Disney Experts

[Anonymous]

For all you Disney experts,
We are looking for a hotel with a lot of in house activities, including a pool, slides, fitness club, and close access to other activities. We are considering either the New Orleans style hotel or the Disney Beach resort. There is a modest price differential between these resorts .. we are wondering if the benefits of the beach club are worth the added expense.
TIA

[Anonymous]

How old are your kids? The pool/slide area can be very challenging for younger kids with older siblings. It's just the way it is set up. If your kids are older and know how to swim and you don't have to watch them like a hawk at a pool area then beach club is the way to go. If you have younger kids, look at the Boardwalk Inn. Have you looked at Animal Kingdom lodge, its beautiful. It has everything you want but a little farther from the parks.

Go to www.disboards.com for any and all info.

[Anonymous]

My boys are 3 and 5. Not quite swimmer yet. I will look into your recs. Planning this as been quite stressful :0

[Anonymous]

Buy The Unofficial Guide to WDW, it has tons of info about activities in the parks AND at hotels around the area (and not just the WDW hotels).

[Anonymous]

Beach Club has access to the most amazing pool on property (aside from water parks.) Stormalong Bay is awesome (sandy bottom!)

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/beach-club-resort/recreation/

Beach Club also has a little beach (can't play in the water - but can play in the sand.)

The Beach Club is MUCH nicer than Port Orleans (New Orleans style that you are talking about) hence the price difference. Inside hallways vs outside (motel). Bigger pool, kids club (can drop the kids off to go to dinner, etc (for a fee of course), better dining options (Port Orleans just has a food court while Beach Club has sit down options, including Cape May character breakfast (very nice to have a character breakfast right at your hotel) and the Yachtsman Steakhouse is very good. You can also take a boat to Epcot or Hollywood Studios (or even walk - it is that close) vs having to take a bus.

It just boils down to how much time you think your family will spend at the hotel. Some families spend a considerable amount of time at the resort - exploring, hanging out, swimming, dining, etc. While others spend 99% of waking hours in the park.

good luck!

[Anonymous]

Not to mention that Beach Club is very close to Epcot and Disney Studios. I think you will also be very close to the monorail, which makes dining options a breeze.

If the money is not an object, I would go with Beach Club. Make sure Stormalong Bay is open - - I think it was closed for renovations last time I checked. Definitely check out Disboards.com - they will have the information about pool closures, rehab dates on certain hotels, etc.

[Anonymous]

I agree that the Beach Club is probably nicer than the New Orleans, but I would caution you to pick it because of the pools alone. We were there recently and it was pretty cold so we couldn't take advantage of the pool. Not to mention, we weren't particularly impressed by the rooms given the price. You can take a boat to Hollywood Studios which is great, and you can walk to the World Showcase at Epcot, but it's a pretty long walk to get to the other side of Epcot. With a 3 and 5 year old (our kids' ages as well), I'd much rather be on the monorail or closer to Magic Kingdom where you'd presumably spend more time than at Epcot.