Which moderate resort?

[cmally1]

1st post here. Hello everyone.
I am going to WDW May 8th-14th and am booked at POPwith my best friend. My travel agent called and said I could upgrade to a moderate for $362 I was wondering 2 things. 1. is it worth it and 2. which one would you recommend. My main concern is convience to the parks. I was thinking CS b/c it is smaller and buses may be easier. I am a value resort girl and have never stayed at anything else but that was when mom and dad were paying. I am excited b/c this is my first trip to the world in 8 years. Thanks everyone.

 

[saltmom1]

Coronado Springs is NOT the smallest.A lot of conventions are booked there. It is really big. If you want the smallest, try for POFQ. I have never stayed there but have heard a lot of good things about it. I personally like CBR but a lot of people on here will tell you to go with POR. POFQ and POR share a bus and pick up at POFQ first but there is the issue of coming back to your hotel at night unless you will have a car.
From what I have heard about values, it is definitely worth it. There is much better theming at the moderates, for one thing. I have never stayed at a value, just what I have heard from others who have.

 

[xtimMOOthyx]

Welcome camlly1! Personally, I feel that upgrading to a moderate resort would be worth the $362. Reasons being:

1. Pop Century is usualy insane! The food court alone is nuts at times. I have stayed there twice and will not be doing so again.
2. Bus service to moderate resorts is usually quicker with less people at the bus stops than at Pop.
3. The rooms at moderare resorts are bigger, which may not really matter to you since there will only be 2 in your room.

I would recommend Port Orleans Riverside. I have stayed there several times and love it. The food court is awsome, as is the table service restaurant Boatwrights (eat breakfast there!). The only downside is distance to the rooms, which would not be much different than at Pop, if you get a room farther from the lobby building.

I am assuming that by CS you mean Coronado Springs. Coronado Springs is actually huge! They have an internal bus system that runs to different areas of the resort. So, you have to take a bus to the bus stop, then a bus from there to the parks. Yuck!

I hope that I helped. I am returing to WDW around the same time you will be there, so we might see each other!! Have fun!

 

[eroyee]

:wave: welcome to the boards:animwink: In December, we paid $300 just to switch to POR for 2 nites from POP. GO for it!! switch to POR. Not CS. they have a lot of business conventions there. have a magical trip. You didnt say your age, but it youre young, you might like the theming at POP.

 

[Leighbert]

My votes for POFQ. It is the smallest and most intimate of the moderates and the theming is great.

 

[cmally1]

Thanks for the quick replies. I am 24 and my friend is 25.

 

[RiversideBunny]

Port Orleans Riverside- Yes !

:wave:

 

[DisneyJoe]

1. is it worth it and 2. which one would you recommend. My main concern is convience to the parks.

How much time will you be spending in your room? Do you plan on spending time at the resort, or will you be at the parks from open to close?

Convenience to which parks? Since Disney is so large, you can be close to one or two parks and far from the others....Pop Century is practically attached to Caribbean Beach, and I prefer Pop....

-Joe

 

[bhg469]

I love POR but if busses are a concern Cornoado Springs has the best transportation to the parks hands down! I never waited more than 15 minutes for a bus, Yes they have alot of conventions but i have never stood on a coronado springs bus and i did several times waiting to go home from a park to por. If you're avoiding somewhere though avoid CBR the busses there were terrible.

 

[farmgirl]

I am glad i seen this thread I was wondering the same thing actually.My husband and I have been staying at the Pop Cntury and love it, however we thought on our next trip that we might try a moderate resort but then I heard not so good things about the buses and one or the bus drivers told my husband that the Pop actually has a good bus system because some resorts don't have a bus that goes just straight to a park they might stop at another resort or they may stop at more than one location . So I was actually wondering if anyone had stayed at both value and moderate and which bus system they prefered

 

[Vernonpush]

If you want convenience to the parks I would go with Coronado Springs. Yes, it is a "convention hotel", that being said many times in the morning of our stay there last November, we were the only people on the bus going to the parks. Everyone else at the resort was going to their convention. The bus was not shared with any other resort,- less people. And I have stayed at both POR and CS, I think CS is smaller. At least it felt smaller. The travel time to and from the Parks felt alot shorter. We never had to stand in a bus coming or going. The only down side was the cost of food. But we did find that with the in room refrigerator (free in moderates and deluxe) we were able cut costs by having our breakfast in our room. A half gallon of orange juice is MUCH cheaper at the gift shop as is a pint of milk. Muffins "to go" at Pepper Market is cheaper. We brought our own green tea. And bananas and cereal were relatively cheap at their "convienience store".

 

[amykissangel]

1st post here. Hello everyone.
I am going to WDW May 8th-14th and am booked at POPwith my best friend. My travel agent called and said I could upgrade to a moderate for $362 I was wondering 2 things. 1. is it worth it and 2. which one would you recommend. My main concern is convience to the parks. I was thinking CS b/c it is smaller and buses may be easier. I am a value resort girl and have never stayed at anything else but that was when mom and dad were paying. I am excited b/c this is my first trip to the world in 8 years. Thanks everyone.

Hi Cmally1! Welcome to the boards!

I'm 23 years old, and though I have always wanted to upgrade to a nicer hotel when going with friends, we've ultimately decided against it. Why?

$360 is a lot of money; money you could use for some GREAT sit-down dinners, clubs/dancing on Pleasure Island, or maybe even a special tour at one of the parks.

It came down to this for my friends and I: We would get up early and be to the park by the time it opened. We would come back MAYBE from noon - 3 to swim and have a drink. Then we'd head back out until the parks closed. We would get back about 11:30 or midnight, sleep for 7 hours, then get up again the next morning to be at the parks by opening.

When we did take a day or two off to relax, we were never even in the room! We'd sleep in til noon, lounge by the pool for a few hours, nap some more, then get dressed up and head to someplace nice for dinner in DTD. The foodcourt was more than enough for us to have at the hotel, and the busses at POP for us were great. (Also, the rooms are a tight squeeze for a family of five - my fam- but perfect for four, and MORE than enough for two. :~))

It's a little more centrally located, and has ONE BUS STOP. Coronado Springs, CBR, and POR/FQ ALL have more than one, and no matter what, you're stopping at other places to pick people up or drop them off. Us? We liked going straight to our destination.

There's my 2centsworth...either way, enjoy!

 

[CleveRocks]

First of all, a few clarifications....

CBR doesn't share buses with any other resort. Someone who said CBR buses are terrible must have had one bad experience. I've been to CBR several times and never had a bus problem. NEVER.

Techinically, POFQ and POR share buses. From my experience during one week, however, this often was NOT the case. When they do share, the bus starts at POFQ's single stop, then goes on to POR. Well, there were only 2 bus rides (out of about 10 that I took from POFQ) that stopped at POR at all. Of the two times I was on a bus that stopped at POR, only one time did it go all the way around -- the other time it stopped only at the "main" stop and then went on to the park from there. I didn't find this to be a big deal; in fact, in practice it felt no different than a CBR (or CSR) bus making multiple stops within CBR (or CSR).

One strange but true fact to keep in mind when deciding between Values and Moderates. The bus stops at Moderates are covered, which keeps away rain and provides very welcome shade from the hot sun. The bus stops at the Values are NOT covered.

 

[H20Babie]

So I was actually wondering if anyone had stayed at both value and moderate and which bus system they prefered

I have stayed at ASMovies, Pop, POR, POFQ and CBR. Out of all them, I prefer Pop (for value) and POR (for moderate).

Pop does have dedicated bus service which is a huge plus. But, it only has one main bus stop for pickups and drop offs. POR has 4 bus stops (main, north, west and east). While POR is spread out, you are never too far from a stop. I know that others here have said the POR buses often share with POFQ, I have never experienced this.

As for the resorts themselves (theming, atmosphere, amenities, recreation, etc.), POR wins my vote hands down. Plus, being in your 20's, you are a hop, skip or ferry to the DTD nightlife.

 

[RiversideBunny]

Regarding the sharing of buses, I have seen POR and POFQ share buses only during the slow times in the middle of the day, when few people are going back and forth to the parks.

During normal times, each has its own bus.

POR is the 'Grand Floridian for normal budgets'.

 

[cmally1]

How much time will you be spending in your room? Do you plan on spending time at the resort, or will you be at the parks from open to close?

Convenience to which parks? Since Disney is so large, you can be close to one or two parks and far from the others....Pop Century is practically attached to Caribbean Beach, and I prefer Pop....

-Joe

I plan on being at the parks most of the day but coming back to the hotel for a swim and to work on a tan. We are going to all of the parks an equal amount of time except for AK where we will only be there for one day. Thanks again everyone.

 

[CleveRocks]

Some of the major differences between Moderates and Values:

Moderates have table-service restaurants (except POFQ, which shares with POR); Values don't.

Moderates have pool slides and hot tubs; Values don't.

Moderates' rooms are 314 square feet (except CBR's, which are 340 square feet); Values' rooms are 260 square feet.

Moderates' rooms have refrigerators, which are free and are as standard as TV and carpeting; Values' rooms have no fridges but you can pay about $10 a day to rent one.

Moderates have lots of lush landscaping; Values have much more "hardscaping."

Moderates have on-demand Bell Services; Values have "Luggage Assistance," which operates on a schedule.

Moderates' bus stops are covered; Values' are not.

I might be missing something, but hopefully this gives you a decent idea of the differences.

Some individual Moderate resorts have some unique amenities: POFQ and POR have boat transportation to and from Downtown Disney (I didn't think this was any big deal until I tried it). POFQ and POR both (individually) have live entertainment in their lounges most evenings. POR has a fishing hole. CSR has a gym. CBR and POR have watercraft rentals. And so on and so on.

I don't think it's accurate to say that Moderates as a whole are more convenient to the parks than Values as a whole. It's all about the same, which is evident when you look at a map of WDW.

 

[monorailguy01]

POFQ is by far the best moderate. It is the smallest out of them all and the bus system stops there before heading to RS... and the theam is the best...

 

[amykissangel]

I plan on being at the parks most of the day but coming back to the hotel for a swim and to work on a tan. We are going to all of the parks an equal amount of time except for AK where we will only be there for one day. Thanks again everyone.

That's what we do too Not the biggest animal fans, so we only spend like 3/4 of a day there, then go back at like 2:30 and get a tan. Then we usually head to DTD or Pleasure Island for some more night fun:animwink:

Guess it just depends on if you'll be there enough to enjoy/need all the things everyone's talking about at POR - live entertainment, table service restaurant, bell hop, pool slide, etc. We never took advantage of any of that when we stayed at POR, so my vote's still POP, but who knows? You might want to give a Moderate a shot...could be it's exactly what you'd like...