Category — d. Where to Stay at Walt Disney World

OVERVIEW

This page highlights differences among value resorts. See this for features all values share, and differences among resort price categories.

DISTINCTIONS AMONG VALUE RESORTS

Disney’s Pop Century Resort (thumbnail). Only value resort on a lake (the All-Stars have no water views); only value that does not share any buses.

The 40-foot tall character sculptures make Pop more “Disney-like” then the All-Stars. John Hench, a Disney Legend, notes in his book Designing Disney that “these beautiful sculptures are astonishing, unforgettable, and … have proven immensely popular.”

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Where to Stay      Resort Features by Price      Resort Kid Appeal      Large Families

Caribbean Beach      Coronado Springs      Port Orleans Riverside

Port Orleans French Quarter        The Cabins at Fort Wilderness

OVERVIEW

This page highlights differences among moderate resorts. See this for features all moderates share, and differences among resort price categories. For more details, click on the names of the moderate resorts.

DISTINCTIONS AMONG MODERATES
Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort. Only moderate with no elevators at all. Only moderate with no indoor bar/lounge. Only moderate with kid-aimed room decor. After recent renovations, best pool of any moderate. (See thumbnail for the baby pool’s theming.) Most kid-appealing of moderates.

Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort. Only moderate with queens rather than full sized beds in most two-bed rooms. Only moderate with a spa. Only moderate with a health club. Only moderate with substantial room service. Only moderate with wireless Internet. Only moderate with only one sink per room, rather than two. Only moderate that hosts conventions. $5 (pre-tax) per night more than other moderates.

Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside. Only moderate that can sleep 5 (only in Alligator Bayou section, with fifth on a 67″ trundle bed). No elevators in Alligator Bayou section. (Magnolia Bend section has elevators.) With Port Orleans French Quarter, only moderate not on a lake.

Disney’s Port Orleans French Quarter. Only moderate with no sit-down restaurant. With Port Orleans Riverside, only moderate with no lake. Only moderate with no quiet pool. Only moderate with no marina. Most compact of moderates. Most romantic of moderates.

The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort. Only moderate that can sleep six. Only moderate with a full kitchen. Only moderate with 2 rooms. Only moderate that takes two transport acts to get to a theme park. Only moderate with a porch, and a barbecue grill. Only moderate materially more expensive than the others.

Updated October 09.

*Three, four, or five moderates? Unnecessary confusion has been caused in the past by websites, guidebooks—and Wikipedia—as to whether there are three or four moderates. Many group the two Port Orleans resorts as one, leave out the Cabins at Fort Wilderness, and hence have counted 3 moderate resorts.

However, the two Port Orleans resorts are listed separately in Disney’s list of resorts by type that comes at the bottom of every resort’s home page, and have separate listings in Disney’s online “I know the Resort I want” list; neither list provides an entry for “Port Orleans Resort.” Moreover, they have entirely separate check-in processes, and have reasonable physical distance between them.

For these reasons, the two are treated as distinct resorts in this discussion.

Recently, Disney has complicated this issue by adding the Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort to the group of resorts it labels as “moderates.” Disney’s intent in doing so was to make clearer the level of amenities one gets in one of these Cabins—higher than that at a value, not as nice as in a deluxe, comparable to the other four moderates.

So five moderates…

LINKS FOR WHERE TO STAY

• For where to stay, see this
• For your next best choices, in order, see this
• For picking your resort based on appeal to kids, see this
• For picking your resort based on convenience, see this
• For what you get in each resort price category, see this
• For where not to stay, see this
• For differences among deluxe resorts, see this
• For differences among moderate resorts, see this
• For differences among value resorts, see this
• For a (geeky) overview of comparative room size, see this
• Large families should look at this
• Military/DOD families should look at this

OVERVIEW

This page highlights differences among deluxe resorts. See this for features all deluxes share, and differences among resort price categories. (See bottom of page for more Where to Stay links.)

DISTINCTIONS AMONG DELUXE RESORTS

Disney’s Polynesian Resort. Only resort with both own resort monorail stop and in easy walking distance of TTC and its Epcot monorail. Only deluxe with no hot tub. Only deluxe with no fitness center–guests are allowed to share the one at the Grand Floridian. One of only a few deluxes with no wireless Internet. One of only a few deluxes with no spa services.

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The thumbnail focuses on what price categories have in common among resorts in the category and how resorts differ between price categories.

Click the thumbnail to open; when open, click again to enlarge.

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Numbers refer to rank on overall list. Numbers 1-3 are very convenient; 4-9 are convenient; 10 and up less convenient. See this for what you get by price category.

VALUE RESORTS

9. Disney’s Pop Century Resort. Somewhat distant, but only resort with no shared buses, and only one stop. (~2900 rooms served/bus)

14. Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort. Somewhat distant. Except for Magic Kingdom, shares buses with other All-Stars. Longest ride of three All-Stars to parks other than Magic Kingdom; shortest ride back. (~3500 rooms served/bus)

15. Disney’s All-Star Music Resort. Somewhat distant. Other than Magic Kingdom, shares buses with other All-Stars. Recently I have seen an inconsistent trend where it has its own buses to and from Epcot and Hollywood Studios—which, if consistent, would make it the most convenient of the All-Stars. (~3500 rooms served/bus)

16. Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort. Somewhat distant. Other than Magic Kingdom, shares buses with other All- Stars. Shortest ride of three All-Stars to parks other than Magic Kingdom; longest ride back. (~3500 rooms served/bus)

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The resorts below are ranked by convenience (as defined here) in carrying out the Basic Itinerary. I code them 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 20 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)

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