Can't swing the Poly, so where do we stay?

[DisneyPrincess5]

Hi all :wave:

So we've found ourselves in a bit of a pickle...

Currently we are booked at the beautiful Polynesian for our January trip but due to some recently discovered scheduling problems, we have to switch our trip by a few days and we've begrudgingly decided to switch hotels to save on cash.

We're looking to switch to Pop Century, Port Orleans, or Coronado.
I'm looking for input...where would you stay and why?

Thanks a lot!!

 

[tink68]

POFQ gets my vote. We actually were at the Beach Club for our trip in Oct but to save some money we switched to POFQ. If you want to save even more money I would go with Pop. Love both of these resorts. Have fun. :wave:

 

[DABIGCHEEZ]

Bring a tent.. there are lots of woods around. Honestly we never stayed at a moderate, just the values before we became DVC. We did visit them all however and I think PO Riverside and Coronado were the nicest from what I could see just "visiting".

 

[robbwilder]

Febuary and April we stayed at Port Orleans Riverside. May we stayed in French Quarter. July 4th weekend we stayed at Pop Century. In the past we have stayed at Carribean Beach, Coranodo Springs, Comtemp and Poly.

Pop Century the rooms are smaller than French Quarter. To me and the wife it was a virtual Meat Market of people there. It was not relaxing at all. For the price difference and the fridge in the room we determined Port Orleans wins hands down over pop century.

Poly we wernt thrilled with. Contemp is great if the price is right and you have a MK view. Nothing like turning the TV to channel 18 and listening to wishes while watching it from the Balcony but with the little one we have now that option is out the window.

Carribean Beach is nice and would be a nice second choice over Port Orleans. Its a really long walk to the food court and the food was just okay.

Coronodo Springs is a convetion hotel and was busy like Pop so that went out the door for us.

This brings us to Port Orleans.

For a weekend its French Quarter all the way. All the rooms are centrally located to the foodcourt lobby etc. The big plus on french quarter is coming out of MK after wishes the lines to the bus are much shorter than Riverside.

For the feel of the room decorations, to the theming of the hotel and landscaping and such for a stay longer than 2 nights we prefer Riverside. Its calm relaxing. We were never too far from the bus stop. Its has extra quiet pools away from Old Mans Island. The food court was top notch. They have the carriage rides and the boat to DTD.

You cant lose at Port Orleans try to stay at both and then decide for yourself

 

[lives4disney]

I have only stayed at the Disney deluxes...but have you considered the Swan/Dolphin? (I have also stayed at these.) They are great resorts and the location is FANTASTIC. They offer terrific rates for deluxe properties.

Just thought I'd toss that idea out there. You cannot book any Disney packages with the S/D though.

I would choose the S/D over a mod any day (location, deluxe, queen or king bed, resort amenities)....preferably the Swan.

Lives4Disney

 

[trr1]

how many are in your party? that make a difference. you could always rent a cabin at fort wilderness

 

[Ragetti]

Hi all :wave:

So we've found ourselves in a bit of a pickle...

Currently we are booked at the beautiful Polynesian for our January trip but due to some recently discovered scheduling problems, we have to switch our trip by a few days and we've begrudgingly decided to switch hotels to save on cash.

We're looking to switch to Pop Century, Port Orleans, or Coronado.
I'm looking for input...where would you stay and why?

Thanks a lot!!

I've stayed in Port Orleans French Quarter before and I havta say, it was pretty nice for a moderate. Nice rooms, GREAT pool, and good themeing. Coronado seems nice (I've never stayed there), but Pop century didn't do anything for me (visited my sister while she and her family were staying there)

 

[DisneyWall-E]

I have stayed at both POP and POFQ and if money was not tight I would go with POFQ. But, My DW and I have stayed at POP 3 times about to be 4 this SEPT and we absolutly LOVE the POP. Great themeing and great food. Only down side for us was that the bus stops for the POP were almost always the furthest away from the parks. So my choices for you would be POFQ first then POP, never stayed at CS. Have a magical time!

 

[addcogulf]

I also always stayed at the deluxe resorts, but cash flow made me change resorts two years ago. Twice I stayed at Port Orleans and twice at Pop Century. I prefer Pop. For half the money than Port Orleans French Quarter, you have the same...a nice counter meal center, store , nice pools and a clean room. Pop is also exciting, the buses run better than POFQ and I see nothing more special to pay so much more money. Neither resort equals the Poly or Contemporary. Those resorts being on the monarail make no other resort comparable. But the Pop Century is a very nice money saving resort.

 

[jewils]

I actually haven't stayed at any of those 3 options, so take this with a grain of salt. If it's just you and DH, I would tend to stay clear of POP because values tend to be rowdy and only have food courts. I've heard complaints about Coronado Springs due to it's size and convention center, plus it's more in the AK area. I've often heard good things about PO. The only negative I hear is regarding buses, but that also depends on the time of year you're going. But PO has onsite dining options, great theming and is positioned better in my opinion for transportation to/from the parks.

 

[ClemsonTigger]

My vote would be for Riverside.

 

[trr1]

My vote would be for Riverside.

same here:sohappy::sohappy:

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

Wow thanks so much to everyone for all the responses!

Port Orleans seems to always get great reviews...we will look closely at it.

For those of you who recommended it, how is the bus system?

Right now, we are pretty settled on either a moderate. I don't think a value is for us.
We're hopefully going to settle in the coming week and I will come back with our final pick.

Thanks guys!

 

[promod1955]

I was never realy down for staying at a value until my girlfriend and I planned a quick trip before a race and stayed at the pop. To be honest I fell in love with the place. We've stayed at the pop 3 times now and never have had an issue with anything. the 50's section is my favorite. The food court was good and at night its lit up pretty cool and makes for a nice walk at night after a day at the parks. Don't let the term "value" run you off. It's a realy nice place. Much better then what I've seen from the all stars. Yes there will be more people there, but we've found the bus service awesome for pop, with hardly any waiting. The bus stops are farther away then most of the other resorts. Thats the only downside if thats important to you. I don't mind it a bit as I'm walking all day anyway.

We stayed at pofq back when it was Dixie landings. I don't know how much its changed since then, but I didn't like it then. I was a lot younger then too though. I just feel way out of place with the theme of that place.

We've stayed at cornado. It's nice, but I wouldn't stay there unless we got a deal I couldn't pass up. It didn't impress me too much. The pepper market wasn't that great either.

Were leaving tuesday for a week at the Caribbean beach and I'm pretty excited to try it out. Spent 2-3 hours there last trip and liked it a lot.

Also stayed at the grand floridian. While I love the outside of this place, the room wasn't quite what I thought it was going to be.

 

[promod1955]

And if you do settle for PO, I would go for riverside.

 

[justdru]

Were leaving tuesday for a week at the Caribbean beach and I'm pretty excited to try it out. Spent 2-3 hours there last trip and liked it a lot.

Message me and let me know what you think about Caribbean vs. Coronado when you get back. I've narrowed it down to both for my girlfriend and I (early 20's, college students). We're just not sure which route to take.

 

[promod1955]

will do. I get back on the 21st. Im 24, the GF is 25 and going with my sister and her boyfriend who are 18 and 20.

 

[ClemsonTigger]

Wow thanks so much to everyone for all the responses!

Port Orleans seems to always get great reviews...we will look closely at it.

For those of you who recommended it, how is the bus system?

Right now, we are pretty settled on either a moderate. I don't think a value is for us.
We're hopefully going to settle in the coming week and I will come back with our final pick.

Thanks guys!

Bus system is about the same as other sites. I do suggest that you board busses from the main stop outside of the main lobby (Blue Bayou/River Delta platforms). There are three other depots, East, North, and West that are fine to disembark from, but if you wait there for pickup at peak times busses are often full. Also during some peak times some busses leave from the main lobby platforms directly to the parks.

Other thing to think about with Riverside is that there are two "halves". Alligator Bayou which are somewhat smaller buildings styled as casual houses in the swamp, and Magnolia bend which are southern estate mansions.

In Magnolia bend, I prefer Oak and Parterre Place.

I've attached a link to the property map so you can get an idea of the layout.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/port-riverside.htm

We've stayed at Caribbean as well. It is fine, but a bit more spread out. You have to check in at the Customs House which is separate from the rest of the resort (a bit confusing). Then there is a separate intrasite bus that just travels in the hotel loop as well as busses to the parks. As I said with POR, I feel you are better off using the main depot at Old Port Royal rather than the satellites. Caribbean Beach probably has the best internal jogging/walking path of any resort...a little over a mile circling the central lake.
Here is a map for Caribbean:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/resortmaps/cbrmap.htm

 

[TxNewsies]

We have stayed at PO & Caribbean and we had good experiences with the Bus System. We usually would board at the main stop at PO and I think the longest wait was just under 10 minutes. Most of the time it would arrive in just a few short minutes. The only bad experience was while at Downtown Disney. We took the boat ride to Downtown Disney from PO and LOVED it! We saw the Cirque show and planned on riding the boat back. Well, we reached the dock and it was closed down due to weather. A couple minutes later, it started pouring! We rushed to the nearest bus stop and it was insanely crowded and we were all standing in the pouring rain for at least 20 minutes waiting for a bus. Thankfully, a bus that did not go to our resort stopped and picked everyone up - it was one INSANELY crowded bus of wet people! I'm just thankful I always had my Disney backpack with our ponchos!

 

[Stellajack]

Let it be Riverside!!:lol:

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

Let it be Riverside!!:lol:

Haha yes, IMO Riverside looks like the better option for us from the pictures I've seen.

So we at least changed our reservation to the new dates we needed which is a relief.

For the resort...now we're reconsidering the Poly because we love it so much so we have a new game plan...
The pre-2010 rate and pre-AAA rate price that we currently have is just SCARY to look at...we'll see what it comes to after we get those rates and we'll go from there.