POR or POFQ ... or CBR?

[tapatia]

Hi - new to the boards and to WDW - planning a first-time trip for DD and me as a (surprise) Golden birthday present (she'll be 7 next month). I absolutely cannot make my mind up about which property to choose. Both sound really nice, and like they each have pros and cons. I had thought originally about going to CBR, but then I read some reviews saying it was really spread out and full of bugs, so I thought maybe that's not so great, started looking closely at PO. Main concern: DD has asthma, allergies (so does mommy!), so very clean, non-smoking rooms - ideally recently refurbished - are a MUST, and those concerns ultimately will probably dictate my choice. I don't want illness to ruin the trip for her! That said, I would appreciate your thoughts and comments.

 

[safetymom]

You will always find folks that didn't like something at a resort. The rooms at CBR were refurbished at the end of 2002.

Many don't find the size of CBR that bad. If you are in Trinidad South it is a walk to the food court but there is an internal bus that runs around the resort.

We love it at CBR. You might want to read the threads listed below about CBR.

 

[Bugsmom73]

I would say CBR or maybe POFQ. You will be guaranteed an NS room for medical reasons (ie Daughter has asthma, my DH has it too.) If her allergies are food related, a lot of the sit down rest. are very good at working with you and preparing things special. I would talk to some one in dining or go to the dining board for that info. I would book soon though.

 

[HopperFan]

Nice smaller hotel with a great pool for her age group. You can also share all the amenities at POR and you have the boat ride to DTD. I believe it was refurbished very recently. Everyone who stays there raves about it.

 

[kendzee94]

We just stayed at POFQ at Christmas (2004) with our 5 and 7 year olds. In 2003 we stayed at POR. POFQ is definitely our favorite. It is smaller in size (easier to walk with the younger kids when they fall asleep on those long bus rides back ), building #4 facing the parking lot is your best bet. You see fireworks from EPCOT and are the closest to the foodcourt and buses.

 

[Laura's Dad]

Another vote for PO-FQ. Everything is in short walking distance, the themeing is wonderful, and the rooms have just been re-furbished. The buses pick-up and drop-off at PO-FQ before the rest of PO-Riverside. We are staying ther in May and it will be our third time there. I just wish that they would re-open a full-service restaurant there.

 

[MICKEEP]

We stayed at POFQ back before the renovations, back before it was called POFQ and just called PO. We absolutely loved it there. The theming at POFQ is great. We found PORS too large and rather sterile with row after row of the same building.

I recall that when we stayed at POFQ we had a room with a short walk from the bus stop, the restaurants/lobby and the parking lot. Perfect placement.

Our last two trips to WDW were spent at WL and BC and we are thinking of staying at AKL this year but the more I recall about our stay at POFQ, the more I think I would like to return there again.

 

[tinkerbell9664]

The largest resort on WDW property is the Caribbean Beach Resort with 2112 rooms. CBR is very spread out if you stay there i'd recommend a room close to the food court& main pool.

48DaYs!!!!

 

[estnh]

We have stayed at all of them--the latest being in April 2004 at POFQ and October 2004 at CBR. The rooms are all comparable, but the difference is in the layout and size of the resorts.

CBR is incredibly spread out--we were in a building that required using the car just to get a cup of coffee from the food court. We found this sprawl so inconvenient that we would never choose CBR again. Yes, there is an internal bus that runs around the resort, but do you really want to catch a bus to fill your soda mug??

POR is also large, but not quite as bad as CBR. If you request your building carefully, it helps. POFQ is the smallest of the three, and our favorite. It is quieter, and you can comfortably walk to any place on the grounds in a matter or minutes.

We are going back in April of this year, and chose POR, just because we haven't been there in a couple of years. However we are being very careful to request our building choice to minimize the distance from the resort center.

 

[tapatia]

POR is also large, but not quite as bad as CBR. If you request your building carefully, it helps. POFQ is the smallest of the three, and our favorite. It is quieter, and you can comfortably walk to any place on the grounds in a matter or minutes.

We are going back in April of this year, and chose POR, just because we haven't been there in a couple of years. However we are being very careful to request our building choice to minimize the distance from the resort center.

If I were to request a buidling, which one(s) would be a good choice in terms of being close to the resort center and convenient to a bus stop?

 

[HopperFan]

Here is a link to the resort map http://www.allearsnet.com/acc/pomap1.jpg

First decide if you want Mansion or Alligator Bayou. We have stayed both and equally nice, just different atmospheres.

We have stayed Mansion side in the two lower right buildings and that is only the over the bridge to the main building, pool and we catch the bus at the main building. But just above those the building has a bus stop right there and a bridge over to the island as well.

On AB side we have stayed in Bldg 16 which we love, easy to our car, pools, main building and main bus stop. Always wanted to try 27 with a view of the water. Any in that cluster is great but we always avoided 14 - too close to food court, pizza guy etc for us.

I do think 24, 25, 34, 35, 36 have a longer jaunt, but everything else is an easy walk. It is a big resort, but they planned it so much better than CBR by making it more of a circle connected by bridges and the island on a riverway instead of elongated around a very large lake http://www.allearsnet.com/acc/cbrmap1.jpg.