Favorite Disney Resorts

If you want a good moderate resort, I stayed at Port Orleans Riverside for my honeymoon 7 years ago. It is a big area that had 4 bus stops around the property, so it was never too far a walk. It was a very wooded and so quiet place. They even had a play area for the children. Instead of a few huge buildings, there were many smaller ones - it is meant to look like southern plantation houses I think. It was wonderful! Good luck!

Hi,

I have stayed at the Swan several years ago, and it was great. My old work also had a large national meeting a few years ago at the Swan's sister hotel, the Dolphin, and it is also very nice. Hope you have fun!

We stayed at Animal Kingdom and it ruled. Our room had a balcony and in the morning we sat out there with Paige our daughter [who was almost 2 at the time] and watched the creatures roam around. The interior is magical too, and the pool is perfect for wading! We'd go back for sure.

Do you want to up-grade to a moderate resort or a delux resort? I am a true Disney Freak. I actually plan trips to WDW for people for free. (Free planning that is not a free trip) lol. Also depends on the size of the resort you are looking at and are you planning on using Disney Transportation during your trip. All of these things make a difference. Are you planning on using Disney's ADR (advance dining reservations) plan and are going to eat on property? With such little ones, are you looking for a splash area, a beach, a pool? Maybe you should message me and I can help you a bit.

I've stayed at the Polynesian, Grand Floridian, and the Wilderness Resort (just this past January.) I think you really can't go wrong w/ any Disney resort. We LOVED the Wilderness Resort, we loved the theme and the kids loved it. We stayed in a suite that was huge and big enough for my family of 5 plus my parents and brother. One little piece of advice for you is to wait until mid-Feb.or later if you want to have warmer weather. It was very chilly when we were there mid-January and we weren't able to take advantage of the great pools.
Good luck w/ your decision! We love Disney World and can't wait to go back one day!

Hi, I overheard someone say that they didn't like the Contemporary because it had ants or something in their room. I stayed at the Polynesian and was very happy with that. I thought about doing the Grand Floridian but figured that would be too ritzy for our taste. We had the castle view and was lovely but not sure it's worth the extra money but the fireworks were cool. There are places to stay which are between the low end and high end and that's where my friend stays. I think they have the Louisiana for example.

Hello--
We have stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort, All Star Sports and Wilderness Lodge. We really like the Wilderness Lodge the best. It was close enough to things that the bus ride wasn't too long, good eating choices and just had a great atmosphere. The Caribbean Beach was good except for the fact that it's so spread out. Your bus rides take longer because they stop at every "island" and you can't just walk down to the gift shop if you forgot something or need a soda. The All Star Sports was our least favorite. The price was right for that resort. Have you looked into the Animal Kingdom Lodge? It's the least expensive of the deluxe resorts and you can choose a savanah view where you can look out at the animals. Have fun and keep in mind that anything Disney is fun:)

We have been to Disney 5 times, and each time have always stayed at Fort Wilderness. Now, we camped at their INCREDIBLE resort, but they also have a hotel "Wilderness Lodge" I would be Floored if it were anything but great! Good luck and I'm sure you will all have the time of your life. We did! BTW- I'm the mother of a 10yr old boy, 7yr old boy, and 1yr old girl.

We loved the Polynesian - both for it's tropical theme (we felt like were staying in Hawaii!) and for its location. Right on the monorail. We were very close to the magic kingdom.
We would stay there again. Nice pool area and a beach. Best of all worlds. Have fun!

We stayed at the Polynesian when the kids were young (our first trip there) and it was great for convenience. We also liked the pool and beach there. We had an umbrella stroller and it was so nice to walk from our room, through the lobby and right onto the monorail. Also very convenient to go back to the hotel for naps and some swim time. We also stayed at the Beach Club, which is walking distance to the back entrance of Epcot, and at the Wilderness Lodge. The WL is less convenient, but a good choice for those with older kids - very nice accomodations - we had bunk beds in the room which was nice. If you are planning to spend much time in the room, you may want something with a little more space- the above hotels have pretty small rooms.

This past March we stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge and our kids just loved it . The whole place was fun for all of us . The rooms are nice . If you are going through Disney they offer so much in your package . We went through Disney travel and it was so easy . The only thing different we will do is might stay longer then a week .

The Animal Kingdom Resort is great

Hi,
My family and I have been to Disney several times and our favorite resorts are Carribean Beach Resort and Port Orleans Riverside. Carribean Beach has a wonderful pirate themed pool and is beautifully landscaped. Port Orleans has a boat to take you to Downtown Disney as well as a little fishing hole where you can rent poles a buy worms. One thing I would suggest at either resort is to pay a little extra for a preferred room. The resorts are very large and it's worth the little extra to be closer to the food/main pool area. Have a great trip!

I have stayed at quite a few of the resorts. Cornodo Springs was a great place. When not at the parks, there is much to do at the hotel in a very relaxed environment. They have many water park pools for the kids. On the monorail system, my preference is the Polynesian Village. Bottom line is that it really doesn't matter which Disney resort you stay at, they will all provide you with a unique disney experience.

We have several friends that love the Port Orleans - Riverside so we decided to stay there when we go in April. On our honeymoon we stayed at the Port Orleans - French Quarter and LOVED it. I can't really attest to kid friendliness as we didn't have any at the time but the pools do have creative alligator figures and the bus to the parks didn't take too long. I almost stayed there again simply because of the beginets at the food court but we wanted to try something new and Port Orleans - Riverside is actually within walking distance of the French Quarter. We did look at the Animal Kingdom lodge but decided it was out of our price range for this trip. Have fun!

I actually prefer the value resorts because you really aren't in your room that much anyway and you can spend your money elsewhere. I belong to a Disney chat community and they have reviews of hotels. Check it out at www.disboards.com. We are staying at POP in 16 days! Yippee!

Hi G.,

We just returned from Disney last week and had a blast. We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge; Jamba house. Our room overlooked a savannah and each day we could see various African animals roaming freely, like giraffes, okapis, zebras, pelicans, etc. The room had a checklist of all the animals so we could keep track of the ones we saw. At night the hotel staff provided night vision goggles which were pretty cool in themselves even though we weren't lucky enough to see the animals at night. In 2003 we stayed in the All Star Resort and that was okay, but my kids really love animals so the Lodge worked better for us and it was beautiful inside.

Hope you have a FABULOUS trip! I'm sure it'll be great wherever you choose to stay!

S.