Moderates good for kids?

[DisneyDreamer08]

Hi everyone! Let me start off by saying we are not planning another trip right now. We are more at the "thinking about possibly planning another trip in the future" stage. We have two small girls who have been fortunate enough to travel to Disney twice so far. In 2014 my oldest was 3, almost 4, (youngest wasn't born yet) and we stayed at Pop. We loved it. This past September 2016, my oldest was 5 1/2, youngest just turned one, and we stayed at Sports. We hated it. We had so many issues. Surprisingly, while recently discussing a timeline for our next trip, my husband said he didn't want to stay in Values anymore. That Sports had completely turned him off from Values.
We've never stayed in a Moderate so I've started checking them out online. Because we are a family with small kids, the size of the moderates is a big turn off for me. We frequently use the food court, at least once a day, sometimes twice, so being close to that is important (without paying even more for a preferred room). Another concern is the multiple bus stops which will inevitably make our time on the bus even longer each day.
So in your opinion, are moderates a good choice for families with small kids? Which moderate has the most standard rooms close to the food court? Which spends the least amount of time on the internal bus loops? And finally, are any moderates ever excluded from offers?
Thanks for any opinions!

 

[King Racoon 77]

Never stayed here but a lot of people rate Port Orleans French Quarter very good as it is a nice compact resort.Might be worth a look.

 

[Master Yoda]

If the size of the resort is an issue then POFQ will be your go to place. The next best option would be a preferred room at PORS (request building 14)

 

[DisAl]

POFQ is more compact and not a bad choice. If you go for one of the larger resorts like POR or CBR, pay a little extra for a "preferred" room and request to be placed as close to the food court as you can. That usually puts you closer to a bus stop too.

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

I've never been with small kids so I cannot completely relate to your needs but we have stayed at Coronado multiple times and have always loved it. We always request Cabanas 9B or 9A and have always gotten it-very close to the main hub where the food is. Also there's an awesome pool and more. Never had an issue with buses. @Buzz2001 can help more with Coronado info.

However, it sounds like you may be in a bit of a bind because the room size will depend on what you're willing to pay. Coronado has junior suites which I believe are basically two adjoining rooms made into one suite but those are not cheap. Not sure what size room would work for your family, but I'm thinking a standard moderate room may be tight. Deluxe standard rooms are larger but not huge. As you mentioned however, bigger is going to cost and obviously that's not ideal.

I am not sure what the costs would be at all or what your budget actually is but it may be worth looking into renting a DVC studio at a resort like Old Key West or Saratoga Springs which have very nicely sized studio rooms and not as pricey as other DVC studios. Worth a try pricing it out! Maybe this link will help if it works here: https://www.dvcrequest.com/cost-calculator.asp

 

[Reggie Colorado]

Port Orleans French Quarter is very compact. The grounds are really quiet, unless you are facing the pool during swimming hours. The pool area is nice and spacious, and there is a new water play area for little kids. The staff did an afternoon kids program with games at the pool that our 7 year old loved. Another great advantage was that this resort does not share park bus service with another resort. Given that there is only one stop (unlike Port Orleans Riverside or many other resorts) and this resort is relatively small, we had no problems with delays or overcrowding when taking the buses to the parks. The food court is centrally located and just underwent a remodel. The food was above average for a food court but nothing fancy. We found it to be a very good value.

 

[Minnie Mum]

AS Sports turned us off of ever staying at a value resort again, too. We've since stayed at all of the mods, with and without our 2 kids. We didn't find the size of the room to be a problem, and the queen beds and double sinks ( only single sink at CSR), were a definite must.

POFQ is our favorite, not least due to its small size. The larger resorts can be managed by requesting specific buildings (as long as you know that it's only a request and not guaranteed.).

Availability of discounts varies. CBR almost always gets them, but POFQ seldom does. The others fall somewhere in between. The number of rooms discounted at each resort will vary as well. For us, the increased cost of a mod over the values is worth it. And the extra bus stops should only add an extra 10 minutes at the most to travel time.

 

[LAKid53]

I'd go with Port Orleans. Yes, French Quarter is more compact, but dining options are limited. We love Riverside, always stayed in Magnolia Bend - our group of buildings had its own small pool. Was a quick walk over to the food court. Another advantage of Port Orleans is the boat to Disney Springs.

It's a lovely resort and in great demand. I think a standard room would be fine for the four of you. Request a corner room. While no bigger than the others, the extra window makes it seem so.

We'd still be staying at POR if we hadn't become deluxe snobs...and I bought DVC.

Have fun planning!

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

This is all such great info! Thank you everyone. I will have to pay close attentions to the offers over the next year or so to see which moderates are included & which aren't. I thought I read French Quarter and Riverside share buses? Is that not the case?

 

[LAKid53]

This is all such great info! Thank you everyone. I will have to pay close attentions to the offers over the next year or so to see which moderates are included & which aren't. I thought I read French Quarter and Riverside share buses? Is that not the case?

Not during the times I've stayed at POR. Before Disney regained their senses and started buses again from the parks to Disney Springs, we would take a bus from the park we were in to POFQ to hop on the boat to the Springs. It only stopped at POFQ.

 

[Buzz2001]

My family loves CSR. CSR has the longest pool slide of all the mods, very good transportation that is not shared, and some extra amenities not found at the other mods because it is a convention resort.

 

[daisyduckie]

I think CSR and POFQ are the two that would fit you best. As others have pointed out POFQ is very compact, has only one bus stop, and rarely shares with POR. CSR is bigger, but I have found that it has great bus service. If you request a standard room in Casitas 4 you won't be very far from the front, and will have the bonus of having the first bus stop picked up going to the parks behind your building. I noticed on my last stay that CSR has some of the best bus stop locations at the park, with them all being very close to the main gates.

 

[daisyduckie]

I want to add that I went and read your trip report. And stuff like what happened to you at the Sports can happen at any resort. I'm not saying at all that I blame you for wanting to avoid the Sports for now. I would too! But honestly I think a lot of the unhappiness you felt with the resort probably had a lot to do with your little one not feeling very well at the time. It would make any parents stressed and unhappy. Couple that with things going wrong, and yeah, I would want to avoid that place too.

Also, please try to keep in mind it is impossible for any building in Florida to keep roaches totally out. Due to Florida being swamp land they are a part of life, and even all of the preventive things they can do (like tenting buildings and fumigating them) can't keep the bugs out. It is impossible. It isn't because the room is dirty or anything like that.

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

I want to add that I went and read your trip report. And stuff like what happened to you at the Sports can happen at any resort. I'm not saying at all that I blame you for wanting to avoid the Sports for now. I would too! But honestly I think a lot of the unhappiness you felt with the resort probably had a lot to do with your little one not feeling very well at the time. It would make any parents stressed and unhappy. Couple that with things going wrong, and yeah, I would want to avoid that place too.

Also, please try to keep in mind it is impossible for any building in Florida to keep roaches totally out. Due to Florida being swamp land they are a part of life, and even all of the preventive things they can do (like tenting buildings and fumigating them) can't keep the bugs out. It is impossible. It isn't because the room is dirty or anything like that.

Our last trip was like the perfect storm of Disney trips, any thing that could go wrong, did All our problems with Sports might not have seemed so bad if the rest of the trip was perfect. But it was just another terrible thing we had to deal with. We actually really liked Pop a few years ago and my husband is very much a penny pincher so I was surprised when he mentioned his desire to check into moderates. He said he felt like a second class citizen at Sports and like we were clearly at the bottom of the barrel. So he thought it might be worth it to pay extra for better service, amenities, cleanliness etc next time around. But yes, I realize a lot of our problems could have happened elsewhere. If things would have been handled and dealt with differently, maybe we would have left with a better overall feeling.

 

[daisyduckie]

No one should ever feel like they are the bottom of the barrel at Disney. I've run into a bad manager before, and it definitely can sour you on a resort.

I love the moderates. If you do decide to go back and upgrade to a moderate I think you will have a great time. They are much more relaxing, and feel more like a resort.

 

[Renouq]

Of course! When I was a kid I stayed at Disney's Caribbean Beach and I loved it! POFQ is also amazing and your kids would love it.

 

[Master Yoda]

This is all such great info! Thank you everyone. I will have to pay close attentions to the offers over the next year or so to see which moderates are included & which aren't. I thought I read French Quarter and Riverside share buses? Is that not the case?

They do share buses at times, but not all that often anymore.

Of the moderates, POFQ is probably the one most frequently not included in promotions because it is often booked up and there is simply no need to put rooms on sale. If you want to stay there, you kind of have to bit the bullet, book it in advance and then just hope for the best.

 

[Reggie Colorado]

When we stayed at POFQ last April, we were told that all buses to the parks were now direct and no longer stopped at POR (which had been a recent change). Of course, Disney transportation could change that at any time. You can call the resort directly to check the current status. The nonstop service was a great perk.

 

[Herdman]

The princess themed rooms at POR would be perfect with your girls, but the resort is pretty large and does make internal bus stops. POFQ is great for it's compactness after a long day at the parks. We've found that both can be excluded from discounts from time to time because WDW usually doesn't have to worry about booking the rooms.

 

[jpinkc]

I have a question about POR, whats the difference in Preferred Rooms and Royale rooms? Is it just the theme in they Royals? Are they in as good a location as the Preferred ones?