POP or POR?

[Sharka8]

We are currently booked for 7 days at POR with free dining, upgraded from Quick Service to the Disney Dining Plan. Have a garden view room. Because I can't leave well enough alone, I saw that POP has become available for most of our trip with free dining. So we can stay 6 days at POP with the Deluxe Dining plan for $350 cheaper. It wouldn't change our number of days in the park. We normally spend open to close in the parks so a value would make no difference to us, but this will be our first time taking our son who will be 3.5 when we go. While he usually doesn't nap, I'm betting he will at Disney. Any insight or personal experiences will be appreciated!

 

[bnhonest]

I've stayed at both, most recently at PORS. I will say this...if you've never stayed at PORS and you stay there, you will want to spend time there. It's so nice and it's so quiet and relaxing just to walk around the grounds. If you don't spend time at the resort, you're going to be kicking yourself.

So if you are hell bent on Parks, Parks, Parks and don't plan to spend any time at the resort, stay at Pop. The atmosphere there will get your heart pumping and have you ready to go conquer the parks.

But if you want to slow it down a notch and take some time to take it all in, do yourself a favor and stay at PORS.

A 3.5 year old will really like the atmosphere at POP. The adults will really like PORS.

 

[goofyintoronto]

We are currently booked for 7 days at POR with free dining, upgraded from Quick Service to the Disney Dining Plan. Have a garden view room. Because I can't leave well enough alone, I saw that POP has become available for most of our trip with free dining. So we can stay 6 days at POP with the Deluxe Dining plan for $350 cheaper. It wouldn't change our number of days in the park. We normally spend open to close in the parks so a value would make no difference to us, but this will be our first time taking our son who will be 3.5 when we go. While he usually doesn't nap, I'm betting he will at Disney. Any insight or personal experiences will be appreciated!

Honestly with a 3.5 yr old, I wouldnt do the deluxe DP. Its way too much time you'll be spending in restaurants, and its A LOT of food. If you went with the standard DP at Pop, i'd say go for pop. Your kid will love it! Two double beds with a toddler will definitely work...so pop would be fine. But with the options you've provided i'd definitely just stay with POR to be honest. Not only do you get 2 queen beds, but the resort is gorgeous too. Since you will most likely be taking midday breaks, POR is a perfect resort. You wont regret it. And in your case, the DP is perfect...you really dont want any more than the standard DP with a toddler in tow.

 

[MisterBubbles]

I've stayed at both, most recently at PORS. I will say this...if you've never stayed at PORS and you stay there, you will want to spend time there. It's so nice and it's so quiet and relaxing just to walk around the grounds. If you don't spend time at the resort, you're going to be kicking yourself.

So if you are hell bent on Parks, Parks, Parks and don't plan to spend any time at the resort, stay at Pop. The atmosphere there will get your heart pumping and have you ready to go conquer the parks.

But if you want to slow it down a notch and take some time to take it all in, do yourself a favor and stay at PORS.

A 3.5 year old will really like the atmosphere at POP. The adults will really like PORS.

I agree with bnhonest. Good summary. We have stayed at both places a number of times. POR is the way to go if you want to slow it down and relax a bit. POP is great for kids. Fun place. Smaller rooms. Works just fine though. At POR you have the boats that can transport you to Disney Springs which is always enjoyable.

 

[BigredNole]

If you are always on the go and have a 3.5 yo, then no reason to spend more. If you like to spend a huge portion of your vacation waiting for buses, watching 3-4 buses for others resorts come and go, and continue waiting for your resort bus, then PORS is the best option. Bus Camping is an actual sport at POR. People compete to see who is waiting the longest. PORS is the reason we drive now.

 

[MisterBubbles]

If you are always on the go and have a 3.5 yo, then no reason to spend more. If you like to spend a huge portion of your vacation waiting for buses, watching 3-4 buses for others resorts come and go, and continue waiting for your resort bus, then PORS is the best option. Bus Camping is an actual sport at POR. People compete to see who is waiting the longest. PORS is the reason we drive now.

This is true, although we have started to discover that this is true throughout much of WDW. We have had this issue at AKL, POP, CSR, as well as parks. We drive now the vast majority of the time. At first we thought it was a fluke, but after several years, we have realized that driving ourselves to parks simply saves time.

 

[BigredNole]

Our first 4 RTs at POR amounted to 14 hours by Day 3. We used POFQ buses after Day 3. They were FAR more frequent and consumed hours a day less time. We have only driven since. We will test the waters again at OKW. If it is bad after Day 1, I am renting a car.

To get an idea of how bad it was at POR on the last straw, we were number 5 and 6 in line at MK (about 1PM). At 1:45ish, the line was about 125 deep and a 3rd POFQ bus came and left with less than 10 people on it. I told the dad behind me if another POFQ bus shows up, I am getting on it. About 1:55 another POFQ bus came with no one in line. My DD and I went, hopped on, went to POFQ. We walked to our POR room, changed, got a snack, I poured a big cocktail, got our swimsuits on. We walked to the lobby and there was the dad I was talking to just getting off the bus at 2:45. He said 2 more POFQ buses came by and left with few people on it. It was a little over 2 hours to get back to the resort from MK and this was at about 1PM at the front of the bus line. I was compensated for my lost time by WDW. The manager at the desk told me to contact them if I had to take the POFQ bus the rest of the trip and they would send a cart to pick us up. That is what we did.