Hellobee Boards

My family always stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort - it's a nice beach theme with a fun themed pool. My dream hotel is the Polynesian, but that's pretty expensive. I also think the Art of Animation looks pretty cool, but I've never been inside that one.

What budget category are you looking at? They have value, moderate, and deluxe, each with some different features (and a pretty big difference in price)

The swan or the dolphin. They are not technically Disney hotels (they are Starwood hotels) but are considered part of the Disney family so you still get the extra park hours, bussing to park, etc. and other perks (other than the mears shuttle from airport). It is walking distance to both Epcot and Hollywood studios, plus the boardwalk. Plus, it is relatively affordable compared to other Disney hotels.

The hotel you stay at really depends on your budget. WDW hotels I've stayed at include Caribbean Beach Resort, Boardwalk and Saratoga Springs. We're actually going to WDW this weekend, and staying at Polynesian, which I'm super excited about! I think if you can afford it, staying at a monorail resort is a great option, because you can ride the monorail to both Magic Kingdom and Epcot. I also enjoyed Boardwalk, because we could walk to both Epcot and Hollywood Studios during that vacation.

Budget: All Star Hotels

Splurge: Polynesian or Grand Floridian

Middle of the Road: Disney Animators - finding Nemo suite..

Now that we are back, I would say Art of Animation IF you are going with kids. The whole place was just themed so well and they had a great pool and food court. We all really loved it. We've also stayed in Coronado Springs and the nice thing there was that there was a door between the vanity/bathroom and the sleeping area so we were able to put the pack n play in there and give our son a quiet, dark place to sleep.

My favourite that I've stayed in is Caribbean Beach. I love the theming and the quiet pools. Jamaica/Aruba are my favourite buildings to stay in because it's a nice little walk across the island to get to the main area.

Pop was a great value resort. Saratoga Springs was nice for the space but I found the actual resort very large.

I'd love to stay at Polynesian or beach&yacht but I just can't bring myself to pay that much $$ for a room.

Wilderness Lodge. Easy access to Magic Kingdom and Epcot, easy to visit the campgrounds, which are also fun, and therefore lots of places to eat and activities to get in to. My husband likes the Contemporary and Grand Floridian because of the monorail, but they are so crazy expensive these days. I like a lot of the other hotels, but we HATE the bus system and therefore rarely stay in them.

@petunia354: it's worth it. You can roll the strollers right on your the monorail and I feel like it was so easy to go between the different hotels and resorts for meals.

Hilton Orlando is also great. We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria which connects with Hilton. It's on Disney property, there's free shuttles, extended park hours, and even a character breakfast on certain days. Plus you can use the Hilton points. And the rooms were nice and big.

We stayed at Coronodo Springs (sans kids) and I wasn't impressed with the rooms. The hotels deco was nice (and all the perks) but the actual rooms were outdated and not worth the $$$