Hotel Royal Plaza or POR????

[debra1970]

Need some input....PLEASE

Found out last night that I will not be able to apply any codes to our res for POR in Oct. Discovered this AM that my family and I can stay at the Hotel Royal Plaza for over $500 less (maybe even close to $600 cheaper)

Is it worth it to give up the magic you get at the resorts to stay at Hotel Royal Plaza? We are going with our 6 year old son and they say you don't miss what you've never had. Would you save the money (which would be very useful) and stay at DD or sink the extra into staying at a resort? The extra magic hour does not matter to us. Please give me some input.

By the way, we are going with another family and their 6 year old son.

Thanks for any help you can give

Deb

 

[maggiew]

You don't say when in Oct you are going, but I will assume it will not be that crowded, so you should do ok with no extra magic hour. We went last November and stayed at POR and never once made it to EMH, but we got to see everything we wanted anyway.

I personally think that the "magic" comes from within yourself. You make whatever magic you want. If you are going to sit around at HRP and continually think about "what you are missing", then don't stay there. If you can do without Mickey soap and wake up call, etc. AND are willing to have a positive attitude, you will have a great time. I can think of a LOT of "magical" things to do with the extra $500 you save by staying at HRP.

When we went in Nov., the parks closed early so we spent several evenings at Downtown Disney. Just think about how close you will be! (I am not sure how early the parks close in Oct.)

In addition, I hear that the park shuttles are sufficient and come every half hour from 1 hour prior to park opening to 1 hour after (check to make sure.). It is much better than other "off site" hotels.

Maggie

 

[Luv2Dream]

Gee, that's a tough one. I'm a big fan of POR and I have a 6 yo DD. If it were me, I would stay at POR, not for the "magic" but for the convenience. With that, I mean the Disney buses, the boat to DTD, the food court, the fishing with the cane poles, the biggest arcade on site, etc. For me, I like to make things easy with a young child. However, I've never stayed at HRP so they could have similar amenities, but my choice would be POR.

 

[firstmickey]

Deb,
you don't say what codes you were trying to apply, but I just wanted to say : if it is AP code you were trying. Try again.
You may be able to apply AP code to part of your stay. Ask if AP code is available for any of the days of your stay.
I was unable to get AP code the first time and then I called back and was able to get the rack rate for first nite and the AP code for the rest of the stay at CBR.

We just stayed at POR in August. It was awesome there.
I would say try again. But if you are unable to get codes, I would tend to agree with Maggiew. You can make a lot of your own magic with the extra money!

 

[palmtreegirl]

Are you going to have your own car? Because if you do and the extra $$ will really help you out then i'd go ahead and stay at the HRP. Now if you won't have your own car then I would suggest going over to the other Hotel board and asking about the HRP transportation system, I'm sorry I've never stayed there so I can't help you with that part. If you have your own car then there are no worries.

I'm usually an *on-site* kind of person, but speaking from past experience, I think you'll end up enjoying yourself more if you're not worrying about saving money during other parts of the trip just to stay on site.

I know that a lot of people have stayed at the HRP from the off-site Dis hotel board and Mary from Mousesavers highly recommends also.

Here's the link to the Dis Orlando hotels board-
http://disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=15

And just in case you don't have it the link to mousesavers- Mary has a great reduced rate and review for the HRP posted on her board.-

http://www.mousesavers.com/royalplaza.html

Good luck with your decision and I hope my post helped you a bit!

 

[splashfamily]

Having stayed at both location I would choose POR all the way. DD is a great location for off-site but I was not happy at HRH. However, I stayed there a few years ago and it may have changed. I found it loud and very "undisneyish". I have stayed at both the Hilton and Doubletree and would choose those first over the HRH if I were to stay off site.

 

[Laura]

I haven't stayed at POR (the 2 mods I stayed at are CSR and CBR) but I have stayed at HRP. For $500-$600 less than a moderate, I would certainly stay there again. It is really very nice. I also prefer to stay on-site, but sometimes the deals at the Hotel Plaza resorts are too good to pass up. Splashfamily is right -- you should check out the other resorts and see what deals you can get with them, if you haven't already. You have a lot of choices there.

Anyway, the transportation I experienced at the HRP was absolutely fine. At MK they dropped us off at the TTC instead of the MK front gate so we still had to take the ferry or monorail from TTC to the gate. But hey, I kind of enjoyed it more that way. Added to the suspense.

Oh and Extra Magic Hours don't matter to my family either, so you won't notice not being able to use them.

 

[Ambassador]

The savings are enticing. Also, with another family joining you, it may make sense to stay together there. Save the $500 for next year's trip, or go to California Grill a few times.

 

[Wonderlandmom]

We stayed at HRP before staying at POR. I would stay(and did!) at POR again. Have stayed only at WDW resorts since then. It was nice enough(room was big and plush), and being close to DTD is great. But POR has the boat to DTD and superior transportation IMHO. Once we stayed onsite, we can't go back . We had a tower room at HRP, which I read(after we stayed) is the ONLY way to go. Have read the other rooms can be gross. Remember it is right by the interstate, so if you stay there request a DTD view, or you may be looking at a BUSY, loud road . We just enjoy the ambience and great detail to the theming of the WDW resorts. They are a themepark in themselves . And the foodcourt or counter service at the resorts are a great perk. My kids loved the arcade and foodcourt at POR, the hairwrap station was right by the water's edge, and the pool with slide was wonderful for them. They could not wait to come back from the parks each day to explore POR. Have stayed at many other WDW resorts since then and they ALL are great to explore. We have also always got a discount for $79-$99 for the mods, and discounts on the deluxes too. Keep checking back as discounted rooms open ALL the time. Good luck in your decision. I too, would want a discount of some sort!

 

[SnackyStacky]

I have stayed at both, and I have to say that if the savings are a big deal to you, stay at the Royal Plaza.

The pros to staying on Disney property are the Extra Magic Hour, complimentary transportation, charging to the room privleges, and shipping purchases to the room.

You said Extra Magic Hour doesn't matter to you. You're still entitled to Disney transportation if you have a hopper pass, and the Hotel Plaza Boulevard transportation is very good in the off-season. I've used it three times, and have never had a problem with it. If I felt like I was waiting too long, I just picked up a cab. It was never more than $10. So the only thing you can't get at Royal Plaza is charging to the room privleges, and shipping to the room. But you can ship them to the front gate, and pick them up on your way out.

If you can live without those things, then stay at the Royal Plaza. I offer one word of caution though: if you've gotten that rate on a garden wing, it may be worth it to stay at a Disney Resort. My room had rust and mold on the ceiling, chunks of drywall missing in the bathroom, the hardware to open the curtains broke, the paint was chipping off of the sliding patio door....I was ready to dismiss it as one bad room, but I read of similar experiencess that others had. However, the tower rooms I've heard are amazing.

Also to keep in mind, there is a $7/day resort charge that CANNOT be waived. We asked when we checked in, and were not allowed to waive that. I don't know how long you're staying, but that may add something to your total.

Good luck, and I know you'll be happy with whatever you choose.

 

[jwfla422]

We stayed at both locations during one of our trips (just prior to DL becoming POR). I must say there were pluses and minuses to both.

I thought the rooms at the Hotel Royal Plaza were nicer than the POR rooms. This resort is more in the "deluxe" category. And, they were just finishing remodeling. We were able to walk to DTD which was convenient but had to take the DTD buses everywhere else or just drive. (we stayed here first because there was no availability the first night we were at WDW at POR). We also enjoyed the breakfast at the resort's restaurant.

POR's rooms are more on the "motel" type scale and being that this was the one and only time we've stayed at a moderate I must admit if you are used to the deluxe atmosphere a moderate is not for you. We had a nice room on the corner that was very wooded but I missed all the deluxe amenities. The pool was very crowded as was the restaurant (Boatrights). The food court was a great convenience. We never got to use the boat to DTD because there was always such a long wait.

As far as magic is concerned...as many posters mentioned, the magic is what you make it.