DisneyWorld's Swan and Dolphin Resort

If you're going to stay on site (which I do recommend 100%) I can vouch for Coronado Springs being excellent, if you are looking for something without tons of screaming children (it's Disney, I know. Take that with a grain of salt.) Its more of a convention type complex, and while there are some drawbacks and faults (as there are with ALL Disney properties) its an excellent way to avoid the average clientel that you find at the All Stars.

I would still rather stay at the All Stars then stay at a comparably priced hotel off site. The benefits are just too numerous to pass up, and I usually don't spend too much time at the room anyways. :)

Thanks for the info on Coronado Springs, we stayed there last time and it was really nice but I'd rather see what else Disney has to offer. I got to say that the whole walking on a boardwalk was the whole reason I wanted to stay at the Disney Yacht or Beach club resorts (both featured on "Great Hotels", one of my favorite shows). Then again, I don't want to spend upwards of $600/night for accomodations at the deluxe resorts (we need two rooms to fit comfortably.) The home away from home is nice, but again, around at least $700/night.

Coasterdad, Disney may be after your money, but they certainly put out more than you put in. There is no experience like Disney. I can honestly say that if I won a trip to Universal Studios, I wouldn't spend a day in the park, I'd rent a car and head to Disney, I'm just a Disney kind of guy.

---

SFGAMDie HARD said:
To be honest, I don't think a deluxe Disney resort is within a practical reach for our family. While we could handle the bill, it seems like a hefty bill to handle when we spend very little time in the room itself when at Disney. Also, the rooms from Value all the way up to Deluxe do not have any noticeable differences to them. It definately makes much more sense to stay at the new Pop century (we aren't going until June), but I think the value resorts at Disney look really tacky. Therefore, I think we might compromise the environment and prices and stay at the Port Orleans. I was very curious about the Swan Dolphin though, thanks for clearing that up.

---

That would be a good compromise. A friend and I went two years ago and got a really lucky break. We were to stay at the All-Star Resort, I had gotten a $49 rate on the internet fro the room, witch is outstanding for an on-site stay.

We got there and were told that they had overbooked, but they had rooms for us at a different resort, Port Orleans. Talk about night and day. The ASR was tacky and looked to be very basic. While it really didn't matter much to us, we weren't planning on sitting in our room the whole time, with all the kids running all over the place we were wondering if we would even get any sleep.

Port Orleans was totally different. First thing, much better, less gualdy theming. The room was very nice, spacoius and well kept, and service was outstanding. Also, they had a fantastic pool. I most highly recomend that resort.