Opinions for next summer?

[Aliceacc]

My primary concern is transportation. Have the Covid requirements resulted in significant lines for buses?
This time we'll need 2 rooms, so staying at a Disney Epcot resort and walking to at least one park is financially off the table.

I'm strongly considering Swan/Dolphin, but am wondering whether we'll miss the theming.
Plan B is probably POR, but I'm concerned about the waits for buses if they're at 40%

Anyone want to weigh in?

 

[Marthasor]

POR isn't open and there have been no announcements as to if and when it will open in the near future. If you need to book a mod, I would consider CBR, however Swan/Dolphin will give you a distinct advantage in terms of location for DHS and EP. I think it comes down to theming vs. convenience. I personally would pick Swan/Dolphin over CBR or any mod any day of the week.

 

[Aliceacc]

Thanks! That's what I keep coming back to-- the location. My kids are all adults; the youngest is 17. So they don't need the in-you-face Mickey Mouse 24/7. I think I just needed someone to agree, lol.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

My primary concern is transportation. Have the Covid requirements resulted in significant lines for buses?
This time we'll need 2 rooms, so staying at a Disney Epcot resort and walking to at least one park is financially off the table.

I'm strongly considering Swan/Dolphin, but am wondering whether we'll miss the theming.
Plan B is probably POR, but I'm concerned about the waits for buses if they're at 40%

Anyone want to weigh in?

My two cents, if budget and transport is top of mind, consider a skyliner resort like CBR or POP. The skyliner is great but do keep in mind it goes down for summer storms so the bus is the backup.

I wouldn’t count on POR being open by summer of 2021. I hope it is but just to give you an idea, POR and POFQ didn’t open until about a year after 9/11. While I think some of that closure time was construction, Disney likely didn’t have enough demand to open it either.

I like the swan and dolphin and it’s convenient location for sure but I’m like you and we like the Disney theming. But you can get your theming fix by waking over to the boardwalk and the beach and yacht club easily. And have access to additional dining in walking distance.

Also, iF there are no major changes to the park pass system by summer of 2021, I don’t think it’s a big deal to be off property since right now there’s no real benefit to being a WDW resort guest.

We last stayed on property at CBR in early August and I wasn’t overly impressed with the buses compared to other moderate stays. However, if you get to the depot early, pack some patience and maybe plan for a few uber/Lyft rides as needed, it’s manageable I suppose.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

POR isn't open and there have been no announcements as to if and when it will open in the near future. If you need to book a mod, I would consider CBR, however Swan/Dolphin will give you a distinct advantage in terms of location for DHS and EP. I think it comes down to theming vs. convenience. I personally would pick Swan/Dolphin over CBR or any mod any day of the week.

Ditto- i would also pick swan and dolphin over CBR too. CBR is a value resort disguised by Disney as a moderate imo. I know, my opinion isn’t very popular, but I’m not a fan of CBR. Swan and dolphin have WAY better dining options, walking distance to parks and Epcot area resorts/dining, easy centralized bus service and you can walk to mini golf. And likely better prices.

 

[SteveH]

I love Swan/Dolphin, but right now they have dropped the Disney bus service (or Disney dropped them), so you are stuck using Mears. = That means that your bus will drop you off at the TTC for going to MK or charter bus locations for AK too. You can get around TTC by walking over to BW/YC/BC and using the Disney busing. You can walk to Epcot & DHS, but hopefully the boats start back up in November and stay running.

That could all change by summer, so just an FYI.

 

[Marthasor]

Thanks! That's what I keep coming back to-- the location. My kids are all adults; the youngest is 17. So they don't need the in-you-face Mickey Mouse 24/7. I think I just needed someone to agree, lol.

I think, particularly with adults and older kids, Swan/Dolphin is the way to go. There is so much more to access via foot in that area (restaurants, etc.)

 

[JenBush]

I really like Swan and Dolphin, but not having Disney buses anymore will make transportation, particularly to MK, a bit inconvenient.

 

[lanejudy]

Be aware the Swan/Dolphin have recently changed their bus service. They are now using Mears buses to the parks (MK and AK) which do not use the same resort bus loops but rather the off-site bus stops. Plus no DME so factor in airport transfers.

That said... at this point we really don't know what the bus/transportation situation will be by next summer. It could be same or improved.

 

[RoseGold]

Who knows what any of this will be like in a year. I'd just slow down and wait.

CB is looking like a great option with the skyliner to two parks and very reasonable pricing. If I were locking something in, it would be CB.

 

[Scubadaddy32]

My primary concern is transportation. Have the Covid requirements resulted in significant lines for buses?
This time we'll need 2 rooms, so staying at a Disney Epcot resort and walking to at least one park is financially off the table.

I'm strongly considering Swan/Dolphin, but am wondering whether we'll miss the theming.
Plan B is probably POR, but I'm concerned about the waits for buses if they're at 40%

Anyone want to weigh in?

My wife and I stay at Gran Destino typically and take Uber to the parks. We only ride back to the resort on the buses, problem solved. AK, HS and EPCOT are less than 5 minutes away via UBER and MK is less than 10 minutes away.
It's typically less than $10.00 per UBER ride and they take you right to the front gates with the exception of MK. Well worth it! $10.00 per day in our book.
The distance to the parks is completely negated by UBER outside of staying at CR for MK. I understand family size and ages dictate decision, but for adults... it is what it is.

 

[AliceIn]

Have you considered renting points and getting 2 studios maybe at the Boardwalk or Beach Club? It might end up being very similar cost wise to 2 rooms at the Swan/Dolphin - don't forget that the taxes and fees at those two are REALLY high.

 

[nkereina]

We just returned on Friday from a stay at CBR. We only had to deal with buses for AK, MK and Disney Springs. We found that people were getting to the bus stops an hour before buses started running in order to ensure they were on the first bus to the parks to make rope drop. This resulted in long lines at the bus depots at the resort. We didn't want to hassle with that so we used Uber, and it was fine.

Otherwise, I didn't find the lines to be particularly long, but capacity is also greatly reduced right now. With more resorts opening and/or more people traveling, it will be interesting to see if they increase the frequency of the buses. Bus capacity is also greatly reduced, so without increasing the frequency, there WILL be long lines. The only time we missed a bus because there weren't enough seats was leaving Disney Springs around 9:30pm. We had to wait 25 minutes for the next bus. If buses run in 10-15 minute intervals, the low bus capacity is not an issue. But of course, cost is a factor and they are not doing that at the moment.