Going old school- std room, no hop

[TeamBlack]

Our next trip was planned for 2015. I've been running the numbers and if we go for a standard room and base ticket, we could go a year earlier.
In the past we have always paid for a preferred room category and gotten the full blown-out hopper/waterpark and more ticket.
I'm looking for feedback for those who have taken a step back in their room category and ticket options.
Did you miss all the extras or not?
My fear is, that we'll be there and wish we had waited 9 months to a year and paid for the extras.
Were planning on POR, because it seems to be the cheapest on-site option for a family of 5.

 

[Mommymarie]

I actually do not mind staying in a standard room. My family is in the park so long each day that we do not spend a lot of time in the room anyway. If we upgrade to a nicer room category or resort, I feel like we have to spend more in time in the resort to enjoy it. We have stayed in POR and it is one of our favorite resorts! It is also a great option for a family of 5. After doing hopper and base tickets, I like base tickets better (I know a lot of people will disagree). It is nice to spend the entire day in one park without having to lose park time traveling from park to park. I feel more relaxed with a base ticket! I would personally rather go to Disney sooner and let go of extras, there is enough to do in the parks that I do not think you will regret it!

 

[scotas]

My husband and I went in January, just the two of us. We had a standard room, but chose "close to transportation" during online checking. It seemed fine for us, but we were at POFQ and it is small anyways. We had parkhoppers but didn't actually use that option. We still had a magical time.

 

[OurBigTrip]

We've almost always stayed in standard rooms, so that wouldn't bother me at all. Not being able to park hop would though, as we usually do one park in the morning and a different park in the evening.

I would price it out at standard room, park hopper, but buying water park tickets separately.

 

[HopperFan]

When the kids were very little we loved hopper because we could do a mid day nap then switch parks, and we usually only went for 4-5 days. Once they could do the full day we stopped getting hoppers and it was fine. Now we go back and forth depending on the trip. Many trips we skip the "more" things, we would rather spend more time in the parks. Staying put in one park all day kinda makes us check out everything, we find out then how much we always missed and not only do we get so much more done, but it's kinda relaxing. As far as locations, I don't pay for preferred anymore, I use my room for it's insides. Especially at a value or moderate where you have no balcony. If I can handle walking all over these parks, I can handle the resort.

I would go sooner

 

[minnie mum]

Our next trip was planned for 2015. I've been running the numbers and if we go for a standard room and base ticket, we could go a year earlier.
In the past we have always paid for a preferred room category and gotten the full blown-out hopper/waterpark and more ticket.
I'm looking for feedback for those who have taken a step back in their room category and ticket options.
Did you miss all the extras or not?
My fear is, that we'll be there and wish we had waited 9 months to a year and paid for the extras.
Were planning on POR, because it seems to be the cheapest on-site option for a family of 5.

For us, a lot would depend on our length of stay. We have never found the preferred room to be of great value. Nice location, but worth the extra cost? Not really, for us.

We seldom do park hoppers- after looking closely at how we used them, we realized that we didn't really use the feature much. When we used only base tickets we just planned our park days a little more carefully. And easywdw.com does a really good job at making those decisions easier.

We aren't huge water park or DQ fans. We find the resort pools have what we need; but isn't the WP+ feature only really a bargain if you're spending more than 2 days of your vacation using them?

I would rather go more frequently or stay longer than go less frequently with all of the bells and whistles. But it really depends on how high a priority your family places on these things.

 

[APiratesLifeForMe2]

If you reduce to a base ticket remember your ADR's would need to coincide with the park you are in for the day.

As for preferred room vs standard room, I've always stayed in standard and ever been dissatisfied.

 

[RysMomma]

I personally never choose a preferred room. We always do standard. For us it doesn't matter too much because we always rent a car.

Park hoppers, however, are a must for us. We like to do one park in the morning, come back for some down time/pool time, and then go to another at night. I couldn't give up that.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[dissupermom]

we've done both! I prefer the standard room, standard ticket. no extras, no frills, nothing fancy, just disney!! the pools are great, relaxing and fun (included in the price of the room regardless if you have a standard or preferred room). I would go sooner with the standard room, standard ticket and go for an extra day or so, than to wait and spend more to stay less.. IMO

 

[MattRyan]

Park hoppers don't make sense for us, the only time we would use it would be to leave AK after it closes to go spend like 3-4 hours in another park, and that alone is not worth the $60 per person.

We stay in one park the whole day and use the money we save to do more.