Walt Disney World: Where to Stay Inside the Park

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• jandre0820 on Jul 27, 11 at 10:01 AM

  Great highlights of great hotels at Disney! However, I feel you could have highlighted one of the hotels within walking distance of Hollywood Studios and Epcot. For instance, the Boardwalk Inn is one of the nicer delxue resorts on Disney property. I'm in my 20's and have been to Disney around 8 times and have stayed in many of the resorts you listed. Most do not compare to staying at the Boardwalk Inn, not only because it is a nice resort with a great pool, but it's within walking distance of restaurants and shops as well as Epcot and Hollywood Studios. If you go during Epcot's Food & Wine Festival, this is especially a treat. If you have the money, I'd definitely recommend staying here.

• clivejolin on Jul 27, 11 at 11:12 AM

  I cannot believe you have omitted Disney’s Yacht and Beach Clubs. For position, amenities and variety of restaurant they are 2nd to none and always our first choice when we are lucky enough to visit WDW

• Ryan on Jul 27, 11 at 11:31 AM

  We have stayed at 5 of the Disney Premium Resorts with our two kids, both under 10. With younger kids, I think the Animal Kingdom is a great choice if you have a view of their "Savannah." Our kids loved waking up to the animals wandering outside our room. However, strongly consider renting a car if staying at this hotel as it can be a long bus ride to the MK.
  The best pool is at the Beach and Yacht Club. But, when our kids were 5 and 4 we thought they were too young to really enjoy it. The slide requires they walk across a public walkway and if you need to look carefully as to when they get on as they come out into a deep pool with a bit of turbulence. Our kids were both good swimmers but even with that, it made a lot of running around to keep an eye on them.
  
  Love the theme of the Wilderness Lodge, didn't like the boat launch aspect.
  
  For us, the best all-around option has been the Polynesian. Best combination of theme, pool, and room size. The standard day bed in each room converts to another bed, which makes it much easier for a family of four.
  If staying at a higher-end WDW resort, I would suggest looking into the value added of their club level. We have found the ability to have breakfast in the club and the free drinks (both for kids and adults) to make the extra cost worth it.

• Cate_W on Jul 27, 11 at 05:09 PM

  These are some Fodor's favorites that represent the range of in-park options. When I was younger we always stayed outside the park to save. Do you think it's worth paying the premium to be in the park?
  
  jandre0820, clivejolin, Ryan - thanks for sharing your recommendations. Does anyone else have favorite hotels to share - inside or outside the park?

• njislander on Jul 28, 11 at 04:46 PM

  We stayed at the Marriott Harbour Lake ,a 2 BR villa,and the kids loved the pirate themed pool complete with ship and shooting water canyons and another pool with large dumping bucket and fountains. Can see fireworks from our villa room and activiies and game s for kids during the day. Must have car and drive to WDW but only about 10 minutes away.

• TravelChic10 on Sep 20, 11 at 12:16 PM

  My husband and I just visited Disney two weeks ago. We stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort this time. The theme turned out to be a bit too juvenille for us, but kids would love the resort. We prefered Port Orleans Riverside, where we stayed last time. We have visited numerous resorts to try out restaurants. Next time we plan to stay at a resort on the Monorail to make traveling much easier. I highly recommend staying on Disney property. The free transporation to and from the airport plus the transporation on property and the free dining plan promotion Disney offered made it cheaper and more convinient for us to stay at Disney. The free Dining Plan alone saved us around $100-$125 a day. Just one meal alone that we enjoyed would have cost us $90. We looked at off-property options, but between car rental, parking, and meals, the Disney price was less expensive and we got to enjoy the extra Magic Hours at the parks as a bonus.