POFQ vs. CBR vs. Dolphin

[caribbeanmama]

Hi all,
As if I have not asked enough questions, but you ladies are so helpful that here are a couple more. I think we might be overanalyzing this whole vacation, but I think I am coming to terms that at least on this trip, we may not be able to stay in the Epcot area afterall (unless we choose the Dolphin).

So, we have narrowed it down to these resorts using the Kids Stay and Play Free offer:

1) POFQ - this seems to be a favorite among many of you. I love the idea of taking the boats and the compactness of the resort.

2) CBR - The theming here looks really nice too.

3) Dolphin - we have tentative reservations here. We would get a super location, but that's it. No Kids Stay and Play Free offer, and no option to add a meal plan.

Regarding the meal plan, I am leaning towards adding it because I have several reservations for Character meals. It seems like if we do several of these, adding the plus dining plan makes sense. Any thoughts? TIA

[Octobermommy]

We love the dining plan bc it gives us the freedom to get what we really want on the menu instead of looking at prices.

We stayed at cbr last year and I wasn't really a fan bc it is so big and the
buses took forever bc of the number of stops. The pool was nice though.

Have fun!

[egoldber]

The location advantage of the Dolphin is HUGE. HUGE. Being able to walk to two parks is amazing. Also, in addition to just the parks, you can walk to all the other Epcot/Boardwalk area resorts and restaurants. You have more than a dozen sitdown and counter service food locations within an easy walking distance. This also IMO makes the dining plan less necessary/attractive, because you can make lots of spur of the moment dining location decisions. :)

The main advtanges to POFQ over CBR is that 1) it is a smaller footprint resort so no room is really a far walk from the main building with the CS restaurant and bus stop. At CBR, like the other mods, you may have a long walk to get to the main building and services. You can request a close room, but there are no guarantees. CBR is the only moderate resort I have not actually stayed at, so I can't speak to the resort or its amenities myself. It is the oldest moderate, and I think it has the largest room floor plans of the moderates.

[Momof3Labs]

Besides the location (which I also consider to be a huge advantage - nothing like being able to take a mid-day break and then walk to dhs or epcot, vs. having to bus/drive back to a park), the Dolphin is really a nice resort. The beds are soooo much more comfy than anything at a Disney resort. My kids loved staying there, and for the price of a moderate (if you get a discount), it is a steal! You can probably get a better deal at pofq or cbr but I'd expect to pay less for a more bare bones resort, anyways.

[Moneypenny]

We stayed at CBR in 2009 and loved it. We were not in a preferred room (so not close to the pool or restaurant), but it was still only a 5-minute walk from our room and you got to go over a neat little bridge and island. The rooms were reburbished in the last couple of years, so still in pretty good shape. The room was plenty big for us.

DD loved loved loved the pool and also loved playing on the beach that each building group has (only in the sand, though - you are not allowed in the water). We had great bus service as well. I think the Disney buses are kind of hit and miss where ever you are, but we never waited more than 5-10 minutes for anything, and usually less than that. The buses do make several stops once you get to the resort (there's a stop at each building group and at the main services area), but it really doesn't take more than a few minutes to get through the whole thing.

[caribbeanmama]

Thanks ladies, you are all great! I just don't know what to do :dizzy::dizzy:

I might just choose the Dolphin for the location. Right now, these are the offers:

For 4 nights/5 days

Dolphin:
$139/night (more like $160/night after you add on the fees). ~$665

Estimated cost of tickets: ?
Estimated cost of food, including Character meals: ?


WDW POFQ/CBR:
$1,834.52 (includes two kids park tickets for 10 days, and Plus Dining plan)

WDW Pop:
$1,607.72 (including all of the above)

We will have our car. So, it seems that if we stay at the Dolphin, having a meal plan is not that crucial. I am planning to bring tons of food since we are driving. But I am thinking of the Character meals. We are not doing dinners, but doing breakfasts and lunches. If we do breakfasts, can I assume that we might be spending about $60 for 4 people on Character breakfasts?

Are the restaurant choices around the bwalk reasonable? Which ones do you recommend? TIA

[Momof3Labs]

$60 for four people on a character breakfast? Did you look at prices on allearsnet.com?

http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm

One example: Crystal Palace is 20.99 for adults, 11.99 for ages 3-9 for breakfast. So that's $66 for breakfast, plus tax (6%, I think??). Tip is also extra, but you pay that whether you are on the dining plan or not. So you're looking at more like $70 for a breakfast. Crystal Palace lunch for your family is $72 plus tax and tip.

[egoldber]

If you plan to do a character meal every day, then it will certainly save you money to do the dining plan.

We don't like that many character meals because 1) it's too much food for us every day, 2) they can be long and drawn out affairs, 3) my kids do not always do well at sit down meals after a day in the parks, and 4) the food is pretty uniformly mediocre.

Also, not all kids like the characters. Some find them very overwhelming.

[mytwosons]

We stayed at CBR in 2009 and loved it. We were not in a preferred room (so not close to the pool or restaurant), but it was still only a 5-minute walk from our room and you got to go over a neat little bridge and island. The rooms were reburbished in the last couple of years, so still in pretty good shape. The room was plenty big for us.

DD loved loved loved the pool and also loved playing on the beach that each building group has (only in the sand, though - you are not allowed in the water). We had great bus service as well. I think the Disney buses are kind of hit and miss where ever you are, but we never waited more than 5-10 minutes for anything, and usually less than that. The buses do make several stops once you get to the resort (there's a stop at each building group and at the main services area), but it really doesn't take more than a few minutes to get through the whole thing.

:yeahthat:

We stayed at CBR this year and enjoyed ourselves. If you stay in Aruba or Jamaica, you just have a short walk over the bridge to the pool and dining. The buses were never a long wait and it didn't take more than a few minutes to make a couple of quick stops in and out of the resort. I was worried about the buses but wouldn't hesitate to go w/out a rental car again. We really enjoyed not driving.

If you have younger kids, the splash/shallow pool was awesome.

The bridge takes you over a little island that has some nice "hidden" spots with hammocks. There is a nice view of the fireworks from Epcot right on the other side.

The rooms weren't luxurious, but they were fine and we weren't there that much.

[caribbeanmama]

If you plan to do a character meal every day, then it will certainly save you money to do the dining plan.

We don't like that many character meals because 1) it's too much food for us every day, 2) they can be long and drawn out affairs, 3) my kids do not always do well at sit down meals after a day in the parks, and 4) the food is pretty uniformly mediocre.

Also, not all kids like the characters. Some find them very overwhelming.

We have Crystal Palace, Park Fare and Ohana reserved for breakfast and lunch - no dinners. We can always cut back. I am going to study the menus at allears.