Disney...Accomodations

As I mentioned before, we stayed at the Pop Century Resort.  We were hardly there, and we only walked around the resort on the the last morning of our stay when my camera was already packed away.  So...I don't have any pictures.  Here's the link on the Disney site for the Pop Century Resort.  It's pretty much a standard hotel with some large, colorful decorations glued to the sides and mouse ears in the wallpaper.

Because we have five people in our family, we don't fit into a standard 4-person-occupancy hotel room. Which is all you can currently get at a Value Resort.  We were able to book two connecting rooms (guaranteed for families, no matter what it says on the website) which was still cheaper than a family suite at a Moderate Resort.  This, of course, gave us an extra bathroom...extremely helpful for getting out the door in the morning.  Apparently Disney World has also noticed the glaring lack of family suites in their Value Resorts, because they're opening up a new Value Resort in March which features them. Value Resorts also do not include refrigerators, but we were able to add one to our room for an additional $10 per day.  Still cheaper than a Moderate Resort.

We chose the Pop Century over the All-Star Resorts for a couple of reasons.  First, we were able to get a discounted price.  If you go to the Walt Disney World site and scroll to the bottom of the screen, you'll find a Special Offers link under Tickets & Packages.  I found different offers on different days, so it may be worth checking back if you don't find what you want at first.  Or call directly.  When we were ready to book our vacation, the offer I wanted wasn't available online, but I was still able to get the discounted price over the phone.  Secondly, the Pop Century has dedicated bus service.  The three All-Star Resorts share buses.  So, when a bus pulls up at your resort it may already be full because it just came from another resort.  That means it will take longer to get to the parks.  I wasn't interested in waiting in line any more than necessary.

And, what I think is the most important thing to consider about accommodations: Whether to stay on or off Disney property.  We chose to stay on property because (1) All transportation is included, so we didn't have to rent a car.  A bus shuttled us from the airport to the hotel...they even picked up our luggage and delivered it to our room.  We then rode buses from our hotel to whatever park we wanted to go to that day. (2) As a guest on Disney property, you can stay for extended hours at one or more of the parks every day.  We liked this feature a lot, particularly the extra hour in the morning when we could loop around and around and hit the "big" rides multiple times. The extra hours in the evening meant that we didn't have to rush to finish our day.  Even if we didn't close the place down, the extra evening hours still allowed us to move through the park at a more leisurely pace. (3) Another perk I discovered while at the parks is that anything you buy can be sent back to your resort.  Which means that you don't have to lug around that hefty coffee mug (or those mouse ears that a relative asked you to buy) for the rest of the day.

It was a tough call, though, because we found three bedroom condos off property with a pool and laundry en suite for $130 a night.  Check All Star Vacation Homes to see what you can find.  Discounts are available at AllEars.net.