Where Not to Stay
By Dave Shute
OVERVIEW
This site recommends you stay in the deluxe resort Disney’s Polynesian Resort if you can afford it, or at the value resort Disney’s Art of Animation Resort if you cannot.
Three other resort categories exist:
- Disney Vacation Club Resorts
- The campsites and cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort
- The moderate resorts
While wonderful for trips after your first, none of these other categories is recommended for your first family trip.
THE DISNEY VACATION CLUB RESORTS
The Disney Vacation Club (DVC) resorts are expensive, and neither as convenient nor as kid-appealing as the Polynesian, their price comparator.
Their distinctive characteristics (for rooms other than studios) are extra space and full kitchens. These just aren’t of much value to first time visitors who aren’t sure if they’ll ever return, who will be spending most of their time outside their rooms!
(A couple of exceptions: the Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge and the Jambo House Villas at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge have terrific kid appeal. Kidani Village has substantial kid appeal, but a little less than Jambo House.)
They do make sense for large families, and/or those seeking spacious accommodations. See this for large families; see this for more on the DVC resorts. For the most comfortable options, see this.
FORT WILDERNESS
The campsites and cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort are neither as convenient nor as kid-appealing as Disney’s Pop Century Resort or the moderates, their appropriate comparators.
THE MODERATE RESORTS
The moderates unquestionably are much more appealing to adults than Art of Animation (and the other value resorts).
Their rooms are almost 2 feet longer and a foot wider than at the values, and the bedroom spaces are actually larger than those at some Disney deluxe resorts: see this.
Moreover, at most of the moderates you now get queen beds–a welcome change from only a few years ago, when they all had full beds (Some Caribbean Beach rooms still have full beds).
The moderates have more amenities than the values, and, to an adult’s eyes, much better landscaping and exterior design.
Even so, the moderate resorts are not a better choice for your first family trip than the values, even if you could easily afford them. The issue is that alternatives have a lot more visual kid appeal.
If you could afford the moderates, a more kid-appealing and convenient itinerary would be to spend the first 5 nights of your trip at the wildly kid-appealing value resort Art of Animation, and the last 3 at Disney’s stunningly kid-appealing deluxe resort the Wilderness Lodge.
This approach costs you ~$150 more (total!) than staying at the moderates for 8 nights, but is much more convenient and kid-appealing.
(Note: do not reverse the order here–don’t go to the Wilderness Lodge first, and then to Art of Animation–or you will hear no end of complaining from your family…!)
MORE ON WHERE TO STAY AT DISNEY WORLD
- 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 where not to stay, see this
- For what you get in each resort price category, see this
- For Walt Disney World resort price seasons, see this
- For resort reviews, see this
- For the value resorts, see this
- For the moderate resorts, see this
- For the deluxe resorts, see this
- For suites at the deluxe resorts, see this
- For the Disney Vacation Club (“DVC”) Resorts, see this
- For a (geeky) overview of comparative room size, see this
- Military/DOD families should look at this
- Families seeking the most comfortable place to stay should see this
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111 comments
Hello
My husband and i are looking to ksm a trip for November 2013 around the 9th.
We will have 2 grandmothers with us and a 5 year old.
We were looking at renting a house as we heard that it is far more cost effective to do so.
We will have a tight budget and want to make sure that this trip will be amazing for our daughter as we are not sure if we will be able to do this kind of trip again. Its kind of a trip of a lifetime for us. We are thinking of staying for about 10 days.
We want to be cost conscious but not overly frugal. Do you have any suggestions about best places to stay , things tht we must absolutley do and things that we should just avoid.
Its really hard to go throuogh all of the disney informatin on the web and make choices when we have never been there before
Any advice you would have would be great !
Hi Beth! my thoughts on renting a house–which really will save you money–can be found in the material that starts here: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2010/01/27/the-tightwads-guide-to-staying-off-site-at-walt-disney-world/
But here’s the thing: if it truly is a once in a lifetime trip, I’d strongly urge you wait til she’s a few years older. See this for why: https://yourfirstvisit.net/planning-your-first-family-trip/how-oldtall-your-children-should-be/
Give it a look and some thought…and if you still want to do this now, get back to me and I’ll help with the specifics…
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My family and I are taking our first Disney Trip in Oct 2013. I have been to Disney multiple times but have not stayed at any of the resorts. We are going to be there 10/12-10/19 or 7 days. It will be my wife and I and we have 6 and 14 year old girls. Currently I have made reservations at the Coronado Springs. My sister went to Coronado last year and liked it but I have been reading reviews on other websites as well as your coments on here about all of the Moderate resorts in general and am having second thoughts. I understand the Moderate has things that the Value does not but I am not sure the costs are really justified or that my kids will really get any more out of a Moderate resort. I see your suggestion about staying at 2 different places, Value and few nights at Wilderness. If you do not mind which Value resort would you recommend, Pop? Then we would spend 5 nights in Value and then 2 nights at Deluxe(Wilderness)? Also just curious why you recommend the Wilderness over the Animal Kingdom that is the same price. Sorry for so many questions but last one, if I were to stay at a Moderate for all 7, which one would you recommend for my family. My only concern with your idea and thing I would have to sell my wife on would be switching resorts in the middle of the week which may not be easy for me to do. Thank you in advance for your opinion and help with this.
Hey Jon, for the split stay I’d advise Little Mermaid rooms at Art of Animation (see this): https://yourfirstvisit.net/2012/09/23/review-standard-little-mermaid-rooms-disneys-art-animation-resort/ and whichever of WL or AKL you think will most appeal to the girls. Both are great choices, and you can go wrong with neither. I put WL ahead as having a slightly more broadly-appealing theme–and for being more convenient.
If you do end up at a moderate, see this for a slightly different take on the rankings: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2013/03/28/the-moderates-remix/ French Quarter shares the moderate problems the least, and you should also take a look at the Royal Rooms at POR to see if the girls might be interested–see this: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2012/12/30/review-royal-rooms-port-orleans-riverside/
Hope this helps!!
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Hi Dave,
First, I just wanted to thank you for this very informative and helpful website! I LOVE it! =) My husband and I are planning to take our 2-yr. old son to Disney this coming May 17-21, 2013 and will be staying at Orlando Vista as we are on tight budget. We are just using our unused ticket voucher with American Airlines for this trip as it’s expiring this June. This will be our first-time at Disney, travelling from Toronto, Canada and was wondering if you could suggest a good itinerary for our 2-yr. old to enjoy given that we only have 5 days of stay as we are leaving the morning of May 21st. =)
Looking forward to receiving your reply.
Thank you kindly,
Jan
Jan, I’m sorry, but all my itineraries are aimed at kids 8 and older. For help with younger kids, see this http://touringplans.com/magic-kingdom/touring-plans?utm_campaign=referral&utm_medium=website&utm_source=yourfirstvisit&utm_content=r1&property_id=1 and this http://www.leaveittogenie.com/
Hello, I have 2 kids who will be 10 and 12 when we travel. Our problem is that we would like them to be in a separate sleeping area from us so we can talk, watch tv etc after they go to bed. Are there any resorts reasonable priced that have that type of set up without having us grown ups sleeping on a pull out couch in the living room (our backs couldn’t handle it LOL)? We stayed at Great Wolf Lodge and they had great room layouts there so I was wondering Disney did as well. Thank you.
Kelly, the Disney layouts don’t lend themselves so well to this, as they are designed for the parents to be in the private space.
There are, however, two resorts where the second space bed(s) is, or includes, a pull-down bed–much more comfortable than a fold-out bed.
These are the family suites at Art of Animation, where a bed pulls down to replace the dining table, and the Cabins at Fort Wilderness, where a bed folds down out of the living room wall. See https://yourfirstvisit.net/2012/06/10/review-the-family-suites-at-disneys-art-of-animation-resort/ and https://yourfirstvisit.net/2013/03/05/review-the-cabins-at-disneys-fort-wilderness-resort-2/
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Hi Dave
Thanks for all the info.
We (girls are 8 and 10) are about to book for Disney but can only get there by 29/30 dec. I realize will be crowded. We have accommodation at Holiday Inn Orange Lake with time share exchange for 2 weeks.
If we get to the parks at opening time, will the queues be hours long?
You mention that plans should be finalized 180 days in advance, will we miss certain highlights if we haven’t booked it by now?
We were planning to be at Disney for max 10 nights, what is ideal over that time?
Does it make a diff if we arrive 29 or 30th dec?
What is the best/quickest/cheapest way to buy passes? We live in South Africa.
How do you rate the holiday inn orange lake?
We must still book our flights, so will consider canceling this trip if there are too many negatives.
Kind regards
Erna
Hi Erna!
First I don’t know anything about that hotel.
Second, the parks will be fine from the 5th until the 11th, when they will clot up again over the weekend because of the Marathon.
From the 29th/30th til the 5th they will be miserable, and most of those days at MK and other parks guests staying at a Disney hotel will get in an hour earlier than you can, so those parks will already be a busy when you can get in.
I would go a different time if I were you…see https://yourfirstvisit.net/2012/10/15/2014-weeks-visit-walt-disney-world-ranked-order/
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Hi Dave!
I love your site and all the info you are providing! We are planning a trip for November this year (last minute… I know… I have a hard time with this since I like to keep my options open). We will likely arrive between the 11th and 17th and stay about a week. We can get the free dining option since we are from Canada, and this is where I’m wondering… the resort options we were given price estimates for were the Pop and the Caribbean. The Carribean price was only about $300 more (although they priced for 10 nights rather than 6 or 7, which we could only do if we choose to fly), but we have the regular dining plan instead of the quick service. Is it worth it to get the regular over the quick service dining? We usually only do quicker service style foods when we do eat out, but the idea of table service sounds nice.
We came to Disney in spring of 2011 and stayed off site with a rental. Did everything cheap… only had one reserved sit down restaurant in the park which was only ok in my books (Crystal somethin-or-other with Pooh and friends) but I don’t think we’ll go back to that restaurant. This time I am hoping to go to our room for naps (we have a 5 yo, 3 yo, and 9month old at travel time) and thought it might be worth it to stay on site. If we fly, we would prefer on site… and I’m still undecided about flying or driving (I hate airports/planes… and a round trip flight is easily $1000 more than driving… but driving down equals 30 hours on the road one way which means 7 days instead of 11…). We’ve been saving up and I’d like spending money… which wont happen if we fly (that plane eats a lot of the budget!). Haha… now I’m rambling!
Basically, I want to see the Christmas theming, it is also for my 30th birthday and a late 10th anniversary trip. I’m unsure if we should do the Pop or the Caribbean, which dining option would be best, or if we should drive vs fly. I’m actually close to saying ‘scrap it… let’s push it to next year’… except that I would so love to go this year (we can pull my daughter from kindergarten easier than in grade 1 and don’t have to wait until the Christmas break rush)! Any advice for me?
Sorry for the novel, hahaha
Hi Sab k, and thanks for the kind words about the site!
Here’s what I think: since the best-loved table service meals book out months ahead (see this: https://yourfirstvisit.net/planning-your-first-family-trip/when-your-plans-need-to-be-firm/ ), you won’t get a lot of value for table-service free dining. The table service venue at CB itself is not worth much–you wouldn’t eat there more than once were it not free.
On drive vs fly…OMG I couldn’t imagine 30 hours each way…Is there some middle way, like you drive to someplace that has really cheap flights, and fly from there? Check out the nearest place Allegiant serves near you–Allegiant can be a pain (very infrequent service, flies to Sanford rather than Orlando) but is often dirt cheap. See this http://www2.allegiantair.com/destinations
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Thanks so much, Dave!
Yes, the drive is long… I’ve even looked into going by train, but that cost is even more than flying and we’d still be out one vehicle. Looks like Allegiant is much much cheaper… comparable to driving! Thanks for the advice!
Thanks for the advice on table service… I didnt think we’d use it much, to be honest. Sitting for long periods doesnt work well for this family… unless we’re playing a video game or watching movies.
OK, Sab K–and good luck!!!
I wanted to say that I have stayed at the All-Star Movies Resort and Fort Wilderness. My grandparents took my mom and I in a motorhome every year when I was little and I loved Fort Wilderness! The Campfire was great, there were playgrounds and a petting zoo! The trees and landscaping were so beautiful- my mom and I would rent bikes and ride around!
I have been in the All Star resort twice. It was nice, but I have to say I’d prefer Fort Wilderness camping if I had to choose! (and I’m speaking from my 10 year old self!)
Rita, what a wonderful story. If you love camping (as I do) you can have a great time at Fort Wilderness without even going to the parks!
First off, this is a great site with lots of great information and that’s much appreciated!
My son and I, he is 11, plan to visit this coming June. It will just be the two of us and we don’t plan on spending a lot of time in our room, but would like to stay somewhere nice though. I guess I’m a little unsure of the “kid friendly” part. He is a typical boy , but out of the “Disney” theme, so to speak. What might you suggest for a place to stay for a father/son combination?
BTW: We plan to stay about 4-5 days, budget isn’t limited. We plan to visit MGM, Universal, & probably start out with Disney World, since I think he will like it the least.
You’re input is greatly appreciated!
Hey Chris, thanks!!
On one thing you didn’t ask (and may already know)–stay in a Universal hotel on your Universal days. You get enormous benefits from this. See https://yourfirstvisit.net/2009/12/17/where-to-stay-during-your-visit-to-the-wizarding-world-of-harry-potter/
For your DIsney World hotel, if you expect–like most–to spend a couple fo days at the Magic kingdom, I’d go with the Contemporary–see this: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2011/06/06/review-disneys-contemporary-resort/ If you think you’ll skip MK, then do the Beach Club https://yourfirstvisit.net/2011/10/11/review-disneys-beach-club-resort/
Thanks for the quick response, Dave.
I didn’t know that and TY!
As of now, we plan to stay onsite at Disney (not 100% decided where) & stay 2 days to see MK & others. After that, we plan to stay at the Hard Rock or Portofino Bay for 3 or 4 days, while we check out Universal / Discovery Cove / Sea World and use a day just to relax or revisit something we really enjoyed.
Thank you very much for your information, it has helped tremendously on helping plan.
Current high overview itinerary – please let me know if you see anything I might be missing or something you would suggest, as your expertise is much appreciated.
My son and I, plan to arrive at Disney (Polynesian) on Saturday. We plan to spend 4 days / 3 nights @ the Polynesian. From there we plan to jump over to the Hard Rock Cafe for 2 nights, followed by the Portofino Bay for the last 2 nights of our stay.
While @ the Polynesian, we plan to visit Hollywood Studios & the Animal Kingdom on the same day. Devoting one entire day for Epcot and an entire day for the Magic Kingdom.
While @ Universal – we plan to visit Universal Studios and Isle of Adventure on separate days, but may spend some of both days at Isle of Adventure. Our last full day will be spent at Discovery Cove & Seaworld.
At this time, we plan to use Disney’s Magical Express from the airport, but not sure on how to get from Disney to Universal & from our Universal hotel to Discovery Cove/Seaworld and back to the airport. We may use Mears or go with a taxi or combination of the two.
I’d love to hear your thoughts/suggestions.
Chris, first I’d just rent a car if affordable. You can rent while staying at the Poly from National, whihc is on site, so you’d only pay for the rental the last part of your trip, and should be able to return it at the airport (double check that when you rent…) See https://yourfirstvisit.net/2012/02/28/renting-a-car-at-walt-disney-world/
Second overall your itinerary looks fine, with one comment. You won’t get much out of whichever park you go to second on your two park day unless you use it as your FastPass+ target… I’d do the two parks Monday, starting with AK which has morning extra magic hours (arrive before they start)!! and ending at HS which has a later close plus also evening EMH…
Thank you very much, Dave.
I’ll plan to rent a car @ the Polynesian and will look further into FastPass for HS.
Thank you for everything – it is much appreciated!
Great Chris, have a wonderful visit, and tell me how it goes!
We have sort of followed your suggestion, we are staying at the AofA suites for 6 nights, and then Animal Kingdom Lodge for 3 nights with our 8 year old son, and 5 year old daughter. (Animal Kingdom was a little cheaper than the Wilderness Lodge and with the summer discount it cost about the same as what the moderates would have been.) I read somewhere that if you pack your belongings ahead of time, Disneyworld staff will move them to your new resort. Is that true? We will be leaving property that day and visiting one of the Gulf beaches, so I don’t think we’ll feel homeless for the day. I just want to make sure we won’t need to pack the cars, but if we do, at least we’ll know!
Danielle, yes, Disney will get your stuff from one Disney resort to another. Talk to the bell staff the night before about how the process works…
Hi Dave! Do you do anything on split stays? My biggest concerns would be how the tickets work as I know the longer you stay the less expensive it becomes to go into the park. Would I have to make two different ressys? And wake up at two seperate 180 marks as far as my ADR’s are concerned? Could I book all the tickets through one hotel so it stays cheaper and then just do room only or room and dining without tickets at the more expensive hotel? Considering doing a moderate for 4 nights and aoa for 4 nights. Or doing aoa for 6 nights and then doing the poly or beach club for 2 nights. Thanks so much!
Sara I do split stays on almost every trip. What you’d do is have the ticket for the full number of days you need as part of the first-arriving reservation (e.g. 4 nights but 7 ticket days..) then make a second room-only reservation for your second-arrived at hotel. You can make dining ressies for ten days out based on the first 180, even if your stay is not ten days. You can’t do the dining plan for longer than the first hotel visit. But given how little it saves, that doesn’t much matter…
Thanks, Dave!
I think the dining plan is nice to have because it forces me to save for food 😉 & since it all has to be paid off within 45 days it is a surefire way to do that.
I do however think that I would be more conscious of what I am spending on food in the parks/restaurants though without it. I worry I would be penny pinching the whole time versus having it paid off in full prior.
Also, the Cast Member today was going to let me make my reservations with the first one being booked at Art of Animation and all of the tickets through that and the dining. Then she was going to start my second reservation without tickets WITH dining! It is not something they offer online as it is brand new. She was thrilled with it though and said they have needed this for a long time as people do split stays very often! Hope this helps!
Sara, first thanks so much for passing along the yes dining/no tickets for the split stay–that’s really cool news!
And I get you about the value of not having to worry about who orders which expensive entree…if you are paying cash, it’s about the last thing you can economize–I’ve had chicken many times my kids have had steaks–and it’s nice to not have to worry about it…
Dave you rock! I really hope to hear more about the split stays as it is getting more and more popular it seems!
I wonder how long they will offer the ticket-less option w/dining and if it will work out economically for me the consumer! ha!
Sara, allowing it for split stays makes perfect sense to me, so I’d expect that, them having figured it out with your help, that they will keep it up!
Your assertion that moderate resorts aren’t a great choice for first-timers is based on the fact that they don’t have a lot that appeals to kids. However, after tagging along with my father and staying off-site due to the convention he was attending, I’d like to return to Disney, hopefully this fall, and do what I didn’t get to do on that four-night trip, which is quite a bit. So this will be my first stay on property.
I’m 23 years old, and I will be going with my 50-something mother and possibly said father, so “kid appeal” is a complete non-factor. Mom has explicitly said she would appreciate staying somewhere that /isn’t/ full of loud youngsters and I would like something a bit nicer than a value resort. My main concerns are comfortable and attractive rooms, access to decent dining options, and a pleasing theme for those times we need to crash or just rest for a while. Ideally, we would be staying in Wilderness Lodge, but I am more than willing to downgrade to Moderate if it means getting to stay one or two more days. I have heard some not-so-super things about CBR, so right now I’m looking at Coronado Springs and both Port Orleans resorts. Currently leaning toward Riverside, but I would like to hear your take on things.
(Apologies if I come across as brusque, I sometimes have trouble getting the tone of my words just right)
Liz–first thanks for your apology at the end, as in fact I don’t say “they don’t have a lot that appeals to kids” but rather that other options have more kid appeal than they do. The difference is huge to me–tho not to you :)–as kids will love anyplace they stay at WDW! All the WDW resorts have kid appeal, but some have truly distinctive kid appeal. None of the mods are on this “distinctive” list.
There’s no place at WDW to avoid loud youngsters. They are rarest at Grand FLoridian and Yacht Club, but still there. Among the moderates, they are rarest at Port Orleans French Quarter, whihc might be a great choice for you if it had table service dining–which it doesn’t.
Take a look at this: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2013/03/28/the-moderates-remix/ The issue with the mods is that each has some very basic flaws…
We plan to take our kids for their first trip to Disney next year when they are 3 and 8. We want to stay for 6 nights, so it doesn’t seem worth it to move. If we can catch a good special (25% off or more), we would like to stay at Wilderness Lodge. Otherwise, we are thinking of staying at Port Orleans Riverside in a Royal Room since they appear to be more kid-themed than other room there. What do you think?
Katie, the Royal rooms are indeed the only kid-themed roomed at POR. My review of them is here: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2012/12/30/review-royal-rooms-port-orleans-riverside/ Deals of 20-30% on WL are pretty common unless you are going at a high demand time. WL, overall, is much better than POR on every dimension except rom size–you actually get a more spacious room at POR!
I read somewhere that you can text your room preferences to your Disney resort. How do you do that?
I’m not aware that you can do that, Cyndi. All my text interactions with WDW have been push from them–e.g. room ready, room number, etc. You can sign up for these as a part of on-line check in.
Hi Dave this site is a wealth of information thank you for providing it.
we are making our 1st trip to Disney 14-21st. 3 adults 2 boys 10 and 12. I was trying to price out your recommendation and I am coming out over $700 higher. 5 nights a AA and then 2 nights at Wilderness., but I am open to any combination. I prefer 2 separate rooms need a king bed also. 1 for grandma and boys and then for my husband and myself. I think the family room would be too cramped. I had originally priced it out at POR. Any suggestions you have would be great
thank you
Cynthia, what month?
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