December Honeymoon Help!

[Victoria Hall]

Hi, I am planning our honeymoon in Disney for December 19-24th and wanted to get some advice on where to stay. We have been several times before and always stay deluxe. We are looking at doing a split stay in Epcot area and Magic Kingdom area as I am really excited to see the resorts all decorated (we have never been at the holidays before)! I am really interested in Wilderness Lodge or Polynesian for the Magic Kingdom area. We just spent 10 days at Aulani and got engaged there last fall, and wanted to see if people thought that the Poly is a let down after Aulani? I was thinking about the Beach Club for the Epcot area, we have stayed there before and enjoyed it. Is resort hopping recommended for a honeymoon trip? We are thinking about staying in one bedrooms or dvc studios. Is the Grand Floridian a good place to stay, I think I like the other hotels better but wasn't sure if that would be better for a honeymoon trip.

Any other recommendations welcome! Also interested in Christmas activities or must do honeymoon experiences.

 

[Marthasor]

WL is gorgeous and, for a holiday trip, I would recommend it over Poly. If you want to do a one-bedroom there, I would choose Copper Creek over Boulder Ridge. Grand Floridian is gorgeous and, if you want a one-bedroom villa, the Villas at Grand Floridian have the most beautiful rooms on-property, IMHO. VGF is in a great location as well, IMHO - very quiet and centrally located between the main GF building and Poly, so nice to be able to walk to and enjoy the atmosphere/restaurants/etc. of both resorts. GF will also be magnificent at Christmastime.

Beach Club Villas are my absolute favorite in the EP resort area. Love the rooms and the location of the building - super close to the EP path, the BC QS and the bus area. If you can't get into BCV, I would probably consider a water view room at YC - very quiet and romantic, IMHO.

That being said, I don't know if I would hop on a 5-night trip. I think I would pick one hotel and then just visit the others if you want to see the decorations - perhaps make some dinner reservations at the resorts you would like to visit or plan a Boardwalk area and/or monorail resort crawl.

 

[sponica]

For a trip that short, I'd be inclined to stay in one spot.

I think it depends on what you want out of your honeymoon, seclusion or easy access to the parks.

My choices would be either Wilderness Lodge (bc of it's beauty at christmas) OR Animal Kingdom Lodge, because it's not in our normal options.

 

[Shellyred8]

If I were doing a split stay on a 5 night stay, I would do 3 nights at an EP resort (I would vote for YC) and 2 nights at an MK resort (I would vote for Poly). That being said, we would most likely stay put in one place for a 5 night trip. We do split stays a lot and discovered that we don't like doing less than 3 nights in one place.
However, if you do choose to do a split stay, I would recommend doing HS and EP while you are at the EP resort. Do AK on your move day and then do MK on the day you are at the MK resort. This will reduce the amount of time you need to spend waiting on Disney's bus transportation. If you are not doing AK this trip, I would recommend doing EP on your move day. That way you could just hop on the monorail back to the Poly.

The Poly is great from a transportation location perspective, especially if you are on the DVC side. You have the option to take the monorail from the lobby, you can take a boat from the boat launch, or you can walk over to the TTC and take a ferry or the direct monorail to MK. I love taking the ferry to MK. I just love watching the park approach as you cruise across the lake. If you are park-hopping, you can also take the monorail to EP.

I love going to WDW during Christmas and, if time allows, I would recommend resort hopping to see the different decorations (don't forget about Swolfin if you stay in the EP resort area). If you don't want to spend a lot of time on this, you could just check out the resorts close to where you are staying. If you don't mind skipping some park time, I would recommend going to AKL to see their decorations (I also love taking some time to watch the animals while there!). As others have mentioned, Wilderness Lodge is beautifully decorated at Christmas and is worth a visit. DS has done the Christmas tree stroll the past few years which can be a fun activity and it's fun to see the different themes they come up with each year. One of my favorite Christmas activities in the park is the Story tellers at EP.

We did our honeymoon at WDW during the Christmas season too. This was my first trip staying on-site and we stayed at YC. I absolutely fell in love with the Boardwalk area during this trip. A couple of years after that trip we bought our first DVC (which ended up being BWV, as I like the theming of that resort).

 

[eandt]

Hi, I am planning our honeymoon in Disney for December 19-24th and wanted to get some advice on where to stay. We have been several times before and always stay deluxe. We are looking at doing a split stay in Epcot area and Magic Kingdom area as I am really excited to see the resorts all decorated (we have never been at the holidays before)! I am really interested in Wilderness Lodge or Polynesian for the Magic Kingdom area. We just spent 10 days at Aulani and got engaged there last fall, and wanted to see if people thought that the Poly is a let down after Aulani? I was thinking about the Beach Club for the Epcot area, we have stayed there before and enjoyed it. Is resort hopping recommended for a honeymoon trip? We are thinking about staying in one bedrooms or dvc studios. Is the Grand Floridian a good place to stay, I think I like the other hotels better but wasn't sure if that would be better for a honeymoon trip.

Any other recommendations welcome! Also interested in Christmas activities or must do honeymoon experiences.

If hanging at the pool is part of your plans the main BC pool is nice but very crowded with tons of kids. We stayed at DVC studios as a couple at Poly 2x's on rented points (now owners at AKL/BWV) and loved it. Did not use the main pool but did use the "quiet" pool and found it to be very relaxing with bar and food service available. AKL gives you that "exotic" location feel and have found the main pool at Jambo to be pretty good on our visits. We love the BW/BC location, so easy to get places! Good luck with your choice, don't think you can go wrong.

 

[CT Disney]

Just a heads up if you’re considering the Honeymoon Suite at the Poly:

The honeymoon suite is designated as a club level room but it’s not in the Hawaii building where the full CL is. To compensate for this, they used to provide free room service.

But, they’ve currently discontinued this free room service perk. And, nobody seems to know if it will ever return.

So, if you go online and read reviews of the Honeymoon Suite at the Poly, just be aware that one of the best selling points of that room is currently obsolete.