Considering 2 rooms at Pop...

[Dismom63]

vs. 1 room at a moderate or Swan/Dolphin. We generally go at crowded times (school breaks) and we have 3 teens (dd13, dd14 & ds15). Our next visit will be with my sis and her family of 5 as well. We are thinking that 2 rooms at say POP would give us 2 precious bathrooms and a touch more sprawling space than POR.
I am alittle nervous about staying a value since we never have. The Dolphin was great (used the teacher discount) but one bathroom is tough.
Any thoughts or advice??
Thanks for the input

 

[CheshireVal]

My family (my mom, my brother, my fiance, and I) got two rooms at Pop last December and it was GREAT.

Usually, it's just me, my mom, and my brother, and the space was okay but the bathroom time was NOT.

I've stayed almost everywhere (including the Swan), and while the amenities at deluxe resorts are nice, it was actually much nicer having two rooms and two bathrooms. Just ask for connecting rooms and you can leave the door open and have kind of a suite.

 

[snyderla]

I think you will be much happier with 2 rooms. And we really think Pop is a fun resort! We 3 teens, 2 bathrooms will be a big plus!

Lori

 

[tinan]

We had been booked with CS for our 10 night trip. We decided it was worth the extra $250 over those 10 nights to have two rooms at Pop vs. CS. For an extra $25/night our girls will have their own bed, 2 bathrooms, 2 tvs, and some privacy. I think the kids will enjoy having their own room as well! While a fridge may have been nice, I doubt that we will need one. We don't plan on making any grocery store stops with being on the dining package. Since I was concerned about noise levels/people stomping above us, I requested a top floor.

 

[gigi1313]

we opted for two pop rooms vs. one mod room on our last trip (and there are only four of us!) and we LOVED it! we are now so spoiled by the space we had that we cannot imagine going back to one room again (esp one television!! and the extra bathroom comes in handy too!)!

just an fyi... when we booked our trip last time, i started by booking the 5+2 package for the four of us in one room, w/the 2nd room "room only" only to later price it for dh/ds in one room (w/the 5+2 pkg) and dd/i in the other room (again 5+2 pkg) and it came out MUCH cheaper than the original booking... so, when you go to book the two rooms (if you choose to take that route) be sure to ask for all the options... the cm swore there was no way it would be cheaper and had me on hold for at least twenty minutes only to come back and say "VOILA! you're right, it is cheaper!" she was quite surprised! LOL! and i was quite pleased!

 

[Dismom63]

I am so glad to hear others have had the same idea! Now I am just wondering what differences there are between a value and a mod? I know the "sit down" restaurant - which we never use at the resort anyway!

Thanks for the input!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Can anyone tell me what the 5 + 2 pkg is? Thanks.

 

[tinan]

The main differences:

Smaller room size
No fridge unless pay the $10/night
No hot tub
No pool slide
No coffeemaker in room
No table service dining
Have to request a hair dryer
Have to request pool towels

I hope I covered it all

 

[gigi1313]

the 5+2 is a campaign that disney offered last year... buy 5 days, get two free package deal... i would *love* for a similar offer to happen again!

 

[wide awake]

I have two POP rooms booked for three of us...but one is DS who is autistic and takes LONG baths !!! Also, all of us are tall, we'll use one bed apiece. We did a cruise last October, booked two rooms...the two bathrooms and two T.V.s are well worth the money. I'm hoping for a code to save on at least one of the rooms in May/June. I know the deluxe must be wonderful, but we cannot do one bathroom. We will stick with values, SOG, or DVC one bedrooms.

 

[swilphil]

Pop sounds pretty nice for a value. I've heard some people say that if they can't stay at a deluxe, they will stay there. The pool doesn't have a slide, but I think your kids would get over that.

One thing to consider is the Swan. They have one sink in the actual bathroom, which is MUCH bigger than the Dolphin's bathroom. Then there is one sink outside the Swan bathroom. I don't know if that will make much of a difference for you though. If you are going to be spending all day at the park and don't mind taking the bus to all the parks, I'd go with POP.

 

[Bugsmom73]

DH and I were just having this discussion today. We are going with a friend of our in Jan 2006. We had thought about a mod/AKL split. We were concerned about space and it just is not possible to do a deluxe such as CR or Poly for us for that long. So, when we figured it out and added the fridge for one room, it came out to one dollar extra, total. For that extra dollar, we thought 2 rooms, 4 beds, 2 tvs and the ability to put the kids down at night and still be able to talk, play games etc., well worth it. We are still going to do the AKL for 2 days, and we will be a little cozier but that is okay. We too have decided on POP

 

[zurgswife]

I also vote 2 rooms. We ahve to with a family of 6 but it is so nice to have 2 bathrooms...i can't imagine being a family of 5 and squeezing into a POR or a POFQ....

 

[tar heel]

I'll be the dissenter. If you had not been to Disney and stayed at Swan/Dolphin in the past, I would recommend two rooms at a value. If you can spring two rooms at a moderate, I would do that over a deluxe. Pool is a major difference between the levels -- moderates have slides and hot tubs; POR also has the boat to Downtown Disney and CS has room service.

We had stayed at the YC two trips in a row when we opted for two rooms at a value with our two teens and 9-year-old. While the extra beds and bathrooms were great, everyone in my family has said they would rather be crowded in a good location with a great pool. Neither of my teens even went to the All Star Sports pool, and we were there six nights. We have a neighborhood pool, so just swimming is not a treat. One of my teens' favorite park is Epcot and the other is MGM -- it was so easy for them to make extra trips from the Epcot resorts. From All Stars, the older one did go out alone and it took him FOREVER to get back. This may not be an issue for you, but we also really missed the hot tubs.

Our family has been known to send the person who takes forever and a day in the bathroom to the lobby facilities in the morning. My kids are also all boys, which makes one room a bit less complicated.

 

[CaipiraBob]

The big concern is the logistics of travel. Dolphin and Swan are within proximity to parks and have better access to Epcot and MGM.

The POP and ASRs are limited to bus in any case.

My recommendation: People staying on grounds can park for free at the parks (this is still true, correct?) Rather than use the bus transportation for heavy "park days" use your own personal conveyance.

Leave the buses for use with lower volume destinations with the larger group.

You should be fine then.

 

[Pkdcoastrs]

STAY AT POP !!!

Stay at POP!!! Coming from a family where money isn't always there, we have stayed at Value hotels in WDW for a majority of our stays. We stayed at POP last summer and it was tied for out most favorite hotel of WDW(tied with Dolphin). The resort is like a moderate-lite, it is new, the theming is great, food court is great, and just the overall feeling is fun! If you get a room near Hourglass Lake, you will have a nice open view!! We CANNOT reccomend POP anymore, it was great! We have stayed at everything from Pop to Grand Floridian, and the first was 100x more fun (hard to believe right!).