Which resort is a never or never again for you?

[Memorymakerfor4]

After a few stays in banged up rooms, we have made the decision to avoid resorts in need of refurbs, like Boulder Ridge. We're DVC and I can be patient. Old Key West I just didn't care for, but I would consider giving it another chance if I had a car and was not in a studio. We haven't stayed at Beach Club but after visiting for a meal it's low on the list because I have a son with autism and it just doesn't have a great setup for kids like him. Everything seemed to center around Stormalong Bay which was very noisy and keeping an eye on him there would be a nightmare. One of the reasons we like CC so much is it's usually pretty quiet.

 

[Mynamewastaken]

For us, I think the values unless it was a last resort. We love the BC BW area and tend to keep booking there.

 

[LadyBirdV]

I've never stayed at any of the Disney hotels before and am planning a trip next month for my youngest sons birthday. Now I'm wondering if I made the right call and should avoid them. Kind of surprised by all of these reviews.

I wouldn't let this thread discourage you from staying on-property. That the people commenting here have stayed many, many times on property and keep returning is more telling than their gripes with a couple specific resorts. I think you can usually tell beforehand if a resort is going to be for you or not, but some people (like me!) want to try them all anyway! FWIW - I would never stay off property - I need to be totally in the bubble or it's not really a Disney trip , in which case I'd prefer a different type of vacation entirely.

OK so my turn !

Never Again would probably be Animal Kingdom Lodge. I am very glad we stayed there once and we had a good time, I think it's a spectacular resort - love the theme and the restaurants are fab, seeing the animals from your room is awesome - but the hallways are sooo long and it's a pain to get anywhere other than AK. Forgot my sunglasses in the room once when we got to the pool and it was like Noooooooooooooo! DH would probably say it was his favorite though and want to go back in a heartbeat.

Never - Any of the values - we like our downtime in the resort and using the amenities. Probably most moderates well - although we like Fort Wilderness and would go back there. Otherwise, I'd prefer Swan & Dolphin to any moderate. SSR has no appeal for me , looks boring and I don't enjoy Disney Springs.

Probably-but-not-quite-Never : Riviera rooms look BEAUTIFUL to me, but the transportation option of having to rely on the Skyliner to get to 2 parks seems crappy , especially for the price. That line from Epcot to board the skyliner at the end of the night is always sooo long.

 

[redboat45]

I wouldn't let this thread discourage you from staying on-property. That the people commenting here have stayed many, many times on property and keep returning is more telling than their gripes with a couple specific resorts. I think you can usually tell beforehand if a resort is going to be for you or not, but some people (like me!) want to try them all anyway! FWIW - I would never stay off property - I need to be totally in the bubble or it's not really a Disney trip , in which case I'd prefer a different type of vacation entirely.

OK so my turn !

Never Again would probably be Animal Kingdom Lodge. I am very glad we stayed there once and we had a good time, I think it's a spectacular resort - love the theme and the restaurants are fab, seeing the animals from your room is awesome - but the hallways are sooo long and it's a pain to get anywhere other than AK. Forgot my sunglasses in the room once when we got to the pool and it was like Noooooooooooooo! DH would probably say it was his favorite though and want to go back in a heartbeat.

Never - Any of the values - we like our downtime in the resort and using the amenities. Probably most moderates well - although we like Fort Wilderness and would go back there. Otherwise, I'd prefer Swan & Dolphin to any moderate. SSR has no appeal for me , looks boring and I don't enjoy Disney Springs.

Probably-but-not-quite-Never : Riviera rooms look BEAUTIFUL to me, but the transportation option of having to rely on the Skyliner to get to 2 parks seems crappy , especially for the price. That line from Epcot to board the skyliner at the end of the night is always sooo long.

did you just run to the gift shop and buy new glasses instead of going back to the room? I might have done that. lol

 

[jimmymc]

I wouldn't let this thread discourage you from staying on-property. That the people commenting here have stayed many, many times on property and keep returning is more telling than their gripes with a couple specific resorts. I think you can usually tell beforehand if a resort is going to be for you or not, but some people (like me!) want to try them all anyway! FWIW - I would never stay off property - I need to be totally in the bubble or it's not really a Disney trip , in which case I'd prefer a different type of vacation entirely.

OK so my turn !

Never Again would probably be Animal Kingdom Lodge. I am very glad we stayed there once and we had a good time, I think it's a spectacular resort - love the theme and the restaurants are fab, seeing the animals from your room is awesome - but the hallways are sooo long and it's a pain to get anywhere other than AK. Forgot my sunglasses in the room once when we got to the pool and it was like Noooooooooooooo! DH would probably say it was his favorite though and want to go back in a heartbeat.

Never - Any of the values - we like our downtime in the resort and using the amenities. Probably most moderates well - although we like Fort Wilderness and would go back there. Otherwise, I'd prefer Swan & Dolphin to any moderate. SSR has no appeal for me , looks boring and I don't enjoy Disney Springs.

Probably-but-not-quite-Never : Riviera rooms look BEAUTIFUL to me, but the transportation option of having to rely on the Skyliner to get to 2 parks seems crappy , especially for the price. That line from Epcot to board the skyliner at the end of the night is always sooo long.

To defend the Skyliner, that line at the end of the night usually takes 15 minutes at most. It eats up people.

 

[Her Dotness]

I wouldn't let this thread discourage you from staying on-property. That the people commenting here have stayed many, many times on property and keep returning is more telling than their gripes with a couple specific resorts.

To some extent, that most here indicate they've stayed in several resorts over years of returns means they've finetuned their preferences and know pretty well what they like/dislike. That they have can be a fruitful source if you use it.

Some simply don't care for the theming, door-to-outside, other features of certain levels of stay, etc. So, the details given reflect their particular preferences, not necessarily anything inherently wrong with a given resort. In that sense, making a few notes of details people give about a resort you're considering for the first time can be very helpful. When you see things mentioned by more than one person, things that would bother you, that's something to consider.

For example, it is the case that having a car at OKW can be very much better than depending on the internal shuttle and buses to the parks. You can generally park a car quite close to your building (something you can't do at fancy-schmancy VGF). It can really reduce frustration to use your car to the parks from OKW.

Then, watch video tours of the resort itself and of the specific room type you're considering. Check to see if you can find room tours made by guests (more than one if possible) as well as those filmed by professional vloggers. Guest videos often have a much different, more down to earth approach to what works/doesn't work for ordinary people.

All of these will give you a pretty good basis for deciding if the resort will suit you/your family.

I think you can usually tell beforehand if a resort is going to be for you or not, but some people (like me!) want to try them all anyway! FWIW -

And what I've said above is the "homework" that will make it far more likely you can determine a resort is likely to please you/your family. Because I don't think you can tell much by the theming, the photos of a resort, the price--none of those will tell you that parking is a hassle; the buses are mobbed trying to get to ropedrop; the resort is looking shabby and needs a refurb/reno.

 

[jimmymc]

I've never stayed at any of the Disney hotels before and am planning a trip next month for my youngest sons birthday. Now I'm wondering if I made the right call and should avoid them. Kind of surprised by all of these reviews.

I promise most of these reviews are just nitpicking or one time experiences. The thing with Disney World is that there are so many hotels, people are bound to have favorites. Almost all of us regularly stay on property, this is just listing out preferences.

 

[pepperderr]

Let's be honest--some resorts just don't appeal, whether theme, location, level of stay (Value, Moderate, Deluxe), whatever that's not a matter of price.

Mine would be any of the Values--too gaudy for me. And Animal Kingdom anything--yuck!

Don't find the atmosphere or being on the BoardWalk appealing, so no to BoardWalk Inn or Villas.

Stayed at the Contemporary--once was enough. Although, it's kinda ironic that I used to say I didn't like it because it looked like The Incredibles would stay there. And now, it's Incredibles-themed!

Which answer the question for you? (Please! No "Try it! You might like it.")

Shades of Green. We went with my mom back in 2012. It was horrible. We had to walk up and down a big hill and cross the street to get a bus at the Polly. It was not fun, especially for my older mom to have to go back up the hill after a long day at the park in the heat. They told us we could get a golf cart to take us over to the Polly to get the bus but every time we asked, they were too busy or just didn't come. The only restaurant that was open when we got there was an ice cream shop. It was yummy but we were starving and there was just nothing else open. It did look nice. I have to assume that they were under renovations. I am not sure why they were not running buses. It was just one thing after another going wrong when we were there. I will never go there again no matter how much money we would save.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I skimmed through this thread and it was really interesting to see everyone's responses. I agreed with a lot of them and the resorts I kept seeing come up were some of my answers. I never had a really awful experience at a Disney resort where I would say never again but I have no interest in Boardwalk, Riviera and the Contemporary. All 3 of them have themes that I think are boring and kind of sterile looking (Riviera especially).

I'm also not a fan of Old Key West and Saratoga Springs. They don't have the most exciting theming and I don't want to deal with 4-5 bus stops.

 

[kanerf]

I have yet to stay at a DVC that I did not enjoy. I have stayed at all of them except for the Grand Floridian. Probably do that one of these days now that it has another 200 studio units coming on-line. Yes, some are in need of a major refurb. As for the long hallways at AKL, I just ask for near the elevator or near the lobby and I usually get one with a shorter walk. I have never stayed at the values or moderates. Before I got into DVC (first renting via RCI) I always stayed off property, usually HGVC but sometimes Wyndham or HIVC. I still like the penthouse level at HGVC and still own with them so when I finally give up working in the next year or two, I will be able to spend more time in Orlando using my 600+ DVC points and HGVC and Wyndham also. Recently bought some HIVC resale also, so have those to use as well. I think it works out to being able to spend 4-6 months per year in the area, depending on the time of year. Of course as a retiree I would max out the cheapest times like September and Jan - Feb.

 

[bakerworld]

My list has changed over the years but based on where I was when I made the decision:
DH nixed the Values, Coronado and Pop/AoA because they were all too far away. Back in the day we always rented a car and always drove to the parks even tho we've never stayed off property. We started at the Polynesian back in the 70's - loved it then and love it now. The 80's we were having kids. Finally in the 90's we managed to get our (my) act together to afford a return to WDW. It would've been less expensive to stay in a moderate but with 3 kids I opted for a Wilderness Cabin (basically a trailer rental at Fort Wilderness). We vacationed at Fort Wilderness with the kids the first two times we took them to WDW. I loved it for it's privacy and the boat ride to MK. From there we graduated to Dixie Landings (which I think is now part of Port Orleans?). The kids were older, listened better, the room slept 5 with a trundle, they loved it and I was happy. Missing the Polynesian vibe we returned to CBR - like 5 times (yes, illegally but we had a car rental). My preference would've been the Poly but my budget nixed it. With the addition of ME we stopped renting cars which shortened my list to the 'deluxe locations'. After a couple years of that we joined DVC.

So basically we'll won't stay at Values, Moderates, Pop/AoA (I don't know what category that falls into), and I think the Contemporary is outdated and the original A-frame is scary. For park vacations we would not choose AK, SSR, OKW. For non-park we would stay in all of them. DH doesn't like the Boardwalk (plumbing issues), Grand Floridian (Too Dressy), or Wilderness Lodge (transportation issues). Vero was nice but too hard to get to without a car and Hilton Head is a nice stop when driving from PA to FL but I'd prefer not to drive.

 

[masondoggy]

Let's be honest--some resorts just don't appeal, whether theme, location, level of stay (Value, Moderate, Deluxe), whatever that's not a matter of price.

Mine would be any of the Values--too gaudy for me. And Animal Kingdom anything--yuck!

Don't find the atmosphere or being on the BoardWalk appealing, so no to BoardWalk Inn or Villas.

Stayed at the Contemporary--once was enough. Although, it's kinda ironic that I used to say I didn't like it because it looked like The Incredibles would stay there. And now, it's Incredibles-themed!

Which answer the question for you? (Please! No "Try it! You might like it.")

DH and I did our 25th wedding anniversary trip last August. We were booked at Coronado (which we stayed at before and absolutely loved it) but decided for the occasion to splurge a bit and upgrade to a deluxe. I always wanted to stay at a monorail resort so we booked at the Contemporary. We HATED IT. Well, the awful construction was one thing but it just didn't have the relaxing atmosphere that we enjoyed so much at the Coronado. And we found the monorail to really be a PITA in many circumstances like when you have to switch trains to go to Epcot and walk up endless ramps.....with an armful of liquor we had just purchased from the WS. ...Midway into our week we decided to ask to switch back over to the Coronado. We ended up with a room that literally stepped out into the quiet pool. The gate was right at our door and I was in Heaven lol. Stinks we feel like half our week was wasted but so thankful they were able to move us. We really feel like the value you get at the Coronado cannot be beat, especially since the Tower was added. It feels like a deluxe resort to us without the price tag.

Now we're booked again at the Coronado in May for our family trip. Never again, Contemporary. Sorry lol

 

[MaleficentMe]

Oh and MK is my least favorite park (I am a Disneyland girl and our MK is so much better)

TRUTH! (West coast girl, here!)

Regrettably, I've only ever been to WDW once, and we were on a budget. We had a family suite in the Nemo section at AoA. 2 late 40's parents, 2 teenagers. Super close to the lobby and QS, right next to the big blue pool, and a very quick walk to the Skyliner. I had wanted the cabins at FW, but the layout makes no darn sense: why have a separate bedroom if everyone is going to be IN that bedroom? Bedroom is for "parent time!" Sheesh!

The AoA family suite was tolerable (2 bathrooms and a separate room for ma and pa,) but we are very much PARK PEOPLE, so we only came back to the room/pool on a limited basis. I can't imagine spending much more on an even more overpriced room in a Mod or Deluxe when we rarely used it. The only thing that stuck in my craw was the lack of a hot tub. Our last night there, the 4 of us squished up into the bathtub to soak our feet together! Oh, and if you take away the bright and distracting paint jobs from the buildings, they would look extremely institutional!

As much as I would LOVE to try the GF (if it was, ya know, free)I have a feeling it would be a bit stuffy for our family.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Most of the deluxes are inundated with non-resort guests just visiting or eating there

I know this is a really old comment (just found this thread) but you have a really good point especially the deluxe resorts on monorail route.

I know we did a monorail tour of Poly, Contemporary, and Grand Floridian. While we didn't spend too too much time in each one we were ones you'd see just milling about.

Over at The Boardwalk area you're also going to have people who are taking in the theming of the area.

For us a plan we have at the moment is sometime either when we're at Epcot (which is preferable) or DHS next month to take the skyliner over to Riviera to have an afternoon/early evening coffee to mimic what we did when we were in DLR and went to Hearthstone Lounge in Grand Californian to relax and take a peek around the resort. And I know a lot of people are doing this for Riviera as the food options are considered good there and it's access with the skyliner to both Epcot and DHS helps.

I'm not so sure it's that people who are staying at a deluxe resort are using the amenities during the day more than those who are staying elsewhere (especially Value) or is it more that the deluxe resorts tend to draw people to check them out (like touring the grounds, dining at the meal options, sitting in the lobby, etc). The poster who brought it up was mentioning seeing people everywhere at Poly, it's right there on the monorail route and with a popular dining option of 'Ohana. And coincidentally next month we have a tentative plan to go to Trader Sam's with some of our fellow DISers..which is at Poly as well so guess I can take that as an opportunity to again check out Poly.

Most of this I think is not because of the category (value, moderate, deluxe) and rather Disney's strategic placing of the resorts. Sometimes it's strategic options placed at the resort like Sanaa at AKL that allows you the opportunity to see the animals without having to stay there just to have that opportunity.

I do think one added component is DVC where owners may be booking with points but not going into the parks but that is a feature of DVC not necessarily a feature of a level of a resort such that the prior conversation had been framed as.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I agree about resorts with multiple bus stops but I consider All-Stars different than that because there isn't a confusing multi-stop created within each of the All-Stars like some other resorts have. What can be an issue with All-Stars is bus sharing when it comes to being at All-Star Movies since All-Star Sports is picked up first but there is only one bus stop at each resort. I know to others that would be considered the same as multiple bus stops and can see that viewpoint since you enter the All-Star complex then make your way to each All-Star Resort but it's logistically much easier for people staying there to just walk to the front of the lobby and there's the bus stop than some of the other multi-bus stop resorts.

I'd have to say POP and AOA are ones that may never say never on but because the rooms are the same size as the All-Stars for the money I'd rather stay at the All-Stars. The skyliner does not add to the allure there because we like to drive ourselves to the parks so it wouldn't be utilized much to get from the resorts to the parks. I like the theming of AOA though.

I do know that for my husband and I unless it was rented points or some just crazy amazing deal we would not stay at the Deluxe based on price alone, at least at this stage of our lives though I like the theming of a few of them. I am not overly fond of the Contemporary's design as it reminds me of the Luxor in Vegas and that style of rooms has always made me think of the sound issues it could have. Bay Lake Tower doesn't seem bad though.

 

[Smugpugmug]

I agree about resorts with multiple bus stops but I consider All-Stars different than that because there isn't a confusing multi-stop created within each of the All-Stars like some other resorts have. What can be an issue with All-Stars is bus sharing when it comes to being at All-Star Movies since All-Star Sports is picked up first but there is only one bus stop at each resort. I know to others that would be considered the same as multiple bus stops and can see that viewpoint since you enter the All-Star complex then make your way to each All-Star Resort but it's logistically much easier for people staying there to just walk to the front of the lobby and there's the bus stop than some of the other multi-bus stop resorts.

I totally agree with you about the All Stars. If anything, those resorts had the fastest and most reliable bus service out of any resort I stayed at. I stayed at Music for a weekend in November and the longest I waited for a bus was 2 minutes. They're always flooding into that resort so I don't even think they're an issue. Every bus I went on skipped Movies since it was full, even during the middle of the day/early evening.

 

[Stacey Faria]

At one time I wanted to literally try every resort, now not so much! Boardwalk a no for me because I associate it with clowns ! So they may be gone but I still dont care for the vibe. No to Yacht club, been to Beach club - love the location for walking to Epcot but the resort otherwise is only ok - but I will say great when you have young kids, Stormalong bay great for young families. No interest whatsoever in OKW or SS, and I will never ever tent on a disney vacation so no FW. Not too impressed with any of the values, rooms are very small and AOA way too spread out for me. We got stuck due to flights one year and stayed a night in one of the all stars , think it was movies. Anyways too small rooms. Never again. GF, not my thing. Part of the magic for us is the resort, going to the Poly is part of the vacay. I just wish it wasnt so very expensive!! Honestly if I could afford it I would only stay at the Poly . I have always wanted to stay in a split stay at the Contemporary but this thread is making me reconsider that!! Love WL at Christmas time. Enjoyed AKL but too far from everything. Both Port Orleans very nice and probably the only mod I would stay at, but would do a preferred room at POR this time as it is very spread out! Not crazy about the theming at either CS or CB. Would try Riviera but again only on a split stay.

 

[Boardwalk Tigger]

Wow! I love where we have stayed Disney. Boardwalk Inn and Villas are particular favorites as are the Beach Club and Villas, Yacht Club, Dolphin. Loved the Grand Floridian, Wilderness Lodge, Saratoga Springs. Also thought Coronado Springs was nice. I guess the values would be my least choice because I’ve gotten use to higher end Disney resorts but that being said I would gladly stay anywhere on Disney property.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I guess the values would be my least choice because I’ve gotten use to higher end Disney resorts but that being said I would gladly stay anywhere on Disney property.

My thoughts exactly!

 

[ratherbeshiny]

I think I may be the only one so far with this opinion!

For me, the more gaudy, in-your-face, a-Disney-movie-threw-up-in-here theming the better. I want the giant statues, brightly coloured everything, whimsical furniture, music blaring, I want to be inside a cartoon! So I would never select any of the more elegant options, or resorts with a theme that isn't very heavy on IP.

Call me crazy!