Preferred rooms at POR

[KKip102016]

I currently have a preferred room booked for POR. I keep going back and forth wether or not it's worth the extra money that it would cost. Does anyone have any insight on this to help me decide?

 

[ChristineOH]

Why did you book preferred?

I don't mind walking when I want to go to the main building and prefer to use one of the "quieter" bus stops, so I choose to save the money and not book preferred. I also like being in a quieter section of the resort.

 

[Judy-Hopps]

We stayed facing the river and it was a quick walk to the food court. It was a great and I didn't have to pay for it . Im going through the same thing with POFQ and we ended up doing a garden view which is more then standard but less then River (as no preferred there)

 

[dansdad]

I currently have a preferred room booked for POR. I keep going back and forth wether or not it's worth the extra money that it would cost. Does anyone have any insight on this to help me decide?

We have found it's not worth the extra $$ for preferred at any WDW resort. The larger moderates all have multiple bus stops so you're never real far from one.

 

[maxiesmom]

I think it is worth it at POR if you want to be close to the food court and gift shop. POR is one of my favorite resorts, but it is pretty huge. If your goal is to save some steps then definitely book preferred.

 

[raddisneyfan]

Personally, don't mind the walk. When I went, Preferred or Royal was all that was available for my dates, I took Preferred since I wanted the Bayou. If you want to be near the main building with all of the amenities, then go for it. If, like me and others, you don't mind the walk, then not worth the added $.

 

[HopperFan]

Not worth it to me, actually found building 14 to be a negative because it's too close. Lots of guest traffic, louder by food court/kitchens and all the deliveries behind it to the main building. We used to pay extra for lots of locations but usually found they were not worth the extra - sometimes it was a negative.

Now at ASMu, preferred is way to go due to layout of resort, POFQ I prefer Garden view because the standards are mostly on the parking lot. Each resort has it's own plus and minus but at POR, if I'm spending extra it's for a Royal Guest Room.

 

[KKip102016]

Is there a way to guarantee we get an alligator bayou room if we don't do preferred? I think we would much prefer that part of the resort.

 

[KKip102016]

Why did you book preferred?

I don't mind walking when I want to go to the main building and prefer to use one of the "quieter" bus stops, so I choose to save the money and not book preferred. I also like being in a quieter section of the resort.

I originally did it to be close to the main pool and the food court as we tend to eat most breakfasts there. But, now I'm thinking what's a 5-10 minutes walk to those things if it saves me $400 or $500

 

[adisneyaunt]

We only do preferred at POR. The resort is huge, we previously....we were placed in the rear in what felt like another land mass literally. The walk was ages, the buses were already filled up when they got to the stop, the walk to the ok main island was far. No one wanted to walk a mile to go grab a soda refill, or walk the gift shop, or the bar ( dh)
I like bldg 14 best, though 18 is also good.
Staying very close to South Depot ( 1st stop) , restaurant, indoor bar, main pool, great food court is all worth it to us.
When we stay moderate, we enjoy POR preferred.
Totally worth it to me.

 

[dansdad]

Is there a way to guarantee we get an alligator bayou room if we don't do preferred? I think we would much prefer that part of the resort.

The only other way is if you have five guests over the age of 3 in your party.

 

[RangerPooh]

Paying for a preferred room there is not worth the money IMO. If you're in the Royal rooms side of the resort you'll automatically be across the river and thus farther away. Having stayed in both sections, we prefer the AB section and request it. We'll even put in a request for specific buildings, and usually get it.

 

[maxiesmom]

I originally did it to be close to the main pool and the food court as we tend to eat most breakfasts there. But, now I'm thinking what's a 5-10 minutes walk to those things if it saves me $400 or $500

How many times a day would you make the walk? If you are one who wants to head over to the food court a lot, or will hit the shop fairly often, then the preferred room will come in handy. I know when looking at the room rates it is easy enough to talk myself out of booking preferred. But after a long day in the park, if I want to head up for a snack or to refill my mug, I'm very happy to have a preferred room.

I will add too that the one time I took the advice from a bunch of Disboarders and didn't book preferred at a moderate I ended up kicking myself. And spending money on pop from the machine near my room when I had a refillable mug sitting there. You got to know if you will be frustrated being in standard or not. If not, save the money. But at most resorts, I would be annoyed to be in standard.

 

[dansdad]

I originally did it to be close to the main pool and the food court as we tend to eat most breakfasts there. But, now I'm thinking what's a 5-10 minutes walk to those things if it saves me $400 or $500

Exactly. That's our feeling too. We've been at the very back at POR, and other resorts, multiple times and never once thought/felt "wish we would've booked preferred".

 

[JennyDrake]

The ONLY time I find a preferred room is worth it is if you plan to drink lots and lots of mugs of soft drinks. Agree that it also means more traffic and more noise.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

Keep in mind you may be looking at a parking lot. Preferred can be facing the lot.

 

[garthbarth1]

We only do preferred at POR. The resort is huge, we previously....we were placed in the rear in what felt like another land mass literally. The walk was ages, the buses were already filled up when they got to the stop, the walk to the ok main island was far. No one wanted to walk a mile to go grab a soda refill, or walk the gift shop, or the bar ( dh)
I like bldg 14 best, though 18 is also good.
Staying very close to South Depot ( 1st stop) , restaurant, indoor bar, main pool, great food court is all worth it to us.
When we stay moderate, we enjoy POR preferred.
Totally worth it to me.

Is the South Depot the first stop? I thought I read it was the last therefore being the most crowded

 

[PrincessArlena'sDad]

When we went to book, only preferred and pool view were available with the military discount. We were hoping for garden view. At first we choose pool view, as it was cheaper. Then, we realized that the discounted price difference was very little, and while we didn't care whether or not we had a pool view, we would benefit from being close to food and drink. So we switched to preferred.

 

[OThopeful35]

I would book preferred. We were in building 24 I think and it was far from the main building. It was okay for the few days but after that, it became a pain. Especially after a long day at the parks and it was hot (we go in the summer). If I ever stayed at POR again, it would have to be preferred.

 

[TCups4Me]

The grounds are beautiful so a morning walk to the main building is quite nice. You could always book standard and request a building close to the main area. Not guaranteed but it might keep you out of the farthest building. Gotta weigh the money vs the convenience! Good luck!