Anyone prefer moderate to Delux?

[thumpersfriend]

Just wondered if there was anyone who prefers a moderate resort to a delux . If the price was the same would you rather be in the area of the moderates or deluxes and why. Do you find the moderates a little more quiet in the evenings, such as less hustle and bustle. Do you find the food courts easier than sit down restaurants?

 

[#1hockeymom]

AKL has a food court, a buffet, and a sitdown! Its like food heaven! <----ok, not quite, but I keep dreaming of the smell of the lodge. I don't know if I can wait 7 more days!

Prices the same, I'll take a deluxe any day of the week!

 

[MAGICinMYHEART]

Nope, no, not at all, noway.

 

[tar heel]

No way do I prefer a smaller room in a not-as-good location and usually with less desirable transportation. Heck, I even like to get Mickey lotion!

I don't believe you're going to get any takers on this.

 

[bru_ellman]

All right, I'll bite on this one.

We prefer the Caribbean Beach Resort to the Animal Kingdom Lodge (as well as most other "deluxe" Disney resorts).

Here's why:

We find the deluxe resorts to be more like hotels and when we're on vacation we prefer a more "resort" feel.

We prefer the exterior hallways. It's quieter then having a hotel corridor right outside your door.

The food court is better then AKL's Mara which we didn't care for at all. (But BOMA is our favorite restaurant on Disney property! We go there the first night of every trip.)

The room size at the CBR is the same as at the AKL.

Bottom line is we love visiting the deluxe hotels (AKL, WL, CR, POLY, GF, etc...) and eating at their restaurants, but we wouldn't want to stay there.

 

[stemikger]

I stayed at CBR and POFQ. I remember my last trip when I went to the arcade in the Contemporary.

It was always a dream of mine to stay there when I was a kid. Maybe it was the fantasy in my head, but whe we were walking around the lobby and checking things out - I was glad I was staying at CBR. My wife said the same thing. I felt the CBR was more of a vacation type feel than the Contempoary. But hey I still never stayed at a delux and my next trip I'm staying at a value.

I will find out if I like it as much as a moderate. When I stayed at POFQ 12 years ago, there were no values.

Going in August and I can't wait.

 

[Mamu]

While I like the moderates, better food courts and less then half the price. Plus they all have a great theme to them.

What I dislike about them is the size of the resorts, they are huge, and even though they have a good bus system I feel like a sardine being packed into the bus at times.

I prefer the smaller feel of the deluxes. All have a couple of choices for a sit down meal, most have their own character meal, no need to take a bus then transfer to the resort.

Plus I love the convenience of the monorail resorts. There's nothing like taking a nightly or early morning walk and seeing The Castle changing color.

We will be returning to Disney in December, just DH and myself I'm considering a stay at POFQ. Have not stayed here, and thought I would give it a Try. Did stay at it's sister resort in 1998 and enjoyed the stay very much.

 

[skiwee1]

I like the deluxes better. There is no comparison if you ask me. Rooms are bigger, more dining options including expanded room service. Hotel grounds are more lush and themed.

 

[cinmell]

I do like moderates but once we went deluxe, we've never turned back .

 

[Kimberle]

I have never stayed at a Mod, only the deluxes.

I do, however, have a few friends who prefer the mod's. They enjoy the relaxing feeling and don't think they are quite as "stuffy" (their words) as the deluxes. The prefer the value and selection of the food courts.

 

[JayCT]

I must disagree with bru_ellman. I prefer to have a hotel with a hallway, then you have a private balcony or terrace outside your room. I hate having outside corridors, especially ones that pass right in front of your window. I do not want to have to draw the drapes every time I want a little privacy in my room. We considered doing a moderate for our trip in May (only a few weeks away, yeah), but I really could not get over this. As for having a "resort" feel, you can't beat the Poly for that. We will be staying at CR and YC, but I think my heart still belongs to the Poly overall. We will see this trip if CR or YC changes that.

 

[theSurlyMermaid]

Overall, I have to say my husband and I prefer deluxe (we are staying at BWI in December) BUT on our last couple trips, we stayed at POR and AKL respectively. Overall, I enjoyed the POR more. Why?

It's tough to say. Some of it is easily attributed to the vacation itself...at POR we were there for 2 weeks honeymooning and AKL was a week long trip after a stressful time at work. We had a vet keep our dogs during the first trip and a friend keep them our second trip...result being phone calls from my friend every day worrying about something minor which was a huge vacation fun-killer.

But some of it had to do with the resort itself. Oddly enough, since AKL has the best food in our opinion, it made us lazy and we found ourselves never leaving the resort at night (or even our room....we ordered room service all the time). As a result we didn't get out and see the sights at different places, which really detracted from the overall experience. Also, AKL is so isolated, you don't feel as much a part of things as you do at other resorts.

Anyway, we enjoyed POR more...but we are anxious to get to BWI, which is truly our type of resort.

 

[clutter]

I tend to prefer the moderates. We only do a few sit-down meals, so I prefer the variety of food at the food courts at a value or moderate over what's available at a deluxe. And I do think the traffic is a lot noisier with interior hallways.

That said, I JUMPED on the hotwire bargain at Dolphin for our July trip. (Only about $20/night over estimated AP rate for a mod.) I figured those interor (air-conditioned) halls would be heaven in July!


Hey, I just noticed I'm in the double digits!!!

 

[hightown]

Our first two trips were to POFQ and then POR and they were fine. Next trips in succession were WL, WL/BWI, YC Conc and AKL Conc. Then in Feb did a totally spur of the moment on the cheap trip to CBR. After the first night, was sitting in the courtyard outside of our CBR room seriously considering trying to more to AKL Std or WL Std if an AP discount were available. Didn't due to the hassel and it was only a 4 night trip to begin with. Moral of the story is no, I would rather be in the cheapest room of WL or AKL than go back to a Moderate again.

Walk to the food court was way too far and took too long. Had left DD10 in the room to go get dinner and bring it back to the room. Have never had such a long excursion and wait in line in at AKL or WL.

Busses were prompt but coming back from parks we'd always be stuffed and showhorned in. At CBR we always seemed to be the last of 5 or 6 stops.

Missed having a balcony even if the view wasn't good.

I really thought there would be hand lotion and there was none. Small issue and if I'd known, would have brought some.

AKL and WL have around 500 rooms each. Not sure but CBR has 2000! Thats a heck of a lot of people in the food court or pool!

Sharon

 

[ccotis]

I like the deluxe resorts because of the transportation. All deluxe resorts (except AKL) have at least 2 different forms of transportation. I also like having central A/C. Sometimes those room A/C's can be a little noisy.

 

[SAWYERMAW1]

We've only tried two of the delux resorts - BC and AKL. We much
prefer POFQ to the two we've tried.

 

[Buzz2001]

Mod for me anyday. CSR is just like being at one. I like it better than the Cont. Didn't like sharing buses and I could walk to MK faster than the monorail got me there. CSR has a spa and a gym and comes with a coffeemaker in the room. Much better main pool area too.

I also like having central A/C.

CSR has central air