- Walt Disney World Resort Hotels -
There are 30+ hotels on property at the Walt Disney World Resort. To start off, the hotels are categorized by pricing from value resorts that are the cheapest, moderate resorts that cost a little more but nothing too crazy, and then the deluxe resorts that are the most expensive and luxurious properties.
Deluxe VILLa Resorts
These are what is known as the Deluxe Villas, which are extra large suites that are only offered at select deluxe properties. These room types are styled for Disney Vacation Club (DVC) members that will include seperate bedroom space, family room, dining area, and full kitchen. Deluxe Villas will always be the most expensive rooms across the entire board of resort rooms.
Animal Kingdom Villas (Jambo House) - Near: Animal Kingdom
Animal Kingdom Villas (Kidani Village) - Near: Animal Kingdom
Old Key West Resort - Near: Disney Springs
Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa - Near: Disney Springs
Boulder Ridge Villas at Wilderness Lodge - Near: Magic Kingdom
Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Wilderness Lodge - Near: Magic Kingdom
Beach Club Villas - Near: EPCOT
BoardWalk Villas - Near: EPCOT
Bay Lake Towers at the Contemporary Resort - Near: Magic Kingdom
The Villas at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa - Near: Magic Kingdom
Riviera Resort - Near: Hollywood Studios/EPCOT
Deluxe Resorts
The deluxe resorts as stated before will be the priciest places on Disney property, but it is well worth the money. These are usually the closest hotels to the parks, have the most dining options, the most modes of transportation, have the best views, and the most luxurious amenities. Each resort will usually include more than one pool, souvenir shops, quick-service eatery, table service restaurant, and fine-dining restaurants.
Wilderness Lodge - Near: Magic Kingdom
Animal Kingdom Lodge - Near: Animal Kingdom
Beach Club Resort - Near: EPCOT
Yacht Club Resort - Near: EPCOT
Contemporary Resort - Near: Magic Kingdom (Walkway to Magic Kingdom)
BoardWalk Inn - Near: EPCOT
Swan Hotel - Near: EPCOT/Hollywood Studios
Dolphin Hotel - Near: EPCOT/Hollywood Studios
Polynesian Village Resort - Near: Magic Kingdom
Grand Floridian Resort & Spa - Near: Magic Kingdom (The most expensive out of the deluxe resorts)
Good Neighbor Deluxe Hotels
Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World - Near: Magic Kingdom
moderate Resorts
The moderate priced resorts are the average choice for most staying on Disney property. Each resort will include pools, a quick-service restaurant, a table service restaurant, and transportation services usually including one or more mode.
Caribbean Beach Resort - Near: EPCOT
Coronado Springs Resort - Near: Animal Kingdom
Port Orleans Resort (French Quarter) - Near: Disney Springs
Port Orleans Resort (Riverside) - Near: Disney Springs
The Cabins at Fort Wilderness Resort - Near: Magic Kingdom (This is the most expensive of the moderate resorts because you stay in a large cabin and are allowed a golf cart to roam around the resort area)
value Resorts
The value resorts are still amazing properties even though they are the cheapest resorts. They have pools, hotel activities, souvenir shops, a quick-service eatery, and bus transportation to and from the parks.
All-Star Sports - Near: Animal Kingdom
All-Star Movies - Near: Animal Kingdom
All-Star Music - Near: Animal Kingdom
Art of Animation - Near: Hollywood Studios
Pop Century - Near: Hollywood Studios
The Campsites at Fort Wilderness Resort - Near: Magic Kingdom (This is the cheapest of the value priced resorts where you can in a tent or RV)
Disney Springs hotels
These hotels are not owned or operated by Disney, but still allow its guests the same transportation and extra magic hour luxuries that the other Disney resorts offer to guests. A good thing to note when traveling to the Magic Kingdom and the Animal Kingdom by bus it will take 45+ minutes because they are the farthest distance from Disney Springs. The hotels price themselves around the same as the Disney owned resorts so you don't need to worry about being over-charged or under-charged when comparing prices.
Best Western Lake Buena Vista
B Resort & Spa Lake Buena Vista
Double Tree Suites by Hilton Orlando
Hilton Orlando Buena Vista Palace
Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista
Holiday Inn Orlando
Wyndham Garden Lake Buena Vista
Wyndham Lake Buena Vista
- Transportation -
Airport Travel: The main airport you should fly into is the Orlando International Airport (MCO). This is the main hub for all your Disney travel needs wheather youre going to Disney World or taking a Disney Cruise. Even if you're not doing anything Disney but instead going to Sea World, Legoland, or Universal Studios; you want to fly into MCO.
Many may recommend you “save” money by flying into Tampa (TPA), but in all honestly you're not saving money at all. It is what I call an “expensive save”. What I mean by an expensive save is that you don’t actually save money at all because you will secretly spend more time and money on useless things in the end. I list time on there because time is money. I don’t like wasting hours of my day for no reason to save a dollar. Flying into TPA vs MCO may initially save you $20-$50 on your airline ticket. Which is great! But unlike MCO you now don’t get your free Disney’s Magical Express transportation to and from the airport. You will need to rent a car which is a little bit more expensive than the rental cars at MCO. Then there is the time factor, where time truly is money. I don’t like wasting time because then I'm wasting money. The average time traveling from MCO to your Disney World Resort is 20 minutes (40 minutes during rush hour). The average time traveling from TPA to your Disney World Resort is 1 hr 30 mins (2 hrs + during rush hour or traffic which always seems to exist). Now, I would rather spend 20 minutes of a free giant shuttle bus where I watch Disney videos the whole drive than be sitting in 2 hours of traffic yelling at every driver I can find. haha, not that I do that in traffic or anything. In the end you could easily spend more than $100/person by traveling through Tampa, but also waste more than 4 hours vacation time that you don’t want to waste. You worked hard all year for this time off so you shouldnt waste your hard earned money in traffic. Fly into MCO! Don’t ask questions! haha.
Airport Transportation: If you are staying at any of the Disney resorts, including the Disney Springs hotels, you can receive free shuttle service to and from Orlando (MCO) Airport along the Magical Express busses.
Hotel Transportation: If you are staying at a Disney resort you receive free transportation to and from all of the parks. Transportation is hotel specific where your hotel can offer one, two, or three modes: bus, boat, and monorail. Bus transportation is offered at all resorts and parks on property.
Park Transportation: This goes along with hotel transportation. Transportation is park specific, but will always have busses to and from all parks. (Minnie Vans can be used across Disney property and can be accessed through your Lyft app).
Magic Kingdom: walk, bus, boat & monorail
EPCOT: walk, bus, boat & monorail
Hollywood Studios: walk, bus & boat
Animal Kingdom: bus
NOTE - all resorts and parks don't have every mode of transportation. A good note to remember when your family/party is deciding which resort is the best for you or what mode of transportation to use when.
What does this mean? This means that you must follow the bullet points listed above. For example; there is no monorail or boat system to take you to and from the Animal Kingdom Park, Animal Kingdom Lodge, Kidani Village, and Jambo House. They only have buses for these properties due to the noise and pollution that would bother the animals inside the park and hotels. Whereas if you are staying at the Contemporary Resort you have all four modes of transportation to and from the Magic Kingdom; walkway, boat and monorail, with buses going to every other park except the MK because it’s too close for the bus to be necessary.
Park to hotel transportation:
Park to park transportation: