prouddaddycdn
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Apr 5, 2017
Just came back from our first family trip to WDW since 2019. We are Canadians and had our 2020 trip(s) cancelled unfortunately due to the pandemic and border closures but finally were able to get back "home" from Aug 24th to Sept 4th.
We had a bunch of banked DVC points and decided to go all out for this trip by staying in 2 bedroom accommodations as much as possible. This may seem extravagant for a family of 4 but our two kids of 12 and 15 LOVED having their own beds in a dedicated bedroom and I think this will likely be how we DVC from now on!
First part of the stay was 4 nights at Riviera in a standard view 2 bedroom and I LOVED this resort! The layout of the rooms was fantastic and the storage options were surprising. The vibe of the resort is very chill and we all loved the bocce court, the pool bar, the chess area and the beauty of the resort in general. I also loved running around the Caribbean Beach Resort each morning before the heat kicked in and found the area to be just as nice to run at as that of Crescent Lake. If I were to nitpick one item, it would be the size of the pools. They just seemed too small for the size of resort in general but the areas themselves were stunning and had a variety of seating options. In short, it was tough to leave this resort after 4 wonderful nights and I would love to add points here in the future if money permits.
Second leg of the trip was for 4 nights at Beach Club in a 2 bedroom overlooking the pool. Beach Club has always been a family favourite and we enjoyed our time here but it fell a little flat in comparison to Riviera. I know this is an apples to oranges / old vs new comparison but the room layout of the 2 bedroom had some noticeable limitations in comparison to Riviera. There is a big lack of storage options and the 5 doors positioned all around the main bathroom drove us nuts. That said, the Crescent Lake area can't be beat and we loved our time at the main pool during the extremely hot afternoons. Food options were limited due to the pandemic which was disappointing but understandable and we still enjoyed our stay immensely but I think next time I will skip Beach Club in favour of Riviera if the availability is there.
Last leg of the trip was at the Poly and after spending 8 nights in 2 bedroom accommodations, we were VERY worried about cramming into a studio! Poly is my wife's absolute favourite resort and the whole trip centred around securing a studio for 3 nights and unfortunately those 3 nights were only available during the end of our stay. I spent each morning and night of the trip refreshing the DVC website for additional Poly availability and as luck would have it, on the night just prior to check-in, was able to secure a second studio for our 3 night stay and have them adjoin so that the kids could share one studio and the adults could occupy the other. This worked out surprisingly VERY well and aside from a general lack of storage areas, was another favourite part of the trip. We were put up at Pago Pago with a lacklustre parking lot view but we didn't mind this since the rooms were the newly refurbished models and we were the first people to stay in these two rooms. Having 2 studios side by side was lovely and I will definitely stay this way at Poly from now on.
I won't go into how things were "different" and a little "off" feeling at Disney during this trip as I think that "different" is to be expected given the circumstances. I will just say that we loved our time being back "home" and it re-filled our Disney bucket so to speak. Having never stayed in 2 bedroom accommodations before, this trip was a real treat and I think it will serve as the standard moving forward. I don't mind still booking a 1 bedroom that sleeps 5 people for shorter trips such as runDisney events, but the 2 bedroom or 2 adjoining studios will be what we try to book for longer trips.
Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day.
We had a bunch of banked DVC points and decided to go all out for this trip by staying in 2 bedroom accommodations as much as possible. This may seem extravagant for a family of 4 but our two kids of 12 and 15 LOVED having their own beds in a dedicated bedroom and I think this will likely be how we DVC from now on!
First part of the stay was 4 nights at Riviera in a standard view 2 bedroom and I LOVED this resort! The layout of the rooms was fantastic and the storage options were surprising. The vibe of the resort is very chill and we all loved the bocce court, the pool bar, the chess area and the beauty of the resort in general. I also loved running around the Caribbean Beach Resort each morning before the heat kicked in and found the area to be just as nice to run at as that of Crescent Lake. If I were to nitpick one item, it would be the size of the pools. They just seemed too small for the size of resort in general but the areas themselves were stunning and had a variety of seating options. In short, it was tough to leave this resort after 4 wonderful nights and I would love to add points here in the future if money permits.
Second leg of the trip was for 4 nights at Beach Club in a 2 bedroom overlooking the pool. Beach Club has always been a family favourite and we enjoyed our time here but it fell a little flat in comparison to Riviera. I know this is an apples to oranges / old vs new comparison but the room layout of the 2 bedroom had some noticeable limitations in comparison to Riviera. There is a big lack of storage options and the 5 doors positioned all around the main bathroom drove us nuts. That said, the Crescent Lake area can't be beat and we loved our time at the main pool during the extremely hot afternoons. Food options were limited due to the pandemic which was disappointing but understandable and we still enjoyed our stay immensely but I think next time I will skip Beach Club in favour of Riviera if the availability is there.
Last leg of the trip was at the Poly and after spending 8 nights in 2 bedroom accommodations, we were VERY worried about cramming into a studio! Poly is my wife's absolute favourite resort and the whole trip centred around securing a studio for 3 nights and unfortunately those 3 nights were only available during the end of our stay. I spent each morning and night of the trip refreshing the DVC website for additional Poly availability and as luck would have it, on the night just prior to check-in, was able to secure a second studio for our 3 night stay and have them adjoin so that the kids could share one studio and the adults could occupy the other. This worked out surprisingly VERY well and aside from a general lack of storage areas, was another favourite part of the trip. We were put up at Pago Pago with a lacklustre parking lot view but we didn't mind this since the rooms were the newly refurbished models and we were the first people to stay in these two rooms. Having 2 studios side by side was lovely and I will definitely stay this way at Poly from now on.
I won't go into how things were "different" and a little "off" feeling at Disney during this trip as I think that "different" is to be expected given the circumstances. I will just say that we loved our time being back "home" and it re-filled our Disney bucket so to speak. Having never stayed in 2 bedroom accommodations before, this trip was a real treat and I think it will serve as the standard moving forward. I don't mind still booking a 1 bedroom that sleeps 5 people for shorter trips such as runDisney events, but the 2 bedroom or 2 adjoining studios will be what we try to book for longer trips.
Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day.
