Which DVC Resorts Are Best for EPCOT Vacations

One of the most challenging aspects of DVC is deciding the best place to stay during your vacation. After just a couple of Disney visits, you grow to understand the significance of logistics. 

When you stay closer to a theme park, you sidestep much of the chaos caused by the mercurial bus system. That’s the end goal for all of us. So, let’s discuss which DVC resorts are the best booking options for EPCOT vacations.

What’s an EPCOT Vacation?

Obviously, when you visit Walt Disney World, you’ll probably attend all the parks during your trip. As a rule, one of the four gates becomes the home base, the place you’re likely to visit the most. Often, it’s the park where you’ll spend time in the evening after you’ve returned from your daily park, the one where you’ve booked a Theme Park Reservation. 

So, an “EPCOT vacation” is one where you’ll go to this park the most. And this vacation variant crops up frequently due to the various food festivals at EPCOT. 

Courtesy of Disney Tourist Blog

Disney incentivizes DVC members to choose these resorts by offering novelty food and beverages, ones that change with the season/festival. Not coincidentally, many DVC owners hold the fondest memories of nights spent at EPCOT, drinking and dancing with friends. EPCOT vacations are the best. 

Disney’s Beach Club Villas

You knew about a couple of these options as soon as you saw the title. DVC members know the deal about EPCOT’s International Gateway. 

For many years now, we’ve used it as our private park entrance. Alas, since the introduction of the Disney Skyliner, the International Gateway isn’t much of a secret anymore. Virtually all Disney fans know about the back door to EPCOT. That reality shouldn’t change anything, though. 

Disney has added more entrance gates to account for the new traffic. Plus, they’re typically keeping all the lanes open during the busiest times of the day. So, the resorts within walking distance of the International Gateway remain the ideal options.  We all know that Beach Club is the closest one.

Disney’s BoardWalk Villas

Then again, we’re splitting hairs to say that Beach Club is closer to the International Gateway. I’m sure you know that the only difference from BoardWalk is a short walk across a bridge.

So, while you’re technically walking more from the BoardWalk, it’s maybe 200 steps more. The only Walt Disney World resort with a closer location to a theme park is Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. We’re talking about the gold standard in logistics at the BoardWalk. 

Disney’s Riviera Resort

We’ve got some other options other than the obvious two. The newest one resides at the Riviera, and it’s thanks to Disney’s latest form of technology.

As you may know, Disney cannot rely on the monorail as much as it might like because its monorail manufacturer, Bombardier, sold its rail business a few years ago. Now, the business that bought it is facing bankruptcy as well. At the moment, the monorail system isn’t a growth industry, at least not in the Western Hemisphere. 

For this reason, Disney improvised by going back to the future with its transportation. Disney constructed a gondola system akin to the beloved (but wildly dangerous) Skyway to Tomorrowland/Fantasyland. Thankfully, Disney has walled it in now, making the Disney Skyliner a safe form of transportation, one in use at many ski resorts worldwide. 

Perhaps the greatest benefit of the Disney Skyliner system is that you’ll know when you arrive. Even the monorail has some imprecision with its route arrival times. Sometimes, you must wait on the tracks for other trams to move. The Skyliner is constantly in motion, guaranteeing you’re only minutes away from EPCOT when you stay at the Riviera. 

Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort 

Despite what I just said, I remain an evangelist for the monorail. It’s the most distinctly Disney of all forms of transportation. In fact, I’d argue that the monorail is inexorably linked with Disney and theme park vacations. 

When you stay at any monorail resort, you’re never more than a few rides away from EPCOT. You ride the monorail to the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC) and hop on the EPCOT line. A few minutes later, you’re staring at Spaceship Earth. 

I’m listing the Polynesian as the best option because you can head straight to the TTC. From there, you can walk on the EPCOT monorail. When you stay at the Pago Pago longhouse, a DVC option, you’re almost at the TTC. The two locations share a parking lot. 

This option may be the simplest in terms of pure convenience. So, the Polynesian is a sneaky-good place to stay for an EPCOT vacation. 

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