How To Decide Which WDW Moderate Resort To Book

[JJZMgailey]

While I've been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to stay at every one of the Deluxe Resorts at WDW, I have only stayed at two of the Moderates, (POR and CS) so this week's episode of the Dreams Unlimited Travel podcast was a great one for me as it's all about booking Moderate Resorts!

Hope you enjoy it!

 

[KingLlama]

While I've been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to stay at every one of the Deluxe Resorts at WDW,

That is one top-level humblebrag there, Jackie. Well done.

 

[KingLlama]

"Hey DIS'ers, my Ferrari is in the shop for some new tires, and the only cars that Enterprise has available are compact. Which compact car would you guys recommend while I wait to get my Ferrari back?"

You know I love you, Jackie. I'm just pickin'.

 

[rteetz]

Can't wait to watch. I've only stayed at POFQ and POR but I do love them. Moderates are the best of both worlds great theming and a little bit more space but not as much as a deluxe.

 

[JJZMgailey]

"Hey DIS'ers, my Ferrari is in the shop for some new tires, and the only cars that Enterprise has available are compact. Which compact car would you guys recommend while I wait to get my Ferrari back?"

You know I love you, Jackie. I'm just pickin'.

 

[SorcererHeidi]

Can't wait to watch. I've only stayed at POFQ and POR but I do love them. Moderates are the best of both worlds great theming and a little bit more space but not as much as a deluxe.

Well put, and I totally agree! One of my fave places to stay on property - regardless of price point - is POFQ!

 

[Accident]

I emailed this to john but I noticed something missing from the 2 episodes so far...

Tables in wonderland (and possibly AP discount) is accepted in any resort that does not have table service. that'll give you 20% off food (10% for AP) if your deciding between 2 resorts and want to save some money. This means all the values, french quarter and saratoga springs take it. (again not sure on AP, only tried TiW). There is no gratuity added at a quick service if you use TiW so it's a full 20% off. It made a huge difference on food costs, especially breakfast my last stay at POFQ. When we switched to POR I was mad that I had to pay full price again

I think a good rule of thumb, if you have anything that might offer you a discount just keep asking what they take anytime your about to spend money, you might get surprised and qualify. also remember some food places are not disney owned or operated even if they are in the parks (and especially springs), many have their own rewards or discount programs.. (starbucks, joffrey, landry are good examples)

 

[Dnot]

Done with this podcast. You people don't even have correct current information on the resorts! Pepper Market hasn't been run that way in close to a year (if not more). You are TRAVEL AGENTS specializing in Disney you need to keep up with current information! This is your Travel Agent Podcast, you are talking about DISNEY RESORTS, Kevin shouldn't be apologizing if the information is incorrect. Of course things change all the time at Disney you aren't going to be 100% on top of it but when you are doing a Podcast about a certain topic you NEED to know what you are talking about. Period. Take 10 minutes before you record these and look over current info about the resorts. You have your own forums to look at with current information, use them!

 

[rteetz]

Done with this podcast. You people don't even have correct current information on the resorts! Pepper Market hasn't been run that way in close to a year (if not more). You are TRAVEL AGENTS specializing in Disney you need to keep up with current information! This is your Travel Agent Podcast, you are talking about DISNEY RESORTS, Kevin shouldn't be apologizing if the information is incorrect. Of course things change all the time at Disney you aren't going to be 100% on top of it but when you are doing a Podcast about a certain topic you NEED to know what you are talking about. Period. Take 10 minutes before you record these and look over current info about the resorts. You have your own forums to look at with current information, use them!

These guys have very busy lives. They were looking at notes during the show which I'm sure they got from either their own site or the Disney site. They also went off past experience. I've never been to the pepper market so I can't speak for that myself but they did look up info about the new things since they haven't been in a while.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

Tracey is an absolute asset in terms of giving advice on these really good stuff

 

[mcd2745]

Done with this podcast. You people don't even have correct current information on the resorts! Pepper Market hasn't been run that way in close to a year (if not more). You are TRAVEL AGENTS specializing in Disney you need to keep up with current information! This is your Travel Agent Podcast, you are talking about DISNEY RESORTS, Kevin shouldn't be apologizing if the information is incorrect. Of course things change all the time at Disney you aren't going to be 100% on top of it but when you are doing a Podcast about a certain topic you NEED to know what you are talking about. Period. Take 10 minutes before you record these and look over current info about the resorts. You have your own forums to look at with current information, use them!

I'm not "done with this podcast", however, I think this is a pretty fair criticism. During the discussion about CBR - admittedly, a favorite of ours and where we've stayed multiple times, so have a lot of knowledge about it - they said something along the lines "the pool was refurbished very recently, I believe". I guess you could argue what constitutes "recently", but the pool was re-done back in 2008. Also, they mentioned that there are elevators at all the moderates - there aren't any at CBR. The buildings are only 2 floors each, but if you have an ECV, strollers, etc., you'll very much want to be on the 1st floor since there are no elevators. There was some other information about the resort that I thought could have been included, but wasn't mentioned. Details like these could be researched in a very short amount of time before doing the show.

 

[Accident]

I have to agree that the charm of general discussions on the unplugged shows where the team is learning about things from each other does not translate into this travel experts professional company show. It was a very specific topic and they are experts. It is some good criticism to iterate how this webcast is handled because it is a reflection of dreams and they are the experts and the reason you should use them...

It wasn't horrible, just a learning experience for the future and some good feedback on how it came across.. I really enjoyed the show myself and it's not going to stop me from listening.

I also understand @rteetz comment but this this wasn't the unplugged people enjoying and talking about disney show.

 

[rteetz]

I'm not "done with this podcast", however, I think this is a pretty fair criticism. During the discussion about CBR - admittedly, a favorite of ours and where we've stayed multiple times, so have a lot of knowledge about it - they said something along the lines "the pool was refurbished very recently, I believe". I guess you could argue what constitutes "recently", but the pool was re-done back in 2008. Also, they mentioned that there are elevators at all the moderates - there aren't any at CBR. The buildings are only 2 floors each, but if you have an ECV, strollers, etc., you'll very much want to be on the 1st floor since there are no elevators. There was some other information about the resort that I thought could have been included, but wasn't mentioned. Details like these could be researched in a very short amount of time before doing the show.

That's a good point on the elevators I don't believe most buildings at POR have elevators either.

 

[SorcererHeidi]

That's a good point on the elevators I don't believe most buildings at POR have elevators either.

I know POFQ does, in all buildings. I believe only the Magnolia Bend section (mansion) of Riverside does, not Alligator Bayou (which is the section I stayed in a long time ago).

 

[isabellea]

I was really disappointed in this podcast. I was looking forward to it since we will probably stay at a moderate again in March 2017 after trying CSR last summer. I was also wondering if I should ask my TA, Tracey, to take care of my reservation and if there was any advantage doing so. Well after listening to this podcast any advantage of booking with Dreams won't be sufficient to compensate for the lack of knowledge they have on moderates! Therefore, I will continue using her if we go back on a DCL cruise but will continue taking care of all my WDW reservations!

To me the worst misinformation that was given was on CSR. Pepper Market has been a regular food court for over a year if not more! They also forgot to mention that the pool bar also serves food (Siesta Cantina) which is a great thing when having a pool day. I understand they don't like convention people but conventions can also be beneficial for park goers like us. If the resort is booked with many business-type guests that stay all day in meetings, that means the main pool (which is great btw) and the buses to the parks are not as busy!

 

[WebmasterJohn]

My apologies for any misinformation about the Pepper Market. If this causes you to not watch our podcast anymore I am sorry.

As far as any information we neglected to include in this show please keep in mind these shows are meant to be resort category overviews. We didn't expect to get all the details in this time around. For the Deluxe Resort show we focused on the benefits of staying deluxe over going through each resort one-by-one. For the moderates (and next week the value resorts) we tried a different approach.

I thought we mentioned Siesta Cantina in the list of places for food and CSR - we just didn't go into detail.

There are many future shows planned where we are going to discuss many topics in detail - for these 'early' shows we are choosing to focus on broader topics.

Again, sorry for the misinformation on Pepper Market.

 

[DSNYDREAMER]

Thank you everyone for your feedback, it is always appreciated. If I may offer some context, not as an excuse for anything, but just an explanation. In doing a show topic like "Moderate Resorts", the hard part is preparing. Deciding what to focus on, what information to include as well as how much information. For these particular shows, our main focus was explaining the differences between the categories, also what is unique about each resort and information on room types/locations etc. Inevitably we are not going to include everything about each resort and honestly time wouldn't allow us to do so. The intent was not to go into detail regarding the dining options at each, but our conversation at times went in that direction. We didn't have the facts of each dining location at our finger tips and were relying on personal experience. When I am working in my office as a TA I have many tools at my disposal in addition to my personal experience and knowledge. Tools that allow me to assist my clients with specific questions and details regarding their reservation, resort, etc. Tools that help me when my memory needs a boost.

When recording a show, it is not scripted, the conversation sometimes goes in a different direction. We are then left to rely on personal experience and knowledge....sometimes we may make a mistake. At the time I mentioned elevators, I knew they weren't in all resorts/buildings but off the top of my head couldn’t remember which ones. I think I may have said they were in the majority, but in any event, I should have said Caribbean Beach doesn't have any.

Perhaps in the future John will decide to do dedicated resort shows (a show on just Caribbean Beach for example). For now, we will continue to strive to be accurate and informative… not just sharing facts, but personal experience and opinion.

 

[superme80]

I just want to say I enjoyed the show. I have never been to Disney World, but Port Orleans Riverside is the resort I would love. The episode made me wish for a specific episode on each resort.

 

[Tonyz]

Guys calm down. Yeah, they were wrong about the Pepper Market... that doesn't mean the rest of the stuff they were saying wasn't worth listening to.

 

[Princess Jes]

Something is going on with the boards lately, it feels more critical than usual.

In any case, I'm liking these shows and would love it if you went into detail on each resort in a separate show each.

Also, I have to admit, I did get more current info from the boards regarding a UOR question than I did when I asked my dreams agent directly. That stuff happens, and the only reason I even asked my agent was because if seen conflicting information here to begin with.
Stuff happens, things change, that's life. And for any incorrect or dated piece of info I may get from a TA, I'll get 10 correct pieces of info.