Nicest hotel in Disney Florida
Discussion
Hello all. I know this subject has been covered on a number of occasions but I think I want a slightly different slant.
Background. Wife and daughter 19 ,son 17 and sons girlfriend 18 have been to Eurodisney staying in Disneyland Hotel and New York many times and Newport Bay once Kids have now decided that they are ready to experience the Florida resort. We all love the Disney experience so want to make the most of it. We have a rough budget of £10,000 to £15,000 for flights and accommodation Wife is adamant she does not want move during the holiday. We are thinking of travelling early Aug 2015 for 11 nights. What hotels do you suggest we investigate
Many thanks
Background. Wife and daughter 19 ,son 17 and sons girlfriend 18 have been to Eurodisney staying in Disneyland Hotel and New York many times and Newport Bay once Kids have now decided that they are ready to experience the Florida resort. We all love the Disney experience so want to make the most of it. We have a rough budget of £10,000 to £15,000 for flights and accommodation Wife is adamant she does not want move during the holiday. We are thinking of travelling early Aug 2015 for 11 nights. What hotels do you suggest we investigate
Many thanks
Recently stayed here for a conference. Was ok for a conf hotel, usual standard Marriot, apparently golf course is good, running track was OK.
Depdends on what you are looking for. standard rates looked reasonable.
http://www.marriott.co.uk/hotels/travel/mcowc-orla...
Depdends on what you are looking for. standard rates looked reasonable.
http://www.marriott.co.uk/hotels/travel/mcowc-orla...
We have stayed at the Disney Yacht Club a few times and can highly recommend it. Not quite so busy with younger children (the neighbouring property is The Beach Club and has a higher proportion of younger families) and is very easy to walk to the Boardwalk (for eateries & drinks), Epcot is only 5 mins walk and Hollywood Studios is a pleasant 10-15 minutes walk or a nice leisurely boat ride.
Staying 'on-site' has benefits associated which make using their own hotels appealing, such as magic band usage (for room charging, park entrance ticketing, fast passes) and earlier access to pre-booking fast passes. Plus of course the extended hours available to hotel guests.
Yacht Club is similar in theming to The Newport Bay, though service and access to facilities so much better.
Personally I'd do 5/6 nights in the hotel and the rest at a villa or move to one of the Universal Hotels if you are doing those parks as well. This avoids getting stuck in The Disney bubble as there is so much more to Florida than that. Added bonus is that it makes you feel like your holiday is longer as it has two parts (we've often done 18 nights and split it Disney Hotel - villa then finish with Universal Portofino Bay) but as it may possibly be a first visit and less than two weeks staying at Disney to get the whole feel wouldn't be a bad idea, though you may want to save parts for the next visit as you can bet your bottom dollar there'll be more than one trip in the future!
Staying 'on-site' has benefits associated which make using their own hotels appealing, such as magic band usage (for room charging, park entrance ticketing, fast passes) and earlier access to pre-booking fast passes. Plus of course the extended hours available to hotel guests.
Yacht Club is similar in theming to The Newport Bay, though service and access to facilities so much better.
Personally I'd do 5/6 nights in the hotel and the rest at a villa or move to one of the Universal Hotels if you are doing those parks as well. This avoids getting stuck in The Disney bubble as there is so much more to Florida than that. Added bonus is that it makes you feel like your holiday is longer as it has two parts (we've often done 18 nights and split it Disney Hotel - villa then finish with Universal Portofino Bay) but as it may possibly be a first visit and less than two weeks staying at Disney to get the whole feel wouldn't be a bad idea, though you may want to save parts for the next visit as you can bet your bottom dollar there'll be more than one trip in the future!
We went back in January so my wife could do the half-marathon and full marathon and we stayed in the Bay Lake Tower. It is right next to the Contemporary Resort, which is the one the monorail drives right through. It was a 5min walk to/from the entry to Magic Kingdom. This was particularly nice at the end of the day when thousands of people are trying to get on the monorail or the ferry boats. We had very little plan to do anything beyond Magic Kingdom, as my kids are little. But you do still have immediate access to the monorail, and buses to all the other parts of Disney.
If you are only there for Disney, then I would recommend staying on site somewhere.
If you are only there for Disney, then I would recommend staying on site somewhere.
Tricky one - the trouble with a villa is the "kids" are going to have to be driven everywhere. And this Aug is a bit short notice - I'm sure you'd find something, but we went with daughters, son-in-laws and grandchild last summer and stayed in Windsor Hills, but even booking over a year in advance we couldn't get our first or second choice of villa.
If the holiday is largely Disney focused and, as you say, you want to make the most of the Disney experience, the staying on-site changes the holiday a lot in my view. There are considerable advantages to being on site, particularly with kids of that age as they'll be able to move around on their own. It's likely to be very hot at that time of year so the ability for someone to go back to their room if they want to could be very useful.
What are the room arrangements going to be? If you want 3 rooms then on-site that's going to be a heck of a price - perhaps bearable in a value resort, around £1K each room. Almost anywhere else on site is going to be double that. If the daughter on her own will sleep on a sofa bed then a 2 bedroom villa might be a possibility, if there are any left for that time.
I wouldn't worry too much about which on-site hotel you use - they all have pros and cons and resorts that some people don't like are loved by others. At this stage finding somewhere with the right accommodation and cost is probably the priority.
Off-site hotel opens up a massive choice, but I'd suggest looking at their shuttle schedules and make sure that's OK if the kids do want to get around on their own. Depends what they're like - my kids are older and I hired 2 cars for our trip last year and we barely used the second one, they just wanted to go wherever we went.
If the holiday is largely Disney focused and, as you say, you want to make the most of the Disney experience, the staying on-site changes the holiday a lot in my view. There are considerable advantages to being on site, particularly with kids of that age as they'll be able to move around on their own. It's likely to be very hot at that time of year so the ability for someone to go back to their room if they want to could be very useful.
What are the room arrangements going to be? If you want 3 rooms then on-site that's going to be a heck of a price - perhaps bearable in a value resort, around £1K each room. Almost anywhere else on site is going to be double that. If the daughter on her own will sleep on a sofa bed then a 2 bedroom villa might be a possibility, if there are any left for that time.
I wouldn't worry too much about which on-site hotel you use - they all have pros and cons and resorts that some people don't like are loved by others. At this stage finding somewhere with the right accommodation and cost is probably the priority.
Off-site hotel opens up a massive choice, but I'd suggest looking at their shuttle schedules and make sure that's OK if the kids do want to get around on their own. Depends what they're like - my kids are older and I hired 2 cars for our trip last year and we barely used the second one, they just wanted to go wherever we went.
This time last year I was staying at the Disney Caribbean Beach and would go back. The only issue I would worry about is its quite spread out and some parts were about 10-15 mins walk from the restaurant area/shop and main pool. We had only a few minutes walk from our room and that seemed ideal,
I would consider a different hotel as well as there are plenty to choose from.
Whilst I would like the independence of a villa, going full on Disney was a great experience and the free buses to all the parks made getting around very easy.
I would consider a different hotel as well as there are plenty to choose from.
Whilst I would like the independence of a villa, going full on Disney was a great experience and the free buses to all the parks made getting around very easy.
I enjoyed our stay at the Boardwalk. The room was lovely and the location is fantastic. You're situated right on the Boardwalk Promenade (the same one that the Yacht Club sits on) and I'd say it's about a 10 minute walk to Epcot. There are also a couple of nice restaurants and bars and you can use the boats for transport to and from Epcot and I think from memory the Magic Kingdom and a few other Disney areas.
My one gripe is that there was only one area to take an elevator to the floor we were staying on. That's fine if you've got a room near the elevators but it's not when your room is at the other end of the wing. We did some shopping and I was carrying a 48 pack of water and it honestly felt like a life time walking to the room.
It's certainly worth you taking the time to look at all the Disney restaurants before you go and ringing through and booking the ones you fancy. I'm no lover of fast food and go out of my way to avoid it but thankfully there are some outstanding restaurants should you fancy it. I think they take bookings for the restaurants from 7 months out.
My one gripe is that there was only one area to take an elevator to the floor we were staying on. That's fine if you've got a room near the elevators but it's not when your room is at the other end of the wing. We did some shopping and I was carrying a 48 pack of water and it honestly felt like a life time walking to the room.
It's certainly worth you taking the time to look at all the Disney restaurants before you go and ringing through and booking the ones you fancy. I'm no lover of fast food and go out of my way to avoid it but thankfully there are some outstanding restaurants should you fancy it. I think they take bookings for the restaurants from 7 months out.
Misaps said:
Personally I'd do 5/6 nights in the hotel and the rest at a villa or move to one of the Universal Hotels if you are doing those parks as well. This avoids getting stuck in The Disney bubble as there is so much more to Florida than that.
I know the OP referenced Disney in his original post, but just to add to the above statement, my wife and I went over for a wedding in December 2013 and we went to the Kennedy Space Center. OK, we are both in our 30s, but the OP's kids have reached an age where they may appreciate the kennedy space center. I really enjoyed every second of it. I think it slips off the radar for a lot of people because it is a long way out and its not Universal or Disney badged, but I think its worth the long drive from Orlando.
As it stands at the moment we are going to do three nights in the Hardrock hotel. So we gain the extra hour in Harry Potter and "fast pass " for Universal. Then move to Beach club for the remainder again for the Disney experience plus early park access and fast passes .We are however looking at the Keys with the thought of ending our Hols on the beach for a couple of days. Lots of moving Hotels but does mean we sample a bit of everything.
We did 5 nights at Disney Swan (not actually a Disney Hotel but you get fast pass and there is a nice Italian restaurant) then onto Portofino Bay (was cheaper than the Hard Rock for some reason when I booked) for the Potter thing (Fast Pass is key - 180 minute queue by midday and then they closed that section of the park) followed by 6 days a the Hyatt at Clearwater. Would thoroughly recommend some R&R at the beach after the craziness of Orlando.
mikees said:
Recently stayed here for a conference. Was ok for a conf hotel, usual standard Marriot, apparently golf course is good, running track was OK.
Depdends on what you are looking for. standard rates looked reasonable.
http://www.marriott.co.uk/hotels/travel/mcowc-orla...
Stayed there for a few days a few years ago, rooms very very tired.Depdends on what you are looking for. standard rates looked reasonable.
http://www.marriott.co.uk/hotels/travel/mcowc-orla...
Problem with even the 5 star Disney properties and all hotels in the area really is that they are all a bit s
t. If you stay in a 5 star European hotel you will generally notice the differences to lower star properties. In the Orlando area all the rooms look identical, or pretty much so. Even the heavily themed hotels the room layouts are identical to all the other hotels.Edited by rich1231 on Monday 15th June 09:51
HOGEPH said:
surveyor said:
I'll stick this up for future reference....
We have stayed at the Hilton Orlando - close to Convention Centre/Sea World/Aquatica. Great pool complex, nice people and good food.
To be recommended.
I haven't stayed there, but the steakhouse downstairs is excellent.We have stayed at the Hilton Orlando - close to Convention Centre/Sea World/Aquatica. Great pool complex, nice people and good food.
To be recommended.
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