Favorite Disney Property in Flordia?

My all time favorite is the Polynesian. Just such a great vibe! Hated the Floridian...too stuffy for kids IMO. You should also look into the Beach Club..they have the BEST pool on the property! It winds all around like a lazy river and there is a zero entry part that is all sand so its like a little beach. Has the best slide also. The BC is in the Boardwalk area so its walking distance/boat ride to Epcot and DHS. There were some others in that area that looked really nice also.

The Animal Kingdom lodge is fantastic. It's great to wake up and look out your window and see real wild animals. We also really love the Wilderness Lodge. Both resorts have fabulous restaurants and great pools. I really enjoyed taking a boat to the Magic Kingdom from the Wilderness Lodge since if you stay on site you will mostly take a bus to get to park to park. We are Vacation Club members and like to break up our trips by going to Vero Beach which is also a Disney property on the coast. It's a great escape from the craziness of the parks yet you still get the Disney quality service and themes.

Have fun!

your kids are young and you need to gear it to them.. you really wont be speading too much time at the resort either. I took my daughter last year to WDW and we went and stayed a Value Resort. The music one and SHE LOVED IT!!!! plus i got it for like $54 a night! I would rather save $200 a night and do something else with that extra cash...

plus they did family activities all day long. movies at the pool everynight. games etc... very affordable and very family friendly. my room was very clean as well and lots of choices to eat from

Hi L.-

We've been twice in the last few years. We stayed at Pop Century when my daughter was 19 months and I was pregnant with my son. It was fine. The other ladies are right in saying that you don't spend much time in your room so it doesn't matter too much. I would say that the drawbacks to staying at a value resort are that it takes longer to get to the parks because they are farther away, when you leave the parks....the value resorts buses are parked the farthest from the park entrances (it feels like a long walk at the end of a long day) and that the food is just ok.

This last trip we stayed at Port Orleans Riverside, my daughter was 3 1/2 and my son was 20 months. We really enjoyed it. The rooms are in need of some sprucing up but the grounds are beautiful. It's a moderate level resort so it's still reasonably priced. It's fairly large so there are multiple bus stops within the resort. You can also take a boat to Downtown Disney from Port Orleans. We thought that the food court was really good. Nice variety of good food. We didn't eat in the sit-down restaurant but have heard good things about it.

When we were planning our last trip, I went on a lot of Disney forum websites asking for advice. Port Orleans was, by far, the most recommended moderate level resort. I think Pop Century was the most recommended value. There are definitely huge benefits to staying at a nicer, deluxe level resort, but we just couldn't justify spending the money. Someday we'd like to stay at a resort on the monorail.....probably the Polynesian.

Good luck in your planning! Feel free to send me a message if you have other questions! I love to talk about Disney!

Here are some other websites that are great for planning:

www.intercot.com (a forum website with lots of great info and you can post questions)

www.allears.net (has great info about dining and it includes menus and prices)

Have fun!

We go every year, and have stayed at most of the properties. My absolute favorite is the Beach Club!!! The pool is like nothing else (sand on the bottom), and it is so nice to be able to walk to Epcot and take a boat to Hollywood Studios. We now are Vacation Club Members and own at the Contemporary. It is very nice as well, but it doesn't have the same vibe that we got at the Beach Club. (We are actually going to eventually buy into the Beach Club again because we just love it so much!) Everything about the Beach Club is just wonderful!

P.S. Saw another mom mention Animal Kingdom Lodge...haven't stayed there, but you have to take a bus to everything! A major downfall! But I agree with her that the Wilderness Lodge is also really cool. They have their version of Old Faithful that goes off every hour, and the pool is also pretty neat!

We mainily stay in the Value resorts because we are never in our room anyway. Our favorite out of those is PoP Century. (we'll be there in Oct 2011) I love the theming and that it has it's own busline it doesn't share with the other resorts. Also it's the newest out of the Values until the new Art of Animation opens in 2012. A great resource is disboards.com where you can check out reviews of the resorts.

We've been a total of 8 times I think and EVERY time was at the Polynesian and it is our favorite hands down. I could stay at the Polynesian and never go anywhere else and have a blast.

We've stayed in all types of rooms. Our favorite was the Concierge building. Costs more but the added perks are worth it. Snacks and drinks are available 24/7 (included in price of room) there is a breakfast, small lunch, small dinner foods, and dessert times daily.

We got a private safari at Animal Kingdom via concierge which was awesome. Only conceirge guests have options for some things like this and it was so worth the $200 for 4 ppl.

You can boat taxi or monorail to the MK quickly. It is on the monorail line which is very convenient as well.

The Grand Floridian is on the monorail line and VERY nice. It is very country clubbish. I love my country club at home but on vacation I prefer to chill out. GF can be a little stiff.

Daughter watches the travel channel and the concierge rooms at Animal Kingdom overlook the animals. Sounds cool!!

Plan everything well in advance, from dinners, safaris, anything private. Enjoy!!! We made many good memories there.

We have stayed at Coronado Springs and Animal Kingdom Lodge and liked them both. Animal Kingdom was probably our favorite.

Coronado Springs has basic rooms - two double beds, shower/tub, sink, and small fridge. It's set up more like a motel. The pool is beautiful and has areas for kids to have fun. The quick serve dining area is probably one of the best out of all the Disney resorts for their variety of dishes. The restaurant/table service dining is also really good. And, Coronado Springs is centrally located between all the Disney attractions so no matter which park you are headed to it's just a short bus ride away.

Animal Kingdom is a beautiful hotel to stay at. My kids loved waking up and seeing a giraffe or zebra outside their window. A lot of folks seemed to enjoy sitting on their balconies and watching the wildlife. The pool area was nice, quick serve dining was good (but didn't have the variety of choices like Coronado Springs). The signature dining restaurant - Jiko - was incredible! One thing I loved about Animal Kingdom was some of their rooms came with a queen sized bed and a set of bunk beds - so each kids could have their own bed. (For us, it eliminated a lot of bedtime squabbling.) Transporation was easy - just hop on the right bus. In the evening, take a stroll out past the pool where "game wardens" have night vision goggles to view the animals. The kids thought that was cool.

No matter where you stay, however, remember as long as you are a Disney guest at one of the resorts you are able to enjoy any of the amenities at the other locations. You can stay at Pop Century and go use the pool over at Coronado Springs then head over in the evening for dinner at Animal Kingdom followed by a stroll out to see the animals.

Have fun!!!

We stayed at the Grand Floridian and Polynesian pre-kids, loved both! We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge w/ our 3 kids who were ages 1, 3 and 5 at the time and absolutely loved it! Great food, super family-friendly, nice pool area, and beautiful room. Only downsides were pretty long lines for the serve-yourself dining and long waits for the bus service to the parks. I think you can't go wrong w/ any Disney property, they just do it up so great, first class all the way. Have a wonderful trip!:)