Disney Rover

Dear Disney Rover,
I booked a family vacation for 4 (to Walt Disney World) but didn’t know what resort to choose. Everyone told me to stay at The Grand Floridian. We hated it! The resort itself was gorgeous, don’t get me wrong, but it felt so stuffy! We felt so out of place, like we didn’t belong there. Do you have any resort recommendations so we don’t make that same mistake again?

As a matter of fact, I do! This type of question is very common, and the answer may surprise you.

Don’t listen to the experts.

I completely understand the irony of me telling you not to listen to the experts when one could argue I’m an expert myself. But here’s the catch: I’m not going to tell you what resort to stay at. Why? Because I don’t know you and your family!

Here’s what I will tell you, and you probably won’t like this answer:

Do more research!

Disney World is a huge place (“twice the size of the island of Manhattan”, blah blah, you heard it on the monorail) and in this huge place is a huge selection of resorts. So how do you pick one? You’re going to have to put in some time online to look at all the available resorts, and then pick a few that sound interesting to you.

Let’s start with the 3 monorail resorts:
Contemporary Resort
Polynesian Village Resort
Grand Floridian Resort (and Spa)

Which of those 3 sounds most intriguing to you? Head over to the Disney website (I linked each resort to their respective sites to make it easier) and search for that resort. Look around at the various tabs to view what the rooms look like, what the restaurant options are, what amenities are offered, and what the transportation options available at that resort.

Equally important: look at the room prices for the time of year you want to go. Room rates fluctuate all year, and rates go up around holidays, special events, and historically busy times of the year.

Once you’ve decided on a resort that looks interesting, and it looks like it could be a possibility for your next vacation, head over to youtube and do a search for, using the Polynesian as an example again, “Polynesian resort overview” or “Polynesian resort room tour” or “Polynesian resort dining options”.

Watch some videos to get a better idea of what that resort is like and what that particular content creator thinks about that resort. Watch a few videos to get a general idea (never rely on one single source).

There are a plethora of travel agencies that focus specifically on Disney vacations. They have a staff armed with up-to-date knowledge of planning a Disney World vacation and offering informed suggestions so you can make a better decision about what would work best for your family. Here’s the best part about using a travel agent: it costs you nothing extra, so there’s no added fees or costs associated with it.

(“so how do they get paid and stay in business?” Disney pays the travel agency a commission for booking vacations. The cost of your vacation will be the same if you use a travel agency or not, so why not take advantage of the trip planning knowledge they have so you can have a great vacation?)

Here are just a couple of travel agencies I’ve heard of. I don’t get anything in return for these suggestions, they’re just names I’ve heard most frequently:
The Vacationeer
Be Our Guest Vacations
Dreams Unlimited Travel

Armed with the knowledge you have from steps 1 and 2, now you can go ahead and book that resort you’ve spent hours researching. But that’s just the first step in planning a Disney World vacation! There’s still park tickets, and park reservations, and dining options, and packing, and…well, there’s a lot involved.

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