Tips on Moderate resorts ... ??

[OnePrinceOnePrincess]

Dh and I first traveled to WDW in October 2008 on a honeymoon (courtesy of his mother and her family) and although it was a shorter trip - 5 days - it was SUCH a fun time! Food & Wine Festival rocked my world.

Of course ... ever since I've had the "Disney bug" and was ready to go back the minute I found out I was pregnant with DD. Obviously, we waited a bit. We returned for our first family trip (DD was 3 and DS was just shy of 2 - aka FREE) last August for 10 days. WE HAD SUCH A BLAST!

My question stems from this. Our first trip was a gift, and as such they paid for our whole package (flight, room, dining, park tickets etc) and I had no qualms with any of it. We stayed at All-Star Music that time - and what did I know? I hadn't been to Disney since summer 1990 - and thought that was fantastic!
When we started planning our first big family trip for last summer I figured why not stay value again? We weren't traveling FOR the hotel.

However ... we are now planning our next trip and hubby and I want to give a Moderate resort a whirl. Any tips on which one?? Why is that one your favorite? Would you switch up to moderate or stick with value?

ANY and all tips and advice and such are GREATLY appreciated!!!! Thanks!

 

[hooch11bear]

Our favorite resort is Port Orleans Riverside!! We absolutely love the down south feel of the resort. We like to stay in Alligator Bayou, but they also have Magnolia Bend, which are southern style mansions. They also have a great food court with several different options. I'm not sure if you'll be visiting Downtown Disney, but they have boats that run daily to take you to and from, which is a nice way to relax.

POR is our home away from home!! We have stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort, but didn't like it as much. Everybody has different opinions. I hope mine helped a little. No matter where you choose to stay, you'll have a wonderful vacation!!

 

[mm1971]

Dh and I first traveled to WDW in October 2008 on a honeymoon (courtesy of his mother and her family) and although it was a shorter trip - 5 days - it was SUCH a fun time! Food & Wine Festival rocked my world.

Of course ... ever since I've had the "Disney bug" and was ready to go back the minute I found out I was pregnant with DD. Obviously, we waited a bit. We returned for our first family trip (DD was 3 and DS was just shy of 2 - aka FREE) last August for 10 days. WE HAD SUCH A BLAST!

My question stems from this. Our first trip was a gift, and as such they paid for our whole package (flight, room, dining, park tickets etc) and I had no qualms with any of it. We stayed at All-Star Music that time - and what did I know? I hadn't been to Disney since summer 1990 - and thought that was fantastic!
When we started planning our first big family trip for last summer I figured why not stay value again? We weren't traveling FOR the hotel.

However ... we are now planning our next trip and hubby and I want to give a Moderate resort a whirl. Any tips on which one?? Why is that one your favorite? Would you switch up to moderate or stick with value?

ANY and all tips and advice and such are GREATLY appreciated!!!! Thanks!

Our favorite is Port Orleans French Quarter. It's a smaller resort so easily navigated and the pool dragon slide was always DD favorite one. Boat to DTD, one convenient bus stop and we like the food court (some do not, but we always enjoy it). Love them Beneigts (sp?). They have music playing most evenings and is very enjoyable.

PORiverside is nice as well, but a LOT more walking and multiple bus stops.

 

[MSSANDRA]

Our favorite Moderate is CSR. We have stayed value/moderate and deluxe and CSR just seems to fit well for us. We have been back to a value once since we started staying moderate and it was fine but we so much prefer moderates. I say go for it, but be warned you might be stuck doing them from then on.

 

[MandiC]

Another vote for Port Orleans Riverside. If our family wasn't too big it would be our go to resort everytime and someday I hope we make it back I just loved everything about it, so much to do, such a beautiful resort, great food right there. I actually liked that it was sprawled out, but I am sure that is personal preference. I don't like typical 'hotel' style resorts where everyone is in one big building. I like the quiet and not so crowded feel.

 

[Raenstoirm]

We have stayed at most of them (FQ being the only one left on our list) since one of my goals is to stay at every resort. Mods are VERY different from values and deluxes are even more different (you do really get what you pay for). IMHO the beds are much more comfortable in a mod and the amenities are nicer (food courts and pools). The rooms also seem bigger, but maybe that is just my imagination. I would pick the one with the theme that appeals to you most (mexico/old world- Caribbean- New Orleans proper- New Orleans Bayou). You really can't go wrong. And yes I do think you should upgrade if it is in your budget.

 

[Dano13]

We had a great stay at the Port Orleans French Quarter

 

[alc571]

We love Port Orleans Riverside. We always stay in a gardenview room in one of the mansions. We book gardenview for a better location only. We love the feel of the resort, the boat to Downtown Disney, the food court, the pool. It's our home! We even did a last minute trip in January and nothing was available at POR so we had to stay at Animal Kingdom Lodge...and we missed it so much we vowed never to stay anywhere else again. Or at least do a split stay if we want to try something new.

My vote is always stay moderate over value, but I don't see a value in moving up to deluxe. With a moderate, you get more room, ceiling fan, double sink separate from the bath area, and queen beds instead of double beds. To me the feel is more of a resort, whereas the values give off more of a motel feeling. Just my opinion though...

 

[msmama]

The only Mod I would ever do again is PO French Quarter. The small size makes it almost better than a deluxe IMO.

I, personally, don't see the value in a Moderate Resort. I like the closeness to the parks I get in a Deluxe, I like the price and theming of a Value. To me, the moderates don't give me something I value. They're HUGE (I think some of them seem bigger than the values) and many of them have longer bus rides (or stop multiple times) than the values.

PP mentioned more comfortable beds - I've never noticed (I've stayed in cheap hotels with really bad beds so any disney bed is better than that) and better food courts - that could depend on the Mod. I remember really enjoying one of them but not enough to actually remember which resort!! I do think the mod food courts have more "Grown up" food choices than the value ones.

 

[JoeyEmmaMomma]

We are staying at a mod for the first time on our next trip. The queen sized beds alone are worth it for us.

 

[caselaw3]

We are staying at a mod for the first time on our next trip. The queen sized beds alone are worth it for us.

our first time too - and we are doing it for the queen beds as well, lol