traveling delimas ohhh my

[traumamama]

First off let me say you guys are a wealth of GREAT information!!!!! but I have never done this and I want the trip to be as low stress and pleasurable for me DH and both DS's ages 15 and 12. I am leaving July 8 and we dont arrive till 430 so day one will be exploring the resort hotel.NOw:

Dilema1:are there any particular advantages or disadvantages to staying at a value resort as opposed to a Moderate ie i am thinking about changing to one of the All stars from my currently chosen POR(riverside)? is one more conveniently located better dinning options ect...

Dilema2: I am thinking instead of doing the meal plan renting a car and going off site for evening meals but I also am worried about driving being really inconvenient and stessfull are all the areas around disney just as costly but then again I could just rent a car for 3-4 days and use our sit down meal plan option for say a nice breakfast. for that day and I am sure my kids will go over on their counter options cuz they allways graze and just eat junk at universal the 2 days we go there and then when we go to the beach eat outsidefor lunch but be back at resort in time for dinner???

dilema3: I am getting a 7day pass with parkhopper I am seriously consedering the upgrade to get the 5 extra passes to BB, TL, and pleasure island, and disney quest is it worth it or should i just get a one day to BB? We arrive Fri at 4:30 pm and leave 8days later on sat at 10:30 am so really only 7days of real magic ahhh and my kids and DH wanted 2 days at universal uggg help I dont have enough money to stay any more days

Or I can stay offf site at cheap hotel rent a car eat breakfast before we go snack at the park all day and add 2 more days on my trip and not even worry about gettin the EMH's HELP I am driving myself mad and my agent calls me tomorow evening to confirm my arrangements make any last minute changes and i really need to sleep and go back to work tomorow night. TIA

 

[Pocahontas1]

I'm sure there are people here a lot more knowledgable than me, but I'll give you my opinion.

We've stayed value a couple times and I'm willing to do it again, but if I had the option of staying at a moderate, I'd do that. We're leaving in 2 1/2 weeks and had originially thought of staying at one of the AS resorts but then I talked my mom into staying at PO-R.

We normally stay at VWL, so AS was a bit small for DH, DS and myself. Now that we have another child, I just couldn't imagine the room with my mom, DS, DD and myself. I just need a bit more room. We also found the AS rooms to be noiser than some of the other resorts. We didn't hear a lot of noise from outside, it was the noise from other people's bathrooms that woke us up.

Although we don't plan on eating at PO-R, it does have a full service restaurant where as the AS's just have counter service. PO-R also has a great swimming pool and a huge playground for the kids. When we walked around one day, we loved the theming and landscaping.

I'm not saying that values are bad, just if I had a choice, I'd stay at a moderate.

As far as staying off-site, I think part of the whole Disney experience is staying on-site. Since this is your first time, it would further enhance the whole experience.

That's just my opinion. Hope it helped.

 

[hannahouse]

here is a recent discussion

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=815529

 

[Crazy Kanga]

I have stayed at all levels of disney resorts, and this next trip we are going back to a value, because we really spend most of our time in the parks anyway. As far as the rooms go, I haven't found enough differences to make it worth all of the extra $. I wouldn't bother with renting a car to drive off site for food, but that's just me. We really like to stay on Disney property once we arrive and use their transportation. This just adds to the experience for me to park the car and leave the driving to someone else the whole trip. I think if you are like us, and spend a lot of time in the parks, a value resort will be fine, and if you are resort relaxers, then go with a moderate.

 

[mhingher]

My first stay at a value was this past March, DH and I had no issues with staying there. Like mentioned earlier, we're just there to sleep so it didn't really matter. But since you have 2 older kids with you, you might be better of at a moderate since the values might be tight for the four of you. Then again, it really depends on how much time you will actually be spending there.

I definitely recommend staying on site if you can. Especially that time of year it will be really hot, and you can just hop on a bus mid-day to rest at the room or go for a swim. We always stayed at a timeshare not far from WDW which is great, but using the buses and using EMH are definitely major pluses to staying onsite.

As far as meals are concerned, I say just eat on site somewhere. Our most recent trip was really budgeted, we only had a few sit down meals, including 2 character meals and a breakfast at Kona Cafe in the Poly, DH loves the Tonga Toast! Anyway, there are many inexpensive good counter service meals throughout the parks. To save some money, we ate most breakfasts in the room. Our car service from the airport took us to a local foodstore before dropping us off which was really convenient. We picked up some fruit, cereal, snacks and milk.

For me, one day at a water park is enough. But that depends on what you and your family enjoy. I had a blast at BB, but I would prefer to spend most of my time in the park. One day at the water park was perfect for me when we went last July. We were there from 6/26-7/5. The day we went to BB we didn't go into any park, and we also spent one other day at DTD and our timeshare pool.

Good luck, and happy planning!!!

Melissa