Which one? AoA LM or POR?

[Patience]

I can't seem to make a decision and stick to it. I keep going back and forth on this and need some help. We are currently booked at AoA in a Little Mermaid room with table service dining plan. I know my 6 year old daughter will love AoA; however, I am assuming that LM rooms will be excluded from September discounts and I hate the idea of going with no discount. A standard room at POR will be roughly $300 less expensive if free dining is offered than AoA LM with table service meal plan. A princess room at POR with free dining would be cost about the same amount as AoA.

What to do, what to do? I'm really torn and need to make a decision before the late summer discount is released. My husband is leaning towards saving the money and staying at POR in a standard or garden view or CSR. I'm leaning towards AoA because I think the resort will be a lot of fun for our 6 year old and, well, I just like new, fresh hotels even if the rooms are smaller.

 

[smitch425]

I keep going back and forth on this and need some help. We are currently booked at AoA in a Little Mermaid room with table service dining plan. I know my 6 year old daughter will love AoA; however, I am assuming that LM rooms will be excluded from September discounts and I hate the idea of going with no discount. A standard room at POR will be roughly $300 less expensive if free dining is offered than AoA LM with table service meal plan. A princess room at POR with free dining would be cost about the same amount as AoA.

What to do, what to do? I'm really torn and need to make a decision before the late summer discount is released. My husband is leaning towards saving the money and staying at POR in a standard or garden view or CSR. I'm leaning towards AoA because I think the resort will be a lot of fun for our 6 year old and, well, I just like new, fresh hotels even if the rooms are smaller.

Have you considered staying at POP? It is just across the bridge from AoA so you would have the benefit of exploring both resorts and eating at both food courts with ease. Our kids love POP.

 

[Patience]

Hi smitch, we stayed at Pop last time in 2011 and want to try something different.

 

[DESKRoberts]

We are booked at AoA LM right now for August, but if FD or RO discount comes out, we are switching to POR. We stayed there in August and loved it. We wanted to stay there anyway, but without a discount we feel more comfortable with prices at AoA.

 

[glammadiva]

Stick with AOA! The big blue is awecome!!!!!

 

[Patience]

Thanks for the replies so far! I've been thinking about this: does anyone believe that they will come out with a late summer promo that will make a moderate stay with free table service dining cheaper than a value stay with paid for table service dining plan? I know AoA is a new resort and all but it just seems unlikely and makes me think that they may offer free QS dining for LM rooms at least for late summer value season (which would be great and we would upgrade to table service) or maybe the ugly rumors about mods only getting QS free dining will turn out to be true.

 

[Pixie Princess]

I can't seem to make a decision and stick to it. I keep going back and forth on this and need some help. We are currently booked at AoA in a Little Mermaid room with table service dining plan. I know my 6 year old daughter will love AoA; however, I am assuming that LM rooms will be excluded from September discounts and I hate the idea of going with no discount. A standard room at POR will be roughly $300 less expensive if free dining is offered than AoA LM with table service meal plan. A princess room at POR with free dining would be cost about the same amount as AoA.

What to do, what to do? I'm really torn and need to make a decision before the late summer discount is released. My husband is leaning towards saving the money and staying at POR in a standard or garden view or CSR. I'm leaning towards AoA because I think the resort will be a lot of fun for our 6 year old and, well, I just like new, fresh hotels even if the rooms are smaller.

Without a doubt, I'd go for the POR room, especially a Royal Guest room. While AoA is a fun resort, I did not care for the LM rooms. I'd rather spend less and stay at Pop. If found the rooms to be way to juvenile and "plastic-y" for my tastes. Plus they also have those motion sensor a/c units. Unless they've done something to improve the units, you'll need a balloon or a fan to keep the room comfortable for sleeping.

The Royal Guest rooms at POR are simply wonderful. Fun and princessy without feeling juvenile. And the regular rooms are lovely too. The two downsides of POR in my experience are: 1- the horrible cell and wifi reception in the rooms (seriously, by far the worst on property I've experienced), and 2- the smaller, less open area in the food court where you order your food. I love AoA's openness, but AoA was pretty consistently slow and disorganized.

I know the allure of that Big Blue Pool and the splash pad at AoA is tempting, but if it were me I'd save the $$ or spend the same for POR. Overall, I like that resort better. I'm sure you'll have a fabulous time no matter which way you go though.

As for FD, the last time I priced it out, which has been a couple of years, it was cheaper to book value and upgrade your QS dining than stay at a Mod w/ the free DDP.

 

[SRiley1985]

Thanks for the replies so far! I've been thinking about this: does anyone believe that they will come out with a late summer promo that will make a moderate stay with free table service dining cheaper than a value stay with paid for table service dining plan? I know AoA is a new resort and all but it just seems unlikely and makes me think that they may offer free QS dining for LM rooms at least for late summer value season (which would be great and we would upgrade to table service) or maybe the ugly rumors about mods only getting QS free dining will turn out to be true.

Disney offers discounts to sell rooms. They don't need any help with filling the LM rooms, so there is no reason to offer a discount there. It's the same way with POFQ. I would not plan on their being a discount or free dining on LM rooms.

 

[Patience]

Disney offers discounts to sell rooms. They don't need any help with filling the LM rooms, so there is no reason to offer a discount there. It's the same way with POFQ. I would not plan on their being a discount or free dining on LM rooms.

Right. If they release free dining as we know it for September and exclude AoA LIttle Mermaid rooms, it will be cheaper for us to stay at a moderate than it would be to stay at AoA LM and have to pay for table service dining plan. Most people here are saying we should switch to a moderate if that happens so I'm questioning if the LM rooms would still be as popular. It seems like a lot of people would jump at the chance to stay in a moderate with free dining for less than the cost of a value with the same dining plan.

 

[aVASTGrl]

It seems like a lot of people would jump at the chance to stay in a moderate with free dining for less than the cost of a value with the same dining plan.

That's how I feel, too. I would always choose a mod over a value. I don't care for the Value's theming at all, way too juvenile for me. Maybe it's just me, but having seen photos of the LM rooms, I would have a constant headache! Too busy. If you do get FD and the Princess rooms at POR are available, I would choose that, they look lovely!

 

[MinnieLovesMickey12]

I wouldn't be able to deal with the motion sensors on the air conditioning units cutting off the air at night while we are sleeping and nobody is moving around the room. I have seen a few reports of ppl saying they even got a balloon and tied it to a chair and put it in front of the unit and that still didn't work.

I have to have the a/c blowing and the room cold at night when I sleep.

That is the reason I changed my mind about staying at CSR. They have motion sensors on their a/c units too. I don't want to have to call maintenance every 2 days to come bypass my unit so it will stay on.

I don't know how much a LM room at AoA costs. Every time i have gone to the website and tried to price rooms at AoA it always only gives me the choice of different suites and not regular rooms. I even put in only 2 adult guests and it still only gives me options for suites.

If they are like the other value rooms then I would assume the rooms are about $130 a night with no discount. Maybe a bit more. If you get that room with free QSDP and pay to upgrade all three of you to DDP it is $20 per person per day adults to upgrade and something like $7 to $8 to upgrade a child. SO you would end up paying around $180-$190 a night for the LM room with upgraded DDP. Or you can stay in a POR room that is already $179 a night and get the DDP free for everybody. And if you are getting it free you could even upgrade your child to 10 yrs old where they could order anything they wanted off the menu child or adult. I know some kids would love to be able to order "big people" food rather than those crappy children's meals. Even if they don't eat half the food it was free.

So it would probably work about about the same money wise. Unless the LM room is way more than I am estimating. I would choose the mod with the nice comfy beds. The boat to DTD is a big selling point to me for POR.

Also I looked at the food court menu on allears for AoA and it seems a little bit too exotic for my tastes. I don't eat meat so that limits my choices even more. But the foods seem to be Turkish or African. I can't tell what nationality the food is suppose to be. If you plan on eating in the food court very often POR has one of the best food courts on property. They also have the longest pool slide on property.

 

[nkereina]

POR is newly renovated so it's pretty fresh, too.

Personally I don't think the Royal Rooms are worth it. They are a long walk from the main building and it's not over the top princessy. There are subtleties some kids may not even pick up on. I'd do a standard room at POR.

Another consideration is that the food court at POR is one of the better ones and I have read that the one at AoA is chaotic and the offerings are more ecclectic. Not as good as POP or POR.

And as for the AC dilemma.. I've read about it and I think that's what all resorts are going to eventually. There is a thread somewhere how you can bypass this yourself, without getting a balloon and all that.

 

[goofyintoronto]

Long walk??? we stayed in arkadin and thought that was a pretty short walk....the royal rooms are even closer than where we stayed.

POR is newly renovated so it's pretty fresh, too.

Personally I don't think the Royal Rooms are worth it. They are a long walk from the main building and it's not over the top princessy. There are subtleties some kids may not even pick up on. I'd do a standard room at POR.

Have you thought about a split stay? maybe do room-only for one night at LM, then switch over to POR for the rest of the trip? I love POR! Gorgeous resort.

Im dying to try AoA, so i'd probably go with one night/room-only.

 

[nkereina]

Long walk??? we stayed in arkadin and thought that was a pretty short walk....the royal rooms are even closer than where we stayed.

I meant main POOL not main building... my mistake!!! But for the record, Oak Manor and Parterre Place are a haul from the main pool... Acadian House and Magnolia Terrace are closer.

 

[Patience]

Thank you for all the replies. DH and I looked at pictures of both resorts and read the comments here and have decided to go for a POR royal room if free dining is offered and it excludes AoA Little Mermaid rooms. It will save us about $100 over the cost of AoA with DDP and no discount. Not much savings but we will have a bigger room with bigger beds and that $100 will pay for our daughter's Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique appointment and her Pirates League appointment. Either way, we will have a magical room and a great time! And I'm not changing my mind again. I think.

 

[rosiegmendez]

Thank you for all the replies. DH and I looked at pictures of both resorts and read the comments here and have decided to go for a POR royal room if free dining is offered and it excludes AoA Little Mermaid rooms. It will save us about $100 over the cost of AoA with DDP and no discount. Not much savings but we will have a bigger room with bigger beds and that $100 will pay for our daughter's Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique appointment and her Pirates League appointment. Either way, we will have a magical room and a great time! And I'm not changing my mind again. I think.

We just returned from split stay at AoA and POR and hands down preferred POR. It's a beautiful resort, relaxing, kid friendly, and very fun. We preferred the pool, food, ambience, amenities, beds at POR. Be sure to request a close building (we requested bldg 16 at the standard rate).