Is it worth it?

[unbroken chain]

Another thing to think about is how your day will play out. Will your 2 year old nap in the stroller or will you go back to the room? If going back to the room, will you rent a car or take the bus? Going back and forth twice on the bus may take a while, and some resorts seem to have reputations for better or worse bus service.

You can look also at a "garden wing" room at the Contemporary, which is I think is the lowest price room on the monorail, or a standard room at the Wilderness Lodge, which has boat service to the Magic Kingdom. In my opinion, the much greater convenience of the monorail (or even boat, but I have not stayed at Wilderness Lodge) could be worth quite a bit with your children's ages. In fact, you can easily walk to the Magic Kingdom from the Contemporary.

If it were me, I'd give up a nice table service dinner every night to stay at the Contemporary instead. Now, that's just me and lots of people might feel differently. But I think it is at least worth considering.

You may be able to get a discount code, or if not, maybe at least a AAA discount on the room.

 

[G8r4evr]

$200 extra for 4 nights or for an extra $50 a night, I would definitely choose a mod over POP.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Another thing to think about is how your day will play out. Will your 2 year old nap in the stroller or will you go back to the room? If going back to the room, will you rent a car or take the bus? Going back and forth twice on the bus may take a while, and some resorts seem to have reputations for better or worse bus service.

You can look also at a "garden wing" room at the Contemporary, which is I think is the lowest price room on the monorail, or a standard room at the Wilderness Lodge, which has boat service to the Magic Kingdom. In my opinion, the much greater convenience of the monorail (or even boat, but I have not stayed at Wilderness Lodge) could be worth quite a bit with your children's ages. In fact, you can easily walk to the Magic Kingdom from the Contemporary.

If it were me, I'd give up a nice table service dinner every night to stay at the Contemporary instead. Now, that's just me and lots of people might feel differently. But I think it is at least worth considering.

You may be able to get a discount code, or if not, maybe at least a AAA discount on the room.

The Contemporary would add about $600 to your total. Just keep your ASMo reservation. We have 4 kids. We have stayed at ASMo a number of times over the last few years. We have always been pleased and the theming is very fun. It's absolutely no problem to take the bus back to the resort for a nap and go back later.

 

[lovesdumbo]

I am a fan of the value resorts. They are really fun and the food courts are better for my picky eater than the moderate food courts (POR didn't have PBJ though you could buy a loaf of bread, peanut butter & jelly in the gift shop and they also didn't have hot dogs). The moderate rooms are only slightly bigger. They have 2 sinks vs 1 in the value resort but the actual bathroom of the value resorts is bigger-easier to bath a small child in.

I would reccomend POFQ if you chose a moderate-you'll appreciate no long walks to the food court/bus stop there with small children.

If you are paying rack rate for 4 nights:
standard All Star room $367
prefered All Star room $421
standard moderate $665
WL standard $1003
CR standard wing $1204

 

[minnie61650]

Just to clarify, there are no boat rides or pool slides at ANY of the value resorts. You would have to stay at one the moderate resorts for these.

Actually anyone staying on propertity can rent the boats and bikes at any other Disney resort .

Disney's value resorts are a total bargain. You get so many perks (Disney themeing, Disney transportation, and EMH)
Any of Disney's resort guests (even those staying at a value or mod) are allowed to shop, dine, use the transportation, rent boats or bikes, or use the spa facilities at any of the Disney Resorts. (Of course pool hopping is not allowed.)

 

[minnie61650]

I have stayed at all levels of Disney Resorts.

I love The All Star Resorts.

I am 56 years old and travel several times a year for pleasure. I often stay at 3and 4 star and sometimes a 5 star hotels/.motels.

So the deluxe and mod resorts are just another hotel/motel to me.
Staying at an All Star is like being in the heart of the Magic and that is where I want to be.



The buses are wonderful.

Bus rides are quite short from the ALL Stars according to PassPorter.com

All Star Buses-CBR buses---POPbuses--PO buses--- Contemporary
MK 20 min---- 20 min-----25 min------10 min---20 min(mono)
Epcot 10 min-- 15 min-----20 min------10 min---15 min
MGM 10 min----12 min-----15 min------15 min---20min
AK 10 min------20min-------15 min----15 min---20 min
DTD 15 min----20 min------20 min-----15 min---35 min

It only takes 10 minutes to get to Epcot, MGM and AK from All Stars.
MK is 20 min away. That's the same amount of time it takes on the monorail from the Contemporary.

A WORD ABOUT BUS SHARING

To me Bus Sharing at the All Stars is really a non issue.

In the mornings during Park opening hours each All Star usually has a dedicated bus.
During mid day it is usually just our stop and maybe one more on the way to the parks. On the way back sometimes it is all 3 but often Sports and Movies share and Music has it's own bus back. Each of the All Stars usually has it's own dedicated bus back from the MK.
That is a big plus. It seems like the Music bus stop usually has the shortest of the three All Star bus lines.

I guess some people who stay at POP see all 3 All Star names on the return sign of our bus stop when they head to the POP bus stop and think All Stars also has 3 stops on the way to the park.
(Even when we stop at another AS resort to load up it has not taken more than 5 minutes and we are on our way!)

The pools at The All Stars are very kid friendly.

When staying at the All Stars you can use any of the All Star pools.That means 3 main pools ,3 quiet pools and 3 kiddie pools to chose from.

The All Star Movie Fantasia pool has Mickey.

The Calypso pool at ASMU has Donald Duck.

And the Surfs up pool at All Star Sports has giant surf boards.

Here are a few pool photos.

All Star Sports pool.

All Star Music Donald pool.

All Star Movies Mickey Pool.

I have visited WDW more than a dozen times with the 1st time in Oct. 1971. It was brand new. I've stayed at FW, Disney Inn, a few the of Hotels on hotel Blvd., CBR and the towers at the Contemporary. I got to see the MK from my balcony at the Contemporary and I'm happy I got to experience it once. I just prefer the All Star Resorts.
The theming is pure Disney.

My last 6 visits have been at The All Stars and during the fall of 2005 when we took dd,dsil, and our grandson age 3(at the time) for 8 nights we stayed at the All Stars Music. I thought about AKL and even though we can well afford AKL I just wanted Alex to experience the Disney Magic at the All Stars on his first visit.
Where else can one find Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse at the pool?

Have fun at Disney!

 

[bigbabyblues]

I would stay at ASMovies in your situation. We stayed there with our boys who were 3 and 15 months old, and they loved it. OK, the little one really didn't care, but he did like the RC Car in the Toy Story section, the Herbie car (are we seeing a trend here, lol?), and the "goggies" (dogs) in the Dalmatians. We were at Movies for 10 days during a hurricare, stuck in the room for 24 hours give or take, and it was fine.

 

[Rylee]

I would stick with All Star Movies, your children will love it!

Watch for discounts, keep checking this site and others, as the last few years, Disney has offered free dining for Sept. You would need to call and have the code applied, if it is available for your resort and dates.

 

[septbaby]

Forget the kids, do YOU want a hot tub? We did/do. Guaranteed fridge? Then go for the Moderate. Another thing to read up on is the noise at All Star Movies. Some report "hearing every door slam". Others don't seem to like the buses at the All Starts. Read the posts and make up your own mind. We didn't have any transportation or noise concerns at CBR and our room faced a parking lot and the bus stop. We were also right around the corner from our "quiet pool"; no noise issues.

Though we loved the look of the beach and hammocks, we never used them. When we were at the resort my fish, I mean nephew, was content with the pool and loved the waterslide. Otherwise we were just coming and going or eating. He even swam after check out and before we boarded our Magical Express. He showered in the pool house right before we left. We didn't use the game room there, though we spent time at the one at Wilderness Lodge when we got caught in the rain storm when we visited the resort. We did buy a few things in the CBR gift shop; nice theming there too.

We enjoyed the food court at CBR; lots of choices and well informed CMs to help us use the Dining plan. I'm sure you'd have good experiences at the All Star food court too.

One thing to confirm: CBR's main pool is undergoing renovation so check to see if will be open again for your stay. There are 8 other pools at the resort and a couple of those have been outfitted with waterslides.

We were content at CBR though we took a deal and are upgrading to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for our September trip. There is a possibility that we may alter our trip and stay at a Mod again and that too would be just fine.

Our stay at CBR was my first on site stay and my nephew's first trip to Disney. My mother has been many times and stayed on site once or twice before. I wouldn't do Disney without staying on site it was absolutely wonderful! So Value or Moderate on site is definitely the way to go.

 

[daisyduck123]

$200 extra for 4 nights or for an extra $50 a night, I would definitely choose a mod over POP.

Yes, definitely!

Caribbean Beach all the way

 

[skipperkim]

After staying at a value I found out I'm not a value kind of girl. I like having a privacy curtain, coffee pot, and fridge in my room. I need a hot tub after all that walking. So for me it's POFQ. I don't need a TS, since I have so many favorites already.

 

[auntie]

Hi everyone!! This is my first trip the WDW with the family. We have already put a payment down for our trip in September. We currently are booked for the Pop Movie Value Report. Because this was our first time I really didnt want to opt to go to the better resorts since we didnt know too much. In giving us the quote for the Pop Movie they also quoted us on the Moderate resorts such as the Carribean Beach. It was a difference of about 200.00 for the 4 nights between the Movie and the Carribean resort. Now I am thinking of maybe upgrading.

Bottom line, is it worth the extra 200.00 to go to the Carribean or even Coronado Springs?



Thanks!!!

Chris

If the money isn't an issue..do it. We love Carribean..it's one of our favorite moderates. Love the theme, the food court, the fact that there is a themed pool, but also private quiet pools for each island area. You have the option of bike rentals, and water craft rentals. Not to mention it is one of the larger of the moderate resort rooms, it was the first moderate built.

 

[minnie61650]

Just an FYI:

The values have elevators.

CBR does not have elevators. We got very tried of carrying the stroller up and down the stairs when we stayed at CBR when our children were little.

---------------------------------------------------------

Mod vs. Mod

'CBR is 340 square feet and the other mods are 314.

They are basically laid out the same but CSR only has 1 sink (the other have 2 sinks.)
CSR does not have a luggage seat.


Here is the layout of POR:

POR room lay out

Room size Comparison:

Pop Century/All Stars-260 Square Feet
CS, POR/POFQ-314 SF
Caribbean Beach-340 SF
Wilderness Lodge-344 SF
AKL-344 SF
Yacht/Beach-381 SF
Boardwalk-385 SF
Polynesian-409 SF
Contemporary-436 SF
Grand Floridian-about 400-440SF
Ft Wilderness Cabins-504 SF
Family suites at All Star Music -520 SF
__________________


POFQ is not as spread out as the other mods or the values.


POR CBR and CSR are very spread out.


The mods have pool slides, a hot tub and a sit down restaurant (POFQ doses not have a sit down restaurant but shares with POR.)

POFQ and POR are concidered sister resorts so they share pools.

When staying at one of these resorts you can use the other resort's pool.
You can also refill your refillable mug at either of the food courts.


Some of the rooms at POR in the AB section have a trundle bed and can sleep 5.

---------------------------------------------------------
Transportation.


CBR has 7 bus stops.
CSR has 4 bus stops.
PO has 5 stops. 1st stop POFQ then 4 stops at POR.
POFQ & POR do have a boat to DTD.

----------------------------------------------------------
Elevators

CBR does not have elevators

CSR has elevators

POFQ has elevators

POR the AB section does not have elevators
POR the Mansions does have elevators

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Have fun at Disney!

 

[auntie]

We always requested a lower level room at the Caribbean Beach. Our requests were always met. I rather enjoy the lower level as opposed to the second level because I found we could walk directly to our room. On the upper leve you did have to use the stairs and then walk past the other rooms to reach your own. Seems trivial..but we liked the lower level better..less foot traffic passing our room. Also the kids were younger then, and we would request a garden view room, which was pretty much in a courtyard, and there was a table and bench in the courtyard, made for nice spot for breakfast, or even the kids enjoyed riding bikes we had rented in the courtyard. Of course this was a long time ago..my little one..is now 6'2" tall and got his learners permit! Can you tell we've been going to Disney for a while now?..His first trip was to the Caribbean when he was 6 weeks old! We usually stay at the WL now..love that resort. However, we still visit the Caribbean Beach, we enjoy the food court there. My daughter also likes to get her hair wrap there.(It's cheaper than at the WL too!)