Need some advise. Please come in and give some

[patman2011]

Here is my situation. Please give advise on what you think we should do. The original plan is that Me my wife and 2 girls ages 8 and 6 are going to the pop century resort between the dates of Aug 5 - 11th. Now we hear about this disney dining plan and we are going nuts. The room and the dining plan are already paid for. We paid rack rate for rooms and dining plan and have not gotten any kind of discounts.
At this time we have decided to change our dates to Sept 15 - 22nd to get in on the free dining plan plus we though it would be nice for our oldest to have her birthday at Disney as well. She will turn 9 on Sept 21st. So now we have an extra 600 bucks coming back to us that we already paid on the dining plan and it got us thinking that maybe we should upgrade the site we stay at. So here is the question. I know it took long enough right?
Should we stay at Pop or another value resort if pop is not available and save the 600 bucks. Go somewhere like Port Orleans French Quarter and get back about 200 bucks or go all the way and stay at Wilderness lodge and pay about 300 dollars more then we have already paid.
Please help with opinions, me and my wife are literally going back and forth about this question every 5 mins. So please tell me why I should pick one over the other. Thanks for any responses you give.

 

[Ishy]

Here is my situation. Please give advise on what you think we should do. The original plan is that Me my wife and 2 girls ages 8 and 6 are going to the pop century resort between the dates of Aug 5 - 11th. Now we hear about this disney dining plan and we are going nuts. The room and the dining plan are already paid for. We paid rack rate for rooms and dining plan and have not gotten any kind of discounts.
At this time we have decided to change our dates to Sept 15 - 22nd to get in on the free dining plan plus we though it would be nice for our oldest to have her birthday at Disney as well. She will turn 9 on Sept 21st. So now we have an extra 600 bucks coming back to us that we already paid on the dining plan and it got us thinking that maybe we should upgrade the site we stay at. So here is the question. I know it took long enough right?
Should we stay at Pop or another value resort if pop is not available and save the 600 bucks. Go somewhere like Port Orleans French Quarter and get back about 200 bucks or go all the way and stay at Wilderness lodge and pay about 300 dollars more then we have already paid.
Please help with opinions, me and my wife are literally going back and forth about this question every 5 mins. So please tell me why I should pick one over the other. Thanks for any responses you give.

Your kids are going to LOVE everything no matter where you stay. I am thinking this is their first trip and POP is fine. (Save the more expensive stays for when they are older). They will LOVE the POP and have a GREAT time. If you do want to upgrade - you should do it for you and your wife. POFQ or Riverside are nicely themed, have slides for the kids at the pool area and HOT TUBS/SPA for you to soak old tired bones in after a long day of walking and keeping up with the kids. Coronado Springs pool area is awesome and has the Jaguar slide - if your kids are 'fish' and pools are important, and slides are a MUST (they are with my children) then CSR is the place to go and again, HOT TUB/SPA for mom and dad.

If this is a ONCE IN A LIFETIME trip (seriously doubt it tho, the disney bug is countagious and feverishly induces relapses yearly) then I would stay at the place of my dreams and make sure I visit the other resorts on property. Trust me, your girls will go back when they can, as soon as they can.

To revisit my first point to make sure its clear.... Stay at POP, save the money, you are going to need it next year when the bug bites again. Once you upgrade it is harder to downgrade and your children will LOVE the trip no matter what.

 

[GeorgiaAristocat]

Well, I think your decision needs to come down to how important the room is to you.

Will you only be sleeping there or will you be relaxing at your resort?

I will tell you from experience with both Mods and a deluxe, that my family actually prefers the moderate because of the foodcourt. This came into play for us b/c we did not like the limited choices we had available for counter service at the deluxe (we were at OKW, but WL has very limited offerings for counter service, too.)

Other than that, what else would you do with the money? You could get some fabulous souvenirs, or, you could extend your stay! Or, you could try to apply it to a future vacation. The possibilities are endless.



(Incidentally, we absolutely LOVE POFQ - good choice!)

 

[disneyvacalover]

If this is your first trip you will not be at your resort much. Save the $$ for a time when you'll be using the resort more.

 

[Microcell]

Since it is your kids first trip and you will be so immersed in how they react to everything (which was a letdown with my DD when she was 4 - she was a laid back kid, still is, thus no reaction), you will want them to see the larger than life things at POP! The All Stars too just seem soaked in Disney. Even my DD was sad at the thought of no being at the values in favor of a moderate when she looked at the pictures of both. That is my money saving little girl! My DD will be nine when we go in Sept for reference on a nine year old's thoughts. Oh geez, my DS turns five in 3 days and here I sit online!!! Gotta get stuff done, what was I thinking????

 

[HM]

I agree with everyone else....stick with PopC or another Value.

Use that money in some other way. I can think of a lot of things we'd use it for just around our house.... I bet you can too.

 

[caresy]

My kids are 9 and 11 and have chosen ASMu over WL and POFQ and POR where we have stayed in the past!

I agree with everyone else who say that if you are just going to be sleeping in your room, don't waste the money on a moderate or deluxe!

 

[beth_cam]

If you are happy with pop or another value I'd just stay with that. We absolutely loved asmo. And my kids both prefer that over contemporary or akl. I definitely wouldnt upgrade to a mod. I'd probably use the extra 600 for a little more splurging elsewhere... Like adding water parks or the princess/pirate party (is that going on then?) or the family magic tour...just some of the extra fun things there are...or put i away for a nest egg for the next trip. Cause you know once you do it one time you will come home planning the next trip. lol

 

[bartleby1]

Any chance of extending your trip? Personally, I'd probably stick with POP and add on extra days if possible, especially since your meals are paid for! Ticket prices don't change much to add on additional days at that point. You could even just use extra days to relax and wonder the resorts. There is so much to do and see that you can never have too many days!

We stayed at POP one year and the kids loved it. The theming is great for kids. The only thing that we (the adults) didn't care too much for was the noise level in the food court. It was VERY loud and echoed.

If you do choose to upgrade, I would only go to a moderate. We like POR. I also agree with the other poster who said that her kids didn't like deluxe because of the lack of food court. We've stayed at Beach Club (last year I won a trip to disney) and the Contemporary (DH's work convention) and missed having the nice food court because we like to be able to grab quick meals sometimes (although we did enjoy the locations of the deluxes and my kids LOVED the pool at the Beach Club).

Good luck in your decision! We're going Aug 12 - Aug 24 (POR). I wish we could take advantage of the free dining too but the kids will be in school.

 

[RachelTori]

I say save your money and stay at POP (or one of the other Values). Put the $600 toward a future trip to WDW and maybe try a Moderate next time!! We have never regretted staying at the Values!


Please make sure you let us know your decision!

 

[CanadianGuy]

Wow.. I'd say go for the more kid-friendly resort which would be Pop.

600$ buys a lot of doo-dads and souvenirs!

Knox

 

[CoolPool]

I'd so be at the Wilderness Lodge. Great pool, restful theming, deluxe amenities (like the clubhouse for kids), balcony, quick boatride to the MK. But I'm the type that burns out on the parks after a few days and needs the relaxed resort environment. Its a vacation after all. The thing is, you have to decide what type of experience you and your wife and kids are going to want based on your preferences, personality, and vacation style.

There are only so many disney tchotchkes I want in my house, got it?

 

[stepdisney]

I agree coolpool. We stayed at Pop last and it was a blast, the boys had their own room (we had connecting rooms) but, we ran our vacation very much like a mission. My son only got to swim once in the pool. Also, what we didn't like was the only choice to eat being the food court. It worked for breakfast but we never ate lunch or dinner there. Again, we loved it but this time we are staying at WL and it was my DS (12) who made the choice. You can bet we will be spending time at the resort this time. I think it all depends on what you plan to do, if you are going to be gone all day at the various parks, save the money and stay at Pop. It was very clean and neat ( I think they paint it every day).

 

[MDMOUSE]

We stay at deluxe resorts unless it is for free dining. I think that it is such a bargain at the value resorts that it is a shame to spend more. Just between us...My kids both become 10 years old during free dining because they do like to eat adult food. No one yell at me for my candor here.
Upgrade the hotel when the hotel discounts are big. Enjoy the bargain of free dining at POP. For us, it's like the hotel room is free and then some.

 

[zaxmom]

My $600 savings is going to the 2nd room at POP. I could care less about a hot tub and full service restaurant at the resort, but it will be so nice to have a little privacy and two bathrooms. That way after the kids go to bed, mom and dad can have a little relaxation, too. I could not imagine all four of us in one room for 7 nights. We do love a water slide, but figured we are doing water parks, too, so there won't be that much time for the hotel pool anyways.

 

[robinb]

Personally, I love Pop Century. We stayed there for our family reunion last August during free dining. I think your kids will love it!


If you're still on the fence, here is a list of advantages/disadvantages that I came up with for each level:

Advantage of Value over Moderates and Deluxes
* Price.
* Food Courts for quick meals.
* Pop Century has its own bus.
* All Stars resorts share busses, but there is usually very little wait on either end.

Disadvantage of Values
* Small rooms.
* Double or King sized beds only.
* Large groups can sometimes be rowdy.
* No pool slide or hot tub.
* external corridors.
* Pizza delivery only.

Advantage of Moderate over Values
* Nicer feature pools with slides and hot tubs.
* Bigger rooms.
* Free refrigerators.
* Sit-down restaurants (all but POFQ).
* Real bars in main area plus pool bar, not just pool bar (except POP).
* Nicer food court, it's not just one big room.
* No giant icons.

Disadvantages of Moderates
* Double or King sized beds only.
* Can be spread out and most need an internal bus system.
* External corridors.
* Pizza delivery only.

Advantage of Deluxe over Moderates and Values
* Bigger rooms yet. Many can sleep 5 people.
* Queen or King sized beds.
* Some have bunk beds or day beds available.
* Large variety of sit-down restaurants.
* Nicer feature pools, many with zero entry.
* Internal corridors.
* All have sliding glass doors and most have balconies or patios.
* Most have special proximity to parks: monorail/boat to MK, walk/boat to
Epcot/MGM.
* Room service.
* Valet parking.

Disadvantage of Deluxes
* Epcot deluxes do not have snack shops for a quick meal, except the Beach Club Marketplace.
* Price.
* Busses are often shared, especially the Epcot resorts. The ride can take a long time.
* Self parking can be difficult, especially at the monorail hotels.

 

[pooch]

We stayed at WL last year for Free Dining. It was a BIG vacation, 10 days, lots of extras like cirque, baseball game in Tampa, RPDE, we really did everything we wanted. This time, I'm the only one who wants to go so I opted for Pop Century. DD finally agreed to go & we only want a clean room to sleep in. This way I don't feel quite so guilty leaving DH & DS home !!!

 

[Pirate at Heart]

Hey,

I would choose Port Orleans Riverside alligator bayou room.

We stayed their on our first Disney trip and it was simply magical, my girls just loved it!!

We never even consider Values because the rooms are tiny and the pools lack a water slide but, then again, my girls swim like fish and to them the resort pool is a main attraction in itself.

We have since stayed Deluxe but we have yet to find one we like better than Port. We are tring Poly next.

Another plus to Port is the water taxi that takes you to DTD. It really is wonderful!

Of all our trips, that first trip to Port remains the most magical of them all!!

Spend the extra $$$ you can't put a price on memories!

Whatever you choose have a great trip!

 

[jmpellet]

Last year during free dining had originally ASMo then switched to POFQ and we're sure were glad we did. The small size of this resort is so nice, especially with kids. Then went in January for the marathon (just husband and I) and stayed at ASMu in the country section. This building is way out in east jabippy and I did not like the resort at all. The food court was mayhem and (flame suit on) people were drinking all over the place until late hours. There were beer bottles everywhere. There were young children in the pool at 4 am when we left for the marathon! It just did not feel family like or resort-ish to me. That said my husband went for the marathon in 2005 and really liked Pop and we will probably stay there this January.

 

[patman2011]

patman and wife(thats me ) would like to thank everyone for your thoughts, this has been a real crazy day going back and forth on this. still havent made the leap yet, and dh will have to deal with the cm in the morn to try to switch i just have to work. so we will have to see.