Resort Location - Important Factor or Not?

[JIMINYCR]

Past experience and feel of the resort rather than location. Weve settled on POFQ and have enjoyed the area and what the resort has to offer us. It hasnt been overrun by kids, its easily accessible to DTD by boat, the path to PORS lets us visit 2 area locations, and the bus system hasnt been too outrageous even when we had to share stops with PORS. So we like the feel of the resort and are comfortable rebooking our stays there. So until that feeling of comfort goes away we are settled there.

 

[DisneyDebNJ]

When you choose which resort to stay in at WDW - apart from price being a factor - is the location of importance to you at all? For example, my wife and I know we spend the bulk of our time at MK, so our on-going preference is to stay in that area (usually at WL, or if we're able to splurge a bit more, the Polynesian). We've stayed at the Boardwalk before, and even looked at AKL, but they just seemed (to us) so far out from where we really wanted to be.

Every Fall we head down to Disney World for Food and Wine, and always stay at the Polynesian. It would make more sense to stay at one of the Boardwalk resorts, but we are HUGE Poly fans. If money isn't a factor, I guess it doesn't matter where we all stay, as long as we're over the moon with our choices

 

[HauntedMansionFLA]

Every Fall we head down to Disney World for Food and Wine, and always stay at the Polynesian. It would make more sense to stay at one of the Boardwalk resorts, but we are HUGE Poly fans. If money isn't a factor, I guess it doesn't matter where we all stay, as long as we're over the moon with our choices

We have been looking at the Poly because it looks like a great resort. Monorail ride to MK and EPCOT. But what's your experience with the bus rides to DHS and DAK? Your feedback would be great. We have always stayed at AKL.

 

[DisneyDebNJ]

We have been looking at the Poly because it looks like a great resort. Monorail ride to MK and EPCOT. But what's your experience with the bus rides to DHS and DAK? Your feedback would be great. We have always stayed at AKL.

DHS in our experiences, varies. We normally sit at the *bus stop* an hour and a half prior to our ADRs (haven't done this in a good 5 years or so, maybe it's changed?) AKL, we do Boma for breakfast each trip, and usually take a taxi over (cost about $20 with tip)

 

[pixiesteno]

I think for us it is the feel of the resort over any kind of travel time. Now that we have our travel trailer and have stayed at FWC I think we are just ruined for other resorts. Seriously, if we were to take a quick 3-4 day stay we would probably still chose a value resort. I just can't seem to bring myself to spend several hundreds of dollars on a room for a night. Maybe some day but I doubt it. We let the feel of a resort help guide us in choosing. Unlike many here we do not have small children to consider travel distance vs. meltdown. DH tries to keep an eye on me so that I don't have a melt down in the parks

 

[CaptainAmerica]

We have been looking at the Poly because it looks like a great resort. Monorail ride to MK and EPCOT. But what's your experience with the bus rides to DHS and DAK? Your feedback would be great. We have always stayed at AKL.

Monorail to Epcot is kind of a false benefit. It's not much (if any) faster than the bus.

 

[Jon81uk]

Would have loved to stay at Beach/Yacht Club next trip as we love watching Illuminations, so to walk back after would be amazing. However our budget only just stretched to the Wilderness Lodge

 

[Tuvalu]

Monorail to Epcot is kind of a false benefit. It's not much (if any) faster than the bus.

But it's much more fun...I'd take riding a monorail over a bus any day .

 

[Tuvalu]

We have been looking at the Poly because it looks like a great resort. Monorail ride to MK and EPCOT. But what's your experience with the bus rides to DHS and DAK? Your feedback would be great. We have always stayed at AKL.

Bus service from Poly to DHS and AK is fine, no better or worse than any other resort.

 

[zero creativity]

Monorail to Epcot is kind of a false benefit. It's not much (if any) faster than the bus.

But walking to that monorail from the Poly is a huge plus.

 

[BrianV]

For us it is all about location. We typically stay in wdw for 2 to 3 nights. We want to spend as much time as possible in the parks or by the pool at the hotel. Waiting for the bus seems annoying, even if you never wait long.

Tops for convenience are CR: walk to MK. Any Epcot resort: walk to Epcot or HS. Lastly poly: monorail direct MK or monorail to Epcot.

Now I prefer the wilderness lodge to most hotels. And I'd love to stay at the akl but never have. We've also stayed at less convenient hotels and even off site. But as with realestate, location, location, location!

 

[BrianV]

Would have loved to stay at Beach/Yacht Club next trip as we love watching Illuminations, so to walk back after would be amazing. However our budget only just stretched to the Wilderness Lodge

Check out the swan or dolphin. Often as cheap or cheaper than wilderness lodge. The wilderness lodge is much nicer, but he swan and dolphin are also nice and have a great location for just what you suggested.

 

[Chezman1399]

Location for which park we're near isn't important to us, but avoiding long bus rides like at AKL and having boat or monorail transportation or being able to walk to parks is important. We just find the trip more relaxing that way and for whatever reason we find the busses to be extremely tiring.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Location for which park we're near isn't important to us, but avoiding long bus rides like at AKL and having boat or monorail transportation or being able to walk to parks is important. We just find the trip more relaxing that way and for whatever reason we find the busses to be extremely tiring.

AKL is closer to Epcot and DHS (and obviously DAK) than Wilderness Lodge is.

 

[DisneyJunkie]

Location for which park we're near isn't important to us, but avoiding long bus rides like at AKL and having boat or monorail transportation or being able to walk to parks is important. We just find the trip more relaxing that way and for whatever reason we find the busses to be extremely tiring.

I agree with you there. The one time we stayed at Caribbean Beach, I hated it because of all the long bus rides (but there were other reasons too). When we stay at WL, apart from the long WAIT for the right bus, we do have the ferry to take us to MK and back. And in trying to reach the other parks, it's not bad. The boat ride between DHS and Epcot is pretty enjoyable, even if somewhat drawn out because of all the other stops it makes in between.

 

[Jon81uk]

Check out the swan or dolphin. Often as cheap or cheaper than wilderness lodge. The wilderness lodge is much nicer, but he swan and dolphin are also nice and have a great location for just what you suggested.

We don't get free dining offer with the Swan or Dolphin and the Swan/Dolphin work out a similar price to Wilderness Lodge where we get free dining, $200 gift card and free memory maker with the current UK offer.

But yes if it wasn't for the free dining offer then I would have looked at the Swan or Dolphin.

 

[Jon81uk]

AKL is closer to Epcot and DHS (and obviously DAK) than Wilderness Lodge is.

Don't say that! We spent forever deciding which to chose between AKL and WL and went for WL. But then part of our reason for choosing WL is that (as we have free Disney dining) it is easy to eat at Poly or CR after a day off site (Universal or Busch) and then go back to WL than it would be to trek back to AKL from another resort.

 

[Doug Means]

my goal is to stay at every resort at least once...got a long way to go. i have never had issues with travel times to parks from resorts because i just understand what they are and plan for it. cost is a big deal for us, so if we can afford it, we like to stay on the monorail system. if not everything else is good too. AoA has been great for our family or 6 and we like the theming. some day when i win the lottery....

 

[SAV]

We always rent a car, so location/busses are not a factor to me. It's Price and total vacation budget that matter. I am not opposed to staying off-site if we don't have the funds for on-site.

 

[Jahona]

I've never really cared about the location of our resort when staying on property. It's always been about the theme and style of the resort over anything else. I'll get to where I need to be going eventually and your always going to be farther away from one park or another anyways.