POR royal room or split stay WL and Dolphin? HELP

[My2CrazyGirls]

I have my heart set on POFQ for 9 nights with free dining. However, FD might not be available for POFQ. So I am working on a plan B. Here are 2 possible options if FD is available for these.

1. POR Royal Room with pool or river view 9 nights, 8 day tix, and free dining = about 4,000

2. WL woods view room for 4 nights and 8 day tix w/free dining = 2930 and then stay at Dolphin on points for 5 nights which would cost 160 for resort fees and parking and then about 600 for food for 5 nights for a total = 3690

So the price is not that much different. Switching resorts would be an inconvenience which would wipe out any saving IMO. So what sounds better, POR w free dining the whole time or WL and Dolphin w/ free dining for 4 nights?

Any FYI- we have stayed at WL 2 times and BC 1 time. I am scared of the hugeness of POR but it looks lovely in pics.

 

[Babsy]

WL and the Dolphin split stay!! The convenience of these 2 resorts to 3 theme parks can't be beat! These are 2 of my fav resrts and absolute favourite areas to stay in. There is very little hasswle to moving, IMHO. POR is beautiful, but it is a moderate, not a deluxe like you will have in WL and the Dolphin.

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

WL and the Dolphin split stay!! The convenience of these 2 resorts to 3 theme parks can't be beat! These are 2 of my fav resrts and absolute favourite areas to stay in. There is very little hasswle to moving, IMHO. POR is beautiful, but it is a moderate, not a deluxe like you will have in WL and the Dolphin.

Thanks! With 2 kids I think it will be a huge hassle to switch and I am not going to want to leave WL! But ugh, I am not too excited about POR....

 

[DreamerWDW]

I'm not a big fan of split stays (esp if you have 2 younger children). I find them to be somewhat of a hassle. I still will do them occasionally for various reasons, but my children are teens.

I love the WL, but if it involves a split stay for you I'd say choose another option to stay within budget. Have you thought about staying at the Dolphin the entire stay? Staying at the Dolphin would give you the better location over POR and a deluxe resort.

However, if you really want the free dining, then I'd choose POR to avoid the split stay in your situation.

 

[terri33inne]

I stayed at POR Riverside last September in a royal themed room, and LOVED it. The only thing I did not like was the walking. We were facing a parking lot so if we had been driving the location would have been fine. My daughter (5) loved the themed room (especially the fireworks in the headboard).

I would stay there again without hesitation... I would be sure to get a riverview (if using Disney transport), and request a close room. I found the feel of it to be very relaxing after a day at the parks. The main pool was great, but my daughter & I actually preferred the standard rectangle pool near our room.

I will say too I have no experience with WL (staying there this Sept), or Dolphin/Swan.

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

I'm not a big fan of split stays (esp if you have 2 younger children). I find them to be somewhat of a hassle. I still will do them occasionally for various reasons, but my children are teens.

I love the WL, but if it involves a split stay for you I'd say choose another option to stay within budget. Have you thought about staying at the Dolphin the entire stay? Staying at the Dolphin would give you the better location over POR and a deluxe resort.

However, if you really want the free dining, then I'd choose POR to avoid the split stay in your situation.

Thanks for the suggestion. I don't have enough points for 9 nights at the Dolphin/Swan. If I do 5 nights on points and 4 paying out of pocket we might have to switch rooms and that would be very inconvenient to stay at the same place and have to switch rooms. Plus I really don't want to stay there that long.

I just don't know what to do. WL/Swan or Dolphin split stay sounds great for proximity to the parks. But I rather stay in 1 place. We cannot afford WL the whole time. Would POR RR pool view make the walk shorter? We will want to eat at the food court, go to pool if weather is good, but also go to the car, and go to the dock for DTD. It looks like a lot of walking. UGH!

 

[DreamerWDW]

Thanks for the suggestion. I don't have enough points for 9 nights at the Dolphin/Swan. If I do 5 nights on points and 4 paying out of pocket we might have to switch rooms and that would be very inconvenient to stay at the same place and have to switch rooms. Plus I really don't want to stay there that long.


I just don't know what to do. WL/Swan or Dolphin split stay sounds great for proximity to the parks. But I rather stay in 1 place. We cannot afford WL the whole time. Would POR RR pool view make the walk shorter? We will want to eat at the food court, go to pool if weather is good, but also go to the car, and go to the dock for DTD. It looks like a lot of walking. UGH!

I definitely agree switching rooms in the same resort would be annoying and wipe out any benefits of a split stay.

Since you'd rather stay in one place and POR fits your budget, then it seems it's the best choice. Unfortunately, I've never stayed there (although I'd like to someday), but it has an active resort thread that I'm sure has good location info in it.

Best of luck with your decision and have a great trip!!!!

 

[nkereina]

We've stayed at POR twice and love it. We think they have the best food court on property, and love the boat to DTD. It's big, but you don't need to walk the whole resort for any reason - there are bus stops throughout, and pathways/bridges connecting to the main pool and building. Also several quiet pools. The fact that POR is large, to us, made it feel less crowded. We found POFQ to feel crowded for the reason its so small.

That being said, I probably would not spend the extra money on pool view or river view. Moderates have the exterior corridor so you don't have a private place to enjoy the view from. Plus, a lot of the views are obstructed with trees we have found. Whenever we stayed at POR, we kept the shades shut the majority of the time due to people walking by. Also, note that royal rooms are only in Parterre Place and Oak Manor. The buildings are a short walk across the bridge to the main building, but a further walk to the main pool. There is a quiet pool between the two. For us, we'd rather spend the money on a preferred room than a royal room but we also have no kids.

 

[lgjjp]

We have done split stats 2x. After the first we said never again but the following yr we did it again. Never again and we mean it this time!!! We love pors. We have done the rgr and our girls loved it. Now that our youngest is almost 4 we have to do alligator bayou. We love them. I would do po rgr for the whole trip. We had a room that was just down a flight of steps a short walk to the bridge and a short walk to the food court. About 5 -7 min total. It was a great location. We just looked at the nap and requested a bldg that we felt was close.

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

We've stayed at POR twice and love it. We think they have the best food court on property, and love the boat to DTD. It's big, but you don't need to walk the whole resort for any reason - there are bus stops throughout, and pathways/bridges connecting to the main pool and building. Also several quiet pools. The fact that POR is large, to us, made it feel less crowded. We found POFQ to feel crowded for the reason its so small.

That being said, I probably would not spend the extra money on pool view or river view. Moderates have the exterior corridor so you don't have a private place to enjoy the view from. Plus, a lot of the views are obstructed with trees we have found. Whenever we stayed at POR, we kept the shades shut the majority of the time due to people walking by. Also, note that royal rooms are only in Parterre Place and Oak Manor. The buildings are a short walk across the bridge to the main building, but a further walk to the main pool. There is a quiet pool between the two. For us, we'd rather spend the money on a preferred room than a royal room but we also have no kids.

Thanks for the info! Preferred rooms are already sold out for our dates. So to avoid the far AB rooms the only thing we can do it book a Royal Room. And since the far end of Parterre Place looks really far from things the only way to avoid that would be pool view. Am I right?

 

[DCDisney]

I really like POR, WL, and Dolphin but with little kids a split stay just is soooo not worth it. With all the junk they accumulate, snacks, water, etc etc and being without a room for a whole day it's just a total pain. I would totally just do POR and enjoy the easiness and dining. It's a beautiful resort. The food court is great, numerous pools, boat rides to DTD, etc etc etc. For the WL the boat lines from the park back were always long negating the whole sooo close to MK. For the Dolphin the friendship boats are so sllllooooow and lines long that we only ever walked which might be much for little kids. POR is great and I really don't think you'd regret it at all.

 

[bumbershoot]

There's nothing wrong with POR at all, it's lovely. We had just about the furthest RR possible (riverview) and the walk was lovely and pretty and perfectly fine. DH was injured and using a cane, and all he complained about was pain, not the distance. He knew it would have been a perfectly fine time if he hadn't been injured (or if he'd rented a scooter like I begged him to do).


We like split stays (except for our last one which had a gazillion moves based on how our trip ended up falling) and don't see much hassle, and definitely don't think any perceived hassle wipes out financial savings.

But I wouldn't want to leave WL. Well, we've only stayed at a studio, not a normal hotel room, but still, I liked it a lot there and wouldn't want to move.

So I'd do POR.

 

[terri33inne]

We were on the back side (parking lot view) of Parterre Place in a Royal Room, and I found it to be a VERY long walk especially after walking all day at the parks... It does look like the river view or pool view rooms would be closer. With all that I would stay there again but I'd just make sure my room is closer to the main bldg.

 

[stephm0188]

The size of POR can be a little intimidating, but the location of the royal rooms is pretty decent and close enough to everything. We had a river view room, so our room was at the front of the building. It's a beautiful resort.

That said, I LOVE the Swan and Dolphin. The Swan is a little smaller and more intimate than the Dolphin, but they're right next to each other. We didn't have enough points to cover our entire stay, but we didn't have to switch rooms. We were also upgraded to an alcove suite with a view of Epcot (we booked a standard room) and it was lovely. Lots of space for everyone, and the location could not be beat.

 

[MightyDuck001]

I stayed in a royal room at POR in January and really enjoyed it. Our building was a 5 minute walk to the lobby/food court/bus, the pool in front of our building was always empty, and we were a 15 minute walk from beignets--I mean POFQ.

The rooms were really cute and quirky and I think well-located, and to put that in context I stayed there when I did the ultimate in parkhopping, I ran the marathon.

 

[Jeanieblue114]

Love the Royal Rooms. I've stayed there twice. But i wouldn't pay for the view upgrade. I've had a garden view and a water view and ended up put inthe exact same room both times. There is no benefit to view upgrade. The pool is a 30 second walk from the cheaper rooms.

Love wilderness lodge. great location, great theming, great food.
Used to love dolphin. But other than the location, it's really gone to crap.
I've waited 20 min on hold for front desk and eventually walked down. Other times couldn't get anyone to even answer. The service is terrible.
The room was musty smelling..horrible.
If you're there when there's a convention, you will get over run.
it's really a shame. I used to love it. But my last trip there in Dec, was just terrible.
Plus, you get fee'd to death.
We had a Florida resident 129 rate.
After all the taxes and fees was 180. RIDICULOUS! (and that was for self parking)

 

[kmb584]

I'd go for the WL/Dolphin split stay! The park proximity (WL/MK and Dolphin/Epcot and DHS) is enough in and of itself to make the split stay worth it with the added bonus of them both being deluxe properties. You're going to gain more square footage in your rooms, more dining options and more amenities.

POR is a lovely resort but when a split stay at deluxe resorts is less expensive, jump on it! I promise you won't regret the decision (unless your heart is truly set on a POR RR)!

 

[Marthasor]

I have my heart set on POFQ for 9 nights with free dining. However, FD might not be available for POFQ. So I am working on a plan B. Here are 2 possible options if FD is available for these.

1. POR Royal Room with pool or river view 9 nights, 8 day tix, and free dining = about 4,000

2. WL woods view room for 4 nights and 8 day tix w/free dining = 2930 and then stay at Dolphin on points for 5 nights which would cost 160 for resort fees and parking and then about 600 for food for 5 nights for a total = 3690

So the price is not that much different. Switching resorts would be an inconvenience which would wipe out any saving IMO. So what sounds better, POR w free dining the whole time or WL and Dolphin w/ free dining for 4 nights?

Any FYI- we have stayed at WL 2 times and BC 1 time. I am scared of the hugeness of POR but it looks lovely in pics.

It's a tough choice. I'm actually a fan of split stays, even with young children! I like to change it up after about 4 nights. One thing I wanted to bring up that you may have already factored into your expenses - if you stay at Dolphin, you won't get DME back to the airport.

Also, if a free dining offer and room-only discount are both available for your dates, make sure you price out both as sometimes the room-only discount plus tickets and dining can actually come out less than a free dining offer.

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

It's a tough choice. I'm actually a fan of split stays, even with young children! I like to change it up after about 4 nights. One thing I wanted to bring up that you may have already factored into your expenses - if you stay at Dolphin, you won't get DME back to the airport.

Also, if a free dining offer and room-only discount are both available for your dates, make sure you price out both as sometimes the room-only discount plus tickets and dining can actually come out less than a free dining offer.

Thanks, we are driving so no DME. It is Thanksgiving week (part of the week before) so we would get FD (hopefully) for the first part of the trip at WL. There will be no room discounts that week.

 

[pigletto]

I also vote for the split stay in this case. We've never found it a huge deal to move with a car. Just pack with a move in mind. Maybe everyones things for 5 days in one suitcase, and all the things for the second half in another. Everything that has to be used every day (toiletries, shoes etc.) in a separate suitcase. Then you can leave one closed. Just an idea.