CSR or POR??

[rgrutland]

We are currently booked for POR for 1/24-1/28...should we stay here or switch to CSR? I have only ever stayed at GF and the Yacht Club which were both great. This trip we are trying to save some $$ by staying at a Moderate this trip. My family is going (kids 8,6, & 2) with my sisters family (kids 8 & 5). Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Robyn

 

[Sue M]

We loved POR. It has the boat to DTD, beautiful grounds, and landscapping, and evening entertainment in the River Roost lounge. Bob Jackson puts on a great show. IMO POR is the best themed of the moderates. Great food court too.
I haven't stayed at CSR, but went there to look around and have lunch at their food court. I didn't like the way the food court was, guess cause it isn't run by WDW, it's a bit different way of doing things, and pricier.
The theming didn't appeal to me either, but many people love it there.
Good thing WDW has something for everyone!
The one thing it does have is queen beds!

I'd go on allears.net and look at all the resort photos, and pick the theming that appeals to you most. There are no wrong choices.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

I've never stayed at CSR, but have been to POR on 2 occasions. Both times were wonderful experiences. We stayed in the Mansion area, and the quiet pools were excellent!

The ground of the POR are truly a spectacle all on their own. And, you can take a short walk over to POFQ whenever you like. I liked to wakeup before the rest of the family, walk over by myself along the "river" to POFQ and pick up some of their beignets and bring them back to POR for breakfast. It's a lovely walk in the mornings and in the evenings, when the streetlights are all lit up.

POR also has one of the best food courts around. The boat to DTD is great, and the evening entertainment in the lounge is a lot of fun, too.

I'm sure some will be along to share their experiences with CSR, but for my 2 cents, our trips to POR have been great, and we will definitely consider the resort again in the future.

 

[maxsmom]

Hands down CSR. We've stayed there twice. The new rooms are gorgeous and they have queen beds. I stayed one night at POR and was not impressed. Yes it's pretty, but not worth it. You have walk all the way to the main building to fill your mugs, or someone has to drive up like we did. You will not like the fact that if you are in the AB there are like 4 steps up to all the rooms unless you find that one ramp. There are no elevators! I could not imagine staying somewhere where I had to treck up steps w/ little kids, strollers, and all that stuff and often having to carry a kid whose asleep. Just my opinion, but we won't go back. At least not until the kids are much older. Oh, the carpets were filthy there. My daughter had her shoes off for maybe an hour and I could not believe how disgusting her socks were. Yes, an hr b/c we checked in, relaxed and headed out for our last day. But, obviously people like it so. Love to know what you do and your opinions when you return.

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

I would stick with POR!

We have stayed at both and much prefer POR. The grounds are very lush and beautiful. The rooms were cleaner, the CM's much nicer, and just an overall more family friendly feel than CSR. We also really liked the food court and the pool. Buses were good too. And Piano Bob is a big hit!

There is a link to my POR review in my signature with lots of pics if you want to take a look.

 

[KatMark]

We've not stayed at the POR, but we've stayed at the CSR eight times and love absolutely love it -- including our kids when they were younger (they now are in college and don't travel with us anymore). We have had wonderful CM's that have gone above and beyond, great main pool/slide, three quiet pools, the largest hot tub of all the moderates, sand volleyball, fitness center/spa, Queen beds and new furnishings, etc. It takes no more than 10 minutes to get to any park by bus. As I indicated, we've not stayed at POR, but we have visited it numerous times (as we have all three of the other moderates), and it would probably be our next choice if the CSR were not available (it used to be the POFQ, but we just found the pool too small and the hot tub way small and no quiet pools). I don't think you can go wrong with either choice.

 

[lvdis]

We are currently booked for POR for 1/24-1/28...should we stay here or switch to CSR? I have only ever stayed at GF and the Yacht Club which were both great. This trip we are trying to save some $$ by staying at a Moderate this trip. My family is going (kids 8,6, & 2) with my sisters family (kids 8 & 5). Any suggestions?
Thanks!
Robyn

We've stayed at both, CSR just a few weeks ago and loved it! We stayed at POR in 2006 and it was very nice too, but we will probably pick CSR again. My kids are older (now 15 and 17) and they originally wanted to go back to POR where we stayed our first trip. It wasn't available, for the discount we had when I booked for this year, so we decided to try CSR. Now they say they want to go back to CSR for sure! I do too! We loved everything about it. The nice beds and rooms, the pools, the bus service, the location; all great!

Now, with that said, there was a nice "extra" at POR in the Alligator Bayou section where we stayed in 2006. The rooms have a trundle bed and that might be ideal for your family with 3 kids. My son (11 at the time) slept on it because he didn't want to share a bed with his sister. This year we took a twin airbed with us so we wouldn't have problems at CSR. So, the trundle bed was a nice extra!

Good luck deciding. I hope you have a great trip!

 

[rgrutland]

Momof2DisneyBoys, Thanks for pointing me to your TR...I just looked at the pics and it looks fine! I get so worried about staying in new hotels. I am a bit of a "hotel snob"! I also like to be near the action...when we stayed at GF a few years ago it was really nice but then we went over to Poly and felt like we were missing some atmosphere. But Poly is just out of our budget this trip. I also like the Yacht Club b/c it was close to the boardwalk and there was a lot going on their too. I just hope I don't miss that at POR...but we can give it a try!

I did check into CSR and I didn't realize they can't accomodate a 5th! My little one will NOT sleep in a pack n play so I can envision many sleepless nights.

Thanks all for your input...I'll post my review when we get back!

 

[NeverBeen2DW]

No question.... CSR! We were very loyal CSR fans but decided to give another resort a try this time and choose POR. Bad, bad mistake. They have huge security issues there. We were given the key to someone else's room, told the front desk about it and had access to this room for well over an hour. In fact they even left my luggage in this occupied room! If were were dishonest people we could of went thru their room. If you search my name you will find my horror story of POR. The front desk manager there is isane and completely flipped out on me in the lobby in front of my 7 year old and other guest. The occupants of the room I had the key to were locked out of their room and were never why or that this happed. I called them and told them later that evening. They were horrified. They were also upset because when they tried to get a new key to their room they were treated horrible and actually witnessed how I was treated by the front desk manager Phil. They had no idea that when Phil was yelling at me ... yes I said yelling. It was about their room. He refused to believe my key opened this room and this was the room I was given. Despite the text message I had with this room number in it. But to make matters worse for the other family the husband told mouse keeping that he was locked out of his room and they let him in with no proof! This story is so long, off the wall and BAD I do not want to make your thread about me telling you about it. I will post it in a review soon though.

Aside from the above disaster the resort though beautiful has a freezing cold pool that is mostly in the shade. Lots of leaves and branchs are also floating in it. My son had no interest in the slide. Yet he loves the slide at CSR and I can not drag him away from it. If you buy mugs it is so far to get to the lobby to refill it and they do not filter the water mixed in with the mixes for the pop. So it taste really off. The tea and coffee taste okay. You can not fill your mug at the pool either. The fourt court has many choices but the lines are very, very long and it takes about 30 mins to get thru one line. So you if someone in your family wants something else they need to stand in that line while you stand in your line. The over all attitude there of the staff is very poor. Surprisingly, I have no complaints about the buses. They were great. We enjoyed riding the bikes there. The quite pool was also very cold in the AB section and finding your room at night from the bus stops.... good luck! The lay out in the AB section is so winding and odd. The beds are hard and the sinks are very, very low. Below my hip and I am 5'2". Also, they give you strofoam ups for your coffee in the room. To use the coffeemaker there is no plug where it is so you have to move it to the bathroom, set it on the ledge to plug it in. The rooms are not very clean. I did like the make your own salad, I did like the grounds they were very pretty and we rented bikes in the marina. The boat to downtown disney was nice but by the time we arrived I was sick to my stomach from the diesel fumes. We took the bus back. If I could do it over and I could not choose CSR, I would select POR - French Quater over POR. You can use both facilities and it is a short walk.

CSR is a convention resort. The CM's there have better training and better customer service, we have stayed there 3 times and had no complaints at all. The beds super comfy, the rooms are spotless, you get mugs in the room, the water is filtered and the coffee pot has a plug where it is. The food court awesome, buses very good, proximity to the parks also great. The downside is it does not have many kid activities scheduled as it is geared more towards adults. But my 7 year old loves the pool and the slide. The quality of food is also better. CSR is by far my favorite resort!

Also, POR has these crazy HUGE Turkeys. I think they were turkeys. I took a picture of them. They attack the cars in the parking lot. They see there reflection and start pecking the car. I felt so bad for this car owner the car was completely dinged up. I was trying to shue them away and a grounds keeper just laughed and said they do it all the time. They attack the dark colored cars because they can see themselves. I love wild life but this unbelievable! So if you choose POR don't drive there!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Momof2DisneyBoys, Thanks for pointing me to your TR...I just looked at the pics and it looks fine! I get so worried about staying in new hotels. I am a bit of a "hotel snob"! I also like to be near the action...when we stayed at GF a few years ago it was really nice but then we went over to Poly and felt like we were missing some atmosphere. But Poly is just out of our budget this trip. I also like the Yacht Club b/c it was close to the boardwalk and there was a lot going on their too. I just hope I don't miss that at POR...but we can give it a try!

I did check into CSR and I didn't realize they can't accomodate a 5th! My little one will NOT sleep in a pack n play so I can envision many sleepless nights.

Thanks all for your input...I'll post my review when we get back!

Glad to help! Have a wonderful trip, I'll be looking forward to your review!

 

[afcgirl]

We have stayed at both and prefer CSR. Although we loved the pool at POR, and thought the grounds were pretty and very Disney, we liked the theme and upgrades better at CSR.

CSR has better bus service, the pool is better, the rooms are better, and there is a healthclub. We also liked the food court at CSR better (although our favorite is at POP).

Either way I am sure you will have a great vacation, but I think CSR is a better value for the money.

 

[rgrutland]

After reading some more responses I am now wondering if I should try out CSR???
Oh well, no matter what, we are going to have a great trip! We are only there for 4 nights and most of our dinners are at the parks so we probably will only use the food court for breakfasts (maybe). We are there in late Jnauary and I am not entirely sure how much pool time we are going to have anyway, it really depends on the weather.
Now I am just worried about the rooms b/c I do not like yucky rooms!! And although my DS8 would be in HEAVEN if we had a frog or snake in our room (it would make his trip) I would NOT be happy!!
Then of course I went online to start running the numbers and then started questioning if we should be staying at CBR!
I am going to roll with it , hope for the best !
Thanks again!
Robyn

 

[KatMark]

After reading some more responses I am now wondering if I should try out CSR???
Oh well, no matter what, we are going to have a great trip! We are only there for 4 nights and most of our dinners are at the parks so we probably will only use the food court for breakfasts (maybe). We are there in late Jnauary and I am not entirely sure how much pool time we are going to have anyway, it really depends on the weather.
Now I am just worried about the rooms b/c I do not like yucky rooms!! And although my DS8 would be in HEAVEN if we had a frog or snake in our room (it would make his trip) I would NOT be happy!!
Then of course I went online to start running the numbers and then started questioning if we should be staying at CBR!
I am going to roll with it , hope for the best !
Thanks again!
Robyn

Robyn, as much as I LOVE the CSR (even more than the Poly), the main pool at the CSR will be closed from January 11-31, 2010, if you want to take this into consideration (although the quiet pools will be open).

You are going to read good reviews and bad reviews of EVERY SINGLE Disney resort. Everyone has different tastes, expectations, preferences, etc. Go with what is in "your" heart.

 

[elizabethswan]

Robyn, as much as I LOVE the CSR (even more than the Poly), the main pool at the CSR will be closed from January 11-31, 2009, if you want to take this into consideration (although the quiet pools will be open).

You are going to read good reviews and bad reviews of EVERY SINGLE Disney resort. Everyone has different tastes, expectations, preferences, etc. Go with what is in "your" heart.

i have not seen this info about the csr pool being closed. where did you see this? i am having trouble finding complete info regarding resort pool closings. would love to know where to find this. thanks!

 

[KatMark]

i have not seen this info about the csr pool being closed. where did you see this? i am having trouble finding complete info regarding resort pool closings. would love to know where to find this. thanks!

It is listed on Mouse Planet.

 

[SnowWtch]

POR is really nice but keep in mind that they do not have elevators. We found that out the hard way this past weekend. My parents are in their 60's and have a hard time walking so it was fun carrying the luggage up the stairs for them. They also put us a fair distance from the buses and food court which was strange since it didn't look like the place was full all weekend.

 

[elizabethswan]

It is listed on Mouse Planet.

thank you! heading over there!

 

[Carrie772]

My family really enjoyed both resorts. I think both would meet your needs. I haven't ever encountered such awful experiences as a PP has. It's terrrible to have that happen while on vacation.

 

[tzolkin]

OP:

Since you have 3 kids I would definitely stay at CSR this time.

POR allows 5 in a room, but you will not be able to stay in one room at CSR on a future trip.

That was part of the reason we stayed at CSR this May. Our "baby" was almost 3, so we figured next time we would have to stay at POR (unless we want to pay for 2 rooms). We brought a small Disney Cars airmattress for our youngest to sleep on.

Unfortunately, my family LOVED CSR and really want to stay there again. The kids and DH are already trying to convince my parents to come along so we can stay in CSR again and just pay for one room (older DD will stay in the grandparents' room).

 

[rgrutland]

Off topic question...how to you put part of a quote into responses? I see where so many people do that, but wasn't sure how it's done!
Robyn