Wyndham Palace or Pop Century

[AlisonFromUK]

Trying to decide where to stay next year (going to go beginning of April). Being non-drivers, which resort would you say is best for getting to other disney parks and to Pleasure Island etc?

What are you opinions on both hotels also?

Appreciate your advice. Been to Orlando twice but was on I-Drive both times. Looking to stay nearer Disney this time! Thanks!!:)

[Alyssa]

My family stayed at Pop Century in May/04, we loved it. If you won't have a car I would think that Pop Cnetury would be better considering it is on Disney's property and has buses to all the parks and Pleasure Island/Downtown Disney( although I think Wyndham is really close to DTD). However, I don't know anything about Wyndham Palace other than it isn't a Disney Hotel. I guess it would be helpful to find out how there bus system is.

[Keith]

ok well if assuming you mean the wyndham palace by dtd it's a great hotel.

First the downsides... you lose a bit of disney feel (although it does have a character meal etc). The main downside is that the busses to the resorts are shared with all the other hotels on that portion of road. Theyre not as frequent as disney busses, they dont put on enough when things like wishes finishes and they take a long time to get to the parks because of all the stops on the way at the different hotels.

The good aspects:-
It's a great hotel.. really nice and well specified. The rooms are nicely sized, they all have broadband internet (and on the tv I think too). There are some REALLY nice restaurants, I particularly like the outback. There's a great breakfast buffet too and a shop that sells milk and all the things you need.
It's RIGHT across the road from DTD.. a 2min walk or so... thats great for restaurants and shopping but it's also WONDERFUL for getting to other disney resorts. It's awful trying to get from disney resort to resort usually but from the wyndham its as easy as it could be.

I love onsite.. and I love the disney value resorts although I dont hear a lot of people preferring pop century to say all star movies.... but I wouldn't rule the wyndham out if you could get a great price.

I'd say... if you go to the parks a lot then perhaps prefer pop century though just for the bus service

[AlisonFromUK]

Do you think its best to book hotel and flight seperately? If so where would you recommend I book both? We do like eating out and as I understand it Pop Century doesn't have that as such, but if we can get about to other Disney hotels maybe we could go elsewhere? Is this a total pain to do?

We don't have kids so a family atmosphere isnt an issue. Its more the getting about side of things really. Money is an issue too. We would like to do it as cheap as possible this time so any advice there is apreciated !!!! thanks :D

[Keith]

yeah thats a REAL pain on the pop century side.. the lack of sit down restaurants in the value resorts is so annoying. Wyndham is definitely better on that side of things and getting from disney resort to resort yep is a total pain but VERY easy from the wyndham.

I book flights with virgin usually on their website and hotels direct with disney usually taking advantage of a discount if possible. For the wyndham, you can email them and ask them for a deal.. it sounds pushy but they emailed me back with a really great price when I tried

[Meezers]

Getting anywhere from Pop is difficult. The food court is good for fast type food...

Even though I think the Disney transport is good...from what Keith says it really sounds like the Wyndham is the better choice here. If you can walk to DTD then you can catch a bus to anywhere right? That would be great. We have gotten spoiled cause we get to drive :)

[Keith]

you can catch the bus to any disney resort from dtd but not the parks :( you have to either get a hotel bus or get on a disney resort bus and then get a park bus from there. It's ok though.. didnt put me off the Wyndham.

[AlisonFromUK]

thats not so bad. I have taken your advise and sent an email to the hotel direct and been really creepy and cheeky and asked for a good quote.

We've always flown with Virgin before so I am debating if its worth going with someone else. Do you think its worth the risk or not? I mean you can get on teletext and get great flight deals but its with ping pong airways isnt it !!!:unsure:

[Keith]

Well I don't think it's worth going with virgin holidays unless you're sure it's a good deal. I've had a couple where they were doing it cheaper than I could do by booking seperately but mainly they're more expensive. I kinda DO think it's worth booking virgin or at least one of the big players rather than ping pong airways yeah <G> Last but one time, we heard that the virgin flight had been delayed in orlando and the plane was still there when we were travelling to the airport *ARGHGHG*. When we got there I ran in and spoke to the virgin desk who said "oh please, like we only have one plane" :lol: Thing is, some of the other airlines (especially from manchester) really don't have the spare planes to be able to keep on schedule given a problem like that and if anything does happen, virgin seem to compensate well.

I look at it like this.. although I don't want to spend more than I have to (I'd rather spend the money at Disney), I try never to skimp on getting there/back just in case it ruins the holiday.

[SorcererMickey]

Wyndham Palace is great. I stayed there a night a few weekends ago and really enjoyed it. We had a SouthWest view on the 8th floor.
We could see almost the entire property from our balcony. We stayed in and watched the fireworks from all three parks :thumbs: .

[OJC77]

Have you considered the All Star Movies Resort? We have been there twice in the last 8 months - it's great fun, and very disney! Never had any probs.

Booked tickets and hotel through
http://www.disney-world-tickets.co.uk/walt-disney-world-travel-company/

My brother got married at the Wyndham some years ago, while it was a great hotel - it just did not feel disney - felt like any other hotel in the world. Also had many conferences going on, so lots of suited and booted people!!

Over recent years I have been going off flying Virgin. The seem to have lost their sparkle that they once had! If you want a direct flight try British Airways, or if you don't mind flying with a change of planes on the way try United Airlines or American Airlines. I realise this will make getting there longer, but I feel the difference in service and extra seat/leg room will make all the difference!

I normally book the flights through www.travelocity.co.uk, although www.expedia.co.uk, or the airlines sites can give you good deals!

[Keith]

Do BA have seat back tvs yet?

[OJC77]

Yep, BA use a 777 on this route. 12 Channels of TV/Films, and 12 Channels of Audio!

[Keith]

excellent! I remember trying to see the screen at the front last time I flew with them

[AlisonFromUK]

spooky that. Ive been looking this morning on the net at flights and found BA to look good. same seat pitch as Virgin and everything. Found flights from Heathrow as well which is better for us than Gatwick as we live between Luton and Millton Keynes.

You can get good deals with United Airlines and Continental but have to change. We are thinking about even trying this, yeah could be a pain but in a way i wouldn't mind getting off the plane to stretch my legs. we are in no panic rush to get there this time as we've been before so it might be worth it.

Do the american airlines have tv's in the seats as well then?

[OJC77]

Yes, American also have seat back TV's, but only on the 777, which operates on about 2 thirds of the flights from the uk. The 777 on AA also has a 2-5-2 seat configuration, ideal if there are only 2 of you going!

United are the same, with regard to TV's and seat config, these will most prob be better for you and get you to Orlando.

[Vikki]

We went to ASMO without kids and were not bothered about the lack of restaurants as it meant we could explore more. The theming was great, but the price was even better!

We also didn't drive, and staying there was brilliant, everything was there for you.

So I would definately recommend staying on site, every time :)

[AlisonFromUK]

keep finding different options!! have now found a KLM flight from Heathrow which doesn't stop anywhere. Heathrow is better for us than Gatwick.

What is KLM like? - I've found they have decent leg room but know nothing else. :shrug: