AoA Suites or CBR?

[greeneyemommy]

We are currently planning a WDW vacation in late April. We have a Little Mermaid room booked at AoA, as of right now. We are starting to lean towards a Cars suite or a standard room at the Caribbean Beach Resort. We have a budget of 4000 and a Cars Suite would be a little over our budget, but could be doable with a little extra saving and hopefully a promotion (not sure what kind of discounts will open up for those rooms). We currently have a deluxe dining plan, which my husband is very concern about changing over to a standard dining plan. I told him we could save so much money and make the suite work by just eating breakfast in the room. We have two little boys that will be 5 and almost 3. So, we are not going to have to pay for the littlest. Are the Cars suites worth the extra money or should we save some money and go to the CBR? My husband also prefers the boys have their own bed because they sleep poorly as it is. I know both CBP and Port Orleans Riverside have the pull down bed for a child. We have stayed at POR and loved it, just would be interested in a new resort. Please, what are your thoughts? Any experiences with the suites? Are they worth the extra money and would it be worth dropping the deluxe dining plan to a standard? Do you have to pay a lot extra pocket at vendors since you are dropping that extra snack as well? Thank you so very much!!

 

[marinejjh]

We are in the same boat. We were going to do the AOA, but are leaning on the CBR because of the little Mermaid rooms, we want a neutral room. I would go CBR because of the amenities you will get at a moderate vs value.

 

[smiths02]

We have stayed CBR (Pirate Room-as a family of 3), AKL (as a couple and 4 adults/1 toddler), and AoA Cars Suite (2 adults, 1 kid, 2 toddlers)

We are planning a vacation for next June, and no matter what we consider, I can't imagine NOT staying in an AoA suite next time (and I have been looking around)...
What amenities are you worried about missing moderate to value? The pool and splash area at AoA are great...especially for younger children. Granted, not quite as cool as the water slide and child area at CBR, but still awesome. The food courts are comparable. The sit down restaurant at CBR doesn't get great reviews, so I don't think you are missing much there. At CBR, you are stuck on the bus just like AoA.

I haven't stayed at other values, but I really don't understand the people who won't stay AoA because they don't do "value." We had EXCELLENT service. The only negative to the "value" part of AoA is the large icons and bright colors. For our young kids, they LOVED that aspect.

You could do an Amazon Prime order (what we did) or Garden Grocer for snacks, bottled water, and breakfast items.

We did Tables in Wonderland (we upgraded to Annual Pass) this last visit, so I can't comment on the dining plan, but I can comment that we did more than 1 TS per night, and it was too much scheduled. I would do the regular DDP for our family if I were to do DDP because sometimes you just want to eat leftovers or grab something from the food court or order pizza delivery and not schlep out to another so-so meal.

The extra bathroom, the dining table, the couch for them to sit and watch tv while DH could watch something else was great.

 

[greeneyemommy]

We have not stayed at a value yet ourselves. My husband doesn't really want to give up the deluxe dining, which is amazing and awesome...I agree. Amenities we really don't care for much. A comfy bed is really the only must for us. Both places I know have an awesome kiddie pool area, which would be great if we end up using it for a break. I honestly think the boys would love the themes of AoA, it's just the cost we are concern about for the suite and if it was worth paying that much for them. We are also concerned about the bus system and it being a nightmare. We thought about the pirate rooms, but he still would prefer the boys have their own beds. Thank you both.

 

[marinejjh]

We have stayed CBR (Pirate Room-as a family of 3), AKL (as a couple and 4 adults/1 toddler), and AoA Cars Suite (2 adults, 1 kid, 2 toddlers)

We are planning a vacation for next June, and no matter what we consider, I can't imagine NOT staying in an AoA suite next time (and I have been looking around)...
What amenities are you worried about missing moderate to value? The pool and splash area at AoA are great...especially for younger children. Granted, not quite as cool as the water slide and child area at CBR, but still awesome. The food courts are comparable. The sit down restaurant at CBR doesn't get great reviews, so I don't think you are missing much there. At CBR, you are stuck on the bus just like AoA.

I haven't stayed at other values, but I really don't understand the people who won't stay AoA because they don't do "value." We had EXCELLENT service. The only negative to the "value" part of AoA is the large icons and bright colors. For our young kids, they LOVED that aspect.

You could do an Amazon Prime order (what we did) or Garden Grocer for snacks, bottled water, and breakfast items.

We did Tables in Wonderland (we upgraded to Annual Pass) this last visit, so I can't comment on the dining plan, but I can comment that we did more than 1 TS per night, and it was too much scheduled. I would do the regular DDP for our family if I were to do DDP because sometimes you just want to eat leftovers or grab something from the food court or order pizza delivery and not schlep out to another so-so meal.

The extra bathroom, the dining table, the couch for them to sit and watch tv while DH could watch something else was great.

Probably for us it comes down to only having the mermaid rooms and we want a neutral room for both a boy and girl. Also to queen beds are nice. Plus the price is about the same as a moderate, and AOA is almost always exempt from discounts on resorts.

 

[elsbit]

Have you guys done the deluxe dining plan before? I recommend deciding all the places you want to eat at and then use one of those dining calculators (example http://www.distripplanner.com/ ). That will show you, based on how you will really actually eat, if the deluxe is the best use of your money. You might find that you are spending more than what you are actually using, so downgrading may allow you to do the Cars Suite.

 

[smiths02]

We have not stayed at a value yet ourselves. My husband doesn't really want to give up the deluxe dining, which is amazing and awesome...I agree. Amenities we really don't care for much. A comfy bed is really the only must for us. Both places I know have an awesome kiddie pool area, which would be great if we end up using it for a break. I honestly think the boys would love the themes of AoA, it's just the cost we are concern about for the suite and if it was worth paying that much for them. We are also concerned about the bus system and it being a nightmare. We thought about the pirate rooms, but he still would prefer the boys have their own beds. Thank you both.

We used buses at AoA, CBR, and AKL. I preferred the one bus stop at AoA and AKL. The Little Mermaid (and pirate rooms at CBR) are far from the main areas. Our Cars Suite was very convenient to both pools, lobby, bus, parking. I will say that if you don't have a car, Deluxe Dining will be harder. However, we had a great time in a room at CBR.

 

[smiths02]

Probably for us it comes down to only having the mermaid rooms and we want a neutral room for both a boy and girl. Also to queen beds are nice. Plus the price is about the same as a moderate, and AOA is almost always exempt from discounts on resorts.

I would probably pick a moderate over a little mermaid room because we have boys and a girl. The moderate rooms are larger with queen beds. So the standard rooms are better, but AoA as a whole resort was really impressive for a "value."

 

[honeybunches]

We haven't stayed in a suite before, but we prefer to have 2 queen beds no matter where we stay. I understand your DH wanting the kids to have their own bed because if everyone sleeps better, everyone is happy.

What is your plan for dining? Are you going to do a lot of buffets, signature meals, and such? That would be the only way we'd go back to deluxe. We had deluxe dining for our first two trips and wasted so many credits. We ended up buying about 10 bags of cheese crackers before we left just to use up snack credits, and were trying to buy strangers' meals so that we didn't go home without using all of the credits. It was frustrating to try to get our "money's worth" out of it. For the last few trips, we scaled down to the regular dining plan and it's perfect for us. We still get the refillable mugs, which my DH loves. We pay OOP for breakfast in the hotel food court, and use the CS credit for lunch. We generally have a TS dinner, although sometimes we switch that up with lunch. While we don't have a hard-and-fast budget for food, I usually spend about $25-35 for breakfast, and about $30 tip per day/TS meal. We don't do breakfast in the room, although I might take a few simple items this time just to make things easier in the morning. The regular plan works better for me because I know, going in, that I"ll pay OOP for a few meals, and I'm okay with that. If your DH wants to make sure that he doesn't have to worry about extra costs, then I'd go with what he's comfortable with.

 

[Karebear]

If it were me, I would switch to the regular dining plan and stay in the AoA suite. While I have not stayed at AoA, I have stayed in 1bdrm DVC at WDW and I really enjoyed the extra space. It is so nice to be able to put the kids to bed and then watch tv, etc. in the bedroom without having to worry about waking the kids. You could easily bring food with you or order it from Garden Grocer for breakfast and the suites have a coffee pot in the room.

If you do plan on staying at CBR, just know that not all of the rooms have the extra bed and they are given to a family of 5 first (at least that is what I have read). Hope you have a great trip!

 

[HopperFan]

Note: You will not be guaranteed a fold down bunk because you are only four. If bed sharing is not an option then AoA would be your best bet as that will be guaranteed. The Cars section is very very cool!

 

[ontheuptick]

With kids that age do NOT do the deluxe dining. Have you done it before?

You would spend all your time in restaurants, and there is no way you would get your monies worth. Go with Standard dining plan at maximum, and if you want to pay OOP for a few breakfasts then by all means do so. You'll never want to do 3 sit down meals a day.

Go with the AoA suite and standard dining. An infinitely better plan.

 

[JennyDrake]

Here are some thoughts on your vacation as a whole:

You are going during a very busy time. The deluxe dining plan is going to be confining in the number of sit down meals. You are going to lose a good deal of park time if you go with that option and it will virtually eliminate a midday break, which you REALLY need. Trust me on this one!

LM rooms are a HIKE from the food court--and I am a runner. By mid visit it simply wasn't worth the hike to refill a beverage container and it was a long, long walk at the end of a long, long day of walking.

A Cars suite would not only be closer, but your kids would have a sleeping area.

CBR is a LOVELY, lush and quiet resort. IF *quiet* is important to you at any point of your trip, I would vote CBR or *any* resort (except Kidani) over AoA. I am not picky nor am I a light sleeper but the in room noise at AoA was constant., but again I was in LM room--I do not know about suites.

 

[marinejjh]

We haven't stayed in a suite before, but we prefer to have 2 queen beds no matter where we stay. I understand your DH wanting the kids to have their own bed because if everyone sleeps better, everyone is happy.

What is your plan for dining? Are you going to do a lot of buffets, signature meals, and such? That would be the only way we'd go back to deluxe. We had deluxe dining for our first two trips and wasted so many credits. We ended up buying about 10 bags of cheese crackers before we left just to use up snack credits, and were trying to buy strangers' meals so that we didn't go home without using all of the credits. It was frustrating to try to get our "money's worth" out of it. For the last few trips, we scaled down to the regular dining plan and it's perfect for us. We still get the refillable mugs, which my DH loves. We pay OOP for breakfast in the hotel food court, and use the CS credit for lunch. We generally have a TS dinner, although sometimes we switch that up with lunch. While we don't have a hard-and-fast budget for food, I usually spend about $25-35 for breakfast, and about $30 tip per day/TS meal. We don't do breakfast in the room, although I might take a few simple items this time just to make things easier in the morning. The regular plan works better for me because I know, going in, that I"ll pay OOP for a few meals, and I'm okay with that. If your DH wants to make sure that he doesn't have to worry about extra costs, then I'd go with what he's comfortable with.

DID you buy the deluxe dining or the mid line plan? We have stayed deluxe and got the plan with a snack, 1 QS and a TS each day and used all credits.

 

[honeybunches]

DID you buy the deluxe dining or the mid line plan? We have stayed deluxe and got the plan with a snack, 1 QS and a TS each day and used all credits.

That is the regular (mid line) dining plan---1 TS, 1 QS, 1snack per person/per day. We use all of the meal credits with no problem. We usually still have snack credits left over but we just don't snack much when we're in the parks. This year, I'm planning to use them for F&W.

The deluxe has 3 TS credits + 2 snack credits per person/per day. This is the one where we had so many left over. At the time, we had 2 adults + 2 children. This time we'll be 2 adults, 1 Disney adult (11 y.o.) and 1 child. Totally agree with the previous poster that deluxe is too much when travelling with little kids. They don't want to sit at 3 TS meals a day, and even the signature restaurants are a stretch for us, timewise.

 

[marinejjh]

That is the regular (mid line) dining plan---1 TS, 1 QS, 1snack per person/per day. We use all of the meal credits with no problem. We usually still have snack credits left over but we just don't snack much when we're in the parks. This year, I'm planning to use them for F&W.

The deluxe has 3 TS credits + 2 snack credits per person/per day. This is the one where we had so many left over. At the time, we had 2 adults + 2 children. This time we'll be 2 adults, 1 Disney adult (11 y.o.) and 1 child. Totally agree with the previous poster that deluxe is too much when travelling with little kids. They don't want to sit at 3 TS meals a day, and even the signature restaurants are a stretch for us, timewise.

Was there a reason you got the deluxe? Wasn't sure if you had to get it for you discount or your family just chose to get it.