POR-AB or Mansions

[WEDWDW]

Hello fellow Disney fans! This is my first post! I am staying at POR next month for the first time.Has anyone stayed in both AB and the Mansions?If so,which one was your favorite and why?I am trying to decide which one to request.I guess I will just have to take two trips! Thanks so much for your help!

 

[WDWMomof3]

Well, I'm not the poster you are looking for since I haven't stayed at both, only in the Alligator Bayou section, but thought I would tell you my experience. On one of our WDW trips we decided to split our stay between POR and the Beach Club. Since we are a family of 5 our only option at POR was the Alligator Bayou section since they only allow 4 to a room in the Mansion section. I was bit bummed when I made the reservations because for one thing I live in the DEEP South and so I thought why am I going on vacation to stay at a place that sounds like home? LOL. Also, I had read, (mainly from people who hadn't stayed in AB section personally) that from what they saw it was way too "rustic, dark etc. over there". So I didn't have high expectations and thought I would just bear with it until we moved to the Beach Club. How wrong I was!!! We LOVED the Alligator Bayou section and loved POR in general. We stayed in building 14 first floor and it is so close to the food court and just around the corner was our rental car in the parking lot if we needed it, and the bus stop was not a long walk at all. I've read posts that say since this building is close to the food court that it is noisy but that wasn't the case on our trip (early May). We never heard anything. In fact one day we came back from the pool and saw our "neighbor" next door and I didn't think the room was even occupied. She remarked that she didn't know we were next door either and that is saying a lot with our 3 kids with us! We loved the landscaping and the walk to the pool was nice seeing the bunnies, squirrels, and ducks that make their home there. Both dh and I felt VERY relaxed there and believe it or not we were all SAD to leave there. I'm not knocking the Beach Club since it has a lot of advantages to staying there like the short stroll to Epcot, but the atmosphere in general was much more fast paced and busy there and we actually wished we hadn't switched resorts. (BC lovers don't flame me please )

 

[daannzzz]

I have stayed at both. I prefer less frilly and formal feeling places so am a fan of the room decore at AB and at Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom Lodge. Not a huge fan of the Grand Floridian room decore. I have avoided staying at the Mansion section over the years because of the room decore and I am not a fan of ther Mansion architecture though it is very well done. Last year I decided to try it out just to see and I was really impressed. It really felt like you were staying in a southern estate home. I was in Parterre Place with a view of the courtyard, fountain and river. I still like Alligator bayou a lot though because of the mour "rustic" decore and the country feeling of the area. They are extremely different atmospheres from each other but both work very well.

 

[diswedwish]

I've stayed in both, and preferred AB. We stayed in the Mansions for our honeymoon and loved them, but when we arrived this year they only had King rooms available in AB. We were very disappointed at first until we saw our room In the end we were glad we had the chance to try it, and will request AB in the future. We liked the colors of the room better, it was quieter and felt more removed from everything, and we liked the landscaping a little bit more since we were able to see more animals (highlight was a raccoon and a little frog). The Mansions are still very nice however, and the fountains/landscaping there are also very beautiful. Your idea about 2 trips is probably the best way to go about deciding Have a great trip

 

[WEDWDW]

Thanks for the great info!I think I will request AB.The natural setting with all of the animal life sounds wonderful!I think the boat access to DTD is a great extra that the other moderates don't have also.I have also heard that the nightly entertainer is really good too.I can't wait!27 days to go!Thanks again for the replies.