If you were doing RESORT ONLY, where would you stay?

[camper39828]

We've done a no park visit ourselves. We stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter, enjoyed both FQ and Riverside amenities, drove the 5 minutes to the Fort and enjoyed all the stuff there & then ate on top of the Contemporary @ the California Grill. Got to watch the fireworks from the roof of the Contemporary... wow! We even spent half a day @ Disney Springs.

We've talked about other resort options. The only one that interests us is the Wilderness Lodge.
My daughter has stayed at the Swan & she says that is a great place. Might have to try that one, too.

 

[Elleshoodat]

OP, I'm with you in being able to enjoy resort-only trips and not feeling the need to HAVE to go into the parks. Our favorite resorts for this are Beach Club (for Stormalong Bay and the proximity to the Boardwalk), the Poly (for the ambiance and easy access to other monorail resorts) and Animal Kingdom Lodge (for the animal viewing, restaurants and relaxing common areas).

 

[isabellea]

On property -Four Seasons without question. But this begs the question -why would one pay the on-property premium for a resort-only trip when far better accommodations can be had for far less?

Last summer I checked offsite for a resort that would allow small kids on their waterslides and those I checked all had a minimum height. So we booked POR for our 2 nights resort-only stay and we loved it. It was nice to go to Disney Springs by boat and my kids were able to use the waterslides (this stay was at the request of my 5yo who wanted to stay at a resort with waterslides instead of a birthday party). Our next resort-only stay will be at AKL.

 

[OneinThree]

Last summer I checked offsite for a resort that would allow small kids on their waterslides and those I checked all had a minimum height. So we booked POR for our 2 nights resort-only stay and we loved it. It was nice to go to Disney Springs by boat and my kids were able to use the waterslides (this stay was at the request of my 5yo who wanted to stay at a resort with waterslides instead of a birthday party). Our next resort-only stay will be at AKL.

If there are some specific things you've got in mind to see at Disney (such as Disney Springs, as you mention), then we are still talking about proximity as part of the package. My point in general has more to do with paying the "Disney Premium" and the way in which the resorts themselves do not compare to alternatives at the same price point. We've got one trip scheduled this summer at a deluxe for over $600/night, but there's no way I'd pay that and not go to the parks. Disney deluxe's are nice, but not that nice. Resort for resort, there are too many other, better options if one does not plan on leaving the hotel property. Our travel plans include one such world class resort, at a similar price to the Disney deluxe, but with superior accommodations in every conceivable way:

https://www.mohonk.com/


At the end of the day, if you want to be at Disney because you just want to be at Disney then I'm down with that -I get it. At the same time, there's just no way anything Disney has (save Four Seasons perhaps) which approaches what's available out there.

 

[vinotinto]

Hi Minnesota,

How was your CSR resort-only trip?

Some ideas:
BWI, BC, or YC for Boardwalk area (restaurants, little, performances, atmosphere)
POR for boat to DS and walk to POFQ
WL, with visit to FW and its activities
GF for restaurants, spa, monorail bar crawl
AKL (which you have done), for restaurants and atmosphere!

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Port orleans to take the boat to disney springs. Great resort too. I would love to do a resort only visit at any of the disney hotels! We stayed off site for a couple of vacations (but also went to the parks). Hated it. Even the waldorf, which is ritzy and very close. Bleh. So boring!!! Lol.