Orlando/Disneyworld Thread (Part 3)

KarenG

socrates wrote: »

Probably around $200-300 and flying from London

Someone else will have to help with the flights.

You could stay at a Disney Moderate resort (Caribbean Beach, one of two Port Orleans resorts, Coronado Springs), or one of the two Deluxe Villa resorts that Disney pretty permanently discount which are Old Key West and Saratoga Springs.

As there is already loads of great info on the latter two on this thread, especially from Blue Monkey, just have a read of the last couple of pages.

wannabe_moneysaver

Wow Karen, that is great, excellent info. I think I would view your pro's and con's as the same, I mean they would be pros and cons to me too. As I've said, the size of OKW was putting me off a bit as we won't be hiring a car and like you say, a stroll is handier than waiting for a bus.

I don't want to cook at all and suspect we'd mostly eat at the parks but I guess having the better food options would be an advantage.

Having a bigger room would obviously be better, it would be good to see example layouts of the 2, if such a thing exists, I haven't seen much room size info on the Disney website? We've only ever stayed on I-Drive so just have those size/type rooms in my head. I think I've read so many reviews on trip advisor etc that it has confused me even more!

Thanks again!

wannabe_moneysaver

One more thing please Karen, can I ask why you chose FQ over Riverside please? Thanks.

KarenG

Back again :j

I have some photos of OKW & POFQ but I'm not sure how easy it is to upload them here. Have you had a look on All Ears, great photos there:

POFQ (loads of room shots):
http://allears.net/acc/g_po.htm

OKW (ditto)
http://allears.net/acc/g_okw.htm

I think my children were a similar age to yours when we stayed at POFQ and they really loved the pool which had a tameish slide. The one at OKW goes quite fast (and is GREAT fun) but depending on how confident your little ones are in the water, may be less appealing? I think overall though I prefer the OKW pool(s).

POFQ rooms are a similar shape to most hotel rooms, it's just the OKW ones that are a bit different (not in a bad way).

When my children were younger we did really like having a balcony to sit out on when they'd settled into bed - so for me that would be a plus for OKW.

Do you know, I can't honestly remember why we went for FQ rather than Riverside? I think I liked the look of them equally and FQ was available for Free Dining and Riverside wasn't.

Riverside is lovely too though, and you can use all the facilities over there as well - we preferred the water slide there as it was longer and faster. Also I prefer the theme at Riverside but it is massive which can be a drawback.

Not sure if I've helped there really, sorry!

KarenG

Found the layout at last!

http://allears.net/acc/okw/okwstudiolayout.jpg OKW

wannabe_moneysaver

Karen, thanks so much for the info and the links. I really appreciate you taking the time. I note what you say about sitting out on the balcony once the kids are in bed, sounds great. I think I'll be having a long discussion with dh tonight, lol! Thanks ever so much again :beer:

FluffyFiFi

KarenG wrote: »

Yes, you can use the transport, no problem at all.

For the "best" view of the fireworks, I would suggest one of the Magic Kingdom resorts. The better ones are: California Grill (Contemporary), Narcoossee's (Grand Floridian) and Citrico's (Grand Floridian). All will do steak and seafood.
.

Thanks for this KarenG, I have had a look at these and really like the look of Narcoossee's. Do you know if we can leave the car at the Grand Floridian and get the transport over to the Magic Kingdom then come back later in the evening for our meal?

betsie

We are going to Riverside in October and can't wait ( just twigged I am now going to Disney this year!!). Some friends have just come back (went start Dec it was freezing), they stayed at Riverside and said it was fab and they loved getting the boat taxi's much more relaxing than the bus. They said it was beautiful and would definately go back. Even more excited now.
We booked to come back premium economy with virgin (cant afford it both ways) as my OH hopes he will get some sleep and wanted to sit up stairs but we are on one of the new planes coming home and they don't have an upstairs which is a bit of a bummer. But I am hoping that the fact the plane is new (I think they start using them in the spring) will compensate for the fact we are not upstairs.

vivatifosi

wannabe_moneysaver wrote: »

Wow Karen, that is great, excellent info. I think I would view your pro's and con's as the same, I mean they would be pros and cons to me too. As I've said, the size of OKW was putting me off a bit as we won't be hiring a car and like you say, a stroll is handier than waiting for a bus.

I don't want to cook at all and suspect we'd mostly eat at the parks but I guess having the better food options would be an advantage.

Having a bigger room would obviously be better, it would be good to see example layouts of the 2, if such a thing exists, I haven't seen much room size info on the Disney website? We've only ever stayed on I-Drive so just have those size/type rooms in my head. I think I've read so many reviews on trip advisor etc that it has confused me even more!

Thanks again!

I'm a member at OKW, wannabe. I'm a bit sad, because when I fancy going somewhere different on holiday I quite often go to, erm, PO:o, though prefer Riverside to French Quarter.

Everything that Karen and BM have said is entirely valid. The studio at OKW is bigger than the rooms at PO and a benefit for me is that you aren't looking out at a car park. Not only do you get a balcony at OKW, you generally (with a few exceptions) get a window on two aspects, making the rooms much lighter. Some corner rooms at PO have dual aspect rooms as they are on corners, but there are fewer of these.

When we stay at OKW but don't have a car, quite often we'll get a bus back from the parks to one of the other big moderates (Caribbean Beach, PO or Coronado Springs), have something to eat and then switch back to the resort via Downtown. This is very easy.

KarenG

FluffyFiFi wrote: »

Thanks for this KarenG, I have had a look at these and really like the look of Narcoossee's. Do you know if we can leave the car at the Grand Floridian and get the transport over to the Magic Kingdom then come back later in the evening for our meal?

I'm a bit clueless on this as we always stay onsite and get free parking, but I think you can only stay at a resort's car park for up to three hours (??). This is to stop people going to the theme parks parking there for free and taking the monorail to the parks to avoid the fees. I think you can valet park all day at the Grand Floridian but I'm not sure of the cost (comparable to the daily parking fee at least I would think).

So you could park in the MK car park, go to MK, go to GF for meal, and then catch monorail back to your car when you've finished there......?

Not much help, sorry.