Resort Location - Important Factor or Not?

[Jon81uk]

What is the transportation like at POFQ? Share busses?

POFQ usually shares with Port Orleans Riverside, except for the really busy times such as straight after fireworks. Riverside has five stops but French Quarter is picked up first so you would usually get a seat.

 

[Jon81uk]

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

All DVC is considered "Deluxue Villa" accommodation, but SSR and OKW definitely aren't in the same league as the "proper" deluxe resorts. Only thing I liked about SSR was walking from DTD.

 

[surfsupdon]

Yes, exactly, we do choose Resort based on location.

For us, the old addage is true-- Time is money.

Therefore, we will pay a little extra to stay at Yacht Club or BoardWalk to be closest to our 2 favorite parks, Epcot and MGM. The location allows us to NOT rely on Disney busses for 2 parks....which are getting worse and worse. Walking in to both parks is fine.

And speaking of Disney busses, are they getting bigger but having less and less seats??! Bizarre. I say the future of Disney busses is no seats, standing room only. Ha

 

[SW_matt]

Never really considered location when booking things,in the past we have done AKL, ASM and WL so a bit of variation. This time we are doing OKW. With the buses nowhere is really THAT far IMO.

For our trip after this one I am pushing for a monorail resort just because I really enjoy the monorail and normally make a point of going o a few rides.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Yes, exactly, we do choose Resort based on location.

For us, the old addage is true-- Time is money.

Therefore, we will pay a little extra to stay at Yacht Club or BoardWalk to be closest to our 2 favorite parks, Epcot and MGM. The location allows us to NOT rely on Disney busses for 2 parks....which are getting worse and worse. Walking in to both parks is fine.

And speaking of Disney busses, are they getting bigger but having less and less seats??! Bizarre. I say the future of Disney busses is no seats, standing room only. Ha

Have you been to WDW recently? Every indication is that bus service has greatly improved in recent years, not the other way around. Certainly not as easy as walking, but still.

 

[BrianV]

Have you been to WDW recently? Every indication is that bus service has greatly improved in recent years, not the other way around. Certainly not as easy as walking, but still.

Maybe, but I thnk some on the fly adjustments are needed but never made. Take our last trip. Several busses for one park will show up (the second one leaving with no one on board)prior to the one you want for a different park with a large group of people.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Maybe, but I thnk some on the fly adjustments are needed but never made. Take our last trip. Several busses for one park will show up (the second one leaving with no one on board)prior to the one you want for a different park with a large group of people.

There's now a cast member with a tablet at each resort monitoring just that.

 

[Doug Means]

There's now a cast member with a tablet at each resort monitoring just that.

Sweet, because if i only really ever had one complaint, it was sometimes waiting for a bus that was supposed to come every 20 mins...but we waited for 30 or more just to have noticed that there were 2 busses back to back for that park, one being empty. for the most part it never really changed our plans though

 

[surfsupdon]

Have you been to WDW recently? Every indication is that bus service has greatly improved in recent years, not the other way around. Certainly not as easy as walking, but still.

Yes, we were there last weekend and again in March 2015 and also for a NYE trip. Like always, you wait for busses from your Resort. And wait. But now the busses have very few seats, just wide open places to hang and park strollers and wheelchairs and ECVs. I much prefer that old style bus of 2 seats, all facing forward, with a skinny aisle down the middle.

Yes, walking may take longer, but it is on my family's schedule and timetable. No waiting for a bus. No running to catch a bus.

 

[zero creativity]

We liked WL last time and stayed at the Poly, but next time it is the contemporary primarily for location and monorail access

 

[Hockey89]

Yes, that is why we stay at the Beach Club or YC for every vacation. I can walk to mgm and epcot.... Monorail to Magic K..... Only bus to animal kingdom.... Anything to avoid the buses.... My fav is animal kingdom but it is to far IMHO.... Bus for everything......

 

[Hockey89]

Have you been to WDW recently? Every indication is that bus service has greatly improved in recent years, not the other way around. Certainly not as easy as walking, but still.

Yeah, and I only used the bus to go from AK to MGM and waited 25 minutes for the bus..... This is why I sat at boardwalk to avoid this.. So i can walk to two parks...IMHO the buses suck....

 

[epcotisbest]

All DVC is considered "Deluxue Villa" accommodation, but SSR and OKW definitely aren't in the same league as the "proper" deluxe resorts. Only thing I liked about SSR was walking from DTD.

SSR has incredibly lovely landscaping, nice, spacious villas with great views, four wonderful pools, very good dining and much more. You did not like any of that? Just curious what the problem was? The same can be said about OKW. Both are deluxe in every way, but since we have been staying in places that are not "proper" deluxes, I guess the other times in the proper deluxes, we just missed the difference. We are trying to stay at all WDW resorts and are well on the way. For us, WL, SSR and OKW are favorites.

 

[Jon81uk]

SSR has incredibly lovely landscaping, nice, spacious villas with great views, four wonderful pools, very good dining and much more. You did not like any of that? Just curious what the problem was? The same can be said about OKW. Both are deluxe in every way, but since we have been staying in places that are not "proper" deluxes, I guess the other times in the proper deluxes, we just missed the difference. We are trying to stay at all WDW resorts and are well on the way. For us, WL, SSR and OKW are favorites.

The pools at SSR weren't that much better than POR, everytime we tried to to eat at the steak restaurant it was shut early, the separate buildings and semi-outdoor corridors made it feel like a moderate. Plus it was too quite, there was no atmosphere to the resort at all.

In my opinion SSR felt like a moderate resort with villa rooms, it needed something more to feel like a Deluxue hotel.

 

[righttrack]

I like the Boardwalk Area and Magic Kingdom Area resorts the best. Both places are late night places and having them closest to your resort is a blessing when you are tired at the end of the day. When you're in MK until midnight, it's nice that it's a short ride or walk back. When you're in World Showcase in the evening and want the party to go on, you just spill into the Boardwalk which is open later and stagger into your room.

Don't get me wrong, I like the AK and Downtown Disney areas too. I just think for me these work out. YMMV.

 

[LIMA TIME]

The Mrs. And I have been going to DW since we were in college and so broke that we would stay that red roof inn and share one meal in the park a day. We used to joke on the walk back to the car at the ticket center that one day we would stay on the monorail. Well now many years later when we go (usually once a year) we stay at the Poly or the wilderness lodge, just because it is easier with a little. It is worth a little extra money for the conviniance of being 10 minutes from our room. ( we are mostly at ML or Epcot). But those trips on the shoestring budget were some of the best trips. It's who you are with, not where you stay, that make for the best trips.

 

[epcotisbest]

The Mrs. And I have been going to DW since we were in college and so broke that we would stay that red roof inn and share one meal in the park a day. We used to joke on the walk back to the car at the ticket center that one day we would stay on the monorail. Well now many years later when we go (usually once a year) we stay at the Poly or the wilderness lodge, just because it is easier with a little. It is worth a little extra money for the conviniance of being 10 minutes from our room. ( we are mostly at ML or Epcot). But those trips on the shoestring budget were some of the best trips. It's who you are with, not where you stay, that make for the best trips.

So true. Back in the early 1980s, when we were young, dumb, broke newlyweds, we stayed at some small places on 192 and had to pack a cooler and keep it in the trunk of the car and come out to the parking lot to have PB&J sandwiches and Cokes if there was any ice left. I remember drinking melted ice water straight out of the cooler and pouring it right over my head when it was too hot out.
Now we have stayed at most Disney resorts, including value, moderate, deluxe and DVC. Walking to MK, Epcot and DHS is nice and dining at Signatures is much better than out of the trunk of the car, but if I could relive any of our many trips, I would take early trip offsite eating out of the car...just something extra special about those days.

 

[epcotisbest]

The pools at SSR weren't that much better than POR, everytime we tried to to eat at the steak restaurant it was shut early, the separate buildings and semi-outdoor corridors made it feel like a moderate. Plus it was too quite, there was no atmosphere to the resort at all.

In my opinion SSR felt like a moderate resort with villa rooms, it needed something more to feel like a Deluxue hotel.

When you get to my age, quiet is a truly deluxe feature. I politely disagree about the pools...but maybe all that quiet has clouded my judgement. As for atmosphere, not sure what you mean there. I am sorry you did not like SSR, but now you know and can avoid it in the future. We have several favorites, including a few offsite, with only a couple onsite yet to try. Would I go back to SSR or OKW? Without hesitation.

 

[LIMA TIME]

So true. Back in the early 1980s, when we were young, dumb, broke newlyweds, we stayed at some small places on 192 and had to pack a cooler and keep it in the trunk of the car and come out to the parking lot to have PB&J sandwiches and Cokes if there was any ice left. I remember drinking melted ice water straight out of the cooler and pouring it right over my head when it was too hot out.
Now we have stayed at most Disney resorts, including value, moderate, deluxe and DVC. Walking to MK, Epcot and DHS is nice and dining at Signatures is much better than out of the trunk of the car, but if I could relive any of our many trips, I would take early trip offsite eating out of the car...just something extra special about those days.

Amen and well said. I miss taking those trips on the cheap, except the long long walk back to the car on the last night in MK. We used to stay until they kicked us out, and we would take the tram at the ticket center. We would walk to make the "magic" last just a bit longer.