Questions - WDW Moderate resorts at Thanksgiving

[mendota]

Greetings all!

I have spent the morning pouring over posts. I've learned so much! We're not new to going to WDW, but this is the first time we're staying on the property. Also we normally go during slower times so I'm sure this will be interesting! There are three of us, my husband, myself and a 17 year old son.

We're going to be there Nov. 21-24th. I have reservations for Coronado Springs, but I'm wondering if Caribbean Beach Resort, Port Orleans Riverside Resort or Port Orleans French Quarter Resort would be better? How are the food courts at the parks? I'm going to try and make dinner reservatiosn for somewhere Thanksgiving Day.

We'll be relying on park transportation. Do any of the moderate resorts stands above the others during busy times like Thanksgiving? Besides going to the parks I know we want to go to Downtown Disney also.

Thanks for any thoughts! !

 

[kimmy kay]

I'm also interested we are planning to go Nov.20-24 was thinking of Coronado Springs but I'm thinking of Port Orleans Riverside instead.

 

[CanadianGuy]

Personally, I would pick CSR if I was travelling at a peak period like Thanksgiving. It has dedicated bus transportation that does not share with another resort which is a GODSEND sometimes.

POR/POFQ sometimes share buses and the reports on that bus service have definitely been mixed during very peak travel periods. Thanksgiving is obviously such a peak period.

Hope this helps,

Knox

 

[mendota]

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[dcgrumpy]

We stayed at CSR twice over Thanksgiving, 2 years ago and 6 years ago.it wasn't crowded. It wasn't crowded at all

If you're talking abou tthis year I would make your Thanksgiving dinner ADR ASAP a lot of places are already booked.

 

[JanB]

Your family is similar to mine -- me, husband, and son age 20 -- we've been taking him to WDW since age 4, always staying on property -- usually at a Moderate.

We do not have any one favorite Mod -- we like to mix it up. I am sure that you will enjoy any of them. That being said, in your circumstance I think that I'd lean towards Coronado Springs.

CSR --
Has a large, pretty cool pool
Has a dedicated bus route (not shared with other resorts)
Has a few Deluxe-type amenities -- Hair Salon, Health Club

Second choice, I'd recommend POFQ. I would recommend POR if not for recent reports of bus service being less than great. POR and POFQ share buses -- Those buses stop at POFQ first, so you shouldn't have a problem getting on the bus at POFQ. Both resorts have nice pools -- you would be allowed to use pools at both resorts. And there is a boat to DTD.

You will enjoy any of the resorts.

I have to say that we have thoroughly enjoyed taking our son to Disney from a young age. But I am really having a lot of fun with him there now that he is older. He has "grown into" the rides that he wouldn't do when he was younger -- We love riding things together -- And he is old enough and familiar enough with WDW that we can split up both within the parks and outside the parks. He can take a bus or boat wherever he wants. But we do stay together most of the time.

Have fun.

 

[Buzz2001]

You made the rigth choice. CSR has the best pool, transportation and food options in my opinion. Check out my CSR website below for pics and info.

 

[WDW4ever]

This is mendota. I wanted a Disney name on here so I changed. I had used mendota because I was drinking a bottle of mendota sparkling water when I registered and that was the only "name" I could think of at the time! I promise no more name changes

We stayed at CSR twice over Thanksgiving, 2 years ago and 6 years ago.it wasn't crowded. It wasn't crowded at all

If you're talking abou tthis year I would make your Thanksgiving dinner ADR ASAP a lot of places are already booked.

Thank you SO MUCH for that advice. I called yesterday and got us in at the Crystal Palace Thanksgiving afternoon. The only other places still open in the MK were the plaza (by the ice cream shop she said) and Tony's. I also made a reservation for the Biergarten in Epcot the next day. Our son just got back from a month stay in Germany with his German class and he wanted to try this. I also changed our stay to include the meal plan. From what I can tell, it's a good deal. The person who made my Thanksgiving reservations advised me to look in to it. I have to say, so far everyone I've talked to on the phone has been excellent.

Your family is similar to mine -- me, husband, and son age 20 -- we've been taking him to WDW since age 4, always staying on property -- usually at a Moderate.

We do not have any one favorite Mod -- we like to mix it up. I am sure that you will enjoy any of them. That being said, in your circumstance I think that I'd lean towards Coronado Springs.

CSR --
Has a large, pretty cool pool
Has a dedicated bus route (not shared with other resorts)
Has a few Deluxe-type amenities -- Hair Salon, Health Club

Second choice, I'd recommend POFQ. I would recommend POR if not for recent reports of bus service being less than great. POR and POFQ share buses -- Those buses stop at POFQ first, so you shouldn't have a problem getting on the bus at POFQ. Both resorts have nice pools -- you would be allowed to use pools at both resorts. And there is a boat to DTD.

You will enjoy any of the resorts.

I have to say that we have thoroughly enjoyed taking our son to Disney from a young age. But I am really having a lot of fun with him there now that he is older. He has "grown into" the rides that he wouldn't do when he was younger -- We love riding things together -- And he is old enough and familiar enough with WDW that we can split up both within the parks and outside the parks. He can take a bus or boat wherever he wants. But we do stay together most of the time.

Have fun.

JanB, thank you for your thoughts. We're sticking with CSR!

Our families do sound similar! We first took our son when he was 4. The second time we went he was 9 or 10. It was after Thanksgiving in 1999 and the park was gearing up for 2000. It was so neat. We've never stayed on property because we've usually come with my parents and my brother and his family, My folks have timeshares we stay at. In fact, this trip we'll be meeting up with them Sunday after Thanksgiving at the timeshares for a week but we wanted to extend our vacation so we thought to come over Thanksgiving by ourselves. I know even if it's crazy busy then, the parks will be less busy the week after and we'll be able to hit anything we miss just fine He'll probably stay with us most times too but I won't be worried if he wants to explore by himself.

I want to do things this year we've never done, like maybe a tour and some shows we've missed in the past. And I have a feeling I'll like staying on property so my husband and I might have to watch for good specials and just come by ourselves for a long weekend sometime!

You made the rigth choice. CSR has the best pool, transportation and food options in my opinion. Check out my CSR website below for pics and info.

Hi Buzz, I've spent so much time checking out your website and reading the CSR thread on this board. I'm so amazed and thankful for the information and posts you & others have made! I'm feeling very good about CSR now too. I requested the cabanas because I like how they look and their location. My next preference would be the casitas.

 

[Buzz2001]

Hi Buzz, I've spent so much time checking out your website and reading the CSR thread on this board. I'm so amazed and thankful for the information and posts you & others have made! I'm feeling very good about CSR now too. I requested the cabanas because I like how they look and their location. My next preference would be the casitas.

Thanks! Enjoy your trip to CSR!!

 

[JanB]

I want to do things this year we've never done, like maybe a tour and some shows we've missed in the past.

A tour would be a great and possibly different thing to do since many of the tours are only for age 16 and above. My son was excited to do Dolphins In Depth for his 16th birthday.

 

[Lilolvr]

Definitely CSR! CSR has the best transportation that is not shared like POR/POFQ, the best pool of all the moderates and terrific food at the Pepper Market and Maya Grill.

 

[Nursejilly]

We stayed at CSR last thanksgiving week and i thought it was a beautiful res ;ort. The rooms were very nice and had plenty of room. We stayed in cabanas 8A with a water view. I thought the bus service was pretty good but i sure missed not being on the monorail. We loved the food court and ate there several times. Have a great trip!

 

[WDW4ever]

That's so neat! I hope we get cabanas. But you know, they all look nice

 

[Mickey23]

Great choice, have a great time at CSR!