Have some fun: Where should we stay?

saraheliz

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 19, 2009
Here's the scenario: we have a very generous offer from extended family member to cover the cost of our accommodations at Disney for an April 2021 trip. Question is, where? (No, I don't need to decide quite yet, but if we decide to rent points, we'll need to decide in the next few months so I want to start the conversation with DH).
Details:
April 16/17ish-24ish, 2021 (either 7 or 8 nights, moveable a day later but not earlier)
Family of 5 (Myself, DH, DD13, DD11, DS5 at the time)
Open to renting DVC points or booking through Disney (hopefully with a discount kicked in at some point but I know that's no guarantee)
Would like to stay under $5000 (spending less is good, but doesn't free up room in the budget for other stuff- it's a straight up offer to cover accommodations- although if we stayed way under budget she might through us a GC to help with food or similar)
Can't quite decide what the priority is- location, transportation, space, amenities...although my gut says no Boardwalk/BC/YC due to lack of QS food options. With three kids I want to have a decent QS option at the resort. I'm open to arguments on what else is most important though.
Will probably do 6-7 park days- 2+ MK days, 2 EP days, 1-2 HS day, 1 AK day
No full resort day but I'd say we'll spend some time there- our room won't just be a place to lay our head.

Our last trip was 2018 (just myself and the older two) and we stayed at AoA LM room, loved AoA (much more than POP many years prior). We've stayed at POR twice as a family and enjoyed it there, too, but looking for a change this time.

I asked a similar question awhile back about looking for family of 5 but was definitely needing to take budget more into the equation, we now have more wiggle room. Current contenders are Poly Studio, AKL 1 bedroom, BLT 1 bedroom, Contemporary regular room, WL studio, AoA suite? I really wish there were 1 bedrooms at WL that would sleep 5 but alas, there isn't. Open to any other ideas, too! This will be our last big family Disney trip (and my youngest's first trip) for awhile so want to make it amazing!!
 
AKL 1 bedroom only sleeps 4. The Poly studio and regular Poly rooms sleep 5. The studio has 1 queen, a pull out sofa and a pull down Murphy type bed. I think I’d go with a regular room with 2 queens and the day bed. That extra half bathroom (no toilet) I think takes up living room. But it does have a fridge and microwave & toaster which would be handy for breakfasts. Depends what your needs are.

Poly has great transportation with boat or monorail to MK, and a short walk to the TTC for the Epcot monorail. Great dining options at Poly, and being on the monorail it’s easy to get to other dining options in the MK resorts.
Love being able to see the castle while swimming in the pool or on the beach.
It would be my pick!
Tokelau is a great location. We stayed in that longhouse before it was DVC.
 
AKL 1 bedroom only sleeps 4. The Poly studio and regular Poly rooms sleep 5. The studio has 1 queen, a pull out sofa and a pull down Murphy type bed. I think I’d go with a regular room with 2 queens and the day bed. That extra half bathroom (no toilet) I think takes up living room. But it does have a fridge and microwave & toaster which would be handy for breakfasts. Depends what your needs are.

Poly has great transportation with boat or monorail to MK, and a short walk to the TTC for the Epcot monorail. Great dining options at Poly, and being on the monorail it’s easy to get to other dining options in the MK resorts.
Love being able to see the castle while swimming in the pool or on the beach.
It would be my pick!
Tokelau is a great location. We stayed in that longhouse before it was DVC.

I'm confused, I thought at least the 1 bedrooms at Kidani at AK slept 5?
I had been leaning hard towards the Poly before we got this offer and started considering other options that are a bit pricier. I feel like the extra half bathroom at the Poly might be the difference maker with some toilet dawdlers in my family, I just can't decide how we'll all do in one space for the week and if it's worth giving up convenience for space/privacy.
 


We stayed in a Poly studio last time we went and overall we loved it. It’s not without its disadvantages though. The studio room doesn’t have a lot of storage and some of it is in awkward spots (my clothes were in a trunk that served as the coffee table so whenever I needed to grab stuff I had to take everything off of it). The two bathrooms were nice but the half-bath is a little small and the full is massive. I wish they would have carved into that full bath to create more storage space. So sometimes the mornings were a bit of a clown show getting out.

The flip side is the location though! It was great having at least two options to get to and back from the MK at all times. Sometimes we’d be waiting for the monorail leaving MK and notice the boat was there so we could easily make our way back and weren’t tied to one or the other. Also going through security before getting on the monorail on the way to MK at the Poly was convenient. Our kids were 8 and 6 at the time and it was nice not having to go through a bigger security line with them. We had stayed at the Contemporary the trip before and while it was cool to have the monorail go right through, the elevator up the platform was a bottleneck.

We stayed at Tokelau and the walk to the TTC was pretty manageable for all of us. Also I believe the laundry machines are in the next longhouse over so that wasn’t a major issue for us. Also we could see the fireworks from our balcony so it was nice to have the kids get into their PJs and watch or make our way to the beach and watch them as well.

The QS option (Capt. Cooks) was fine for our picky kids and they had some interesting Pacific Islander spins on typical fare for my wife and I as well. It’s fairly small inside but there are lots of areas outside to eat. I know others have mentioned the fact that the Poly is pretty much all outdoors as a negative but we loved it being from New England. Everyone loved ‘Ohana so much so that that was the first ADR we made for upcoming April trip.

Overall I loved it! I grew up always wanting to stay there (my family went to Disney the first time in the late 70s and I always wanted to go to the luau). It has so much history itself as one of the original resorts it and really does remind me of being in Hawaii. I’ll remember sitting in the hot tub at the oasis pool, with the music playing, watching the palm trees swaying, and the clouds go by for a long time.
 
I'm confused, I thought at least the 1 bedrooms at Kidani at AK slept 5?
I had been leaning hard towards the Poly before we got this offer and started considering other options that are a bit pricier. I feel like the extra half bathroom at the Poly might be the difference maker with some toilet dawdlers in my family, I just can't decide how we'll all do in one space for the week and if it's worth giving up convenience for space/privacy.
AKV Kidani 1BR villas do sleep 5. Plus they have 2 full bathrooms.
 
Here's the scenario: we have a very generous offer from extended family member to cover the cost of our accommodations at Disney for an April 2021 trip. Question is, where? (No, I don't need to decide quite yet, but if we decide to rent points, we'll need to decide in the next few months so I want to start the conversation with DH).
Details:
April 16/17ish-24ish, 2021 (either 7 or 8 nights, moveable a day later but not earlier)
Family of 5 (Myself, DH, DD13, DD11, DS5 at the time)
Open to renting DVC points or booking through Disney (hopefully with a discount kicked in at some point but I know that's no guarantee)
Would like to stay under $5000 (spending less is good, but doesn't free up room in the budget for other stuff- it's a straight up offer to cover accommodations- although if we stayed way under budget she might through us a GC to help with food or similar)
Can't quite decide what the priority is- location, transportation, space, amenities...although my gut says no Boardwalk/BC/YC due to lack of QS food options. With three kids I want to have a decent QS option at the resort. I'm open to arguments on what else is most important though.
Will probably do 6-7 park days- 2+ MK days, 2 EP days, 1-2 HS day, 1 AK day
No full resort day but I'd say we'll spend some time there- our room won't just be a place to lay our head.

Our last trip was 2018 (just myself and the older two) and we stayed at AoA LM room, loved AoA (much more than POP many years prior). We've stayed at POR twice as a family and enjoyed it there, too, but looking for a change this time.

I asked a similar question awhile back about looking for family of 5 but was definitely needing to take budget more into the equation, we now have more wiggle room. Current contenders are Poly Studio, AKL 1 bedroom, BLT 1 bedroom, Contemporary regular room, WL studio, AoA suite? I really wish there were 1 bedrooms at WL that would sleep 5 but alas, there isn't. Open to any other ideas, too! This will be our last big family Disney trip (and my youngest's first trip) for awhile so want to make it amazing!!

I would consider putting a RIV studio or 1-bedroom on that list. We just stayed in a 1-bedroom, standard view there in December and it was fantastic. The room is huge and the pull-down beds were much more comfortable than the pull-outs you'll find in most of the other DVC units. The QS, while busy, had really good food and the Skyliner is super convenient to both DHS and EP. We booked with cash through WDW at a substantial discount. If they continue discounting the resort as they are now with current promos, you should be able to, at the very least, get a studio there within your budget. Otherwise, I wouldn't throw BCV, BC or YC off your list. We absolutely love that location (BCV in particular) and, while Marketplace can get crowded, they had decent food options. The QS option at YC has been upgraded as well.
 


BLT 1BR - 2 full bathrooms, walk to MK, monorail to EP, bus/Lyft/Minnie Van to other parks. Good QS and easy to monorail to other restaurants.

AK Kidani 1BR - 2 full bathrooms, QS at Jambo house (walk or take shuttle there), bus/Lyft/Minnie Van to all parks.

OKW 1 or 2BR - Large space, 2 queens in second bedroom in 2BR unit, QS not as convenient depending on what building you are in.
 
I'm confused, I thought at least the 1 bedrooms at Kidani at AK slept 5?
I had been leaning hard towards the Poly before we got this offer and started considering other options that are a bit pricier. I feel like the extra half bathroom at the Poly might be the difference maker with some toilet dawdlers in my family, I just can't decide how we'll all do in one space for the week and if it's worth giving up convenience for space/privacy.
Oh, sorry. You said AKL so I was looking up studios at AKL, not Kidani.
Here’s the Kidani studio writeStudio – Sleeps up to four, Queen-size bed, plus full-size sleeper sofa, Flat-panel TV and DVD player, Wet bar, small refrigerator, microwave and coffee maker, Private balcony, 366 sq. ft. in Kidani Village.
 
I would consider putting a RIV studio or 1-bedroom on that list. We just stayed in a 1-bedroom, standard view there in December and it was fantastic. The room is huge and the pull-down beds were much more comfortable than the pull-outs you'll find in most of the other DVC units. The QS, while busy, had really good food and the Skyliner is super convenient to both DHS and EP. We booked with cash through WDW at a substantial discount. If they continue discounting the resort as they are now with current promos, you should be able to, at the very least, get a studio there within your budget. Otherwise, I wouldn't throw BCV, BC or YC off your list. We absolutely love that location (BCV in particular) and, while Marketplace can get crowded, they had decent food options. The QS option at YC has been upgraded as well.

Thanks, I'll take a look! I'm not 100% sold on the skyliner but maybe I'll get there. :) A nice shiny new resort would be fun.
 
We did an AKL Studio for our honeymoon and would jump on the chance to do an AKL 1 bd. 2 bathrooms says it all. I don't think you can go wrong with their Kidani or Jambo House BUT Jambo has the QS location ( Kidani doesn't have a full service QS ) and you can't beat the wow factor with the lobby at the Jambo House.
 
Here's the scenario: we have a very generous offer from extended family member to cover the cost of our accommodations at Disney for an April 2021 trip. Question is, where? (No, I don't need to decide quite yet, but if we decide to rent points, we'll need to decide in the next few months so I want to start the conversation with DH).
Details:
April 16/17ish-24ish, 2021 (either 7 or 8 nights, moveable a day later but not earlier)
Family of 5 (Myself, DH, DD13, DD11, DS5 at the time)
Open to renting DVC points or booking through Disney (hopefully with a discount kicked in at some point but I know that's no guarantee)
Would like to stay under $5000 (spending less is good, but doesn't free up room in the budget for other stuff- it's a straight up offer to cover accommodations- although if we stayed way under budget she might through us a GC to help with food or similar)
Can't quite decide what the priority is- location, transportation, space, amenities...although my gut says no Boardwalk/BC/YC due to lack of QS food options. With three kids I want to have a decent QS option at the resort. I'm open to arguments on what else is most important though.
Will probably do 6-7 park days- 2+ MK days, 2 EP days, 1-2 HS day, 1 AK day
No full resort day but I'd say we'll spend some time there- our room won't just be a place to lay our head.

Our last trip was 2018 (just myself and the older two) and we stayed at AoA LM room, loved AoA (much more than POP many years prior). We've stayed at POR twice as a family and enjoyed it there, too, but looking for a change this time.

I asked a similar question awhile back about looking for family of 5 but was definitely needing to take budget more into the equation, we now have more wiggle room. Current contenders are Poly Studio, AKL 1 bedroom, BLT 1 bedroom, Contemporary regular room, WL studio, AoA suite? I really wish there were 1 bedrooms at WL that would sleep 5 but alas, there isn't. Open to any other ideas, too! This will be our last big family Disney trip (and my youngest's first trip) for awhile so want to make it amazing!!
We'd do BLT 1 bedroom. We'd also be excited for Poly and/or BC - I agree their lack of decent CS is aggravating (would be the biggest reason we would hesitate to stay there again, other than price) but Hurricane Hannah's does have your typical cs options and the pool is awesome.
 
Wow! that is a generous offer! LUCKY YOU!

I would do BLT one bedroom as first choice (renting points) with the CR regular rooms as backup (in case you don't get the one bedroom at BLT). WE LOVE CR and BLT! It is so great with kids to be able to walk to the MK. Contempo Cafe is the best quick service in the MK area, IMO, and the room at CR as well as the one bedroom at BLT are fantastic! The walk way to the CR is more convenient than you would think. The BLT one bedroom will give you a full kitchen and laundry in your room and two bathrooms. It is fantastic! LOVE THE LAKE VIEW! we had a room with a view of the lake to the right and the MK to the left. We could watch the fireworks from the balcony whenever we wanted. :love: this has to be the best value in WDW! The full kitchen. helped with dining expenses and gave us a true feeling of being at home in the evenings. We simply loved staying at BLT with our little ones. SO Convenient!!!!!

Staying in the CR will give you a large comfortable room with two queens and a daybed for sleeping. We really liked the dining options (LOVE Cali Grill) and found the monorail or boat to nearby resorts to be convenient when we wanted. to go elsewhere for dining. the kids loved that the monorail goes through the resort! PLUS: You will be assured of a great balcony if you opt to stay in the tower. Either view is just spectacular! We switch back and forth between them as we love seeing the fireworks from our room, but the view of Bay Lake is peaceful and beautiful and just can't be beat!

Of course any MK resort is awesome! However, the Poly studios are nowhere near as nice as. a BLT one bedroom, IMO.

I would also consider a VGF one bedroom, if you are able to snag one!

Have fun choosing!
 
Wow! that is a generous offer! LUCKY YOU!

I would do BLT one bedroom as first choice (renting points) with the CR regular rooms as backup (in case you don't get the one bedroom at BLT). WE LOVE CR and BLT! It is so great with kids to be able to walk to the MK. Contempo Cafe is the best quick service in the MK area, IMO, and the room at CR as well as the one bedroom at BLT are fantastic! The walk way to the CR is more convenient than you would think. The BLT one bedroom will give you a full kitchen and laundry in your room and two bathrooms. It is fantastic! LOVE THE LAKE VIEW! we had a room with a view of the lake to the right and the MK to the left. We could watch the fireworks from the balcony whenever we wanted. :love: this has to be the best value in WDW! The full kitchen. helped with dining expenses and gave us a true feeling of being at home in the evenings. We simply loved staying at BLT with our little ones. SO Convenient!!!!!

Staying in the CR will give you a large comfortable room with two queens and a daybed for sleeping. We really liked the dining options (LOVE Cali Grill) and found the monorail or boat to nearby resorts to be convenient when we wanted. to go elsewhere for dining. the kids loved that the monorail goes through the resort! PLUS: You will be assured of a great balcony if you opt to stay in the tower. Either view is just spectacular! We switch back and forth between them as we love seeing the fireworks from our room, but the view of Bay Lake is peaceful and beautiful and just can't be beat!

Of course any MK resort is awesome! However, the Poly studios are nowhere near as nice as. a BLT one bedroom, IMO.

I would also consider a VGF one bedroom, if you are able to snag one!

Have fun choosing!

Thank you so much for all of your thoughts! I keep hesitating on BLT because of the cost, but I keep getting told that it doesn't matter and that I should plan an "epic" trip. Lol. We are very lucky. This same family member fully funded my girls and I going two years ago to Disney. She's not able to travel a lot but loves seeing us enjoy ourselves. I do think the BLT one bedroom, if we can get it, will be our best to keep everyone happy, as much as I love the thought of the atmosphere at the poly.
 
If having a good QS option is important, Captain Cook's is supposedly one of the best QS locations on property at the Polynesian. I haven't stayed there, but have always wanted to (and recently bought DVC there!!), and in all the research I've done given my purchase, this is one of the things I've found. Also, the Tambu Lounge shares a kitchen with Ohana. BLT has its plusses too though. I would say you won't be disappointed in either, but I'm also a huge fan of the Crescent Lake resorts, primarily because of their proximity to Epcot and Hollywood. Any time I don't have to take a bus to a park is a win for me. AKL is a bus everywhere though I have heard its an amazing resort. Basically, if you are going to stay in a deluxe or DVC property, you will be happy no matter where it is.
 
If having a good QS option is important, Captain Cook's is supposedly one of the best QS locations on property at the Polynesian. I haven't stayed there, but have always wanted to (and recently bought DVC there!!), and in all the research I've done given my purchase, this is one of the things I've found. Also, the Tambu Lounge shares a kitchen with Ohana. BLT has its plusses too though. I would say you won't be disappointed in either, but I'm also a huge fan of the Crescent Lake resorts, primarily because of their proximity to Epcot and Hollywood. Any time I don't have to take a bus to a park is a win for me. AKL is a bus everywhere though I have heard its an amazing resort. Basically, if you are going to stay in a deluxe or DVC property, you will be happy no matter where it is.

Yes, would love to stay close to Epcot but the room options just aren't good- I could overlook the lack of QS and get park hoppers to eat more at Epcot but cramming into a studio with one bathroom for the week AND lack of QS would be tough to sell, especially if someone else is funding the budget for a little more space. :) I really wish the one bedrooms there slept 5! My dream resort is actually Wilderness Lodge but same issue there. I really wish Disney had better options for families of 5.
 
I recommend renting points and trying for a 2 bedroom standard view at BLT, I rented that room type for 6 nights in May and it was spectacular. Great location, great transportation, lots of dining options (QS was great), and we could still see fireworks from our balconies. You'd have tons of space and ample areas for everyone to sleep, plus 3 bathrooms, a full kitchen, and washer/dryer.
 
Fitting 5 people in a studio is difficult, but if you are going to do it, Poly is the way to go given the space in the room and the 2 showers (1 toilet). However, I agree with Sarahslay that the 2 bedroom at BLT is a very good option if money is not overly important. If you rent points, that'll cost you around $8,200 for the dates you gave, where a Poly studio is going to be less than half that ($3,900), so you could even get 2 Poly studios for $400 less for 8 nights. You can get adjoining rooms and it'll be just like having a 2 bedroom, except you won't have the common area or full kitchen, but the Poly studios are huge, so space wouldn't be an issue.
 
Would you consider the possibility of a suite at the Dolphin? Epcot area with a quick service restaurant.
 

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