Hotel Help!!

[celina14]

Hi! I'm starting to plan our November 2016 trip. We've never stayed onsite so looking for help with what would be the best resort to stay in. I'd love to stay on the monorail but unfortunately our budget does not allow it So we are looking into one of the moderate resorts. It will be myself, my husband and our 2 kids who will be 5 and 2 when we go. Which one of the moderates would be most convenient with having the little ones with us? My biggest priority would probably be travel time and convenience to and from the parks (especially Magic Kingdom since we will be spending a majority of our time there). Thanks for the help!!

 

[ChasingLeslie]

If travel time is your #1, I'd suggest choosing CSR. The bus service is reportedly the best on property and the resort is the most centrally located mod.

(However with your children's ages, I usually suggest CBR for the zero entry pool, splash pad, and colorful theme.)

 

[msmama]

I like POFQ for its size. It's small so even if you're ever in the farthest away building, you I don't have far to walk. My least part of Disney is trekking back to the room after the end of the day!

 

[celina14]

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[SmallWorld71]

IME - The moderates are all centrally located enough that the difference in travel time to the MK will be minimal. The moderates all have more than one bus stop (well, POFQ has only one, but sometimes they share with POR) so build in a little extra time to travel around the resort before heading out.
Here are the distances between the resorts and MK according to the DIS:
CORONADO SPRINGS:
Magic Kingdom: 4 miles
PORT ORLEANS RIVERSIDE:
Magic Kingdom: 5 miles
PORT ORLEANS FRENCH QUARTER:
Magic Kingdom: 5 miles
CARIBBEAN BEACH:
Magic Kingdom: 6 miles

Honestly, I don't think your kids are old enough to care about the differences in the resorts, so I would probably pick whatever theme you and your DH like the best and go with that.

There are different things my family likes about each of the mods, so it's often just personal preference. For our tastes, we rank the resorts: CSR, POR, CBR, POFQ. But, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend any of them.

If you book CBR or POR, I would highly recommend booking a preferred room for location. CSR is a little trickier as preferred is close to the food court/ main building but standard is closer to the main pool. We book standard; business class is great if you can get it. POFQ is smaller, so the room category doesn't really matter.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

I've only stayed at POFQ and I would definitely recommend it! There's only one bus stop. Yes, occasionally you will share with POR but that's not the norm. For the most part, at park open and close you'll have your own bus. That means get on and go. No stopping 4 or more times before you even leave the resort. The pool is great for little ones. And they're also in the process of building a new kids water play area. The whole resort is so tiny that you never have a far walk to anything--pool, store, food court, buses, boat. Everything is just super convenient. And you don't have to pay extra for a preferred room to get a good spot. The standard rooms are just fine.

 

[jacknsally19]

Any chance your 5 yr old is into princesses, you may want to consider the princess rooms at POR.

 

[loves to dive]

I wouldn't pay extra for a preferred room at POR either, nor for any view at any of the mods. The mods all have outside hallways so you won't be sitting on a balcony or patio of your room, if you open you curtains, you are going to see the hallway first, then whoever walks by is going to see into your room. I stayed in Magnolia Bldg. at POR, not a preferred location. There is a bus stop right behind the building but in the morning I would walk over to the main bus stop since it is the last to be picked up, although I think the one behind that building is the second to last so it's not a huge deal. The walk over to the main bus stop is not more than 3 minutes away, maybe 5 if you are herding kids. I would ride the bus to my stop at the end of the day just because I was too lazy to walk the few extra steps. Seriously, it's not as big a resort as people tend to say.

 

[shm_helene]

I know this doesn't really help you decide but I wanted to throw this out there. We stayed at Poly even though it is super $$. We stayed when they were offering the 30 or 35% off and Orbitz lets you stack their discount on top (which was either 10 or 15%). YOu can also get $$ back from eBates - though I got a minimal amount (there is a different amount for "prepaid" which is what I did - not sure if you can do it differently). I think it ended up in the $250/night range. I know that is really $$ but for us it was worth it in the time we didn't spend on the bus or in transportation because we got to take naps at the hotel and got much more time in the parks. Sorry if this doesn't help but if you're really interested then this might be an option. Good luck and have an amazing time regardless of what you choose! FOr what it's worth, when we stayed at POFQ it was beautiful.