What hotel at Disneyworld?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:we recently stayed at Riverside but walked over to French Quarter and it seemed a lot better. But I would have preferred to stay at animal kingdom- that place looks awesome. Riverside was ok/not great. I liked the boat to disney springs. But that was about it.

We stayed at French Quarter and Riverside had a better cafeteria and other stuff. French Quarter was really run down when we went but I think its under refurbishment. The boat was great. Every hotel is spread out and its a ways to any park so it really doesn't matter. We always rent a car and drive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP again. Sorry for so many posts! I just looked at Animal Kingdom, and it looks really cool. My only question is about the distance from Magic Kingdom. Once you are far enough away that you have to take a bus to MK, do you think it matters whether you are at Animal Kingdom Lodge (all the way across WDW from Magic Kingdom) or at say Port Orleans Riverside, which is somewhat closer?

I love the Animal Kingdom Lodge but it is a 35 minutes bus ride with the stops.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP again. Sorry for so many posts! I just looked at Animal Kingdom, and it looks really cool. My only question is about the distance from Magic Kingdom. Once you are far enough away that you have to take a bus to MK, do you think it matters whether you are at Animal Kingdom Lodge (all the way across WDW from Magic Kingdom) or at say Port Orleans Riverside, which is somewhat closer?

I love the Animal Kingdom Lodge but it is a 35 minutes bus ride with the stops.

Only to magic kingdom (and the only stop is at animal kingdom villas, and only one way). If you're going to MK more than one day, it doesn't make sense to stay at AKL. But if you're doing MK one day and AL one day, AKL is as good as Contemporary. Epcot and HS are right between the two, so that's a wash. I've never stayed at the hotels near Epcot.

[Anonymous]

I'd only stay at AK if I was splurging on the safari room view, otherwise stay closer to MK.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd only stay at AK if I was splurging on the safari room view, otherwise stay closer to MK.

The thing is, you can't stay close to MK for less than $300 a night, so that's not an option for OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd only stay at AK if I was splurging on the safari room view, otherwise stay closer to MK.

The thing is, you can't stay close to MK for less than $300 a night, so that's not an option for OP.

Some of the places listed on the discount site are both relatively close to MK & under $300.

[Anonymous]

OP here. The only MK area resort with availability on our dates was Grand Floridian at over $500 per room per night. I'm sure it's lovely, but it's not worth over $1000 a day to us. So I'm taking the PP's advice that once you're far enough away to have to take a bus, it's all pretty much the same.

[Anonymous]

Also, OP, the only park you really need to take the bus to is MK (which has horrific parking). The parking at HS is pretty convenient, and it's not bad at AK either. I can't remember the Epcot layout as we've never driven there. That's if you're renting a car.

Agree with PP that AKL is probably not worth it if you're not getting a safari view room.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd only stay at AK if I was splurging on the safari room view, otherwise stay closer to MK.

The thing is, you can't stay close to MK for less than $300 a night, so that's not an option for OP.

Some of the places listed on the discount site are both relatively close to MK & under $300.

What hotels do you consider "relatively close" to MK? Its hard to tell real distances from the WDW map and I've never been there before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. The only MK area resort with availability on our dates was Grand Floridian at over $500 per room per night. I'm sure it's lovely, but it's not worth over $1000 a day to us. So I'm taking the PP's advice that once you're far enough away to have to take a bus, it's all pretty much the same.

I think given the age of your kids, they will enjoy staying at Animal Kingdom. You will quickly get tired of the buses everywhere, though. So, if you plan to return sometime in the future, plan to stay at the Grand Floridian or the Polynesian.
--Signed, Disney visitor almost every year for the past 35+ years

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We've stayed at moderate and deluxe Disney Resorts in the past, but last summer decided to try the Swan (there's also the Dolphin). ThevSwan is newly renovated and I believe they were renovating the Dolphin. We loved it for the location. You can walk or ride a boat from the resort to Epcot and MGM, and it's a relatively short bus ride to the other parks.

I would recommend the beach front villas for the same reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd only stay at AK if I was splurging on the safari room view, otherwise stay closer to MK.

The thing is, you can't stay close to MK for less than $300 a night, so that's not an option for OP.

Some of the places listed on the discount site are both relatively close to MK & under $300.

What hotels do you consider "relatively close" to MK? Its hard to tell real distances from the WDW map and I've never been there before.

I'm not the PP you quoted, but I've posted several times on this thread already.
Really, any hotel that is not on bay lake/Seven Seas Lagoon is going to take a little time to get to Magic Kingdom

So:
Contemporary you can walk or monorail
Polynesian /Grand Floridian you can Boat or monorail
Wilderness Lodge you can boat/bus

If you choose to drive to Magic Kingdom (either because you are staying off site, or even if you are staying on site but just want to drive), you will have to park at the ticket and transportation Center and then either take the monorail or a boat to the Magic Kingdom. It's really a PITA and a huge crowd during mass exodus times (right after the fireworks show, or at closing.)
The buses provided by Disney from the Disney owned hotels (and also the buses from other local hotels that have them) are able to pull in much closer to the Magic Kingdom, and you can just walk from where the bus drops you off to the Magic Kingdom. So in most cases it's far more practical to rely on Disney transportation to get to the Magic Kingdom, than to drive yourself.

The other 3 parks (Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot) all have parking right outside their gate, so it's not so bad staying off site and driving in yourself.

[Anonymous]

We stayed at Port Orleans - Riverside during a less busy time, and it was good. You can take the boat to Disney Springs for dinner. Buses weren't really a problem. I didn't like the food at Riverside - not as many options as a Deluxe Hotel, so we simply didn't eat there. One morning we went to Animal Kingdom for breakfast at the Rainforest Cafe, other times we just grabbed something at the MK, which my kids wanted to go to every day. We always get park hoppers.

[Anonymous]

OP if you are so concerned with transportation and taking the bus system then rent a car.

[Anonymous]

I know the cheaper ones are fine, but I also know lots of big groups stay there (think - international, cheerleading competition groups, etc), and that can be inconvenient with crowds. We have stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and it's been great - good location, and great pools. The rooms are cute - with 3 kids, that might be good for you as they sleep 5 & have a little twin murphy bed that comes out from the wall. We can't afford the closer hotels (and don't want to). Last time we stayed at Port Orleans, our travel agent was able to get us a deal where we stayed there for the price of one of the cheaper hotels. I heard AK is really cool, but the location is a little off-putting for us.