I’ve been checking out reviews for the value resorts at Disney World, (the three all stars and pop century) and one of the most common complaints is that the walk from some of the farther buildings is a hike. This is understandable but looking at the maps of the resorts they don’t seem as huge as people make them out to be. It could be that I’m not one to complain about walking far distances, but are the resorts really that big?
The value resorts are not huge, but they are large. Pop Century alone has almost 3,000 and the second phase of that is going to add almost another 3,000, so there is quite a bit of space to cover. (2,880 rooms in each of the phases)
For most people the trek isn’t too bad, even if you are at the very back. It is really easy to get around in the morning when you are awake, ready to start the day, etc. But, it is when you come back at night that the walk is really bad, your tired, feet hurt, etc. Then you don’t want to make the long trek. For each person it is going to be different, I walk/run a lot, so nothing is really too bad for me. However, if you have any medical problems, or don’t walk much, then it can be a little harder, especially after being at the parks all day.
You can get a preferred room, which used to mean you would get one of the rooms closer to the main building. But, they recently changed it and it does not necessarily mean your room will be close to the lobby, it can mean fireworks view, a more popular building, etc. So, it isn’t always a good way to spend your money, especially if you just want to be close to the front.
The best thing to do is put a request to be close to the main building and keep your fingers crossed. When you book your room you have the option of preferred or standard view, as I mentioned before, preferred used to mean you were close to the transportation, but it doesn’t mean that anymore. Really, any room you book can get you in one of the closest or one of the furthest rooms. If you have the request on, Disney will try to get it for you, but you don’t always get lucky. If you check in early and they are able to accommodate you with that request, then they will, but if they are pretty full and everything is pretty far out, they will get you as close as they can. They work with medical requests first and then prefrences after all the medical requests are taken care of.
Not all the rooms are too far away and even the furthest rooms are not terrible, but if you have any walking issues, you may consider staying at a moderate resort to try and get a room that won’t be as far for you to walk. French Quarter and Riverside are smaller resorts, so they aren’t too bad for walking. Caribbean Beach is very large and isn’t the best when it comes to layout, but they still have the option for a preferred room, which does get you closer to the transportation.
Deluxe resorts are a little easier to get around, but are much higher in cost per night, you are looking to spend well over $200 a night, so if you are looking at value resorts, this may be a little out of your budget. Moderate resorts will go from around $100 for a value, to around $130 to $160 for moderate.
The maps can be a little deceiving. If you look at a map of one of the Disney parks, it looks pretty small as well, but once you are actually there or see how many miles of land it covers, it can be huge. I definitely don’t think it would be something that would ruin your trip, but if you don’t want to walk much, it can cause a bit of a problem. I think that the problem for most people is just having a long day in the parks and then having a slightly longer walk at night, but in my opinion it just isn’t that bad, but each person feels different about things.
Hope this helps!
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