Reply To: Florida recommendations

[The real Swiss Tony]

JD wrote:

The real Swiss Tony wrote:

And I’ll add a +1 to the idea of swapping the WA for one of the top end disney resorts, too. It won’t be as good as the WA but the convenience of being able to get the monorail or a boat (or even walk) to some of the theme parks really can’t be beaten. And in the summer it will be hot & humid, so again the ability to get back to your hotel quickly for an afternoon swim is very valuable.

Thanks – I was finding it hard to stomach £4k for the good-ish disney hotels v <£2k for the Waldorf Astoria – I was figuring that we could Uber to the parks if the dreaded “shuttle bus” service is poor – the words “shuttle bus” do evoke a fear in me equivalent to “rail replacement bus service”.

Which of the Disney Resorts did you stay at?

I’ve stayed at a bunch of the Disney resorts over the years, and we now own DVC points (Disney Timeshare) at Bay Lake Tower, which is right next to the Contemporary Resort so you can walk to the Magic Kingdom. Now the kids are a bit older, the Boardwalk or Beach Club villas are a better bet and Disney allows you to swap your points between different properties.

One thing you might want to explore is looking at renting points (probably best done through a broker) to then rent a DVC villa. You could get a 1br suite which sleeps 4 or 5 for a week for under $5k in August. So you’re walking distance to some parks, have a separate space for the kids, have a kitchen and a washer/dryer set up etc etc. Also note the premium Disney resorts seem to have better/more frequent transport.

Note the problem with staying at a Disney resort is probably much like when you first fly in a premium cabin. After that it makes it very difficult to rationalise trading down and staying “off site”.

Also you won’t get a sales pitch at a Disney resort. We’ve stayed at a Holiday Inn and a Hilton Vacation Club in Orlando over the years and the sales pitches get very old very quickly.