For those who wanted Port Orleans resorts...

[weesignlanguage]

For those who wanted Port Orleans resorts for Free Dining...what changes did you make? Where are you staying now? Or did you keep the room and give up the dining?

 

[weesignlanguage]

I'll start. I reallllly love POFQ as we stayed there in January for the first time. Disappointed as I was that it wasn't in the FD offer, we decided to go with FD. When I booked this morning, I was hoping to get Car Beach but I realized when trying to book that they only have double beds. TOO SMALL! Ha! So, we are now at Coronado Springs in a standard room!! We haven't stayed there in years so it will be a neat change!

 

[SydneyFalco]

Coronado, preferred. The wife and I are not used to moderates, and the one time we did one -- CBR -- we really hated the walking distances involved. We wanted POFQ because of its size and theme. Adding two hundred something for the preferred room is a bummer, but if the resort's nice, that will be quickly forgotten.

 

[gabyta]

To be honest, I had a bad experience at Coronado S. Resort so I'd chose CBR, but you should know that the beds are smaller (they have double beds not queen). If you are traveling with small kids you should definitely go for it

 

[dansdad]

To be honest, I had a bad experience at Coronado S. Resort so I'd chose CBR, but you should know that the beds are smaller (they have double beds not queen). If you are traveling with small kids you should definitely go for it

The word from people currently at CBR is that they are preparing to start the room refurb which includes queen beds.

 

[wdwmaw]

We are traveling with 5 this year so wanted to book at POR for the savings. We stayed there 2 years ago to get FD and really didn't fall in love with it but for the cost savings it was an option this time. We booked 2 rooms at POP and upgraded the DP so the cost over POR is $1500 more now. My cheepness really wants POR to eventually open up. My heart wants to stay at POP or CBR to open up with room for 5. DH and I have not spent a night in a hotel room alone together since our honeymoon. Really wanting to be confortable with spending so much more (we have the money I just hate to spend it), so I can have that second room

 

[BABY_EINSTEIN'S_MOM]

We switched to CBR and are really hoping for the queen bed refurb! I like the theme of CBR better than CSR so I'm only worried about the bed thing. CSR wasn't available for our dates and I even booked with DV last week!

 

[LucyBC80]

I'll give up anything to stay at POFQ. Free Dining, Room Only Discount, I see it all as a bonus as I don't depend on them to be able to go to WDW, althought I understand why people do that.

Sure it would be great to save some money, and let's be real, I WOULD spend every penny saved on other stuff at Disney, but if I don't get them, no big deal, I'll go and stay at my beloved POFQ either way.

So no, I didn't make any changes nor will I.

 

[kbsparks]

We are traveling with 5 this year so wanted to book at POR for the savings. We stayed there 2 years ago to get FD and really didn't fall in love with it but for the cost savings it was an option this time. We booked 2 rooms at POP and upgraded the DDP so the cost over POR is $1500 more now. My cheepness really wants POR to eventually open up. My heart wants to stay at POP or CBR to open up with room for 5. DH and I have not spent a night in a hotel room alone together since our honeymoon. Really wanting to be confortable with spending so much more (we have the money I just hate to spend it), so I can have that second room

This is us. Had to get two rooms at Pop. POR would have saved us $500. We only upgraded to the regular dining plan.

 

[TheWrightTrip]

We are family of 5 so I'm really bummed about POR being excluded. We ended up shaving 2 nights off the trip and booking ASMusic Suite. Upgraded to the regular dining. It's really frustrating that the value suite is more than a moderate but yet I have to pay the upgrade for regular dining. I wanted to get something booked so we can do dining reservations but we can stay off property and add our 2 days back for roughly the same price. So I don't know what we will actually end up doing. I'm holding out hope that they will see they need to fill rooms at POR and add it to the offer later this summer.

 

[dansdad]

I wanted to get something booked so we can do dining reservations but we can stay off property and add our 2 days back for roughly the same price.

You don't have to have a room booked to make dining reservations.

 

[4leobeans]

Not that we're going, but for fun, I priced out a 7 night trip for our family of 5 this morning. The offer available on the DW website is 25% off (not free dining). For my "vacation" even including paid for dining, the price was only about $400 more than yesterday's rack rate with no dining. Our kids are all kids though.

If I really wanted to stay at POR, I would, $400 would not be a deal breaker for me.

Last year we went with FD and had two royal rooms (4 adults, 2 kids) and the total cost was about $4500. Would it be worth it to have two standard rooms at a moderate with FD vs. a value suite with upgraded dining?

 

[gabyta]

The word from people currently at CBR is that they are preparing to start the room refurb which includes queen beds.

that will be great!! I'd love to go back soon!

 

[wdwmaw]

This is us. Had to get two rooms at Pop. POR would have saved us $500. We only upgraded to the regular dining plan.

Sorry, we only upgraded to the regular dining plan also Deluxe is just way to much food and time.

 

[Excited4More]

We went for the upgrade and splurge since we have no interest in any of the value resorts. POR turned into the Boardwalk Inn for my party of 5. Yes, we could have saved money going value but we are excited for this new experience.

 

[TheWrightTrip]

You don't have to have a room booked to make dining reservations.

You do to get the 10 extra days. You can book 190 days out if you have a room booked.

 

[dansdad]

You do to get the 10 extra days. You can book 190 days out if you have a room booked.

That's correct. The way your post was worded it sounded like you were saying you wanted a reservation just to make ADRs.

 

[TheWrightTrip]

That's correct. The way your post was worded it sounded like you were saying you wanted a reservation just to make ADRs.

Gotcha. What? You couldn't read my mind?

 

[DebbieB]

You do to get the 10 extra days. You can book 190 days out if you have a room booked.

Not exactly. You can book 180 days out and up to 10 following days on your reservation.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

We booked a few ADRs today - was shocked at how much is still available in early September. Also was surprised that some of the restaurants are not accept DDP during the free dining window - restaurants that accept DDP outside of that window. I would be upset if I paid for DDP out of pocket and couldn't use the credits at a favorite restaurant because of the promo.