Help choosing a moderate

[Johnnysmom]

Good day everyone

We are headed to Disney for our 4th trip in September for the free dining. We have only stayed in a deluxe and would like to choose a moderate. Our biggest concern is not a lot of walking and queen size beds. Can you give me some suggestions. I am leaning towards POR.

Thanks

 

[kandb]

Your best bet would be port orleans french quarter. PO Riverside is much bigger and spread out, you could be a 10-15 minute walk from the food court/main building. The french quarter is small and quaint and has queen size beds, very nice resort but seems very popular lately so hopefully you can get it with the free dining.

 

[MSSANDRA]

We love CSR. There are queen beds there and they are quite comfortable. It however is a HUGE resort. It so depends on your needs for a resort if it will be great for you or not. If you are interested in using the pool, it is a long walk from the main building. If the pool is not important to you, book a preferred room and be VERY close to the main building with restaurants, check-in, gift shops, bus stop etc. There are bus stops through-out the resort and bus service is WONDERFUL. Parking is also fairly close to the buildings. There is suppose to be golf carts to drive people around the resorts but we really did not see too many of these.

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

Three of the moderates offer queen beds - POR, POFQ and CSR. (I think POR might still be under refurb, but the resort should be done by September as far as I know).

POR and CSR are larger with multiple bus stops. Your room will be fairly close to a bus stop at both resorts, but you might have a long walk to the food court or feature pool. At CSR, preferred rooms (casitas 1, 2 and 3) put you close to the main building for check-in and food choices, but it would be about ten minutes to the main pool. There is a quiet pool near the preferred rooms (located near casita 4), along with a laundry and fitness center, so you could get by without much walking if you weren't interested in the main pool or hot tub.

I haven't stayed at POR, so I don't know how the preferred rooms relate to pool and/or food court distance.

For the least amount of walking at a moderate, POFQ is your best bet. It has only one bus stop, but it is much smaller than the other moderates.

 

[DizDaD7]

POR is spread out and so is CSR, but a lot of the bldgs are closer too. These 2 by far are the best Mods though.
This is from another post I typed in.:

Let it be known that both times I went to these were during Jersey weeks in Nov.

CSR- Resort Grounds: The theming here is really nice. All 3 areas are unique to its section and very well maintained. A nice walk around the whole resort is roughly 15-20 minutes or so.

POR- Resort Grounds: The theming here is also very nice. Just a little different. Southern feel. Both gorgeous grounds though. I'd say just a tad longer to walk around the grounds, but a pleasant stroll again.

CSR- Rooms: Stayed in Casitas 4 which had renovated rooms & was a perfect location. Queen Size beds too.

POR- Rooms: Stayed in Magnolia Mansions. Also Beautifully redone, w/ queen size beds as well.

CSR- Pool The main Pool is awesome. Really nice slide. Plenty of lifeguards on duty. Never Ever,ever crowded. I think the most amount of people there while we stayed was maybe 20. The quieter pools are very nice too.

POR- Pool: This Pool Is very nice as well. Slide is just a tad smaller than CSR but equally nice. the pool always had plenty of people around , but never felt like overcrowded. You always had plenty of chaise loungers to sit at. a lot more kids it seemed too. quieter pools were just that very quiet..

CSR- Food Court: aka. pepper market. I know not many people like the idea of being escorted to you seat, but literally u wait maybe 5 secs, honestly. Never is it packed, the market itself has a nice array of food too. A small gratuity ( maybe $5 ) should cover your server.

POR- Food Court: Although the food selections here are awesome, the way it's set up is like the values. And yes the seating area is bigger, It was always busy, no matter what time of day. Mornings are Chaotic though. Worse lines here than the darn parks...LoL

CSR- Bus Service: The best hands down: Although there are multiple stops, It seems most people grab it at the main one, to go to the parks. Never di we wait for more than 1 bus which were sooo frequent. NEVER did we have to come close to standing either, Going to the parks or returning..

POR- Bus Service: This one was just Eh. Imho. At least heading out to the parks in the morning. I think we waited for an extra bus 3 days going to parks. Coming back from DTD we waited for 3 buses, & forget coming back from Fantasmic. That was like 7 buses... But when we do return, the west stop ( i think) was very close to our mansion, which was nice.
Also POR, Has the Boat ride to DTD, which is a pleasant ride & convenient.

I didn't eat at either of the 2 TS restaurants here, but have heard very good things about both. Also POFQ is just a smaller version of POR, but the New Orleans theming & closer feel, just didn't do it for me. Also the pool is a lil on the kiddish side. CBR I'm just not a big fan of. Layout, Theming, buses. The pool is good though. If I want to get a tropical theme ,then I'll go to the islands, not here. Thats just my $.02. Sorry. Don't mean to offend all of the CBR lovers

My suggestion, ( although its a hard one ) would probably got to CSR. It's a convention hotel , so it's never too crowded.

Either one you pick I'm sure you won't be disappointed.. Have a fun time choosing and once again...Sorry for Rambling here. LoL

 

[Lisha428]

Definitely POFQ based on your two requirements of not much walking and queen sized beds. We stayed there last February and loved it.

 

[dskib]

Easy one. POFQ. It's by FAR the smallest, so the least amount of walking and has queen beds. It was just refurbed, so its all shiny and new too

We love it there.

 

[akl-fan]

Your best bet would be port orleans french quarter. PO Riverside is much bigger and spread out, you could be a 10-15 minute walk from the food court/main building. The french quarter is small and quaint and has queen size beds, very nice resort but seems very popular lately so hopefully you can get it with the free dining.

You took the words right out of my mouth!

 

[webstah]

We tend to have a preference for POR, but POFQ is a sister resort, so they share amenities. That way you can have the best of both worlds, by using the boat transportation between the resorts to minimize the walking.

 

[jebobak]

I've got our first trip planned for May, so I haven't stayed yet, but I also spent many sleepless hours deciding between POR/POFQ and CSR.

This was my thinking...so, if I am wrong, please someone let me know!

I choose PO because of (what I perceive as) the more rural, relaxing, resort atmosphere. Although I am sure CSR is very nice, it is also a 'convention center', and doesn't appear as green and peaceful as POR/POFQ. I know the pool complex at CSR is really great for kids, but I think my 9 year old will really enjoy being near the river, the boat rides, fishing...and parents will enjoy the (relative) quiet.

My two cents... CSR = fun, upbeat resort hotel experience
PO = more relaxed, rural resort feel

 

[MSSANDRA]

That's funny.....CRS is the quietest most peaceful place we have EVER stayed.. anywhere. Granted we were not near the pool but we NEVER heard any noise and saw VERY few people even during a busy time.

 

[DizDaD7]

Ditto With PP. But they definetely are both serine.... You'll have a great time ateither..

 

[PixieDustFanatic]

Good day everyone

We are headed to Disney for our 4th trip in September for the free dining. We have only stayed in a deluxe and would like to choose a moderate. Our biggest concern is not a lot of walking and queen size beds. Can you give me some suggestions. I am leaning towards POR.

Thanks

We stayed at POR in Feb and it was fabulous! We stayed in AB bldg 38, so we were very close to the pool, and our room was refurbished. The walk to the food court was very easy and did not take long. In the past we've stayed at All Star Sports, Grand Floridian, and the Swan and we felt that POR was the best location of those because it was centralized....no bus trip ever took too long.

We didn't encounter the craziness at the food court like a PP mentioned...and we loved the food options at the food court.

I can't say enough good things about POR, we just loved it there.

 

[lucysmom]

We usually stay Deluxe, but about four years ago, we wanted a longer stay so we chose POFQ. Other than the absence of a balcony and table service restaurant, POFQ has a deluxe feel. It is smaller than the other moderates. It has nice extras like the carriage ride and Elliot Dyson playing at ScatCats. We also enjoyed the boat ride to Downtown Disney. In fact, this year we are at the Yacht Club, and we are still planning on taking the boat from DD to ScatCats to see Elliot Dyson's show. BTW--all the extras at POR are available to you. It is just a short boat ride to their pool, etc. We even went fishing and saw a baby alligator at POR while we were staying at POFQ. Frankly, our nice boat ride was faster than the hike some POR guests had to make from where they were housed. POFQ is really very nice!

 

[Johnnysmom]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I decided on POR with the free dining. I saved quit a bit staying at a moderate compared to a deluxe. I asked for the Magnolia or the Oak with a garden view. That seemed close to main building and a walk to the pool but I added the water park this time so may not spend a lot of time at the pool.

I am happy with my decision and can't wait until our trip.

Thanks again.

 

[Sue M]

POR is our fav moderate. And we stay deluxe too. I love the mansion section. Either Acadian House or Magnolia Terrace are great locations. Oak Manor and Parterre Pl are now Princess Rooms, so if you are paying for a standard Garden View room, you can't be in Oak Manor.