Deciding between moderates....?

[GirlfromTN]

I am thinking of booking an upcoming 3 night/4 day trip at a moderate resort. All 4 are available during my trip dates in September. Can anyone tell me which moderate resort has the best/easiest transportation? I am going to be visiting DHS and AKL, and eating at AK, WL, and the Boardwalk area, and also want to visit the Poly and the GF and Downtown Disney. (So basically, going everywhere except the MK resort and the Epcot resort). I would like to know how the bus routes are, how long the wait might be, how many stops, etc. We will have a car so might drive to some places but would rather take the bus if possible.
Would also like to know about the location of the food courts. I will be getting a refillable mug so I'll want to be going to the food court a lot-don't really care about the actual food there b/c won't be eating at the food court, only drinking from the mug.
Thanks!

 

[mickeystoontown]

First of all, congrats on your upcoming trip!

We've stayed at the CBR twice and loved it. It has a tropical/beach theme to it. The resort is large but the bus system was very efficient. Never waited long for any bus.

Each village has their own bus stop. You'll catch the bus in your village and then make your way around the resort and on to the theme parks. We didn't have any problems at all and it didn't take long to make the loop around the resort.

The CBR is centrally located so it never took us long to reach any Disney destination. I actually timed our trip to Hollywood Studios. From the time we left the Martinique bus stop until the time we pulled into the bus stop at Hollywood Studios, it took only 11 minutes! I was super surprised. The rides to the other theme parks was quick as well.

We went to the Hoop Dee Doo Review one evening and the commute was easy. We just hopped on the Magic Kingdom bus, walked to the boat launch and were on our way to Fort Wilderness. It might have taken us 30 minutes or so.

We drive to WDW so we have a car but we drove it only once during our 10 day stay. We took it to Downtown Disney and, in all honesty, I wished we had just ridden the bus. Finding a parking place at DTD was a pain in the backside.

The food court at the CBR is in Old Port Royale. Old Port Royale is located in the middle of the resort promenade. The promenade around the entire resort is just 1.4 miles long so, no matter which village you are assigned to, you are never far from the food court. Our walk to the food court from the Jamaica village took maybe five minutes and the walk was very pleasant. Our walk to the food court from our preferred location took even less time.

We didn't use the refillable mugs as the rooms have a refrigerator in the room. Since we drive, we are able to bring along cokes, juice, milk and water from home. There simply wasn't a need for the mugs. I did see lots of people with the refillable mugs and never once did I hear anybody complaining about the walk to the food court.

I love the theming of the CBR. The resort is divided into villages and each village has their own quiet pool, laundry facility and beach. The villages surround a lake and there's a promenade around the resort. The walk is so pretty and enjoyable.

There are lots of places to sit and relax at the resort should you decide to do so. The village buildings surround courtyards which have umbrella tables, benches, etc. The landscaping is lush and seems to block out any noise from the pools.

I would definitely recommend the CBR to anyone!

 

[REL1203]

I really like the ability to take a Boat to DTD at POR and POFQ. I have stayed at POP, CSR, OKW, and The Contemporary.

CSR is lovely, great pool, and a GREAT CS place to eat, but its really big, and can have conventions going on. I personally dont care for Caribean Beach. I am staying at POR for the first itme in a month, and LOVE the look of it, and look the boating idea.

 

[Mickey23]

CSR is a very nice moderate with great transportation, a central location, an awesome main pool area and slide and good food. It would be perfect for what you are looking for. Its only 5 mins from MGM and right around the corner from AKL. The food court is located in the front of the resort in the main building but mugs can be filled at the main pool too.

 

[LoraJ]

Honestly, Disney transportation can be very hit or miss. My worst experience ever was when we stayed at CSR. We rent a car, but I had read on here how everyone raved how great the transportation at CSR is, so I talked DH into using it for a day. What a WASTE OF TIME. 90 minutes in wait time going from CSR -> MGM -> AK -> CSR. The longest was going from AK to CSR which you would think wouldn't be so long, but we waited 30 minutes for the bus, then had to make a stop at Blizzard Beach and wait there for 10 minutes. We haven't been on a Disney bus since.

If you'll have your car, I think you'd be happier using it. We liked the location of CBR, easy to get around by car and we'd take a bus to go to DTD so I could have a couple of cocktails. One night there wasn't going to be a bus coming back for a while, so they put us on a Pop bus and they dropped us off after. So it wasn't too bad.

 

[KatMark]

CSR is our moderate of choice after visiting all of the others and eating at all of the others. Love the food court at CSR, the main pool and quiet pools, the spa, the hot tub, the landscaping, the layout, the quietness and serenity after being at the parks all day. We have never used the bus system, but everyone we have talked to on our six stays at the CSR while we were at the pool or out for a walk or sitting in the lounge, have said they have never experienced better bus service than the service at CSR.

 

[Lilolvr]

CSR!! Best transportation, awesome main pool area/slide and great food options. They have some of the best transportation (not share with any other resort) I've experienced at CSR. You don't need to use your car at all.

The resort is very well kept, the landscaping is beautiful and the CM's are very friendly.

 

[habg1]

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside last Nov. Great moderate resort. There's fishing, horse carriage rides, a great pool and a great arcade. My 2 daughters loved it. They are 10 and 8 y.o.

We went Thanksgiving week last year and we had no problems with transportation. While we did rent a car, we mainly used the buses. We never waited more than 10-15min. for a bus. But we did end up standing a couple times.

The boat to downtown disney is fun and my kids enjoyed it.

There is a piano man in the lobby/bar area on certain nights as well.

From our room to the lobby and counter servce it was less than 5 min. to drive with our rental.

Consider Port orleans. We liked it so much, we have reservations in Nov. again!

 

[fall08CP]

I would say look at the theme of each resort and pick which one interests you the most. For us, both Port Orleans resorts can have all the amenities in the world but we still would not be happy because we have no interest in Mardi Gras or the Old South. However, others love it because it's different or interesting to them.
So here we go:

POR: Lush landscape, quiet, river, very nature oriented
POFQ: Smallest, New Orleans themed, very themed/decorated
CSR: Latin flair, very bold colors, around a large lake with three main themed areas- beach (cabanas), cute little houses (casitas), and desert- like Arizona (ranchos)
CBR: obviously themed the caribbean islands, lots of nice beach areas, wonderful ambiance music


that's a very basic overview.. feel free to add more

 

[Buzz2001]

CSR! Check out my CSR website below for pics and info. CSR is very close to DHS and the closest mod to AKL. CSR does not share transportation like POR/POFQ and has it's own bus stop at each park all the time.

 

[GirlfromTN]

All these great suggestions make it hard to decide
I really like the idea of French Quarter just b/c its smaller and easier to get around; won't be spending ANY time at all at the resort itself so pools etc. don't matter as much to me on this trip. But CSR sounds very appealing too. I think I might try French Quarter for this trip though, b/c we'd really like to take the boat to Downtown Disney. But I'm not booking until Weds so we'll see what is still available then!

 

[michelle1]

I know you said pools don't matter because you won't be at the resort but CBR's main pool will be under renovation until mid Sept if that matters at all. If you stay at either POR or POFQ you can use both resort facilities so it seems like you've made a good choice in POFQ. Have fun!

 

[Disney Debbie]

If no resort time or pool time - stay at POP! Why spend the money on amenities you won't be using? I've stayed at all the values and they are quite comfortable - that's where we stay for "quickie" trips where we won't do anything but sleep and shower there.

But - to answer your question - I love CSR & POR - a lot of folks don't like them for the very reasons I do - they are spread out but they are so beautifully landscaped that I enjoy walking around them and enjoying the scenery and animal life. I also love their pools and both food courts. CSR is different in that they have someone seat you and refill drinks at the food court - so you pay a 10% gratuity - some people really don't like that - I personally liked it a lot!

But for any of them - you will want to drive your own car to get to the AKL & Boardwalk and probably WL. Otherwise you have to take the bus from your resort to a main hub and then catch another bus to the other resort. And if you stay later then one hour after park closing i.e. go to Boardwalk and stay until 11:00 on a night the parks close early - which is several in September - then you have to take a bus from Boardwalk to DD and then back to your resort. It's just too much waiting around for busses to resort hop. I love the busses for going to the parks though.

 

[bab31]

You will get so many different anwers. True I like CSR- One of the reasons I chose it was that it did not share bus runs with other resorts. And the ammenities. Central air being one of them.

Make a list pros and cons

look at a map of WDW ( CSR is centrally located) but checking the map would probably help you.

I honestly dont hear alot of complaints about CSR busses. Not to say one of the above posters didnt have difficulty. I think all of the resorts you will read about bus service good and bad.

 

[skipperkim]

Some things to consider:

CBR doesn't have elevators. Neither does the AB section at POR.

POFQ does not have a TS. There is one over at POR, it's sister resort. These 2 resorts you can pool hop with. They also have a boat to DTD.

CSR has only one sink.

POFQ, being the smallest mod also has it's own bus stop at MK in the evening.