Resort Location - Important Factor or Not?

[CaptainAmerica]

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.

I was speaking in defense of AKL rather than in criticism of WL. I love both resorts. I just think the rhetoric about the "remoteness" of AKL is waaay overblown. You can drive from Animal Kingdom Lodge to the Downtown Disney Hilton, up to the Polynesian and back down to AKL (roughly the three furthest corners on property) in about 45 minutes round trip. The majority of the time it takes you to get from one destination to another is spent going in and out of parking lots and through guard shacks. Location definitely matters if you want to walk, boat, or monorail some place. It matters a tiny bit when you talk about the buses, but not much. If you're driving most places, location is pretty much irrelevant.

 

[JasonDeyoung]

I decide by time of year, what parks I'll visit most, will I be spending time at the resort besides sleeping or at parks most the time and if it's a runDisney weekend obv if it's a host resort. I spend the most time at Epcot so I usually go for one close to there.

 

[TXDisney]

Depends on how you do disney. We don't have kids so we like being close to epcot. And we find it very important. We also do stays offsite and while it isn't as convenient, it's still fun. Just eating and drinking is minimized inside the parks. With kids being close to MK could be important. For me if I'm planning in advance and am saving I do deluxe bc if you save for a year it's a difference of like $200 a month. Which is worth it for us. On a budget I think POR or CS is the best bang for your buck.

 

[zero creativity]

We spend a lot of time in MK so a resort near there is a plus. For us minimizing travel times is worth the extra money.

 

[slappy magoo]

Location didn't use to be a factor before kids. Our first trip with our then-only daughter, staying at SSR also wasn't as big an issue because she was still an infant, pretty much along for the ride. Our two trips since then (daughters ages 3-plus and 7 months, and then just-turned-6 and almost-3), we've stayed at BLT. We always have a car so we drive to the other 3 parks - each trip the monorail to Epcot was either down all the time or most of the time; the last trip, my eldest & I took the monorail back so we could stay in Epcot a bit longer while my wife took our youngest back to nap. But we spent most of our time at MK, they're at the right age for it, so the ability to walk or monorail over, plus easy monorail or boat access to so many other resorts and their amenities, it's all a major plus.

As they get older and more mobile, as strollers become unnecessary, location won't be as much of a factor. Although when I consider Savannah views at VAK or accessing the best pool on property at BCV, my oldest, who will be 8 before our next trip, she tells me "yeah...but we're staying at Bay Lake next time, right? RIGHT?!"

 

[Minthorne]

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

In the DVC world WL and BC are the nearly identical point cost.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

In the DVC world WL and BC are the nearly identical point cost.

Cash is almost always:

WL / AKL standard view
Saratoga
Old Key West
Yacht, Beach, Contemporary
Boardwalk, AKL savanna view
Poly
Grand

 

[bethymouse]

@Doug Means Us too. My goal is to stay at all resorts on property, but my DH loves the WL! I insisted on GF this time though to celebrate my boys' "graduation" from 5th grade. Yes, I know, but we do have so many other things to celebrate in our lives! My 75 year old Mom will be coming with us ( we lost Dad a year ago). So... we celebrate life!

 

[bethymouse]

This year, location was a factor. My Mom wanted a monorail resort. Usually, location is not a factor for our family, but we're spoiled and like the deluxe resorts best.

 

[Andy_0410]

I love all the monorail resorts. Only stayed at contemporary but was so easy getting the monorail to places (like to visit resorts as well on my trips)
Also the Epcot resort hotels with the friendship boats are great. Stayed at swan and dolphin one year and that was great too.
Basically to answer the question any resort that has great transport links... Sometimes the buses are not the greatest. But the boats and monorails are amazing

 

[Jon81uk]

Cash is almost always:

WL / AKL standard view
Saratoga
Old Key West
Yacht, Beach, Contemporary
Boardwalk, AKL savanna view
Poly
Grand

Except UK guests get a big discount on SSR and OKW making them cheapest. But for me they didn't feel any better than staying at a moderate anyway so aren't worth the price charged.

 

[BrianV]

Except UK guests get a big discount on SSR and OKW making them cheapest. But for me they didn't feel any better than staying at a moderate anyway so aren't worth the price charged.

I've never stayed at ssr or okw. I didn't know they were considered deluxes...shows what I know.

I need to take a trip some time and tour each hotel at disney. Was easy when there were three. I still remember as a kid staying at the cr and seeing the poly from the monorail and thinking it looked so mysterious. Was a few years later that we stayed there. And then the golf resort the nxt year maybe.

 

[Chezman1399]

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

Well since I never mentioned or have stayed at Wilderness Lodge that doesn't mean much to me. I should have said I like resorts where you can take transportation other than bus to multiple resorts. I call out AKL because Kidani is a longer ride than WL and that is where I stayed, there is about a 2 minute difference between those resorts from what I see AKL Jambo takes about 13 minutes and WL is like 11.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Well since I never mentioned or have stayed at Wilderness Lodge that doesn't mean much to me. I should have said I like resorts where you can take transportation other than bus to multiple resorts. I call out AKL because Kidani is a longer ride than WL and that is where I stayed, there is about a 2 minute difference between those resorts from what I see AKL Jambo takes about 13 minutes and WL is like 11.

WL almost always shares a bus either with the Contemporary or Fort Wilderness.

 

[DisneyDebNJ]

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

We count the monorail ride on arrival day as the first *official* Disney ride each trip. The Fake-o-rail at MCO is our first and last *Unofficial Disney (trip) ride* LOL

 

[draybook]

In a way, yes. We absolutely love POFQ, but we prefer not to stay at the All-Stars only because of their distance from the 3 resorts besides AK.

 

[Mukta]

Location is very important to me, so i prefer to stay in the Epcot area. It takes me 7 minutes to walk from the International Gateway to my room. Great for a quick pop over to change shoes, grab a sweater, plug in something that needs to be charged or simply going home at night. Boat/walking from DHS, walking from Epcot means less bus use.

 

[HauntedMansionFLA]

In a way, yes. We absolutely love POFQ, but we prefer not to stay at the All-Stars only because of their distance from the 3 resorts besides AK.

What is the transportation like at POFQ? Share busses?

 

[HauntedMansionFLA]

@Doug Means Us too. My goal is to stay at all resorts on property, but my DH loves the WL! I insisted on GF this time though to celebrate my boys' "graduation" from 5th grade. Yes, I know, but we do have so many other things to celebrate in our lives! My 75 year old Mom will be coming with us ( we lost Dad a year ago). So... we celebrate life!

You will have to give us your review of the GF - it looks beautiful.

 

[draybook]

What is the transportation like at POFQ? Share busses?

We've used the buses twice to go to the MK, so much better than driving there. And it was just FQ.