Disney World Resort Hotels
Updated March 2023
One aspect of your Disney World trip that can really impact your budget is where to stay. You can either stay on Walt Disney World property (inside the Disney bubble) in one of their 29 owned and operated resort hotels, or you can stay in a ‘Good Neighbour’ hotel. These are hotels still within the Disney bubble but not owned by Disney. Then there are the hundreds of hotel and holiday home options outside the bubble.
Being UK residents there are many different package options available through the official Disney website as well as with airlines such Virgin or British Airways, not to mention all of the high street travel agents. At the time of writing this (March 2023) the hotel offer available to UK residents via the Disney website is 4 nights free when booking select Disney resort hotels within a certain window for a 2 week stay. Now this offer could save you £1561 according to the Disney advert, but that is for one of the deluxe resort hotels where you will be looking at a price of over £6000 for a family of 4 without flights.
One offer for UK residents that has been consistently available for the past few years is a 14 day park ticket for the price of 7 days. This ticket comes with park hopper (where you can visit a different park after 2pm) and memory maker (the option to have your photos taken by professional photographers around the parks) which are two fantastic and pricey additions. The adult ticket (ages 10+) comes to £539 per person or £38 per day and a child ticket (ages 3-9) comes to £519 per person or £37 per day. There are other official ticket sellers including ‘Undercover Tourist’ where you can buy single day tickets with or without park hopper but those tickets do not include memory maker.
There are pros and cons to all hotel options and we will try to highlight some of the key factors to help you decide. So lets start with the Walt Disney World Resort Hotels.
The resorts at Walt Disney World fall into 4 categories, value, moderate, deluxe & deluxe villas. All the resorts are beautifully themed and everyone has a different favourite.
Each of the resorts feature pools, dining options, parking and shops, the main differences come in their proximity to the theme park entrances, transportation options and the quality and size of the hotel rooms themselves.
To make this easier to navigate we will give you an overview of each type of resort and the hotels we’ve stayed at will have a link to more information.
There are 5 value resorts. None of these resorts are within walking distance of any theme park entrance. Each resort has bus transportation to and from the parks.
‘Pop Century’ and ‘Art of Animation’ are on the ‘Skyliner’ gondolas route which gives you access to Epcot or Hollywood Studios.
All of the value resorts are located near the ESPN World Of Sports Complex, and are therefore popular with the large student sports teams that visit Disney World throughout the year.
The value resorts have standard rooms, sleeping up to 4 adults and family suites sleeping up to 6 adults.
If you are on a budget but want to stay in a Disney World hotel these are perfect. Remember you may be spending most of your time at the parks and only use the hotel to sleep. However be prepared for long lines at the bus stops and lots of noise at all hours.
Pop Century
Art Of Animation
All-Star Music
All-Star Movies
All-Star Sports
There are 5 moderate resort hotels. These hotels are slightly closer to the parks with more transport options. Some of these resorts also have more dining options including a restaurant and quick service.
The moderate resorts offer slightly larger rooms however the standard rooms still only sleep a maximum of 4 adults. The Gran Destino Tower at Coronado Springs could be classed as a deluxe hotel however its location near the All-Star resorts and only having bus transportation puts it in the moderate category.
The Port Orleans resorts have boat transportation to Disney Springs which is a great plus, however there is only buses to the parks.
Caribbean Beach
Port Orleans - Riverside
Port Orleans - French Quarter
Coronado Springs & Gran Destino Tower
The Cabins at Fort Wilderness
The next category of resort hotels is deluxe with 8 of these in total.
These resorts offer the best locations, room amenities, hotel decor and overall theming. But all of this comes at a price and with some standard rooms costing upwards of $600 per night you will want to make the most of your hotel and its location.
Some of the deluxe hotels like Beach Club, Yacht Club and BoardWalk Inn are in walking distance of Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Whilst the Polynesian Village Resort, Grand Floridian and Contemporary are on the monorail loop to Magic Kingdom.
The only resort that still only offers bus transportation is Animal Kingdom Lodge, but the lack of transport options is made up by the fact that some of the rooms overlook a savannah, and you can wake up and watch the giraffes or zebras while still in your pj’s.
Even if you don’t stay in these resorts it’s worth taking the time to visit each one, as at Christmas for instance they all boast impressive trees in their lobby’s and in some cases giant gingerbread houses.
Animal Kingdom Lodge
Polynesian Village Resort
Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
Wilderness Lodge
Beach Club
Contemporary
Yacht Club
BoardWalk Inn
There are 11 deluxe villa resorts, also known as the Disney Vacation Club (DVC) resorts. These resorts are available as cash purchases through Disney and offer deluxe studios, 1 & 2 bedrooms as well as Grand Villas which sleep up to 12 people.
These resorts are also available though DVC and our home resort is Old Key West. We could go on and on about these amazing resorts and their amenities, proximity to the parks and enormous rooms, but we’ll be here all day.
We would never have been able to afford this level of accommodation without owning DVC as a standard room at Bay Lake Tower where we will be staying in June 2023 would cost us over £4000 for just 8 nights.
There are ways to try these resorts without owning DVC or paying Disney prices and that is through DVC rental store, where you can rent someone else’s DVC points to use at one of these Deluxe villas.
Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
Old Key West
Polynesian Villas & Bungalows
Bay Lake Tower & Contemporary Resort
Animal Kingdom Villa’s - Kidani Village
Animal Kingdom Villa’s - Jumbo House
BoardWalk Villas
Beach Club Villas
Boulder Ridge Villas at Wilderness Lodge
Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Wilderness Lodge
Riviera
If over the top Disney theming isn’t your thing but you want to remain on Disney World property then a ‘Good Neighbour’ hotel might be more suitable.
These hotels are owned by major chains like Hilton, Holiday Inn & Waldorf Astoria. There is a hotel for all budgets however none of the hotels are within walking distance of any parks. They do all offer their own version of bus transportation to the parks but they are not the official Disney buses and for some resorts you need to book your spot on a timed departure. These hotels may also be more suitable if you are part of their rewards schemes or are not planning on spending all your time in the Disney parks. Many of these hotels are within walking distance of Disney Springs, however you can not get a bus from Disney Springs to the parks, buses only go to the resorts.