Booking a Walt Disney World deluxe hotel
Over the weekend I’ve had a chance to help a couple of London friends with Walt Disney World planning, and in the coming weeks I’ll be posting a number of blog posts with some of the questions we’ve talked through:
Which Walt Disney World hotel is best to stay in?
There are four theme parks and two water parks in Walt Disney World and the area is massive, so your choice of hotel will depend on which area of Walt Disney World you plan to visit on your trip, particularly if you’re only going for a short trip. There are also a large number of Walt Disney World hotels to choose from in a variety of price categories, and below I’ve provided an overview that includes many of the Deluxe Resort Hotels:
Near Magic Kingdom
Magic Kingdom is the park that will typically be a top priority for families with children. If you’re looking for a Disney deluxe hotel that makes it very easy to get to Magic Kingdom, you’re likely to want to consider the three monorail hotels – Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort and Disney’s Contemporary Resort. These hotels are on the monorail resort loop, which means you can board a monorail train at your hotel stop and swiftly get to the Magic Kingdom park entrance. Guests can also get to Epcot by monorail from these hotels, and they would then take the resort loop to the Transportation and Ticketing Centre and change to the Epcot monorail.
In addition, there are options to get to Magic Kingdom by boat from the monorail hotels, and Disney’s Contemporary Resort has a walkway to Magic Kingdom. At the time of writing, it is not possible to walk from the other two hotels to Magic Kingdom, and the walkway is often a deal-breaker for friends booking Disney’s Contemporary.
There is, however, a footpath between Disney’s Polynesian (see photo above) and Disney’s Grand Floridian, which is a bonus for families who enjoy walking to restaurants and dining events, as it gives them more options for meals within walking distance from the hotel room. Another reason to choose Disney’s Polynesian or Disney’s Grand Floridian over Disney’s Contemporary would be the fun pool areas, and this could be a consideration for families planning to spend time at the pool.
Disney’s Wilderness Lodge is a fourth deluxe category hotel in the Magic Kingdom resort area, and this is not on the monorail. The hotel offers boat and bus transportation to Magic Kingdom.
Near Epcot and Hollywood Studios
Another option is to stay in the Epcot resort area, which puts you in proximity to both Epcot and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Since we knew we would be going to both these parks on our next visit, we decided to book a hotel in the Epcot resort area for 2020.
In the Epcot resort area, Disney’s Beach Club Resort, Disney’s Yacht Club Resort and Disney’s BoardWalk Inn are in walking distance from both the international gateway entrance to Epcot and from Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
You have to be willing to walk around 20 minutes to Disney’s Hollywood Studios from these hotels, but if you rent a buggy for the children anyway, this might be a nice way to get to that park too. The hotels would also give you easy access to the restaurants on Disney’s BoardWalk, and the Swan and Dolphin hotels are located around the same lake as these hotels.
Near Animal Kingdom
There are no hotels in walking distance from Disney’s Animal Kingdom (see picture taken at the Kilimanjaro Safari attraction below), and we’ve taken a taxi to Disney’s Animal Kingdom on our past trips. The park is around a 20-minute drive from the Magic Kingdom resort area, giving an indication of the size of the World.
The deluxe category hotel Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge is near Animal Kingdom, but you can’t walk to any Disney park or other resorts from this property. It is still a themed property that I’ve heard great things about from friends who’ve stayed there.
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