This is driving me nuts! Free dining and resort type UPDATE - I SWITCHED!

[redmomof4]

we booked POP this time also. We stayed there two years ago. I loved it as did the kids. We always get two rooms so the cost savings is more than just one. It is worth it for me to save the money for something else. You won't regret your decision to try POP, however, sometime when I go either with less chidlren or just dh and I I'd like to try mod or deluxe.

 

[taximomfor4]

I was really set on doing POFQ for this Sept. Free dining made it slightly cheaper than the 40% off code I had. Now that standard room at POP keeps calling to me. It is $500 cheaper for us to do POP vs. POFQ. That difference more than pays for our trip in three weeks Nothing else is being neglected by me spending that extra $500 on a room but I just keep thinking, is a different resort really worth $500?

I can't make up my mind. I keep asking myself "should we stick with POFQ which I know we all will love? Or should I book POP (which I know we will be fine at) and save the $500?"

Just out of curiosity, what would you do? Did you face the same dilemma? Did you go deluxe/mod or deluxe/mod/value? What was your deciding factor?

HAHA! I don't have Free Dining (going too early in August), but am having the EXACT same dilemma, with the same hotels, AND about the same price difference. We are booked with AAA discount at POP. My family has only stayed at WL (way too expensive this time around but LOVE IT!) and the Value Resorts. We are FINE at POP...but my sis and I stayed at POFQ last month and I thought it was a wonderful place. But $500 worth of wonderful? I just don't know. My kids have a blast at POP, and there isn't THAT much better at POFQ. The rooms are very charming, the grounds are lovely, and there is a pool slide. But we don't hang out in the room much, POP's grounds are fun for kids, and I have 3 non-swimmer children (and only 1 swimmer). So I am trying to be self-disciplined, keep this trip strictly budgeted instead, and stay with POP.

Good luck deciding! POFQ rooms, I thought, were more appealing to me than even BC's rooms!

Beth

 

[HayGan]

Thank to al! You are all making good points n both sides of the argument. I think what I might do is book the POP room and make the final decision after I see how next months trip goes. DS#2 keeps talking about staying at POP so I am anxious to see how he likes it

 

[castleri]

We had the same discussion at our house just last week. Decided on Moderate because
1. Quiet pools
2. Fridge and COFFEE pot
3. Ceiling fans
4. Bigger rooms

Is it really worth $450 more for the week? Not sure I can rationalize it cost wise, but for us the little things are a big difference.

These, the boat to DTD and the hot tubs are the reasons our group changed from ASMO to POR. The group decided they had heard too many things about noise and crowds and bus being last on the route at the All Stars that the extra $400 per room was worth it for them. I personally would have stayed at ASMO and used the money for some special activities. That is what makes Disney so great - so many choices to keep you awake at night wondering if you made the right one.

 

[beachgrl001]

I was also going back and forth with where to stay. POP or POFQ. My neighbor has stayed at delux,mod and just recently stayed at POP and said that it was fine. So that made me even more confused, I really wanted to save the $500 we even had a family meeting (it was a tie ) so that didn't help. In the end I went with my gut and choose POFQ This will be our first time staying onsite and I wanted POFQ from the moment I saw the pics. My dh says we are NOT doing disney next year, that he wants to do something different

I'm thinking if the free dining comes out next year I will do a trip to the POP with my DS and me. ssh dont tell dh

 

[irishbosoxfan]

I had CBR all set to go for 8 nights with 9 day hoppers and free dining. So then I figured it would be about $500 cheaper to do the Pop Century. I've never even been to a value before, just mods and deluxes, but I went ahead and switched to Pop. I figured the rooms are not that much smaller than the mods anyway, and the themeing my kids will love. Plus the Pop is a newer resort which means the rooms will be nice, the counter service there is supposed to be great, along with the bus service. We plan to spend most of our time in the parks and restaurants with all these TS credits anyway. Either way you go, its Disney and once you get there, you'll be happy and have a great time anyway.

I do really enjoy POP. My mom and I stayed there last year during free dining. We are even staying there next month for a few days. I guess the 3 things that are keeping me from jumping ship and going with POP are:

1: I really want to try POFQ
2. The kids really really want the dragon slide
3. Will we be cramped with my mom, me and the 2 boys in a value room. (I'll see what it is like next month with me, my dad and the boys.) My mom and I did think the POP room was kind of small so that does worry me.

I will likely stay with POFQ but I can't help keep thinking about it. I guess I am one person who wishes that there wasn't new availability at POP

Thanks for all the input!

I agree with most everyone when I think that POP is the best value on property. The food Court is the best of any resort and the one bus stop is great. However as I was reading through the thread, I thought that I wished you had posted how big your party was. SInce I see the size of your party I really think the $500 is worth it. Cramming too many people in a smaller room can really make everyone irratable.
In addition if you do decide to save the $500 only do it if you can get into POP. The ALL stars are not nearly as nice and the bus situation is horrible. Best of luck.

We had the same discussion at our house just last week. Decided on Moderate because
1. Quiet pools
2. Fridge and COFFEE pot
3. Ceiling fans
4. Bigger rooms

Is it really worth $450 more for the week? Not sure I can rationalize it cost wise, but for us the little things are a big difference.

I highlighted a couple of things above because there is a common misconception that the moderates have much bigger rooms.

The values and moderates have just about the same size rooms so you are not paying extra for a much bigger room--you're paying extra for better theming.

 

[peel]

DH and I are avid savers and refuse to touch savings. My BF told me the other day that we should splurge for once and stay at Poly.

I read this as saying you and your Dear Husband are avid savers but your BoyFriend thinks you should splurge.

 

[beachgrl001]

I read this as saying you and your Dear Husband are avid savers but your BoyFriend thinks you should splurge.

 

[HayGan]

I highlighted a couple of things above because there is a common misconception that the moderates have much bigger rooms.

The values and moderates have just about the same size rooms so you are not paying extra for a much bigger room--you're paying extra for better theming.

I just checked and POP room sizes are 260 sq. ft. vs. 314 sq. ft. at POFQ. Not really that big of a difference. The scale is really leaning towards POP now.

 

[irishbosoxfan]

I just checked and POP room sizes are 260 sq. ft. vs. 314 sq. ft. at POFQ. Not really that big of a difference. The scale is really leaning towards POP now.

Yeah it is 54 square feet of difference which is mostly taken up by the extra furniture you get with a mod.

You get a luggage rack and a second sink(which means the "closet" area is bigger-which doesn't do anyone much good in terms of extra space to move around in)

 

[srgibbs]

Ok I just must add my opinion to this as I have thought about it many times. We have stayed at POR and FQ and liked Riverside but love FQ. Never done deluxe or values. We could do deluxe budget wise and planned on it with free dining but when it came down to it I could not spend $600 more for 8 nights at WL so we booked at FQ. I'm very happy we even get to go and I know we love FQ. We will eat at WCC one night and look at WL and that will make me happy. We have also thought about staying at Pop before and I know that would probably save us another $500 but to me there is reasoning to make it not worth saving that money. We have 2 small children 3 and 5 and FQ is less than half the size of pop and we can be to the food court in 2 minutes from any location along with the bus stop which is covered and never crowded when we go in the fall. Transpo has always been great there. You have a REF. and coffee maker with all the condiments for coffee. A great pool with a water slide, wonderful beignets which you can use your snack credit for and have an incredible Breakfast. Food court workers always give my kids beads and coins (Mardi Gras Theme) which they just love. Food court always very quiet and quick in and out. Never hear any noise in our room and no loud toliets and people running crazy outside late at night which I have read about many times at POP. I know you will want your sleep when you are in your room. All of this to say that some conviences (especially with small children are worth the extra money. The Moderates are still a really good price in my opinion. We had to book a room on the way down and it is $132 (hampton inn) just to sleep in at late hours and leave early the next am so at $155 for Disney Property it is still a decent price. Just my opinion go Moderate-FQ

 

[ktink]

I read this as saying you and your Dear Husband are avid savers but your BoyFriend thinks you should splurge.

I can see why you'd think that. I don't have the energy for 2 men. That would be best friend.

 

[peel]

I don't have the energy for 2 men.

 

[PoohHappens]

I thought that about the DH BF thing the first time I read it too. We are making the same choice. We will be 3 women/wives/mothers travelling together on our own. We origionally talked about staying at a value, but it was unavailible. We have booked POFQ. Now that there has started to be avail I offered to change it, but we have all decided to stay with FQ. I think the extra space and 2 sinks will help with 3 adult women. I also think the resort is beautiful and quiet. Also that time of year the parks do close a little earlier and so we will be at the resort a little more. We might also want to just have a drink in the bar or something. Since we are splitting the cost of the room and only staying 4 nights it would save us only a little less than $100 each. I hope this is the right choice.

 

[HayGan]

Thanks for all the advice! I finally made a decision...

I changed from POFQ to POP. I'm a little bit sad but the thought of saving $500 does help ease the pain I know we will all have a great time! Now I can put that $500 to next year's trip

 

[disneymom06]

We are in the same dilemma and we need two rooms. We did POP last year with the free dining. It was OK. There were some differences, one sink, no quiet pool, there was no swimming after 11PM, one of the pools was always closed at night, food court was good but always crowded and needed to be cleaned up. The CM's at POP were always running because they were so busy. Pop seemed very busy. Pop did have more people about and the bus lines were always lines. As you can tell, I am leaning towards POR, and am working on DH. Is it worth $1000? He doesn't think so. It is alot of money!That is airfare for us but I think that I would like a treat this vacation. We love POR, the lounge is great as is the food court. It was never crowded and always clean. And having Boatwrights is a plus. The kids like to swim in the quiet pool late at night and those pools are usually empty. But the money factor is huge! I still don't know, but I have stopped calling to see if POP is available.

 

[KodakFigment]

I highlighted a couple of things above because there is a common misconception that the moderates have much bigger rooms.

The values and moderates have just about the same size rooms so you are not paying extra for a much bigger room--you're paying extra for better theming.

I appreciate you trying to help the OP make a decision, but in my opinion the difference from a value at 260 sq ft. and the moderate we chose (CBR) is almost a 100 sq. ft. about a third bigger than a value. It really isn't a misconception that the rooms are larger, just a difference of opinion about what value the additonal space represents.

 

[MPHARJ]

I keep weighing the option that I changed mine from ASSports to POFQ. I changed it for both rooms we have, my parents don't know yet it is a surprise for them. I just can't change it back to a value, I loved POFQ when we stayed there before, it is so compact, quiet, charming peacful I loved taking an early morning jog around over to POR. I am happy POFQ had some rooms available because they didn't last week, and POP has been booked solid, I haven't seen a day open since the first day I think. I was going to go with POP, but I am very happy with my choice and can't wait to go back there. Everyone has their preference, yes it would be great to save the money, but this is a relaxing vacation for us this year, no rushing and I want to enjoy the resort.

 

[teacher100]

I am staying in POR when we go in early August. The only reason we are not doing values is because we have 5 people. When there was 4 we stayed at ASMo and the kids loved it! Hopefully they will like POR as well. I hate spending the extra money just because I have a fifth person when we actually prefer the value. Looks like they could find a way to put trundle beds in the values.

 

[LoriZH]

Umm...you switched before all of us could give our opinions, that's unfair! Actually, you made a good choice, you're going to LOVE Pop. If I were just going with the kids, I would stay there (unfortunately my husband is a monorail kinda guy, although he loved CSR, he hates waiting for buses everywhere). You'll love it there, DD and I stayed there last August, with FD of course and we had a great time, we loved it. The rooms are smaller and they don't have a curtain for dressing, but with just me & DD it was no problem (if the boys were to come we'd get two rooms). Rooms are new and comfy beds, we stayed in 70's which is not premium but it was right next to the Food Court a very short walk to buses. I loved the food court and the transportation was excellent, even better than CSR. So good choice, have fun and buy yourself an extra souvie with that 500 bucks!