Help choosing a moderate

Rpiercecab

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jun 19, 2017
My first trip to WDW was last year and we stayed at the Contemporary. It was a wonderful experience and we choose it based on location because we had young children and were spending three days at MK.

We are looking to go back Spring 2020 and plan to focus more on AK and HS. Coronado Springs draws my interest because it is centrally located between the two, but I am also considering Caribbean Beach (because of refurb) and Port Orleans Riverside which I know is a lot of people's favorite. If you have stayed at these resorts before, can you share what you did and did not like about them?

Right now I am planning on doing pretty full park days but may schedule a day off from the parks in the middle of the week for relaxing and Disney Springs.
 
Of the three I've only stayed at POR, and I stayed preferred while at POR. I like the grounds and theming and the boat to Disney Springs. It just feels serene in the middle of the most chaotic place on earth.
 
We really loved Caribbean Beach. It's so large though, I would only stay there again if I had a preferred room. It's got a relaxing atmosphere and the pool is awesome. I didn't love POR and have never stayed at Coronado.
 
I love Coronado, and if you enjoyed the amenities of the deluxe level, it has some of those at the moderate level that you don't get at other mods (such as a spa/health club/fitness center). They've also recently renovated the rooms which I hear is very nice. I stayed at Coronado on my honeymoon and I thought the grounds were lovely, the resort overall was very quiet and the main hub was great. A lot of people write off Coronado as being too business-focused because it has the convention center on property but I've honestly never been bothered by having a few handfuls of dudes in business suits around... it doesn't take away from the vacation at all.
 


I've stayed in none of these. But have given them all a hard look. I think, and this is just from watching videos, that Coronado springs has the nicest looking rooms of the three. Does that matter though? Having the skyliner for me, would be pretty nice.
 
I’ve stayed at Coronado Springs and the resort was beautiful, but it was way too big. I swore I’d never stay again. Now that they have the preferred room category I may consider it. Where we were positioned it was a really long walk to dining and the main pool wasn’t all that close too. I didn’t want to start my day with a hike for breakfast or end it with a hike for a snack or drink refill. Most of the moderates are so big I would definitely recommend a preferred room.
 
I love Coronado - great pool and a sit-down restaurant - never felt that the resort was too big, prefer POFQ over POR because of the theme, and wouldn't stay at CBR again - just not a fan.
 


I love Coronado, and if you enjoyed the amenities of the deluxe level, it has some of those at the moderate level that you don't get at other mods (such as a spa/health club/fitness center). They've also recently renovated the rooms which I hear is very nice. I stayed at Coronado on my honeymoon and I thought the grounds were lovely, the resort overall was very quiet and the main hub was great. A lot of people write off Coronado as being too business-focused because it has the convention center on property but I've honestly never been bothered by having a few handfuls of dudes in business suits around... it doesn't take away from the vacation at all.

Honestly that's why my sister LOVES coronado, the convention center "scares" families away!
 
We have stayed at all of the moderates many times. I often recommend them all, depending upon the individual circumstances. We enjoyed all of them. Our preference, FWIW, from best to least is:

POR, CSR, CBR, POFQ

POFQ is the favourite of many people because of the small overall size and single bus stop. We usually stay preferred (though not always) so the small size doesn't matter much to us. Our main objection is that there are very few amenities at this resort (food court and one pool only) and we aren't fans of the theme.

CBR looks awesome since the refurb and now that the construction has ended is high on our list to try again soon. It ranks second last because it feels the most confusing/spread out to me and because the pirate rooms are so far away from everything. It remains to be seen if we are happy with the gondolas and if they will be a plus (for transportation) or a minus (for atmosphere/noise). We love the island theme, the main pool (especially for families with young children) the comfortable rooms and the gorgeous grounds.

CSR is currently second because of the construction at the resort. Once the tower is complete, then we will visit again to see the impact on crowds at the pools and on the buses. We love the pool, the extra amenities, the fact that it isn't usually crowded, the centralized location and the gorgeous theming. Walking around the lake ion the evening is so romantic! This resort is up there with the deluxe resorts for an enjoyable stay, IMO.

POR is so relaxing. The grounds are beautiful. I love the themed pool and the 'quiet' pools, walking along the river, enjoying three differently themed areas, the carriage rides, the Royal Rooms' over the top theming, the ride to DS, the sharing of amenities with POFQ. There only 'negative' to a stay here isn't6 a negative to us - that there are four bus stops. We don't mind this as it means that the bus is never along walk for anyone, even at such a large resort. YMMV.

Good luck choosing! However, don't stress over it too much as they are all lovely, comfortable resorts. You will enjoy any of them very much!
 
Personally I think you can't go wrong with any of the moderates. You get a lot of bang for your buck with any of them. It's hard to choose a fav, maybe CB bc it was our first place we stayed and I love the colors and theme, CS is beautiful too, just love it, incredible pool, both very large resorts but we don't mind that, and POR has the boat to Disney Springs. Maybe as far as theming goes prefer first two maybe, it's very close, but all 3 are great!
 
I love Coronado, and if you enjoyed the amenities of the deluxe level, it has some of those at the moderate level that you don't get at other mods (such as a spa/health club/fitness center). They've also recently renovated the rooms which I hear is very nice. I stayed at Coronado on my honeymoon and I thought the grounds were lovely, the resort overall was very quiet and the main hub was great. A lot of people write off Coronado as being too business-focused because it has the convention center on property but I've honestly never been bothered by having a few handfuls of dudes in business suits around... it doesn't take away from the vacation at all.
Same...It was actually pretty nice at the end of a long day. Much more quiet and the pool was never overcrowded when we went, yet we still saw families at the marshmallow roasts, etc.

I’ve stayed at Coronado Springs and the resort was beautiful, but it was way too big.
This was my only real concern when we stayed, but now that they are adding the walkway across the lake I think this won't be as bad no matter where your room is you'll have a more direct route.
 
We really enjoyed our stays at Coronado, I've been there for family trips as well as a convention, so I've seen both sides of it. It's fairly spread out, so means walking to the front for food if you're at the back its a bit of a hike, but beautiful. We never had a much of an issue with the convention people, the plus is they don't use the buses as much so we found that to be a benefit, but at night they do head out so the buses can be busier going to Disney Springs. It's been to long for me to comment on Pepper Market, it had mixed reviews when we went but we enjoyed it. I think the biggest complaint was the automatic gratuity, and I'm not sure if that is still taking place now but my guess is that it is. The big unknown for me is the new tower, it just seems totally out of place and in my mind so far it ruins the landscape. But I'll try not to judge to much until I can see it myself.

While we enjoyed CSR we began going to the Swan/Dolphin as we could almost always match the price or get it for less, so got a Deluxe resort equivalent (without a few Disney perks) at a moderate price.

Our next trip we're going to Port Orleans French Quarter as it has it's own bus service during peak times, and it's the smallest of the Moderates. After hearing our TA talk about it we figured we'd give it a shot, however if Swan has better rates we'll may switch over just due to the proximity to Epcot and DHS. But we'll see in a few months and how the rates look.
 

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