that they are nice but I just can't bring myself to stay at them, especially since staying onsite is one of the perks that helps my wife go more frequently to Disney.

 

[Takeitforgranite]

We've stayed in the All-Stars 4 times and POFQ once. We essentially only use the report to sleep, fill mugs, and eat breakfast a time or two, so amenities aren't of concern. My biggest concern at any hotel is the noise level. Every time we go back to AS, I expect to have some issues, but it's never been a problem. Maybe it's because we are always a long way from the center of the resort. People complain about the sharing of buses, but it's never been a big deal to us. If you stay at ASSp, you get picked up first and dropped off first. If the bus fills up, they wont even go to the others.

We tried POFQ one time in a FEB. It was nice and quiet, but the bus sitation was an issue. Two canopies serving 4 parks, 2 water parks, and Downtown. It was chaos when a buss pulled up because someone with 5 kids and 2 strollers who got there at the last second would inevitably barge ahead and take up half the bus. Plus, a bus only came about every 30 minutes.

We're sticking with the value because it fits our needs and means we can come more often.

 

[bhg469]

A few months ago was the first and last time at Caribbean beach. Awful food awful layout and terrible amenities. If it was on the price level of pop centry I'd take pop all day long. This is not a moderate in any sense of the word.

 

[Stevek]

Did not enjoy CBR, incredibly dated, very poor transportation, never again.

Liked Pop Century, loved AKL. Would not hesitate to stay at either of these again...depending how much I want to pay for a room on that trip.

 

[EvilQueen-T]

We did at Boardwalk but it was staff related not the resort itself. The resort itself was beautiful. My sister and I were staying club level at BWI the second week of December in 2010. We'd confirmed when we made the reservation and when concierge checked us in that, although our room wasn't ready yet, we were in a room with 2 queen beds. So we went off to the parks. We got back around 1 am and had never gotten our text with our room number so we got that from the only person working the front desk. We get to the room and the door won't open no matter which key we use. We went to the desk guy and he said he'd have mousekeeping let us in...40 minutes later we're still sitting in the hallway. 2 calls to the front desk later and the same guy (from the front desk) comes up and lets us in...it's a king bed. Now I like my sister but not enough to pay for club level and sleep with her after being told earlier that day we were in a double queen room. So I instantly stopped and told the front desk guy who'd just let me into the room and he said, "You'll have to call the front desk"...I said while in a bit of disbelief at his statement and starting to get irritated, "but you are the front desk" and he's says, "yeah i am" and left. multiple phone calls later we're told we could have a new room tomorrow if and when one opens. I firmly said, no that after all the bs they could prioritize us above someone new checking in since we're already here which they did. They also said they'd move our bags to the new room when it was ready. So thinking that the worst had passed we were off to the parks only to get a call from a family about 5 hours later saying our bags were in their room. They got my cell number off the tag on my bag. They'd called the front desk but no one had ever come to take them. When I called the front desk they told me staff wouldn't move our bags because they were basically with their new family now so we ended up having to go all the way back to the resort get our bags from the strangers who luckily were good people and didn't go through our stuff and we moved them ourselves. When the concierge asked us if things had gotten straightened out I told him how we had to go get our bags and what we were told he actually said, "I don't know why anyone takes vacations at this time of year, people should just stay home for the holidays." AAAAAHHHH! Aside from all that the one thing I don't like about the resorts in this group is that Beach, Yacht, Boardwalk, Swan, and Dolphin were all sharing one bus to/from the MK. Took way to long with all the stops as compared to staying at other resorts and imo if you're paying deluxe prices you should at least be able to expect that the bus service to be at least equal and not worse than when you stay at the value or moderate resorts. Such a beautiful resort to be SOOOOO NOT MAGICAL for us!

 

[bebert]

Prices at POR seem the cheapest for a room of 5 at WDW. What is the story on this, seems like Disney is pushing this resort. We may stay there next June but, I would like to hear some personal experiences from anyone who has stayed there.