A Glowtini, by the way. My favorite cocktail! I have been saving my glow cubes from each Glowtini for years and bringing them home with the goal of eventually building a Fortress of Glowtinitude. I still have some serious Glowtini drinking ahead of me.
My favorite Deluxe resort is the Polynesian and my favorite Moderate is the former Dixie Landings, which is now Port Orleans Riverside. The grounds of the Polynesian are so lush and gorgeous and I love watching Wishes from the beach there, as well as the Electric Water Pageant. It’s nifty having monorail access, too. Port Orleans Riverside has a lovely peaceful quality to it, and I get a kick out of the name of the central island with the pool and play area – Ol’ Man Island. Hee!
The Polynesian has the monorail and the little boats that go to the transportation center.
It is really nice to come back in the middle of the day to rest and then return to Magic Kingdom. You can it on the “beach” at night, dig sandcastles and watch the fireworks and the illuminated boat show.
At the table next to us, one guy ordered a Coke and finished it pretty quickly. The waitress noticed, and he said, “Yeah, I’m pretty thirsty.” So she left and brought him another. And when I say “another”, I mean a MASSIVE jar that must’ve held a gallon and a half of Coke; it was ridiculously huge.
Our motto is, “NEVER go to the transportation center.” It sounds like a central hub with vehicles buzzing in and out, but it really is very much not that thing. Whenever we’ve ended up there, we always seem to have to walk somewhere else (Polynesian is closest, I think) to catch another ride.
Your mileage may vary, but our experience has been that when we stay on Disney property, we don’t need to rent a car. The Disney transportation system is very efficient (as efficient as it can reasonably be, anyway), and while we’ve had to wait for buses, it’s never been a major hassle. If you don’t go at a peak time of year for crowds, Disney transportation should meet your needs.
The biggest perk, to me, of staying on Disney property is the chance to go to a park an hour earlier than John Q. Public, or stay up to three hours after “official” closing time. Again, depending on crowd levels, this can considerably shorten your waiting time for the most popular rides, or allow you to experience your favorites multiple times.
The other nice thing about staying on-site is the whole immersive experience of it. Granted, you pay for that – Disney rooms are well-themed, very clean and nicely appointed, but at the end of the day you have to decide if it’s worth the money vs. staying off-site. I’m generally very pragmatic about spending money, but when I’m on vacation, particularly at WDW, I enjoy knowing that I don’t have to drive anywhere after spending several hours walking around the parks. With Disney’s Magical Express bus service from the Orlando airport, I literally never get behind the wheel of a car from the time we board the plane until we get back.
And here’s where my pragmatism reasserts itself. Spending $560 for a week’s stay in a condo for WDW would likely tilt me more toward that option; for that same price, you MIGHT be able to stay at the Contemporary two nights. You have to determine if the money is worth more than the experience, or vice-versa.
A few things to consider:
I’m assuming that at eight years old, your daughter will want to spend the majority of her time at Magic Kingdom. Note that driving a car each day will require you to park at the Transportation & Ticket Center, take the parking shuttle to the monorail station/boat launch, then wait for the monorail or a boat to take you to the front gate (you can’t park and walk to the gate). Even if the condo is literally right outside an entrance to WDW, figure on an hour at best from the time you leave your condo each day to getting to the front gate. You’ll face the same issue when you leave in the evenings; in fact, the total transit time may be worse if you leave when the park closes and the mass exodus occurs.
You’ll also shell out $15 for parking each day (or more; I haven’t checked the parking prices recently), although once you have a parking pass, you can use it at the parking lot for every park for that day.
Many kids don’t really notice how nice a resort is. Len can provide more info on this, but for many kids the best thing about their resort at WDW was the pool. I’m talking an overwhelming number of kids say this, regardless of which resort they’re at.
Having said that, if you have the money to swing staying on-site, I’d do it. I’ve stayed on-site and at a VERY nice condo complex off-site (Sheraton Vistana, FYI; about five minutes from WDW by car), and for me (and our family) on-site is the way to go.
If quick access to the Magic Kingdom by monorail is a major factor in your plans, I’d stay at either the Polynesian or the Grand Floridian. The monorail’s first stop when leaving the Magic Kingdom is the Contemporary, which means it will then stop at the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian before getting to the Magic Kingdom. Not that it’s a huge deal; it’s about a five-minute trip from the Polynesian to the Magic Kingdom, and maybe 10-12 minutes from the Contemporary. Note that you can theoretically walk to the Magic Kingdom from the Contemporary in about 10 minutes, although after a day or so, walking any more than absolutely required will be low on your list of priorities.
One other note about the Contemporary: Depending on the crowd level/time of year, Disney will double up their bus service for the Contemporary and the TTC. That means that when a bus leaves a park, it will be taking passengers to both locations, making these buses more crowded than they would normally be if they were just going to the Contemporary. A large number of people will park at the TTC, then take Disney transportation to another park during the day. We were frustrated at how crowded the buses for one Deluxe resort (Contemporary) were, compared to the buses going to other Deluxe resorts. No other resort, to my knowledge, shares bus service with the TTC.
If you flying, using Disney transportation and staying on site may turn out to be almost as cost effective as renting a car and paying for parking. Disney offers free transportation from the airport to their resorts.
I happen to think Port Orleans Riverside is one of Disney’s more charming resorts. Check out resort photos (they may be a little dated) on www.suitedisney.com. Bus service from all the moderates is pretty uniform…no situation at Disney is going to be ideal, it’s about the size of manhattan, there is no central location.
Swinging the contemporary, or the Polynesian, with a small child makes life easier, but it’s a rather expensive easier.
If you find something you would like to buy, but don’t want to schlep it around with you, you can:
Send it to the package pickup location at the park you are in. It will be available for pickup later that day.
Send it to your resort if you are staying on site. It will be at the resort store the next day.
Ship it to your home. This is seriously one of the best services at Disney! People with US addresses pay 10 bucks; I’m pretty sure they will ship internationally, but I don’t know the rate. You don’t pay Florida sales tax on these purchases if you live out of state, and you get your stuff about 2 weeks later via UPS. It helps with the after vacation let down considerably! They will reship anything that gets broken in transit. I’ve never had a problem, even with the Krebs Christmas tree I had shipped from EPCOT.
I am going to buck the trend here and suggest you stay at a value resort.
We are DVC members but if we were to stay in a regular hotel room again, we would go to a value. The theming is bright and big and over the top which is great for kids. The pools are quite enjoyable for the little ones and they have great pool activities to keep them occupied.
I just don’t think the moderates are that much better. The rooms aren’t that much bigger and the theming is lost on kids.
(Though, personally, I don’t like staying in the same bedroom with my kids when on vacation. I don’t like having to go to bed at the same time they do and nooky is off the table. So, we stay in at least a one bedroom at one of the DVC resorts. Their pools rock.)
I suggest looking into renting DVC points. Stay at a Deluxe for a Moderate price. I’m doing this in December and staying at the Beach Club (best pool and walking distance to my favorite park, Epcot) for under $170/night.
A counterpoint to that (isn’t planning a Disney vacation fun?) If you stay at an offsite condo, and you’re a breakfasting type, the time & money saved on having breakfast at your condo each morning will probably more than offset commute time & parking costs staying onsite, where you’ll spend $8-10 per person and half an hour on breakfast each day.
When we did our first trip last year, after poring over guides and websites, I came to the realization that you can plan your vacation any way you want, and will be able to find plenty of info to justify/validate your decisions.
We’ve done Disney World twice with the kids: once in 2003 when they were 9 and 6, and once in 2006 when they were, well, 12 and 9. In 2003, we stayed offsite at a rental house in Kissimmee; we were there to visit with a group of friends from all over, so having an offsite place made more sense. It was pretty nice - we had 9 days in the area, of which only 5 were “go to the park” days, so we could alternate, and hang out at the house and swim in the attached pool.
In 2006 we stayed onside, and that was nice too. No need to worry about transportation since there are buses to all the parks. You can also stay late / arrive early at various parks, if you’re staying in the resorts, though as the Unofficial Guide book notes, those parks can be extra crowded those days for that very reason.
Meal plan: when we went in 06, the variant was one table-service meal, one counter-service (fast-ish food) meal, and one snack (ice cream or whatever). We had cereal etc. in the room so that was plenty for us, and since the table-service meals are pricey, we wound up really doing well by doing the prepaid meals.
Lodging cost: Depending on which resort, you’ll be paying slightly more, to a LOT more, to stay onsite. This is partly / completely offset by the fact that hey, no parking fees and no hassle to find parking, and of course you have access to the prepaid meal plans. IIRC, we spent about 160 a day for the rental house (which was shared with another family for part of the time), vs. 240ish for a mid-level on-site resort.
Just thought of something: what time of year are you thinking of going? With a school-age kid, the times you can take a kid without missing school are also times when everyone ELSE is there with their kids - i.e. major holidays, and all summer. So unless your school calendar is radically different from the US’s (and of course those do vary by state), there will be other people there. A lot of other people. They will all want to ride the same rides you do, so the lines can be brutal. You can get the express pass for specific rides but that only works out for a single ride at a time. If you want to ride rides, and lots of them, it can really ruin the experience (I’ve never been someone who thought it was worth waiting 2 hours in line for something like that).
So - compare your schedule with the most popular times at the park, and avoid those if you can - e.g. Christmas, spring break, etc. Summer is pretty bad crowd-wise as well, with the added bonus of hotter and muggier than you’re used to, with at least a little rain every afternoon.
We once went in October (this was decades ago, pre-kids) and it was wonnnnnnderful. Cheapest rates of the year, warm but not brutally hot, and no lines.
We stayed in a 1 bdrm villa at Old Key West. If you have young children, it is essential IMO to have a separate sleeping area for the kids. That way, you don’t have to tiptoe around when they zonk out at 8pm. You have your own t.v. We breakfast in, packed lunches, and then ate out every night. I loved having a full kitchen and washer/dryer.
We had onsite transportation but still drove everywhere because the shuttle times weren’t convenient. Note that if you pay to park in one of the Disney parks, you just have to show your receipt to park free in other Disney parks the same day.
Definitely get a Park Hopper.
Personally, I’d go with the condo for $560 a month, and then use the savings to book special things, such as Character Breakfast (e.g. dinner in Cinderella’s castle), Trainer for a Day at Sea World, a sunset pontoon ride that overlooks the fireworks, and my all-time favorite and the one thing my kids still talk about today, swimming with the dolphins at Adventure Cove.
If you want to go with someplace more resort-y, I highly recommend either of the Sheraton timeshares - Sheraton Vistana Villages or Sheraton Vistana Resort. All are villa type rentals, with fabulous pools and on-site restaurants. You can rent from an owner via Redweek.com (it cost $15 to join, but you can save big bucks this way) or rent from the link on Pete Werner’s site. 1 bdrm villas start at $99 per night.
Yep - the more meals you can eat off-site, the more money you’ll save (generally speaking). If I were staying at a condo, I’d probably just pack some Pop-Tarts or cereal bars and eat those before heading out for the day. (Frankly, it’s a good idea to do that even if you stay on-site, too.)
