Your favourite deluxe

[Bazinga 39]

Originally Posted by Shifu

well my fave wont necessarily be yours as I'm now 57 with adult kids... but Ive stayed in the following and heres what I liked and disliked about them.

Grand Floridian- handy for MK (and now theres a walkway!), great restaurants, a feeling of ticking that bucket list box, some rooms sleep 5, you can watch the electric water parade from the beach or room, see the fireworks from resort/room (when they are on), and its THE GRAND FLORIDIAN! "Can we have it delivered to our resort please? Yes of course, where are you staying? Ah, thank you, the GRAND FLORIDIAN" hahaha You only live once.

The Polynesian...Dole whips, night time tourch lighting, superb theming, great cocktails, boat rides to MK, can walk easily to transport centre for Epcot monorail, did I say Dole whips lo...great restaurants, good bathrooms, room for 5, views of MK fireworks and water parade.(so essentially pretty much the same as GF only more romantic with the torch-lit atmosphere and 'Moana-y'(they are refurbing rooms now so all will be new when you go I guess). Choice of pools. Evening entertainment. Magical. Imagine- Sand beaches, the breeze through your hair (if you still have some), the sound of the boats to and froing from MK, sitting on the swing seat sipping from a hollowed out whole pineapple containing a strong cocktail hahaha...its stuff dreams are made of. Stay here for a few days and you will find it difficult not to revisit (happened to us). Mini speed boat hire if its still available- ( two people per boat-) or larger boat hire. Can drive over as far as Wilderness Lodge or past GF and MK. And ...if you couldnt get a table for an evening meal at O'hana, room service delivers all you would have had! (if thats still on room service- was when we stayed)

Wilderness Lodge- I didnt enjoy this as much as I had hoped but my teen son at the time really did. Great food, location felt slightly out of the way but its only a boat ride from MK. Relaxing, waterfall, bears and wilderness vibe- Animal Kingdom without the real animals. Has a geyser that erupts at certain times. My favourite are is the outdoor dining- it over looks the water, really relaxing. You'd need to check about 5 in a room. Our room only had room for 4. Distant view of fireworks. Electric water parade.

Animal Kingdom (Jambo)- super friendly, love the african music piped continuously, nothing beats waking up and looking at giraffes walking past your balcony. 5 minutes bus ride to Animal Kingdom. My first ever deluxe stay at WDW- stayed here for my honeymoon when it first opened, and have celebrated many event there since. Great restaurants. Lots to do and get involved with like watching the flamingos being fed, tours (animal and culinary), easy to navigate. Drawback is distance from Disney Springs. No problem for theme parks though. Rooms are a bit small... not sure AKL(Jambo) has room for 5 in a standard room- you'd probably need Kidani next door.

Beach Club... its ALL about the pool and the location location location. Some rooms are practically in the entrance to Epcot. Only some rooms have full walk on balconies, some have little Juliette balconies which is essentially an opening that acts like a large window. That extra walk out space can make a difference in a room of 5. Not guaranteed the pull down sleeper for 5th person, Its the half of Yacht and Beach Club that is painted blue. (see Yacht Club below). Great dining. Has a gym. And quiet pool as well as main one. Close too Skyliner. View of fireworks.

Yacht Club (our (my 18 year old son and I) current favourite). Twinned with the Beach Club you get everything the Beach has but its closer to the water taxi for Boardwalk and Hollywood Studios. The half painted grey. All rooms have full walk on balconies. I wished we'd stayed there years ago. Rooms are VERY spacious in comparison to AKL/ WL. Sleeps 5. I think the rooms are a little bigger than Beach Club(? maybe look into that, I'm not sure, but it felt like it. Large choice of restaurants available which are also available staying at Beach Club as they are connected together- its like one large resort really as the main sand bottomed pool is shared and situated in between resorts)- loads of dining. Gym. Tennis courts. Smaller quiet pools as well as main one. Walk to Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Boardwalk... or get boats and buses. Also close to Skyliner. View of fireworks.

Have a wonderful time.

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Brilliant, thank you so much for that detailed answer, very helpful😀

[returnplanning]

the only deluxe I have stayed at has been AKL, but we were blown away and have been back twice since. We love the theming, the way that it is "Disney -lite" - you can see that you are in Disney, lots of tiny little touches, but not quite as in your face as say the All stars, and we love to watch the animals (one of our favourite memories is being just about to leave the room when one of the kids called us to see the "herd of wildebeest" galloping past). It is a bit further away from the parks, but that doesn't bother us, and it's closest to our favourite park, which is AK.

[evergreen]

Grand Floridian or Kidani