The Rebel Forces Were Strong But The Smith's Are Stronger TR-7/20 FINAL THOUGHTS

[Lady Lallie]

I vote for POR or POFQ.

I love Wilderness Lodge and I love it being close to MK but the Port Orleans resorts do it more for me. Plus I think you'd like being close to DTD and all those food options. I'll give you a more indepth opinion after my trip in September. I think WL decor would be underwhelming for Aisling.

 

[jenjolt]

OOOh I vote for POR!! It was a great resort!! Wonderful CS, a great pool, and it definitely has a relaxing feel to it!!!!!

 

[Jennifer48]

Was it crazy your week too?

The first few days were busy but not ridiculous. Once we hit the Sunday of the week of July 4th, crowds got insane.

I've stayed at the WL before and loved it there. Very peaceful and serene in my opinion. I think Ashling might like it but the decor might be too close to the AKV for her that she might look for animals around. I can't comment on POR/FQ since I've never stayed there.

Keep in mind though, we *probably* won't be going to WDW in 2011. So if you want, we can talk points renting later

 

[sohappy]

I vote no on POR/FQ. You have been to NO and know it isn't really all that authentic. It was nice enough, but seemed a bit cliched. Don't you wish we had gone in January now?

Oh and don't forget, we still need a trip in the winter to WDW and WWOHP!

We had a great trip too. Thanks for letting us tag along. I don't think the kids will have as much fun without friends to play with next time!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Morning!

I have heard really good things about POR and if we ever stayed moderate that is where we would stay. That being said, our very first trip we stayed at WL and really enjoyed it! It really has a different feel to me than AKL (we've stayed there too) so I don't think Ash will be looking for animals.

I hear you about the short trips! In May, we were there for two days at the end of our vacation - one park day (MK) and one resort/DTD day. That just does not count as a visit to me. The trip before (Oct 2009) was just me and Jordan for 5 days (really 4 with travel time) - we had a great time but we couldn't do everything. So our last trip for a week+ was in Nov 2008 and our next one for a week+ will be 2011 or 2012. I know I shouldn't complain because we have been fortunate to go there so many times but it is hard not knowing when the next trip will be. I think your long trip right before school starts in 2011 sounds great!

As for a PTR, Liesa (all7ofus) and Maroo have had a PTR going for over a year now so you can feel free to start any time!

We are in exactly the same vacation. Our last acceptable length trip was Sept 2008!

I will start the PTR early...how else am I supposed to squeeze in a mini-TR for Ireland on a Disney board???

I vote for POR or POFQ.

I love Wilderness Lodge and I love it being close to MK but the Port Orleans resorts do it more for me. Plus I think you'd like being close to DTD and all those food options. I'll give you a more indepth opinion after my trip in September. I think WL decor would be underwhelming for Aisling.

I do like having the food options at DTD but we aren't big DTD people. So that wouldn't necessarily be a factor. MK on the other hand will probably be 4 days of a 10 day trip

The first few days were busy but not ridiculous. Once we hit the Sunday of the week of July 4th, crowds got insane.

I've stayed at the WL before and loved it there. Very peaceful and serene in my opinion. I think Ashling might like it but the decor might be too close to the AKV for her that she might look for animals around. I can't comment on POR/FQ since I've never stayed there.

Keep in mind though, we *probably* won't be going to WDW in 2011. So if you want, we can talk points renting later

Well I am going to be praying that you don't get to go in 2011....anyone else reading this...I am NOT that selfish. I'm hoping that Jen will have a great reason not to go

I vote no on POR/FQ. You have been to NO and know it isn't really all that authentic. It was nice enough, but seemed a bit cliched. Don't you wish we had gone in January now?

Oh and don't forget, we still need a trip in the winter to WDW and WWOHP!

We had a great trip too. Thanks for letting us tag along. I don't think the kids will have as much fun without friends to play with next time!

I DO wish we had gone in January so I could have tried out POFQ. Oh well...my birthday is ALWAYS going to be in January. Speaking of which, I haven't even BOUGHT your gift-let alone mail it. I really suck this summer

 

[sohappy]

Hello, I gave you your gift in MAY for goodness sake! I bought tickets last night for our Nov/Dec getaway. Tickets went down $80 per ticket from little rock (still crazy expensive though), so I jumped and got them.

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

I say you should start your PTR...now!!! Seriously, though - it's never to early to start planning for a Disney trip! And we need to hear about your trip to Ireland!

As for the resort - I vote for either one of the PO resorts.

 

[twob4him]

So votes for Wilderness Lodge and POR...anyone else want to have a say??????????

We stayed at POR.....it was a pretty campus....and huge....lots of walking even just to get to the pool or the restaurant....lots of space. Nice pool....LONG and I do mean LONG bus rides...it usually took 20 minutes just to go around the resort before you even started to go anywhere. We had to leave our room about an hour and a half before we wanted to get to MK just to make sure we got a bus and got there....sometimes the waits were longish. I think we ended up calling cabs after a while. LOVED the pool and the boat ride to DTD. The rooms were really nice. We had a quiet one on the end. It was way too small for our family of 5! This was our last stay on property. Probably won't be able to stay on property again. I did a trip report on this somewhere....want me to find it???

I have never stayed at Wilderness Lodge but I've never heard any complaints so this would be my choice!!! Poly would always be my first choice...then Wilderness....then Bay Lake. Of course none of those will actually happen for me probably...but I was just answering your question!!!!

 

[Dugette]

Sorry I haven't replied to your final thoughts yet! I was out of town and read them on my iPod Touch while gone, but it's too much of a pain to type on that.

Anyway, I can relate on the small trip vs. long trip thing. Our first trip (Sept. '09) was 4.5 days and we sure could have used a vacation after that commando-touring! So, our second trip (Jan. 2010), we made a point to relax and took 10 whole days. Nice! This last trip (June) was back to the insanity again (I'm still not entirely sure I've recovered from the lack of sleep on it!), but I think it helped that we'd taken a long trip recently and we know we'll be returning in Nov. (for a short trip).

So cool that you'll be taking a nice, long trip next year! If you are going in 2012 too, as you mentioned, I would recommend the Annual Passes. We got them this year and, if you are taking two trips, they'll pay for themselves in just ticket prices. However, they'll also give you nice resort discounts. From the little experience we've had, I think you could get at least 40% at Deluxes and at least 30% off moderates. This year's AP discounts for the time of year you're going (Aug. 15-Oct. 2) are 35% off values and moderates and 42% off deluxes and villas.

As far as the resorts you're considering, I don't think you could go wrong at any of them. On our January 2010 trip, we spent the first night at the Poly, the second night at WL, and the rest of the trip at POR. Loved all of them. We did especially love the Poly, but had no complaints about any of them. (For what it's worth, we booked them with a PIN before we had APs and got 40% off the deluxes and 35% off POR). A couple things about each:

Poly: loved the tropical and relaxing theming, the convenient transportation (to MK and Epcot, we didn't try anything else), the restaurants, the beach, and the pool with volcano slide was cool

WL: loved the lodge-y theming, the hot tubs, and the boat to the MK

POR: loved the beautiful river running through it, the create-your-own pasta bar, and we had no trouble with our transportation (we were in a building very close to the main building/bus stop). We didn't swim there, but the pool looked very nice.

And, hey, if you can't decide, you can always do a split stay like we did (book room only-which you can cancel up to 7 days before, by the way-and use APs for entrance to the parks-no package needed). We had no trouble or inconvenience from switching resorts-just costs a few extra dollars in tips for them to move your luggage.

Sorry for the long-winded answer! Anyway, I really enjoyed your TR and look forward to the PTR!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

I say you should start your PTR...now!!! Seriously, though - it's never to early to start planning for a Disney trip! And we need to hear about your trip to Ireland!

As for the resort - I vote for either one of the PO resorts.

We stayed at POR.....it was a pretty campus....and huge....lots of walking even just to get to the pool or the restaurant....lots of space. Nice pool....LONG and I do mean LONG bus rides...it usually took 20 minutes just to go around the resort before you even started to go anywhere. We had to leave our room about an hour and a half before we wanted to get to MK just to make sure we got a bus and got there....sometimes the waits were longish. I think we ended up calling cabs after a while. LOVED the pool and the boat ride to DTD. The rooms were really nice. We had a quiet one on the end. It was way too small for our family of 5! This was our last stay on property. Probably won't be able to stay on property again. I did a trip report on this somewhere....want me to find it???

I have never stayed at Wilderness Lodge but I've never heard any complaints so this would be my choice!!! Poly would always be my first choice...then Wilderness....then Bay Lake. Of course none of those will actually happen for me probably...but I was just answering your question!!!!

Sorry I haven't replied to your final thoughts yet! I was out of town and read them on my iPod Touch while gone, but it's too much of a pain to type on that.

Anyway, I can relate on the small trip vs. long trip thing. Our first trip (Sept. '09) was 4.5 days and we sure could have used a vacation after that commando-touring! So, our second trip (Jan. 2010), we made a point to relax and took 10 whole days. Nice! This last trip (June) was back to the insanity again (I'm still not entirely sure I've recovered from the lack of sleep on it!), but I think it helped that we'd taken a long trip recently and we know we'll be returning in Nov. (for a short trip).

So cool that you'll be taking a nice, long trip next year! If you are going in 2012 too, as you mentioned, I would recommend the Annual Passes. We got them this year and, if you are taking two trips, they'll pay for themselves in just ticket prices. However, they'll also give you nice resort discounts. From the little experience we've had, I think you could get at least 40% at Deluxes and at least 30% off moderates. This year's AP discounts for the time of year you're going (Aug. 15-Oct. 2) are 35% off values and moderates and 42% off deluxes and villas.

As far as the resorts you're considering, I don't think you could go wrong at any of them. On our January 2010 trip, we spent the first night at the Poly, the second night at WL, and the rest of the trip at POR. Loved all of them. We did especially love the Poly, but had no complaints about any of them. (For what it's worth, we booked them with a PIN before we had APs and got 40% off the deluxes and 35% off POR). A couple things about each:

Poly: loved the tropical and relaxing theming, the convenient transportation (to MK and Epcot, we didn't try anything else), the restaurants, the beach, and the pool with volcano slide was cool

WL: loved the lodge-y theming, the hot tubs, and the boat to the MK

POR: loved the beautiful river running through it, the create-your-own pasta bar, and we had no trouble with our transportation (we were in a building very close to the main building/bus stop). We didn't swim there, but the pool looked very nice.

And, hey, if you can't decide, you can always do a split stay like we did (book room only-which you can cancel up to 7 days before, by the way-and use APs for entrance to the parks-no package needed). We had no trouble or inconvenience from switching resorts-just costs a few extra dollars in tips for them to move your luggage.

Sorry for the long-winded answer! Anyway, I really enjoyed your TR and look forward to the PTR!

Thanks for all the votes! Still no decision on the hotel front. We have a direction we are leaning but I'll keep the suspense for the PTR!

We will almost definitely be getting APs. I had an AP for the last year and I have to say that the hotel savings make it totally worth it. So I just have to figure out if we should get them for Randy and Ash too.

Unfortunately Room Only does not work for us. After going w/o DDP this past trip, we won't be doing that again. Psychologically speaking, it makes me enjoy my vaca with my food already paid for I'm crazy...i know!

 

[disneymomof1]

Wow, a 10 day trip sounds awesome, a dream of mine, to actually have some down time to relax. We have stayed at POFQ, Riverside, CB, WL and AKL. I really loved POFQ, nice small size resort, fun pool, great food court, and the awesome boat to DTD. Riverside was to big, we were at the farthest mansion house and took DH almost 15 mins to get his coffee in the morning. Same with CB, farthest away and about a 20 minute walk to food court. We are going back to WL this year. I love it there, very quiet, love the boat to MK. We got bunkbeds this time, which your DD would probably love. My DD can't wait to sleep in them.Any choice is great because you are at Disney, I think you guys would be happy at any of the disney hotels.
And I totally get you on the DDP, I so enjoy my trip better knowing that I don't have to budget the cash and credit cards to pay for the meals. The last trip I didn't budget enough for the week, and on our last day I think I was down to my last $20

 

[Dugette]

Thanks for all the votes! Still no decision on the hotel front. We have a direction we are leaning but I'll keep the suspense for the PTR!

We will almost definitely be getting APs. I had an AP for the last year and I have to say that the hotel savings make it totally worth it. So I just have to figure out if we should get them for Randy and Ash too.

Unfortunately Room Only does not work for us. After going w/o DDP this past trip, we won't be doing that again. Psychologically speaking, it makes me enjoy my vaca with my food already paid for I'm crazy...i know!

for the AP(s)! I'm not positive, but I think that with the DDP, you can book room only/AP rate, then call sometime before your arrival and add the DDP to it, so that you'll retain your cancellation/change options, if needed, until you add the DDP. But, I haven't done this, so I'm not entirely sure.

Can't wait to hear how this next trip develops!

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Wow, a 10 day trip sounds awesome, a dream of mine, to actually have some down time to relax. We have stayed at POFQ, Riverside, CB, WL and AKL. I really loved POFQ, nice small size resort, fun pool, great food court, and the awesome boat to DTD. Riverside was to big, we were at the farthest mansion house and took DH almost 15 mins to get his coffee in the morning. Same with CB, farthest away and about a 20 minute walk to food court. We are going back to WL this year. I love it there, very quiet, love the boat to MK. We got bunkbeds this time, which your DD would probably love. My DD can't wait to sleep in them.Any choice is great because you are at Disney, I think you guys would be happy at any of the disney hotels.
And I totally get you on the DDP, I so enjoy my trip better knowing that I don't have to budget the cash and credit cards to pay for the meals. The last trip I didn't budget enough for the week, and on our last day I think I was down to my last $20

We will go for 10 days and still won't relax. I know my family too well! Our last long trip was 9 days and I planned 2 pool days. Neither of which ended up as a pool day.

for the AP(s)! I'm not positive, but I think that with the DDP, you can book room only/AP rate, then call sometime before your arrival and add the DDP to it, so that you'll retain your cancellation/change options, if needed, until you add the DDP. But, I haven't done this, so I'm not entirely sure.

Can't wait to hear how this next trip develops!

You are completely right. I'm an idiot. I've DONE this before.