Best moderate resort

[boltfam]

Sorry, guys, one more question. There are five of us, so pofq is out. Looking primarily at cbr or por. We do have a car if that makes a difference.

[rkold]

Sorry, guys, one more question. There are five of us, so pofq is out. Looking primarily at cbr or por. We do have a car if that makes a difference.

I've not stayed at PoR but have stayed at CBR and Coronado Springs. (I can't remember if CS allows 5, we're always under 4.) I liked the CBR and CS. Both have beautifully themed main pools. I also really liked the playground at CBR. I like having nice grounds and a nice pool area at the hotel because unless it is 60 or below, we are likely to spend some time in the pools. I have a FL resident friend who owns DVC points and still likes CBR best. My one caveat would be request a room near the main pool/Old Port Royale Town. If it costs more, pay it. I would not pay for a waterview room though as WDW considers pool views as waterview at CBR. We paid for waterview and had a view of the quiet pool near Jamaica. I think we were in Jamaica 42 or 43, and my mother thought the walk to Old Port Royale and main pool was far and it made her cranky. I didn't think it was far, but I guess a lot depends on how much you want to walk.

I stayed in the Ranchos in either 6A or 7A in Coronado Springs. Again the walk to the pool and the main building didn't seem that bad, but it depends on you.
There are good maps of the hotels here (http://www.wdwinfo.com/maps/index.htm)

[boltfam]

Thanks! I will make sure to request a room by the main pool if we end up there.

[ray7694]

CS was gorgeous but the pool is on the other side of the main building that includes the resteraunts and most buses. It has a huge lagoon.

[klwa]

We've stayed at POR, but before we had 3 kids. It was fine, nothing too exciting, though. Our last two trips, we've stayed at All Star Music in the family suite for about the same amount we spent on a single room at POR & much preferred that.

[Hemlock]

We have stayed at all the moderates and our family loves CBR, however most people prefer POR. We are also a family of 5 and we usually order an air mattress from Amazon and have it delivered to our resort because the pull down bed is very small and it was always a struggle to get someone to sleep there. Actually, on the first night it was fight to see who would get to sleep on the pull down, but once they realized it was VERY small with a thin mattress things changed quickly. CBR has nicer pool but it a large resort, POR is a smaller resort with a much better food court.

[belovedgandp]

No experience with the moderate choices, but in February our family of 5 stayed in the suites at All Star Music and I loved having the two bathrooms. The room set-up was great for us.

[rkold]

Personally, if I was going to do a family suite in a Value, I would look at the price for one in Art of Animation, just because it's one of the newest resorts. I've not stayed there but the theming is supposed to be amazing and all the cast members I've met talk about how nice it is. I hear the main pool is also really amazing and while you will not be dependent on buses outside of possibly MK, I have heard the buses are good from AoA. It's the only Value/Moderate DVC members are not allowed to ever pool hop to.

(In general outside of MK, I find it faster to drive to the parks than to take Disney transportation. )

Staying or not staying at a value makes a bigger difference when there is a free meal plan, because the free meal plan option at values is QS only. I also would not stay there if you care/need a hot tub. None of the values have hot tubs in their pool areas. (My mom spends all her time at the hotel so the pool area and grounds are super important to her.)

[klwa]

Personally, if I was going to do a family suite in a Value, I would look at the price for one in Art of Animation, just because it's one of the newest resorts. I've not stayed there but the theming is supposed to be amazing and all the cast members I've met talk about how nice it is. I hear the main pool is also really amazing and while you will not be dependent on buses outside of possibly MK, I have heard the buses are good from AoA. It's the only Value/Moderate DVC members are not allowed to ever pool hop to.)

I tried pricing out AoA instead of ASMu the last time we went, and just couldn't deal with the price difference. It's generally about 15% higher than ASMu. ASMu family suites are already higher than the moderates for the most part, but fairly close. Add in that 15% & it's too rich for my blood!

[acmom]

Don't know if you have already chosen, but we really enjoyed POR! I was worried initially when I booked it bc it had some mixed reviews (mostly people complaining about buses and/or size of resort) and bc we had most recently stayed at Poly which we loved. But we really liked POR - great food court, fun pool, very pleasant grounds. We took the boat to Downtown Disney one night which was fun too. We were not there at a peak time, but we had no issues with the buses. We would definitely try it again sometime.

[jent]

Don't know if you have already chosen, but we really enjoyed POR! I was worried initially when I booked it bc it had some mixed reviews (mostly people complaining about buses and/or size of resort) and bc we had most recently stayed at Poly which we loved. But we really liked POR - great food court, fun pool, very pleasant grounds. We took the boat to Downtown Disney one night which was fun too. We were not there at a peak time, but we had no issues with the buses. We would definitely try it again sometime.

This pretty much sums up our experience. We've only done one trip so I don't have a comparison, but we really liked our stay.