Room With A View..

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The Watchmaker's picture
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Room With A View..

Good Morning Everyone..Happy Monday..So this Saturday night I'am hosting my small F & W Disney party..I've already been on the phone for almost 30 mins with my buddy's wife who is dying to plan her 2015 trip ASAP..Anyway one question she asked me on the phone was about room views as she and hubby love to sit on their hotel balcony ( usually Spain ) at night and relax with a drink and take in the view..This is something I've never considered to be important as all our 5 previous trips have been in mods with no balconies..However on our 4th trip in 2010, we had a room at Parterre Place ( now royal rooms ) overlooking the Sassagoula river..So this year we have a " Woods View " at WL..I have requested a high floor, fingers crossed, but the balcony is a big plus as we also like to relax after a hard day in the parks with a wee nightcap..So now to my question..How important is it to yourselfs that your room has a nice view..I would imagine that the Savanah rooms at AKL must be awesome watching the wildlife right outside your balcony ( my DS would hate this as he's not at one with nature after an ostrich made a bee line for our truck at Kilimanjaro Safari one year ) Anyway, what are your thoughts on this subject.?

RobynPrincess's picture
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I'm becoming to like a view the more I go to disney. We no longer hit the parks commando style and spend more down time relaxing, a light for me is sitting on the balcony watching the world go by. We have a savanna view at kidani in October, but decided to save points at VGF and go for a standard view.

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The Colonel's picture
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I love the Boardwalk View rooms. It just makes you feel that much more immersed when have that show outside your room. That said, my favorite resort is the Beach Club and for the most part, there are no views at all there.

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Kristen K.'s picture
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I love a great view, and have different favorites depending on where we stay, or even what floor we're on. As a general rule, I like my view to have some sort of water in it. However if I can look out the window and see a monorail go by I usually giggle every time.

The savanna view at Animal Kingdom is nice if you have a lower floor balcony, but I find that the higher up you are the more difficult it is to enjoy the animals. For that reason when we get a concierge room there I prefer the pool view. Uzima Springs is my favorite WDW pool, and it makes for a great view.

Magic Kingdom view at the Contemporary is nice, but if you're on a lower floor it's also the parking lot view. Higher up in the tower is better for that one, and you get some great sunsets and fireworks too.

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This October is our first stay in a room with a balcony and I'm so excited! We are at Animal Kingdom Kidani and I can't wait to relax on the balcony at the end of a long day and enjoy.

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When we go to the beach or mountains, I want a nice view of the ocean or the mountains from my balcony. At WDW I normally don't care so much since we don't spend much time on the balcony. But I confess I am quite looking forward to our AKL savannah view villa in November. Our view of the golf course at OKW in 2012 was also very nice even though we spent very little time enjoying it.

jhugo's picture
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We like a great view. We always get a woods view at WL. We prefer a ground floor so when we sit out at night the woods are around us. I guess it depends on how much time you spend in your room. When the DH and I go down we go to relax so a beautiful view and some place to sit out matters. On my trip with my best friend we are going for the sleep when we get home plan so we went for a value resort and didn't worry about the view. We do not plan on being in our room much.

JoAnn C's picture
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I usually get a standard room at a value resort so not much in the view category. Although, it you have the right room you can see some of the fireworks.

I'm doing a split stay in October. The second part of my trip is at POFQ. When the fall discounts came out they didn't have any standard rooms available with the discount so I upgraded to a river view room.

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Spook's picture
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We've always stayed at Value resorts so there were no views or balconies. Not that we spent much time in the room anyway. This October is the first time we'll have a balcony as we have a Lake View at BLT. I'm excited to see what it's like. We also have a savannah view at AKL booked for a night in January awesome

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The Colonel wrote:
I love the Boardwalk View rooms. It just makes you feel that much more immersed when have that show outside your room.

Absolutely agree with you Colonel. The Boardwalk view is so nice...

The Colonel's picture
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Ken- I think those Boardwalk View rooms are very special. Totally worth the extra pointage in my opinion. Although you have to be careful and ask for an unobstructed view on an upper floor, like the one in your picture above.

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The Colonel wrote:
Ken- I think those Boardwalk View rooms are very special. Totally worth the extra pointage in my opinion. Although you have to be careful and ask for an unobstructed view on an upper floor, like the one in your picture above.

Totally agree Colonel. We actually had to request a room switch as they originally put us in a different view that in my opinion was not the "Boardwalk View" that I had in mind and paid extra for (it looked out to the side towards the courtyard.

Without unpacking, we went to the front desk and just asked politely if they had any rooms that actually face and are above the boardwalk. They checked the computer and said yes, no problem and we then switched to the room in the photo of Jan on the balcony.

That room was AWESOME. Loved it. awesome

The Colonel's picture
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Been there and done that. In fact for my daughter's honeymoon, I got the phone number of the room assigner and bothered them from about two weeks out, so that she would have the primo view.

On the other hand, for the point-price of standard rooms, you can get a Garden Green view, which is almost a Boardwalk view. Better than a parking lot view anyway.

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bethi's picture
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Kidani - savannah view has been, by far, my favorite place to relax on the balcony with a beverage. We've stayed at BLT (lake view), SSR, VWL & OKW too. I enjoyed the view from the BLT balcony overlooking the pool & Bay Lake. VWL was almost a dumpster view, but not quite - but that trip was a park commando kind of trip, so no big deal. SSR & OKW were relaxing enough. My attitude is simply that I'm on vacation at WDW - beats the view out my home back door any day! lol

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I think it depends on the resort and the willingness to pay more for a room with a better view. Sure, everyone would like a savannah view room at the AKL (Myself included!) or a theme park view room at the Contemporary but is it worth an extra hundred or even two hundred dollars for it? I guess that answer varies from person to person. If you don't spend a lot of time in the resort, the view may not matter so much. But if you want to relax and soak in more of the resort, then maybe a room with a better view is required. As for me, I've only stayed at the value resorts where the view doesn't really matter that much. I mean, for me, looking over a pool or a parking lot does not really bother me a whole lot at a value resort. But if I have plans for a deluxe resort (And it's deluxe or bust because the moderates turn me off), I am willing to spend more for a better view because I'm at the point where I want to do more than the theme parks all the time for future trips.

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The Watchmaker's picture
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jw24 wrote:
I think it depends on the resort and the willingness to pay more for a room with a better view. Sure, everyone would like a savannah view room at the AKL (Myself included!) or a theme park view room at the Contemporary but is it worth an extra hundred or even two hundred dollars for it? I guess that answer varies from person to person. If you don't spend a lot of time in the resort, the view may not matter so much. But if you want to relax and soak in more of the resort, then maybe a room with a better view is required. As for me, I've only stayed at the value resorts where the view doesn't really matter that much. I mean, for me, looking over a pool or a parking lot does not really bother me a whole lot at a value resort. But if I have plans for a deluxe resort (And it's deluxe or bust because the moderates turn me off), I am willing to spend more for a better view because I'm at the point where I want to do more than the theme parks all the time for future trips.

Interesting points of view...I agree..I can't even remember our room at CBR in 2004 never mind the view..It was our first Disney vacation and we were out all the time...Our POFQ room was a non memory view, but PORS at Parterre Place on our second visit was awesome..That view over the Sassagoula river was breathtaking first thing in the morning..Here's hoping our WL has a good memory also..

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If I'm staying at a Value resort, I don't really care about the view. At Deluxe, I do care a bit. At DAKL, we have had a Savannah View and a pool view, both were very nice. When we stayed at the boardwalk, we had a decent view but we were there one night just so my ex could use DME.

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We have done the value and...meh, we just wanted the back of a building for more quiet. When at the mod, we did have a nice view but it's not really a balcony. You just drink your coffee and lean against a post. often if you sit, you're in the path of someone else trolling by. cool

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