Worth it to stay in Monorail Resort?

[disland7]

Our last trip we stayed at Grand Floridian and Bay Lake Tower. As Disneyland vets who walk to everything we knew good transportation options was a must. But we had issues with the monorail (and obviously the buses). Once the monorail broke down and we had to wait at least one 20 min at each stop before it would move - an hour on it total. Once at Bay Lake walking was our very favorite. Our next trip we are doing a split stay between Bay Lake and Beach club so that we can walk (to at least one park) instead of relying on transportation. We are also considering renting a car so that we can have maximum flexibility. I appreciate so much that Disney tries to make it convenient and no extra costs but man it is so frustrating a good chunk of the time.

 

[Heather07438]

We love staying at the Poly because of quick access to the MK and the TTC for Epcot. We also love the ambience of the resort and that we truly feel like we're on vacation when we stay there. You can always look at renting DVC points, depending on when you're planning the trip to make the cost of the resort less. We've only stayed at the Poly and GF on the Monorail as we don't have much interest in the Contemporary. Oh, and the only time we've really had an issue with transportation is when returning from AK. That wait usually drives me bonkers because it feels like there are buses for every resort except ours (that, and the bus for AK is shared, which I find perplexing considering the high costs of staying at the deluxe resorts).

We've recently rented points for 2 weekend nights at the Poly. $19 per point x 40 points was $380 a night includes taxes, fees and parking For comparison, we've also rented 6 nights at Beach Club and that was $280 a night. Not bad considering how expensive everything has become.

The 3 DVC long houses at Poly are right next to TTC, it's probably a 3 minute walk to board the Monorail to Epcot, plus you can board the MK Monorail there or at the Great Ceremonial House.

 

[rjb123]

We love the monorail resorts! I like the ease and also the variety of transportation options. We have had good experiences with both the contemporary and the poly, but for ambience, I would choose poly. That said, we really like the variety of quick service food options that they have at the contemporary and have had fantastic experiences there as well. I will say though that IMO the time of year makes a difference in what resort you choose. In winter I will go with the WL (not monorail, i know) every time because I love the fireplaces. My DD has had gymnastics meets there in Jan/ Feb when it was COLD and it was fantastic to hang out in a rocker in front of the fire. Also, the lobby of the contemporary gets breezy when the monorail comes through those doors in the winter. We were eating there a few weeks ago and you could feel the chill as it passed through. Also, if you do the contemporary, if you can swing a tower room i would encourage you to do that. It really makes the experience IMO. Good luck with your decision! Honestly you really cant go wrong with any of the options hotel wise at WDW.