Proximity?
If you want to be really close to Magic Kingdome (MK), there are three hotels, each with stops on the Monorail that are very close. The Grand Floridian, The Contemporary, and The Polynesian. Also The Wilderness Lodge is a 15 minute boat ride away from MK and always has cheaper rooms than the monorail resorts. More good links here. And here is the best collection of resort maps I have found anywhere.
If you want to be really close to Epcot or Disney Hollywood Studios (DHS), then the Epcot resorts area offers The Beach Club, The Yacht Club, The Boardwalk Inn, The Dolphin, and The Swan.
Animal Kingdom (AK) has the Animal Kingdom Lodge close by. But not as close as you might think. The Lodge is surround by a 24/7 safari right outside your window so it's intentionally located far away so the animals don't get spooked by distant theme park fireworks. So to get to the AK theme park, either drive or take the bus.
Hotel Plaza Blvd in Lake Buena Vista (LBV) has a dozen or so regular hotels close to downtown Disney. Most offer their own shuttles to the parks.
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In the surrounding LBV and Kissimmee areas, you'll find the largest concentrations of hotels rooms, timeshares, and vacation houses 2nd only to Las Vegas, NV.
Amenities?
If you need a kitchen or laundry machine in your room, then some of the Disney Resorts offer Villas. The villas are also part of the Disney Vacation Club Timeshare system, but you can book them through Disney just like hotel room if they are available. Off Disney Property there are tens of thousands of timeshare villas which run very cheap. But then you'll likely require a rental car to get into the parks each day and add ten to fifteen minutes commuting time.
If you're OK with a regular hotel room but you'd like to have food and snacks readily available and prepared for you then Concierge Club Level at a Disney Deluxe Resort is the way to go. We've tried four different ones and we'll review these in another post.
Transportation?
To rent or not to rent a car. If you stay on Disney property you can get a free ride in a charter bus from the Airport (MCO) to your hotel. Once you are on site and without a car, you're bound by Disney transportation or cabs. This is called Disney's Magical Express (DME, more on this later). This is Disney's method of keeping you on property spending all your money with them until your either run out or leave.
On the othrer hand, if you rent a car you can drive yourself, and you can drive anywhere, even to another park like Sea World or Universal! We like the flexibility to drive off property go to a grocery store or to have a proper meal in a nice restaurant for a reasonable price.
So prioritize. And book early. The best of the best goes first, concierge level at the Grand Floridian is very hard to get for example. Beach Club Villas are hard to get. And it's all expensive.
No matter where you end up, do yourself a favor, look up your resort and read the reviews on Trip Advisor.
We've done both high end and low end Disney resorts. If you are on a budget, our kids loved "All Star Movies". The rooms are small and you have an outside entry like a motel but it served its purpose since we were not there much. The pools were adorable. There is also an arcade, playground and a lobby with Disney movies playing. The different buildings had themes (we were in 101 dalmations) and are so cute and festive. It only has a food court but it worked for when we wanted something quick. The shuttles to/from the parks ran often and we didn't have to wait long at all (even at Christmas when WDW can be packed). For $89 a night we were very satisfied.
ReplyDeleteGreat advice! Thank you so much!
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