Please advise the best Moderate Hotel at Disney

n0007917

Earning My Ears
Joined
Apr 4, 2007
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I am meeting with my TA next week to finalize our trip to DW. Can you please offer some advise on which moderatly priced hotel is the best? There will be 2 adults and my 10 year old son. How about central location to the parks? Transportation? The pools? etc. This is our 1st trip so I really have no idea which one to choose!!! HELP!!!
 
You should go to www.allearsnet.com and click on accomodations and look at the pictures of the moderate hotels. They are all located about the same from the parks on the whole.

If you want me to tell you which one to stay at, choose Port Orleans Riverside.
 
The "best" one is the one with the theme you prefer.

That said, I like CBR and CSR best.
 
I recently wrote a review of our ten day June, 2007 stay and posted it here on the boards. It may answer other questions that you don't have posted. I also posted pictures but I can't find the thread right now. Here goes my review:

We have stayed at the CBR two years in a row and have enjoyed both stays. The minute we drove onto the CBR grounds we fell in love. The tropical theming is carried out throughout the resort. The buildings are all painted bright colors. The grounds were well maintained with fruit trees and lush foliage everywhere.

You will need to check in at the Custom House. Unless you have major problems during your stay (which we never did during either of our 10 day stays), you will probably not go back to the Custom House until you are ready to check out. That being said, it is not necessary to request a room near the Custom House.

The Concierge Desk is where you will pick up your dinner show tickets. They can also provide you with a printout of all your ADRs.

Bell Services is located at the Custom House too. If you arrive via Magical Express, you can request that Bell Services take you to your assigned building. You can also use Bell Services at check out to help get your luggage (and yourself) to the Custom House.

The CBR is a large resort but this means that the guests are distributed evenly throughout the resort and you won't feel crowded.

During our June, 2006 stay, we were assigned to Jamaica Building 41. Our upstairs room faced a beautiful lush courtyard. The walk to any destination was not long at all. I especially liked crossing over the bridge and through the island to reach the main pool and food court. Tropical music is piped in for your enjoyment.

During our June, 2007 stay, we were upgraded to a room in Martinique. In my honest opinion, the walk from our preferred location seemed just as far as the walk from Jamaica. I really don't think I would have paid the extra money to stay in Martinique. That's not to say that we didn't like it because we certainly did. Our room faced a very pretty courtyard with bright umbrella tables.

The rooms at the CBR are 340 square feet whereas the rooms at the value resorts are much smaller. Believe me, when you start getting all your people and all their luggage into the room, you'll be glad you have the extra space. We are a family of four (ages 41,41,20 and 10) and we have plenty of room at the CBR.

The beds at the CBR are raised off the floor providing you with a great space to store your empty luggage. There is a nightstand, a table with two chairs, a large mirror, an armoire with television and lots of drawers, a refrigerator, a bench with large storage drawer and a peg type shelf in the bedroom area.

A privacy curtain can be pulled to separate the sink/closet area from the bedroom area. This comes in real handy when you've got several in your party.

There are two sinks in the sink/closet area. They are enclosed is a wooden vanity with storage area beneath. The closet has a long closet rod and our room had about a dozen wooden hangers already there. I brought along two dozen more and we still had plenty of room to hang all of our shirts.

A small safe is located in the closet wall. It's pretty slim and you can't store much more than a camera, a wallet, etc.

A hairdryer, iron, ironing board, refrigerator and coffeemaker are standard in the CBR rooms.

The bathroom was the typical hotel/motel bathroom size but our's was extremely clean. There were no loose tiles, mold or mildew. I checked!

Mousekeeping was great. During both stays, we received five towel animals. Our trash was taken out and our floor was vacuumed daily. We had four people in our party and we were given six large towels every day. They also replinished our coffee supply each morning. I tipped our mousekeeper each day.

I was really surprised at how quiet the rooms are at the CBR. We hardly ever heard our neighbors. If they were walking by, we would hear them if they were talking loudly. Most times, it was just quiet.

Each village has their own quiet pool and neither the Jamaica nor the Martinique quiet pools were busy at any time of the day. Some times, we had the pool all to ourselves. Laundries are located near each village quiet pool. You can swim and do laundry at the same time!

The white sandy beaches in each village are swept clean each night. It was so nice to just sit in a beach chair or laze around in the hammocks.

The walk around the promenade is very pretty. You can get a real feel of the resort by taking this 1.4 mile walk. At one point, you will walk on wooden walkways through a wooded area. The flowering trees and bushes are everywhere. Plenty of picture taking opportunities along the way.

The main pool was pretty crowded during both of our stays but we expected that since the temps were in the high 80's/low 90's. The hot tub and hair wrap station are near the pool. Order a tropical drink at the pool bar and sip it at any of the numerous umbrella tables.

At the marina, you can rent pontoon boats, sailboats, canoes, watermice, bicycles or surrey bikes. Fishing excursions are now at the CBR too.

Each village also has their own bus stop. The bus stops are covered (I hear they are not at the value resorts). We never waited long for a bus. As a matter of fact, at times, there were two and three buses at the bus stop at the same time. Because the CBR is so centrally located, it never took us long to get to any Disney destination.

I was pleasantly surprised by the food court/store/arcade area. The store is divided in two with one side selling Pirates of the Caribbean, Caribbean Beach Resort and tropical merchandise. They even sell coconut postcards that you can mail home to friends and family. The other side of the store sells the more traditional Disney merchandise such as snowglobes, t-shirts, purses, watches, hats, scrapbooking items, etc.

The arcade is not super large but it had plenty room to keep up with the June crowds. You purchase a refillable playing card that you just swipe at each game. No keeping up with tokens or change.

We really enjoyed the food selection that the food court had to offer. You go to each of the food stations, order and get your food and then go to a central cashier. Simple to do.

The grab-n-go section serves fresh made sandwiches, salads, yogurt, fresh fruit, pies, cakes, veggies and dip, along with lots of other fresh items. At the pizza station, you will find pizza, pastas and salads. Burgers and chicken strips are served at another station. The kids chicken strip meal is served in a plastic sand pail with shovel. Yet another station has rotissiere chicken, roasted turkey, vegetables and hot sandwiches.

At breakfast, an assortment of breakfast meats, Mickey waffles, fresh fruit, pancakes, eggs, hashbrowns and omelets are served.

Shutters is a full service restaurant and the food was good. Even our picky 10 year old son found something he liked on the menu.

The food court seating area is large and we never had a problem finding a table. The self serve drink area has several drink stations. On the condiments bar, there was hot tea bags, honey, assorted jellies, parmesean cheese, hot pepper sauce, etc. There are also a couple of microwaves and toasters.

If you want to take your items to go, just tell the CMs who are plating your meals. They will provide you with tops for the dishes. At the register, ask the CM for a bag. They give you large brown bags with handles making it easy to carry your items out.

Hope this helps, Lisa
 

'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:

portorleansriv.gif

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 any elevators.
The buildings at CBR are 2 stories tall.

CSR does have Elevators.

POR
The AB sextion at POR does not have elevators.
Those buildins are 2 stories tall.
The Mansion buildings at POR do have elevators.

POFQ has elevators.
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Have fun at Disney wherever you choose to stay!:wizard:
 
I agree, do your homework and make a decision on what you like best. They are all great. Its just preference my friend:thumbsup2
 
My vote goes to POR as the best.
 
My vote is for POFQ

It is small in size, small but good food court, boat to DTD, nice pool. Read the FAQ on POFQ.
 
My choice would be Port Orleans Riverside. We used to always stay there. My only suggestion is to request a room close to the main lobby... other wise you'll do a lot of extra walking. But if you don't mind that... the wooded areas are so beautiful with lots of wild life.

Just thinking about it makes me home sick.

Have fun!
 
Personally we love POR. The setting is so beautiful and the boat you can take to Downtown Disney is relaxing and fun. Honestly though, I do not think you can go wrong staying anywhere on site. The theming and the service has always per above par.

Happy planning!

Ann Marie :hippie:
 
When we stayed there, we enjoyed Port Orleans French Quarter. The resort is quiet, fairly small, and the boat to DTD is always fun.

:surfweb:
 
We like CBR. CBR rooms are a little larger than the other mods. All of the mods are very nice I'm sure. You can check out my pictures of CBR below. I know other posters have pictures of different resorts too.
 
CSR is far and away our favorite. It's also the newest and IMO has the best pool and theming. I love hanging out around the central lake and swinging in the hammocks over the white sand. I have stayed at POR and POFQ and do not care for either of them; however, I am partial to Mexican/ Southwestern American architecture and theming and less attracted to that of POR/ POFQ.

My second choice would be CBR. The theming there is fun and they also have a beachy feel. Good luck with your decision!
 
I have stayed at both POFQ and CSR. I would have to say that POFQ was the better of the 2. The bus service at CSR was not very good but never had any problem at POFQ. The lines we saw for POR were always huge, but we never had a long wait for POFQ.
We have 5 now so the only moderate we could stay at is POR so we decided to upgrade to Deluxe because I get very cranky if the bus service is bad, better to just avoid it.
You'll have fun whereever you choose.
 
We've stayed at POFQ, CBR and CSR. POFQ was the smallest, so everything is close. Both CBR and CSR are much larger, but CSR has a cooler pool. The food court at CSR has more choices than CBR, but CBR has some good offerings, too. We haven't stayed at POR, but we have eaten there at Boatwrights and walked over from POFQ.

If you like the Southwest theming, go for Coronado Springs. We liked the Casitas (had a better quiet pool).
If you like Caribbean theming, go for Caribbean Beach.
If you like New Orleans theming (a clean, New Orleans, that is), go for Port Orleans French Quarter.
If you would like the old South theming, either plantation mansions or the country swamps, go for Port Orleans Riverside.

You really can't go wrong with any of these resorts.
 
I vote for CSR. I love the Casitas section with the topiaries and fountains. The quiet pool is also close and the big pool (Dig Site) isn't terribly far away (IMO). The food court is also awesome. I believe they have the best pool, hands down, of the mods.

I do love the beachy feel of the CBR, but it's almost too lively for me at times. The CSR often takes a hit because it's also a convention site, but I like the toned down (some think it's not Disney enough) vibe after a long day at the parks.

You really can't lose with the mods, just go with what you feel is the most important attribute, ie transportation, pool, theming. You won't be disappointed!
 
Another vote for POFQ for its quaint feel and manageable size. We also like to take the boat to DTD. But as previously posted, it is truly a metter of personal choice. AllEars is a great resource for facts and pictures. :)
 
I am meeting with my TA next week to finalize our trip to DW. Can you please offer some advise on which moderatly priced hotel is the best? There will be 2 adults and my 10 year old son. How about central location to the parks? Transportation? The pools? etc. This is our 1st trip so I really have no idea which one to choose!!! HELP!!!

I vote for POR in Parterre Place. We went last week and had room 9538 and it was only a 4 minute walk to the bus and restaurants and a 1 minute walk to a quiet pool probably 5 minutes to the main pool. Mind you it could be less we had some slow walkers in our group.

The bus was great for us and very easy to get to.
 


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