All Stars Movies vs. Port Orleans

[jcat2312]

We have reservations for this September 13-20 for 3 adults and 1 child. We are now thinking of upgrading to Port Orleans, but are not sure if it is going to be worth the extra $300. Does Disney do any upgrade specials to make the Port Orleans cheaper?

Thanks

 

[nickcarraway]

It's absolutely worth it. There's a big gap in service, accomodations, luxary and so forth between the value resorts and the moderate resorts. The gap is a little smaller between the moderate and deluxe resorts.

 

[JPVonDrake]

There is currently no broad discount offers for Disney resorts, and none are expected anytime soon.

If you are a member of AAA be sure to ask for an AAA offer when you call, it can save you 10-15% depending on time of year, base on availalibity.

Like nickcarraway said, there are many more amenities at a Moderate Resort including:

Larger rooms (value 260 sq ft / moderate 314 sq ft)
2 sinks in vanity area instead of one
a refrigerator and coffee maker in room
a family style restaurant in addition to a food court for more dining choices
slides and hot tubs in pool area
true bell service
Marias with boat and bike rentals

 

[Foolish Mortal]

If you're talking about Port Orleans Riverside, it's definitely worth it. Have never stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter so I can't offer an opinion. But i've heard very good things about it. Even with Riverside almost completely booked, I still find the area's around the rooms to be quiet. Take some time and walk around the complex it's very peaceful and relaxing. Nice food court with a good selection and the sit down restaurant Boatwright's offers a good menu. And the boat ride down to the Marketplace is a nice break from the bus.

I've stayed at Movie's and liked a lot, no complaints. But given the choice, give me POR 10 out 10 times. Maybe i'm biased since i've stayed at POR 10 times.

 

[NTI2002]

I've stayed at both french quarter, and riverside. I like riverside better, but they are both beatuiful resorts. if you can afford it do it! River side has alot of nice resort activities, like a Fishin' Hole, you can rent a pontoon boat, you can rent a family bike!

Your child might enjoy the french quarter better. It's got teh water dragon slide with King Triton riding it. and it's covered in alot of brighter colors.

 

[Stellajack]

Reort Orleans vs All Star Movies

Port Orleans is definitely worth the addt'l $300. It's like a vacation in itself--
more pool options, family activities, water taxi service, great food court. :slurp: Guests here are also entitled to the pools at French Quarter if they like. This is a great resort!

 

[celticdog]

Don't forget to add:
Less people. (smaller more intimate resort)
Less people getting on and off buses. (I know we've all experienced the crush of visitors waiting after a park has closed)
Real sit down restuarant.
Water launch to DTD.

Port Orleans (FQ/RS) just have a more relaxed feel.

I personally believe it's worth the extra $300.

 

[KingStefan]

Moving up to a mod. resort from a value is definitely worth it for many reasons, as enumerated above.

However, if you are on a fixed budget, and it means shortening your stay, or scrimping on activities, then by all means stay in the value. If I were on a fixed budget and I could stay longer in a value, I'd definitely do it.

On the other hand, if you have th extra money, then a mod is imho definitely the way to go. I'm staying at the CSR in a few weeks.

 

[KYfriedPanda]

I hate to be the one to disagree, and of course this is all opinion based, but I would never upgrade my resort... I think the All Stars are perfect... In my honest opinion, you're there for the parks, not for the resorts... Granted, it's awesome to have all those neat extras waiting for you when you get back to the hotel, but for 300 bucks? Nah... Give me longer bus rides and no pool slides and meals inside the parks instead of choosing between the restaurant and food court inside the hotel anyday. With that extra 300 bucks I'll go to 5 great in-park dinners, Pleasure Island, and DisneyQuest... all while you're back at your slightly more luxurious hotel And I assure you, I won't notice those extra square feet of space while I'm asleep ;-)

 

[Thrawn]

I hate to be the one to disagree, and of course this is all opinion based, but I would never upgrade my resort... I think the All Stars are perfect... In my honest opinion, you're there for the parks, not for the resorts... Granted, it's awesome to have all those neat extras waiting for you when you get back to the hotel, but for 300 bucks? Nah... Give me longer bus rides and no pool slides and meals inside the parks instead of choosing between the restaurant and food court inside the hotel anyday. With that extra 300 bucks I'll go to 5 great in-park dinners, Pleasure Island, and DisneyQuest... all while you're back at your slightly more luxurious hotel And I assure you, I won't notice those extra square feet of space while I'm asleep ;-)

Have you stayed at any moderates or deluxes?

 

[KingStefan]

I hate to be the one to disagree, ... With that extra 300 bucks I'll go to 5 great in-park dinners, Pleasure Island, and DisneyQuest... all while you're back at your slightly more luxurious hotel And I assure you, I won't notice those extra square feet of space while I'm asleep ;-)

I don't think we're really in disagreement. You see, you propose a situation where you have to choose between a "slightly more luxurious hotel" and "great in-park dinners", etc.

In my particular case, for example, I'm going for 9 days. We're planning to go to 8 great meals away from the resort where I'm staying (maybe more, but probably the rest will be counter service), and probably will not eat at our resort more than once or twice (except for continental breakfast on some days). I also have a premium AP (will more than break even with codes, ticket savings, and DDE), and my family all have the plus package on their tickets, so we'll go to DisneyQuest and the Water Parks. Maybe not Pleasure Island, because we have DDs 11 and 7, and they're already doing one Mouseketeer Club evening while we're at Victoria and Albert's (yes, after all these years, we're finally going to take the plunge and do the ultimate signature meal). But we might just do another Kids Club night and do Bongos (yum!) and Pleasure Island if we can fit it into our schedule, though.

The point is, we're planning on doing all that no matter where we stay. We feel that staying at a mod (the CSR in our case this time) is worth the extra $300. If we stayed at a value, the $300 would just stay in the bank. I really wanted to stay at the AKL, but that put us over what we wanted to spend. And the deluxe resorts on the monorail would be great, but they're even more.

Now, in your proposed situation where you have to choose between a "slightly more luxurious hotel" and "great in-park dinners", etc., I would definitely go for the value resort. There's no way I would be giving up some of my planned activities to stay at a more expensive resort. And I'm not trying to brag; I just happen to be lucky enough at this point in my life that I can afford an extra $300 to move up - that's all.

The other point you make is a very good one. If you are the type of person (group, family, whatever) who is at the parks from opening to closing, and never take a break, everyday of your stay, then by all means consider a value resort. My last trip, we were using up the last day of an old Park-Hopper ticket, and we were on a three-day, two-night stay with one day at the parks. We stayed offsite in a Days Inn for $30 a night.

[And, just as an aside, lucky me, on our park visit day, when we stayed at the MK until closing, then shopped a little on Main Street, then took the Resort Monorail so we could be co-pilots, the DDs and DW crashed, I had a drink at Old Town (across the street) and they forgot to lock up the pool, so I had a swim.]

So it all depends on whether you are on a stricty budget or not, and what you plan to do while you're at WDW.

 

[bears163]

while i have not stayed at a value resort( and there is nothing wrong with that) i have stayed at wilderness & CSR. both we enjoyed very much. our last trip in sep 04 in CSR was awesome. i believe it is totally worth the 300 extra to stay at a mod resort. but if you are that strapped for cash then i don't think i would do it. one the busses are more crowded for a value resort from what i have seen. never once while we were there was our bus full. but there were times i saw huge lines for the value resorts. so take waht you want out of my opinion and do with it what you want.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

$300 is $300 - While there is no question about POR being "a better quality resort" than a Value Resort the question HAS to be "Will you get any more enjoyment from your vacation by upgrading?"
If (like me) every waking moment will be spent down at the parks or DTD then I would argue that you're not going to see any real benefit by upgrading as you won't see much of POR when you're asleep. HOWEVER, if you're wanting to spend time around the pool, using the onsite facilities, boats to DTD etc, then an upgrade is well worth it.

 

[nickcarraway]

Wow. All you do is sleep at your resort? That's no fun. When I stay at resorts, in addition to sleeping, I take a shower there, use the toilet, watch Kryssa, go swimming in the pool, wait for my family and friends to get ready (either in the lobby or in the room), look at the maps and literature and plan out what I want to do and use the phone to make any last minute priority seatings.

 

[KYfriedPanda]

I don't think we're really in disagreement. You see, you propose a situation where you have to choose between a "slightly more luxurious hotel" and "great in-park dinners", etc.

In my particular case, for example, I'm going for 9 days.

OK if you're going for 9 days, I can see it as possibly being worth it to upgrade... But I am, as you suspected, the type of person who spends every waking minute that I'm there in the parks... P.I included... I myself have never spent more than 7 days there and every time I've gone I've been in the parks from opening to close, fireworks or P.I every night, and back to the hotel at either 10 or midnight... At that point I'm exhausted and I have no desire to do anything more that a moderate or deluxe resort offers me...
Also to answer another question posed, I have stayed at the Grand Floridian, but I was younger (about 13) then and every moment we weren't in the parks seemed like a wasted moment to me... While I think I'd more appreciate the extras of that hotel now, I still would want to be in the parks the whole time... but again, that's just me

 

[Kadee]

IMO, there is no comparison. I have stayed at ASMu and POR. POR is by far worth the extra money. You wouldn't think that those few square feet of room would make a difference, but they do!!! A BIG difference. Also, you have several bus stops at POR and only one at the AS. Makes the walk much shorter and that can make a big difference if you come back to your room completely exhausted at midnight. Another reason: The grounds at POR are just beautiful!!!! There is nothing like it! It is my family's favorite resort. Those are just a few of the great perks to POR. Another big one.....the boat to DTD. VERY convenient! You will not regret upgrading! Trust me!!!

 

[bidnow5]

I would go with any of the moderate resorts over the value resorts without question but as said above if you are only sleeping there isn't much difference. If you like to walk around the grounds at night just that will make a moderate worth the extra all by itself. The moderate resorts have a less crowded feel to them. We have stayed at both Port Orleans resorts and would recommend either. I could stay at any Disney resort and be happy but the moderates just have a more peaceful romantic feel.

 

[Ringo8n24]

Upgrade to Riverside. As the others said who also favor POR, you will not regret it. It is a great resort and well worth the money.

 

[KYfriedPanda]

Also, you have several bus stops at POR and only one at the AS. Makes the walk much shorter and that can make a big difference if you come back to your room completely exhausted at midnight.

Just out of curiosity, does having more bus stops at POR make it a longer time from getting on the bus in the morning to getting to the park, since the bus has to make more stops? Or do they have different buses for every stop?

 

[daveemtdave]

We have stayed at All Star Movies and the Carrabein (I know I spelled it wrong) and honestly - I have to agree with some other posts - I am not in my room that long....As for buses and getting back and forth to the parks - to many people are too impatient -- we experienced this with both resorts. Our next visit will be at Port New Orleans, but our decision was not buses or transportation was better - it was because we thought it sounded really nice. I have no intention of spending my vacation gazing out my hotel room, I want to gaze across MK.