Please help me decide which resort :)

[luvmyguyz]

We are planning to go to WDW in November 2012. We will be going Sat-Sat with our family of 5 (2 adults, 3 kids) plus my mom. My cousin and her husband and kids will be going Wed-Sun, so we will overlap 4 days with them. They have already decided to stay at PO in the new royal rooms.

So our choices:
1. 2 rooms at Pop (we stayed at Pop last time and loved it, but I'd also like to try something new. Plus, there's no fridge or microwave, but is this a big deal?)

2. Family Suite at AoA, which looks really cool for my little ones, but I am concerned this will be crowded with 3 adults + 3 kids (we stayed in family suite at ASMu 2 years ago, and it was a little crowded and I think maybe my mom resented having to sleep on the sofa bed ; however, the layout of the AoA room seems a little better, especially with that Inova bed - that looks comfier than a sofa bed, right???)

3. 2 rooms at POFQ or POR (I am leaning more toward POFQ because the theme seems more little-kid friendly than POR) but this is a little outside of our budget - we can manage it, but do we want to??

While it would be convenient to stay at the same resort that my cousin is staying at, we like the value resorts because we feel the theme appeals to our little ones more (our boys will be 4 and 7 when we travel - we also have a 14yo daughter) and the price is definitely better.

I considered a split stay, with 4 days at AoA and 4 days at POFQ, but after researching that, I realized it doesn't quite work out if you want a dining plan. We really like having the dining plan (so much more convenient and easier to stick to our budget) and I priced it our and realized it would be a lot more expensive to make 2 seperate reservations because 2 sets of 4-day tickets costs much more than 1 set of 8-day tickets, but I need to buy tickets for both resorts, or i can't do the dining plan at both. Oy.

The least expensive option is 2 rooms at Pop, and the most "attractive" option (in our opinion) is AoA, but then I wonder if it is worth spending a little more and forgoing the "kid-friendly" decor in order to stay at the same resort as my cousin so we can all be together on our "down time"? It really doesn't seem like either PO resort is as "Disney-fied" as Pop or AoA, but I've only seen them in pictures so really can't make that judgement. I know my kids would LOVE the Nemo Suite at AoA - would they get as big a kick out of POFQ's theme?

Ugh - I have been agonizing over this for three days now - please, please, please help me decide!!

 

[nolanboys]

Hard decisions...I will say that we stayed at POFQ with our kids and we all loved it. The grounds are beautiful and the pool and slide are great. If the value or AoA works better for your budget, I would go with that. You still have some time to book and hopefully there will be a deal like free dining to help you out. My sister is going this March with free dining and it was worth the couple of hundred extra to book a moderate because it included DP and not just QS. Good luck with your decision.

 

[luvmyguyz]

I am definitely hoping for free dining, but am worried about waiting too long to book. I really wanted to be booked no later than a month from now, and I doubt any dining specials for next fall will be announced by then. Anyone have any idea when they usually announce dining specials for fall dates?

Nolanboys - did your little one like the theme at POFQ?

Also, we've never gone in November - what is the temp usually like at that time - should we expect to be able to go swimming (I'm wondering how much "weight" the cool slide at the moderate resort should have in our decision making process.)

 

[Desnik]

First I want to say that Nov is a fantastic time to go! I miss our Nov trips but can't take our kids out of school anymore. The weather is perfect, high 70's and swimming in the middle of the day is perfect!

As far as resort, POFQ is nice and I have visited it a few times but never stayed but I think it's a lovely resort. We have stayed at POR and didn't like it. Anyway, after reading your options I think you should go with AoA. The theming looks great.

 

[minnie mum]

Yes, you should have no worries about swimming in Nov.

Having read all of your posts, and noted your concerns, I think you should probably go with 2 rooms at Pop, and request connecting or adjoining rooms. I think that this will not only be the least expensive option, but will give you more room than the suite at AoA. If you need a fridge, then you have the option of paying extra to get one. Not sure that having a microwave or not is a deal breaker; none of the mods have them and only ASMu and AoA suites have them.

I'm a bit of a pragmatist when it comes to picking a resort: Given that we will always stay onsite, what is the minimum level resort we are comfortable with, what is our budget, THEN which theme do we like for this trip. We don't usually go outside our comfort zone if other friends or family are visiting at the same time. We usually end up all staying at different resorts and arranging times and places to get together. This has always worked out well for us.

Pick the resort that works best for you with whatever discount you can get now. If free dining comes up later you can change your booking at that time.

 

[luvmyguyz]

Thank you for your advice. I'm happy to know that we should be able to go swimming in November because my kids LOVE the water!

My only concern with 2 rooms at POP is that there is no guarantee they will be connecting. While this wouldn't be horrible if my mom definitely comes with us (our daughter could stay with my mom and the boys with us), we will be in bad shape if my mom decides not to go - our kids are far too young to stay in a room alone, and it would be a shame for my husband and I to have to be in seperate rooms the whole vacation. (I always fear the worst case scenario.)