Walt Disney World Resorts Ranked by Convenience
OVERVIEW: DISNEY WORLD RESORTS RANKED BY CONVENIENCE
The Walt Disney World Resorts are ranked below by convenience (as defined here) in carrying out the Basic Itinerary.
They are coded by price category (see this for what you get by price category): D for Deluxe, M for Moderate, V for Value, and DVC for the stand-alone DVC properties. (The DVC properties that are not stand-alone, but rather are associated with another resort (the “Villas”) have the same convenience as that resort.)
VERY CONVENIENT
1. Disney’s Polynesian Resort (D): Far and away the most convenient resort, especially if you get a room in Rapa Nui or Tahiti.
The resort monorail to the Magic Kingdom makes only one additional stop before getting there; to return, you can take the express monorail to TTC, get off at TTC—the first stop—and walk from TTC back to your room–saving up to 10-30 minutes compared to the Grand Floridian.
Moreover, the Epcot monorail is also in walking distance, saving even more time.
Shares buses to other destinations with other Magic Kingdom resorts. (~2000 rooms served/bus).
2. Disney’s Contemporary Resort (D). As convenient as the Polynesian for the Magic Kingdom, as you can walk to the Magic Kingdom, and be the first stop on the resort monorail trip from the Magic Kingdom back to the resort.
Less convenient for Epcot than the Polynesian, as you must first take the resort monorail to TTC, get off, change platforms, and wait for the Epcot monorail. Shares buses to other destinations with other Magic Kingdom resorts. (~2000 rooms served/bus)
3. Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort (D). Convenient only to the Magic Kingdom, which is the first stop on the resort monorail for Grand Floridian guests.
Returning to Grand Floridian from the Magic Kingdom takes 4 stops and sometimes as long as half an hour. Use the boat instead, if the line is not too long.
Epcot requires three stops to TTC, changing platforms, and waiting for the Epcot monorail. Shares buses to other destinations with other Magic Kingdom resorts. (~2000 rooms served/bus.)
CONVENIENT
4. Disney’s Wilderness Lodge and Villas (D). No monorail access to Magic Kingdom—bus or boat instead. Shares buses with other Magic Kingdom resorts and Fort Wilderness for other destinations. (~2000 rooms served/bus)
5. Disney’s BoardWalk Inn and Villas (D). Walk or boat to Epcot back entrance (awkward for arriving at Epcot before park opens and being among the first to get on rides, very convenient otherwise); long walk or slow boat to MGM. Shortest walks of Epcot resorts. Typically shares buses with Yacht Club and Beach Club to Magic Kingdom, and these and Swan and Dolphin to Animal Kingdom. (~2500 rooms served/bus)
6. Disney’s Beach Club Resort and Villas (D). Walk or boat to Epcot back entrance (awkward for arriving at Epcot before park opens and being among the first to get on rides, very convenient otherwise); long walk or slow boat to MGM. Typically shares buses with Yacht Club and Boardwalk to Magic Kingdom, and these and Swan and Dolphin to Animal Kingdom. (~2500 rooms served/bus)
7. Disney’s Yacht Club Resort (D). Walk or boat to Epcot back entrance (awkward for arriving at Epcot before park opens and being among the first to get on rides, very convenient otherwise); long walk or slow boat to MGM. Longest walks of Epcot resorts. Typically shares buses with Beach Club and Boardwalk to Magic Kingdom, and these and Swan and Dolphin to Animal Kingdom. (~2500 rooms served/bus)
8. Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge (D). Distance from parks other than the Animal Kingdom partially compensated for by the fact that buses are not shared with other resorts. (Second bus stop opened in 2009). (972 rooms served/bus)
9. Disney’s Art of Animation Resort (V). Slightly more convenient than Pop Century below. Somewhat distant, but with Pop one of only two resorts with no shared buses, and only one stop. (~1900 rooms served/bus). Note that standard 4 person rooms are about a 5 minute walk further than other Art of Animation rooms
10. Disney’s Pop Century Resort (V). Somewhat distant, but one of only two resorts with no shared buses, and only one stop. (~2900 rooms served/bus)
SOMEWHAT CONVENIENT
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17 comments
Will Pop Century be as convenient once the new Animation resort is open? I’ve read they will share busses.
Hi Angie! Great question. My guess is it will share buses to an extent, and this may well reduce its convenience.
Do you know of a similar site for Disney LAND (California) destination?
Hi Ali, I’m sorry but I don’t.
I do have a couple of pages on a first trip to Disneyland that start here: http://yourfirstvisit.net/2010/11/17/suggestions-for-your-first-trip-to-the-disneyland-resort/
They are a little out of date, but sound in general…
The Disneys Cont. Resort sounds good for ages 5 and 2 as we will be spending most of the time in Magic Kingdom. Do you know an example of the price range in April 2013 for 5 nights? Also do you think we should get the park hopper pass?
Sara, I agree. For prices, see this: http://www.mousesavers.com/contemporary2012.html Focus on the “Regular 1″ prices, and add 5% to what you see, as they are for 2012… Also add 12.5% for tax!
And no I don’t think you need the hopper…
Dave,
Thank You, from the bottom of my heart, this is such a wonderful job you do for all of us first timers!
p.s I lost some of the other comments I posted to you so I appreciate you sending me that link, lol
If you had to pick for me based on convenience for my childrens ages, would you still choose the Poly as number one? Or is Cont perfect?
Also, what do you use the transportation for? To get back and forth to our hotel room? Or to get around in general? Speaking of that, how do most get around? Walking? Do you have to travel by bus or monorail to get to the different parks? Once inside the parks, such as Magic Kingdom are the sub parks such as fantasy land, walking distance?
Sara, I’d pick the Contemporary
Sara you use Disney transport to get from your hotel to the various Disney World theme parks. Once you are in the parks themselves, you walk…The Contemporary is the only hotel from which you can walk to the Magic Kingdom. Transport options for the hotel to the parks vary by hotel–some are only Disney buses, others include boats, monorails, and/or walking as well
Hi we will be first timers at WDW in April we want to stay on site. Wewill have our boys 20 and17. Do you have Anny recommendations on where and what we should do? Do they have 3 or 4 day specials that includes everything we need? Lodging, transportation etc,, Thank you.
I am blown away by your site! I know that you specialize as a resource for first timers, but I am definitely taking it all in as a repeat visitor. Awesome! I am totally geeky and detail plan to the nth degree – I love that your information is backed by so much data. Question for you – our last two trips were MK only and we stayed at the Poly and WL specifically for that reason. Our next visit (hopefully 1st Sat after Thanksgiving ’14) will be the first with going to all 4 parks. Boys will be turning 6 & 8. We hope to take in the holiday activities. I am considering doing counter service only-dining (we’ve done the character meals twice now.) Where would you recommend staying? I was thinking of Beach Club, Yacht Club, and Boardwalk, but I wonder if I should also consider Art of Animation based on your convenience rating. Thank you so very much!!
Hi Heidi and thanks!!! A couple of thoughts…
I’d wait until you can book a package–those are easier to convert to a deal if one comes out than room-only, which is all you can book now. Packages will be bookable (but still with the 500 day constraint) as soon as 2014 prices come out–which will be sometime between today and mid-summer.
Second, with kids that age, I’d still go for a Magic Kingdom area resort or a family suite at A of A rather than an Epcot area resort. Besides being dull for kids that age, the counter service options at the Epcot resorts are really thin…see this: http://yourfirstvisit.net/2012/02/16/the-epcot-resorts-at-walt-disney-world/
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Hi Dave! Great site!
I simply cannot agree that the Boardwalk should be listed as convenient – I imagine the BC and YC have the same issues, but can’t speak from experience. For us it was as bad or possibly worse than Caribbean Beach, Pirate Rooms. Which is to say, at least in my opinion, unspeakably bad. On the buses there was frequently standing room only, rides were often 30 – 60 min, frequent stops at other hotels and parks only made things worse, etc. The amount of stress, unhappiness, and overall delay this adds to a Dis experience is simply unacceptable to me, especially for a deluxe resort. When you’re *arriving* at a park with cranky kids because of a bus schedule/route, and you’re paying in excess of $400/night for a room, something is wrong. It’s simply amazing to me that they have the Swan and Dolphin in the same bus route. Obviously JMO, JME, YMMV, etc.
Being walking distance from Epcot and Hollywood Studios is possibly a plus, but obviously your family needs to be an Epcot/HS family for this to work out. IME, neither park appeals to younger/antsier kids much. World Showcase is possibly one of my favourite places in the universe, but children seem to be less enamoured with eating “strange” foods, or being dragged through a cultural mini-immersion while their parents “drink around the world.” Likewise, I find the shows at Hollywood Studios fascinating/exhilarating/whatever, but smaller kids seem to have trouble sitting still for the length of the shows, and it’s possibly the hottest park in WDW. Again, JMO, etc.
Thanks again for the great site!
Hi Tim, thanks for the kind words, thoughts and comments. “Convenience” here is relative–all the deluxe resorts share buses with others except for the Animal Kingdom Lodge, which has its own convenience issues, and all the AK buses from any resort do a Blizzard Beach stop. Sounds like you did have a particularly rough experience, though…
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