Tell Me About Staying At the Disney World Resort

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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Our family is going next month (Oct 8-13) to Orlando, but we are staying at the Sheridan Vistana Villas/Condos just on the other side of I-4 from Disney World. We did consider staying on-site, but my son has a specialized diet and we wanted to cook our food instead of using the meal plan. So instead we got a two bedroom unit with a full kitchen and laundry and stock up at the nearby Costco between the airport and Villas.

Thanks for the info provided here too.

My questions are:

How easy is it for a visitor to use the toll roads? Can you prepay tolls when you rent a car, or do you carry a lot of change?

I was thinking of going to Cape Canaveral one day as well. Is the Kennedy Space Center accesible on a weekday and/or weekend? Worth the trip?

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Hey RickJay-

Among Disney’s mid-level resorts (“moderates” in Disney-speak) only Coronado Springs has in-room dining (“room service”). While I like that resort a lot, it is geared toward convention travel and some people find that off-putting. There are pros and cons to each of Disney’s moderate resorts. Let me know if you’d like a list.

I’d book through a Disney-specialist travel agency, which can both find discounts out now and re-book you at lower rates if anything comes out between now and your trip.

I’d suggest Disney’s “park hopper” add-on to their basic Magic Your Way ticket. It lets you go to whatever theme park you want, whenever you want.

I don’t recommend the meal plans. The portion size is large at most Disney meals. It becomes difficult to eat that amount of food every day. Also, depending on your preferences and time of year you’re visiting, it can be difficult to get reservations at your first-choice restaurants. If you’re not eating some place you want, and you’re not eating all the food, it’s difficult to justify the cost.

I generally tell people to get their reservations in order first, then see whether the dining plan makes sense. I have updated menus from every WDW restaurant, if you want to do the price comparisons.

More later. Running child to school.

Len

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For our last trip, we stayed at Port Orleans Riverside (we stayed at French Quarter on the first trip). From someone on disboards, we were advised to ask for “Gator Bayou”, a section of the hotel that’s very quiet and isolated, which was a mixed bag: good, because we were right next to a nice pool and felt very secluded; bad, because it was a longer hike to the bus stop. Still, I’d definitely stay at Riverside again. We ate at the sit-down restaurant (Boatwright’s) once, at the food court several times, and both were great.

The Deluxe resorts seem awesome, but I feel like you spend so little time in your hotel that the extra expense just isn’t justifiable, at least for us.

If your kid were smaller, I’d suggest renting a stroller. Even kids of 5 or 6 who have outgrown strollers at home benefit from some time off their feet, and you won’t have to deal with the “I’m so tiiirrreeedddd…” as you trek through the parks. We rented one for our 4-year-old from a place called Kingdom Strollers, which was such an awesome stroller I wish I could have stolen it. A snap to fold down for buses and boats, adjustable handlebar that was comfortable for my height, loads of pockets to stash water bottles and souvenirs…just awesome. And they delivered it to our hotel, and we just left it at the bell desk for them to pick up when we left. There are similar services for scooters and such, if anyone in your group has trouble getting around.

If you go in summer, don’t forget that Florida is HOT. Bring refillable water bottles and load them up with ice from your hotel in the morning, and refill as needed all day. Also, all the resorts sell these special mugs that you can refill at your resort’s soda fountain for free, any time (actually, although you’re not supposed to fill them up at hotels other than your own, it’s not like they check or anything). The mugs are pricey, around $15 or so, but that gets you free soda for your whole trip, at least at your hotel.

Something I’ve heard of but we didn’t do: even though room service isn’t really a thing, you can have groceries delivered to your hotel. So if you want to have some staples around, that’s an option. On a somewhat-related note, make sure you bring with you all the medications and prescriptions and such that you need, because those seem a lot harder to come by once you’re on the property.

Whatever hotel you stay at, find out what the bonuses are of staying at that location and take advantage. For example, Riverside has campfires, outdoor movie showings, and sing-alongs at the piano bar. They’re there, so go enjoy them!

And finally, have a meal at Whispering Canyon and be sure to ask for the ketchup.

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We went five/six years ago and stayed at Pop Century - little one loved the pool. We did not get the meal plan, because most of the meals were HUGE and she and I usually shared.

One small tip, pack your swimming clothes in your carry-on. The resort brings your bags, but not for a few hours, so it’s nice to go swimming in the meantime!

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While I haven’t had a chance to stay there and try it out, if pool-type options are important enough, it might be worth looking into going up in resort category and looking at the Beach Club–Stormalong Bay is very nearly it’s own water park, and the whole boardwalk area itself is pretty cool.

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I did trip to NASA from Disney World. I loved it. Definitely worth it. Saturn V on display. Touched a moon rock. Oh yeah.

I’m pretty sure the visitor center is open during the week. But check.

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GythaOgg, thanks for the info! I will pick up a copy soon!

Max Torque-due to “cheaters” with the refillable mugs, Disney has instituted a new system that “times out” at midnight on the day you check out and does not allow additional refills after your last day.

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For those who don’t know, **len ** is the aforementioned Len Testa, co-author of the Unofficial Guide.

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And THIS..is why I love the Dope.
(and Disney, I guess…)
-D/a

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If you happen to be at WDW during a launch from Cape Canaveral, you may be able to watch it from EPCOT, particularly if the launch is early evening. We saw a shuttle launch, and it was spectacular.

The place to watch from is the bridge between United Kingdom and France.

Another tip: there is boat transportation that exits the park right there. I don’t remember exactly where it goes, but sometimes it can get you home faster than anything else during the mass exit that follows Illuminations.

Here’s an EPCOT map showing the bridge and boat exit.

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Yeah, if len offers to help, take him up on it!

I’ve done this! Back in 2006, watching from the Rose & Crown. Far more impressive than you’d expect from that far away. Really neat.

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Yeah, I managed to see one of the last shuttle launches a couple years ago from the Magic Kingdom. Unfortunately, I was on the Keys to the Kingdom backstage tour at the time, and while we got a great view when the guide took us out to the employee parking lot for the launch, Disney’s strict rules on cameras and such backstage meant no pictures. The guide was sympathetic, but pointed out that not only were we out there watching, but so were a bunch of managers and security guards.

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When I was a kid, I thought it would be great to stay at the hotel that has the monorail running through the lobby. And I still think that. I may have to go, someday.

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The Contemporary. It’s very interesting, although a bit dated. Still, very interesting as a structure and pretty cool to walk around.

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I’ve been to Disneyland twice; once in 1972, and again about 4 years ago. During that span of time, Space Mountain was built, considered futuristic, matured, aged, refurbished, etc. By the time I saw it, it was decidedly retro; the 1970s idea of what the 1990s would look like.

I suspect I would find The Contemporary delightful to no end.

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One thing I am finding dismaying about a lot of the guides is how many of the hotels aren’t actually any better than staying offsite in terms of getting to the parks. “You may as well rent a car” is frequent advice on the websites you guys have provided (which are amazingly helpful, BTW. Indeed, the advice here has been highly informative.)

I’ll talk to Len soon, but now I have a friend with a condo for rent practically within sight of WDW and she offers $560 for a whole week. It’s tempting, as much as I would LOVE to stay at the Contemporary (quick rail access to Magic Kingdom, unlike most resorts) to save the money.

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Is it too much to stay one night? We did that on a trip to Europe: stay in cheap hostels/bed’n’breakfasts for a couple of nights, then one night in a really nice place.
Repeat as needed (and spend both days on either side of your “fancy schmancy hotel night” pretending you’re rich tourists).

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Are you driving or flying to Orlando?
If flying, are you planning on renting a car? We’ve done car rental in the past, but now prefer using the Magical Express from the airport to the resort, and the buses and such to get to the parks.
In the moderate level resorts, we liked the Caribbean and Port Orleans French Quarter. Keep in mind that the resorts (except for POFQ) are huge, you can end up with a long walk to the food court/pool/bus stop.

If you want the help of a travel agent, these folks have been very helpful to us.

Grocery delivery to your room was mentioned upthread, check out Garden Grocer.

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December 2006? We were there too! At our Illuminations watching spot in front of Germany.

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Or something for free. :smiley: And don’t forget to drop a fork and ask for another one. Don’t say you weren’t warned!

Whispering Canyon is at the Wilderness Lodge; which is an easy boat ride from Magic Kingdom. The food is good, and you will laugh until your sides ache!