Deluxe resorts

[pizzaandtulips]

What is your favorite deluxe resort, and why? What is your least favorite deluxe resort, and why?

Planning a trip and trying to decide among the deluxe resorts. As a family, we have stayed at Wilderness Lodge and Yacht Club. 20 years ago, I stayed at Boardwalk, but I don't remember it very well.

[meganew]

We stayed at the Polynesian our one and only time staying on property and I’m completely spoiled now and will never stay anywhere else. Lol. My whole family loved it- the rooms had everything we needed, the location and being on the monorail line made a big difference in the mornings, the tropical feel was awesome, and there’s dole whip on property. Can’t beat it!

[mccallister84]

We rented DVC points at the Grand Floridian and it was amazing. It’s also situated pretty closely to the Polynesian so we easily walked there for dinner some nights. The pool at the GF was pretty perfect for my 1.5 and 2.5 year old but I want to stay at the Polynesian when they are a little older.

[Wines Not Whines]

My favorite is a tie between Polynesian and Yacht/Beach. I love the theming at the Poly, and it’s convenient to both monorail lines (you can walk to TTC, in addition to the resort monorail). I like Yacht/Beach because of the amazing pool and proximity (walking distance) to Epcot and HS.

My least favorite is Animal Kingdom Lodge because it’s not close to anything. You can’t even walk to AK from it. It’s a great place if you don’t want to leave the resort.

[Scout'sHonor]

We've done Boardwalk and Poly. Like them both for ease to parks. Poly definitely felt more luxury than Boardwalk. I'd like to try Contemporary once they've remodeled.

[court26]

We’ve only stayed at the Contemporary for deluxe and it was park view so really a one time splurge for us. We loved it! Our kids were smaller and wanted to do multiple days at MK and it worked out so well to walk there!

[TamiTaylor]

Magic Kingdom area- the Poly hands down. But I do love staying at the Grand Floridian at Christmas time though

Epcot area- Yacht or Beach Club. The pool is amazing and love both of these hotels.

While I love the theming and everything about AKL it is just to far out from everything to be at the top of my list.

I

[pizzaandtulips]

Thanks! Sounds like Poly seems to be the favorite, which is what I suspected. We currently have a reservation at Wilderness Lodge, and I really want to do Poly instead, but I just don’t know if
I can justify the $$$ price difference.

[curbsideprophet]

There are so many options, it depends on what you want. What time of year are you going? Will you have a car? Do you want to be able to walk to a park? Do you want a resort with good dining options?

We were at Wilderness Lodge in June. It was great. The boat to MK is very convenient. We did drive to the other parks so we did not use the buses. The resort provided a nice mid-day break. I have not seen it in person at Thanksgiving/Christmas but have heard it is really nice.

Animal Kingdom Lodge is beautiful at Thanksgiving/Christmas. They have some of the best dining on property when everything is open. If you have a savanna view you can see animals from your room. Animal Kingdom Lodge is not really that far from HS or EP. If you have a car I would not be overly concerned about the location of the resort. MK is a bit further away. If you plan to spend most of your time there and are only Disney transport, then maybe AKL is not the best choice.

Both Wilderness Lodge and AKL have a relaxing/get away from the park vibe to them that some of the other resorts do not have.

Being able to walk to MK is nice, so if that is a priority I would definitely consider the Grand Floridian or Contemporary/BLT. Also some good dining options at both of these resorts.

[abs]

Depends on the season.

GF at Christmas
Beach Club during the summer
Contemporary can’t be beat for MK access

AKL is my least favorite. Beautiful resort but it’s way too far from the parks.

We didn’t love the Poly but I do really like the room refresh they just did.

[georgeglass]

I love WL. The boat is such a great way to get to MK.

We have stayed at GF, Yacht/Beach, WL. We're staying at Boardwalk in August, but for Spring Break have booked a split stay of Poly and Beach Club because I couldn't decide.

[irishbride2]

I love: Poly and Beach/Yacht

I really like : wilderness

I like AKL but it’s more of a do once for me due to location

I find GF to be the most boring for kids although so is the Contemporary (after the initial excitement of the monorail in the building fades)

But honestly pools are one of our biggest draws so that colors my opinion


Eta: my kids say they like WL the best actually

[sent]

I’ve only stayed at the Contemporary. I read everything about it before going such as boring theming and not as great pool areas compared to Polynesian or Grand Floridian. But I picked it because we could walk to Magic Kingdom and we definitely utilized that. It also has our favorite restaurant on property, California Grill. We had dinner there one night. Nothing beats traveling to and from the restaurant by elevator from your room when there is a stroller involved. We went in the winter when it was so cold, my kids were bundled in the winter gear we brought from home (NYC metro) so the pool didn’t matter. My kids were young enough to not care that much about the lack of theming. We also rolled into brunch at Chef Mickey’s one day.

I booked a theme park view room and that was one of the coolest things. To look out the balcony and see the castle, that was some pretty serious theming! We watched the fireworks from our room one night and from our dinner table at California grill another night.

We went to dinner at the Wilderness Lodge one night and my 6 yr old DD was convinced the place was going to collapse during dinner because clearly it was built with just logs. (LOL)

We did a split stay with the Swan so by the time we got to the Contemporary for 3 nights, we only went to the Magic Kingdom those days. We did the other parks while at the Swan.

[undecidedowl]

We've only stayed at Beach club because after going once, no one would consider another option. The first time, it was a priority so that DH and I could walk to go out at night in Epcot while my parents put the kids to bed. The second time, walking to HS was a priority for the Star Wars stuff. Being able to walk to two parks is awesome for us.

[Covergirl82]

We rented DVC at Poly in 2018 and loved it. The pools, Dole Whips, theming, etc., were all fun. It's also not a huge resort, so walking from our building (Tokelau) to the main building and pool took only a few minutes. Of the WDW resorts we've stayed at (Poly, Coronado, OKW, CBR, and Contemporary), this is our family favorite resort so far. I would say that we're partial to resorts that have a tropical feel/theme to them...somehow it just feels more like a vacation.

We stayed at Contemporary in 2020 and it was just meh (to us). The pool and theming are nothing special. The structural architecture and details are very dated (although I will say that 70s-90s contemporary style is my least favorite). We did have a theme park view, but there weren't any fireworks going on, so not much benefit to it. Being able to walk to MK was nice, though. I think it might be a more fun/ideal location for parents/families with younger kids because of Chef Mickey's and the proximity to MK as well as monorail service. (My kids were 9 and 11 when we went.)

We've eaten at WL, and thought it might be a nice place to stay sometime, but haven't stayed there yet.

We'd love to stay at Beach Club someday because of the pool and proximity to Epcot. It is walkable to HS from what I understand.

[taratru]

I love love love Grand Floridian. I'd stay there always if I could afford it. The theming, the decor, the smell...I also.live the Cafe. My kid loved the pool, and I loved how close it was to MK and the Poly.

However, nothing beats walking to Epcot and HS from Boardwalk and Beach Club. For a park-heavy trip, those would be my top choice.

WL is nice, but transportation is limited, as AKL is just so far away.

[sent]

I'm tentatively researching a trip so let me also throw out there the Four Seasons Orlando. It's technically on property but it's obviously not Disney owned so not super close to any parks. We stayed pre-COVID and they have a bus to the resorts.

But it is AMAZING. Especially with kids. Service is above Disney, they remember your names anytime you go through the lobby. They treated DD like a rock star, she had just turned 5 on that trip. DS was just 9 months in the puree phase - they took anything I wanted off the adult menu and pureed it for him. If you're going to spend money on a Deluxe, you may consider just checking out the website and the room rates there too. If I had an all expense paid trip and had to choose between a Disney Deluxe and the Four Seasons, I'd pick the Four Seasons.

[pizzaandtulips]

Thanks again for all of the insight. We had tentatively planned a trip over Labor Day, but now with rising covid numbers, I just had to cancel. We were supposed to be there earlier this summer, but had to cancel because I had surgery. So, I’ve had to cancel twice now. I’m sad.