Where to stay - POR or Pop

[Deanie1]

I am just about to book a 10 day trip to the World end of Nov/beg of Dec. But wow, once I convert to CAD the prices take a huge jump. I am likely going solo so I will be paying 100% for the room. I love POR, have always stayed there but it will be $1400 more than Pop. Has anyone stayed at Pop recently and what did you think? I don't usually spend a lot of time at the resort especially since it will likely be too cold for the pool. I would love your thoughts.

I am also hoping they will offer free dining this year during our dates (my check in date is the Mon after Thanksgiving) so I am really on the fence about taking advantage of the 25% off park tickets as the free dining offer generally requires you to buy a park pass. What would you do?

 

[adisneyaunt]

I love port Orleans... tho I only stay Preferred ..
Stayed Pop for a very last minute trip and it was doable tho I would not return. If ur not going to be staying at resort for much more then sleeping and grabbing a food court bite... save the money and stay.
Reasons I would not return... walls were paper thin, room felt tight, too many kids... tons, one bus stop which was uncovered and Mobbed, no restaurant on premise, no amenities to speak of and bus ride just felt longer... and did I say Tons of Kiddos, lol
Seriously tho... doable for a park stay not a resort stay
Enjoy ur trip whatever u decide!

 

[Deanie1]

Adisneyaunt, all your reservations are mine as well except for the "no restaurant on premise". Unfortunately, preferred at POR is sold out for my dates as it would be my choice as well. I love it there. I wish I knew if there would be any discounts at POR in late NBov/early Dec.

 

[Sprockie]

We are looking at booking for travel around the same time, but I don't want to book yet (want to accumulate more points first). Do the resorts sell out fast? We'd like Port Orleans, but we've never stayed on site before, so we don't know the good from the not so good locations anyway. Will I be kicking myself if I wait until mid summer to book?

 

[Disneylover99]

Save your money and stay at Pop. They're undergoing room refurbishments right now, so there is a good chance of getting a refurbished room if you're not going til later in the year.

 

[momof2gr8kids]

For 1400 I'd stay at Pop. We liked it there and solo would be fine since you don't need to worry about sharing a double bed. As for waiting for FD...Do the math and price out a package with the type of ticket u want for your length of stay with the ph option and compare to the Canadian price and a room only discount. Usually FD works better for larger groups than someone travelling solo.

 

[pigletto]

Save your money and stay at Pop. They're undergoing room refurbishments right now, so there is a good chance of getting a refurbished room if you're not going til later in the year.

I agree. I generally prefer a moderate resort but that's because we have 4 people and the kids are 13 and 19. We just don't all fit in a value for 10 days and even the mod is tight.
If I were travelling on my own, I would happily stay at Pop to offset our exchange right now.

 

[Deanie1]

For a brief moment, i thought my DD and bf were going and we'd split the room but then they decided that they would like their own room. Totally understandable. They haven't even decided which resort yet. DH cannot come due to work and doesn't really like to travel anyhow. So now i am back to thinking of Pop. The difference in price would pay my car insurance for a year! It is a roof over my head and has a bed. I can pack a little coffeemaker. I think i have talked myself into it.

Sprocket, things do seem to be selling out, at least with the mods. CBR and CSR are already unavailable for my dates but perhaps WDW has held back quite a few of the rooms to do their renos on. AT CBR i think a lot of ppl booked to take advantage of the gift card offer. I know I tried but I was too late!

Momof2gr8kids, I do plan on doing the math if free dining is offered. Do they're usually offer either a discount or the free dining at the same time, though? I have given up free dining for the discount before. I know at Pop, it is only QS anyhow with one person so I will have to see.

Ah, all these scenarios are giving me a headache!

 

[pigletto]

For a brief moment, i thought my DD and bf were going and we'd split the room but then they decided that they would like their own room. Totally understandable. They haven't even decided which resort yet. DH cannot come due to work and doesn't really like to travel anyhow. So now i am back to thinking of Pop. The difference in price would pay my car insurance for a year! It is a roof over my head and has a bed. I can pack a little coffeemaker. I think i have talked myself into it.

Sprocket, things do seem to be selling out, at least with the mods. CBR and CSR are already unavailable for my dates but perhaps WDW has held back quite a few of the rooms to do their renos on. AT CBR i think a lot of ppl booked to take advantage of the gift card offer. I know I tried but I was too late!

Momof2gr8kids, I do plan on doing the math if free dining is offered. Do they're usually offer either a discount or the free dining at the same time, though? I have given up free dining for the discount before. I know at Pop, it is only QS anyhow with one person so I will have to see.

Ah, all these scenarios are giving me a headache!

Usually the room only discounts come out at the same time that the package discounts are released.
I totally agree with you that when you look at it in terms of being your car insurance for a year it's a no brainer.
I've budgeted $2000 for food for my party of four for 10 days. TWO THOUSAND DOLLARS. That's groceries for more than three months for us!!! If I think about it too much I'll be sick. C'mon free dining.

 

[Deanie1]

Pigletto, this may make you feel "slightly" better. The food is actually $2000 - whatever you would have spent at home for those 10 days. Free dining would certainly be great value for 4 people. Are you planning on a TS every day? I would book my ADR's with free dining in mind, then if it is not offered, you could consider dropping a few TS. Have a wonderful time. Where are you staying?

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

Every time we stray from Pop we wish we were back there.

We don't bother straying anymore. We're very happy with Pop.

 

[Deanie1]

Oh, Mickey's BG, that makes me so happy! Maybe I will love it as much (or close to) POR.

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

Oh, Mickey's BG, that makes me so happy! Maybe I will love it as much (or close to) POR.

I will say Pop is a completely different atmosphere than POR - but we LOVE it. Even when AOA first opened and we booked the LM room, we kept looking across at Pop wishing we were there. I can't put my finger on why. I think it's just become our Disney home.

I've stayed there twice solo as well.

As a fellow Canadian I hear ya regarding the exchange. We are paying roughly one and a half times for our Disney trips these days and IMO POR is not worth the price difference.

Another bonus to Pop is you kind of have access to 2 resorts. While you can't use AOA's pool, you can wander the grounds which are AMAZING, eat there (which doubles your meal choices), and check out the shop.

And while Pop isn't as relaxing as POR to some folks here, I find any space around Hourglass lake to be calm and for the most part quiet. I quite often head down to the lake, even on the bridge, find myself a bench and read for a little while.

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

oh, and we took advantage of the 25% off tickets.

That combined with (hopefully) a room discount works out better for the two of us (my adult DD and myself).

 

[Deanie1]

I see that the 25% off tickets for Canadians has been extended until sometime in May so I will likely wait until closer to the end of April to get mine. That will save a bit of money also. Is there a lot of walking at Pop? I tried to get a preferred room but they have sold out. I have rheumatoid arthritis and my feet are the worst. Plus I have had both knees replaced so I do try minimize my walking when I can.

 

[Deanie1]

I love the tranquility of POR and all the beautiful landscaping. I like the river as well. We were put in the mansions the
Last two trips but I prefer the Alligator Bayou section best. I suppose I could always do a split stay but that seems like a lot of work!

 

[Gigi@Disney]

I love different resorts and split stays. If you try POP at the front end and then the second half of your vacation, stay at POR, that's kind of the best of both worlds. If you're doing solo, switching resorts is not bad at all! Good luck, either way you will have a brilliant time.

 

[Sarah_Rose]

We have stayed all levels of resorts, from value, to the campsites, to moderate and deluxe. For us, it comes down to cost vs ease of getting around. I really LOVE the landscaping of Alligator Bayou, but it's still a long walk to the food court and pool (and can be a long walk to the buses, depending on where you are), and a bus ride to the parks. For us, we either camp at Fort Wilderness if we want a relaxed trip with more trees (and the boat to the Magic Kingdom makes it for us - the kids LOVE taking the boat in the mornings) or we stay at POP if a room is just a room. Conversely, when we go to Disneyland, we stay at the Grand Californian theme park view, where literally hanging over the park on your balcony entirely makes the cost of the deluxe worth it.

All that said, I actually LIKE POP a lot. I stay there every year for marathon weekend, when it's usually just me in the room, or me and a friend. The food court can be nuts during meal times, but we've never had a problem with noise and find the rooms to be totally sufficient, especially if it's just one or two people. The theming is loud but fun, and the lake is nice to walk along. Also, the walk to the food court and buses is shorter than many of the rooms at the mods, especially CBR and CSR (I stayed at CSR once for marathon weekend and it took FOREVER to get anywhere and the conventioneers were so loud and rowdy at night - it was terrible!). I also like having the option of walking over to AoA for a bit of food court variety.
Anyway, the POR is really nice, but given the difference in amenities between the values and mods, I would find it hard to justify the extra $1400.

 

[Sue M]

I love POR and the deluxes, but with the CAD so low I booked Pop. With the Canadian ticket discount. I'm going with a friend but we prefer our own rooms.
I don't find free dining much of a savings compared to both room and ticket discount.

 

[Deanie1]

Is there a room discount for Pop or are you just hopeful? I MIGHT do a split stay with POR and Pop.