HairyChest
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 21, 2012
I posted a trip report on the DVC trip report boards but I thought posting my impressions of all the resorts I just stayed at during covid here would be relevant for you guys that are being moved from your original hotel bookings to DVC resorts.
I just got back from a 2 week trip as a first time DVC owner and I had an AMAZING time! 3 adults traveling and we wanted to try the different resorts to see what we liked.
We took a flight from California and it was lovely having the middle rows blocked off with extra room to stretch our legs.
We took the magical express and it was just us on the bus (8am). I was happy to see we were seated on a normal magical express bus and not a little mears van that I heard some people got. We missed having our luggage show up in our room without us waiting for it but it is what it is.
We stayed 3 nights at Wilderness Lodge copper creek studio with walk in shower. we got the 5th floor like I requested because I wanted to see the lake but didnt want an enclosed balcony on the very top floors, and it was an amazing view!! What a wonderful resort. The only downside was that the room was small but still we HAVE to visit on our future trips if we dont stay there which, I would still love to stay there. Im a big fan of the lodge theme/frontier land/ trains so this really spoke to me.
1 night at Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo in a Value studio. This was our least favorite. On a side note, Disney still moved our luggage from resort to resort as normal which was great as always. We had a pool view which was nice. The lobby was quiet (no music) and only the pool was open. If we wanted food or shopping we had to go to kidani which we knew in advance so Im not holding that against it, however coming from copper creek with so much to explore and views of the lake, and lobbies (boulder ridge and copper creek) with geyser point, AKL paled in comparison. It seemed small and didn't offer as much exploration. The savannah was nice and so was the pool area but it didn't wow us like Wilderness Lodge did.
1 night at Grand Floridian Villas- Lake View...or so we thought. When we got to the room we were upgraded to a 1 bedroom lagoon view!!! It was so beautiful and amazing! I also used the tub (it cleans itself!) and we never left the room. I will say that our family likes bieng together in a hotel room and not in different rooms, but it was nice to have extra space. I also didn't like the fact that the boat launch, narcoosees, and the quiet pool was blocked off for the NBA. Also the main resort lobby was dead, no piano, etc. I personally wouldn't stay there until the actual hotel opens to give it some life. But wow that 1 bedroom is something special.
The rest of our stay was at the polynesian-lake view studio. Now THIS is where its at. The room was the best (colors, magical feeling, roominess) and just walking into the resort you feel vacation/relaxed and really happy with the tropical vibe/beach/tiki torches. We could see the castle and lake from our room and that hands down beat the view we got in the Grand of the poly (and the bright mk parking lights at night). Even though the actual hotel rooms aren't open, this resort felt alive, normal, people around and we felt that we are staying in the main resort rather then separate from the main resort like the Grand Floridian villas gave us a feeling of. This is where Id like to stay on every trip. Also that pull down bed was a nice option to have.
(First night we were on the first floor then moved to the second floor for better views)
The masks weren't as bad as I thought they would be. After an hour we didn't think about it being on our face. The heat on our body was felt more then the heat on our face from the mask so it wasn't a big deal. We also took advantage of going in shops/food areas which helped with cooling us down with the A/C.
*AKL didn't have music in the lobby, the Grand had very low music playing in the lobby, but both wilderness lodge and poly had normal level music in the lobby and the grounds which was perfect*
The only things we missed is seeing the parks at night with all the pretty lights and eating late in restaurants (most restaurants we wanted to eat in closed at 8. We are late risers and like to eat dinner at epcot or disney springs at 9-11pm.
If you arent an at risk individual, I wouldn't hesitate to go. Unless this is your once a few years trip.
I just got back from a 2 week trip as a first time DVC owner and I had an AMAZING time! 3 adults traveling and we wanted to try the different resorts to see what we liked.
We took a flight from California and it was lovely having the middle rows blocked off with extra room to stretch our legs.
We took the magical express and it was just us on the bus (8am). I was happy to see we were seated on a normal magical express bus and not a little mears van that I heard some people got. We missed having our luggage show up in our room without us waiting for it but it is what it is.
We stayed 3 nights at Wilderness Lodge copper creek studio with walk in shower. we got the 5th floor like I requested because I wanted to see the lake but didnt want an enclosed balcony on the very top floors, and it was an amazing view!! What a wonderful resort. The only downside was that the room was small but still we HAVE to visit on our future trips if we dont stay there which, I would still love to stay there. Im a big fan of the lodge theme/frontier land/ trains so this really spoke to me.
1 night at Animal Kingdom Lodge Jambo in a Value studio. This was our least favorite. On a side note, Disney still moved our luggage from resort to resort as normal which was great as always. We had a pool view which was nice. The lobby was quiet (no music) and only the pool was open. If we wanted food or shopping we had to go to kidani which we knew in advance so Im not holding that against it, however coming from copper creek with so much to explore and views of the lake, and lobbies (boulder ridge and copper creek) with geyser point, AKL paled in comparison. It seemed small and didn't offer as much exploration. The savannah was nice and so was the pool area but it didn't wow us like Wilderness Lodge did.
1 night at Grand Floridian Villas- Lake View...or so we thought. When we got to the room we were upgraded to a 1 bedroom lagoon view!!! It was so beautiful and amazing! I also used the tub (it cleans itself!) and we never left the room. I will say that our family likes bieng together in a hotel room and not in different rooms, but it was nice to have extra space. I also didn't like the fact that the boat launch, narcoosees, and the quiet pool was blocked off for the NBA. Also the main resort lobby was dead, no piano, etc. I personally wouldn't stay there until the actual hotel opens to give it some life. But wow that 1 bedroom is something special.
The rest of our stay was at the polynesian-lake view studio. Now THIS is where its at. The room was the best (colors, magical feeling, roominess) and just walking into the resort you feel vacation/relaxed and really happy with the tropical vibe/beach/tiki torches. We could see the castle and lake from our room and that hands down beat the view we got in the Grand of the poly (and the bright mk parking lights at night). Even though the actual hotel rooms aren't open, this resort felt alive, normal, people around and we felt that we are staying in the main resort rather then separate from the main resort like the Grand Floridian villas gave us a feeling of. This is where Id like to stay on every trip. Also that pull down bed was a nice option to have.
(First night we were on the first floor then moved to the second floor for better views)
The masks weren't as bad as I thought they would be. After an hour we didn't think about it being on our face. The heat on our body was felt more then the heat on our face from the mask so it wasn't a big deal. We also took advantage of going in shops/food areas which helped with cooling us down with the A/C.
*AKL didn't have music in the lobby, the Grand had very low music playing in the lobby, but both wilderness lodge and poly had normal level music in the lobby and the grounds which was perfect*
The only things we missed is seeing the parks at night with all the pretty lights and eating late in restaurants (most restaurants we wanted to eat in closed at 8. We are late risers and like to eat dinner at epcot or disney springs at 9-11pm.
If you arent an at risk individual, I wouldn't hesitate to go. Unless this is your once a few years trip.
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