Which hotel??

[MrsTigger]

Hi, I'm hoping you will all help me decide what to do........ we're going to be sensible and downgrade our hotel from AKL as much as I would love to stay there for a standard view its alot of money.

Soooo I'm swaying towards SSR but my other half thinks POR would be better, they both seem to work out at around the same price with the free dinning. Any pro or cons from anyone who has stayed at these hotels would be great.

Thanks

 

[orangetiggs]

we stayed at french quarter this year and didnt really like riverside but loved french quarter. We are staying at SSR in sept as it was cheaper with full free dining instead of the counterservice plan

 

[disneyholic family]

Hi, I'm hoping you will all help me decide what to do........ we're going to be sensible and downgrade our hotel from AKL as much as I would love to stay there for a standard view its alot of money.

Soooo I'm swaying towards SSR but my other half thinks POR would be better, they both seem to work out at around the same price with the free dinning. Any pro or cons from anyone who has stayed at these hotels would be great.

Thanks

SSR is a much better buy for the money...
the room is bigger and you get a kitchenette..

i'd go with SSR if it were me.....SSR or OKW....

 

[MrsTigger]

I do think SSR is better for the money but my BF thinks it won't be as disney like as POR-though neither of us have stayed in a wdw hotel before so I'm sure it will be.

 

[gemmybear83]

I always get flamed for saying this but I don't like ssr, it doesn't appeal to me, lack of theming and resembles a condo complex off site. I also don't think ssr and okw appear to be true deluxes like the others? We wouldn't use the kitchen area as we eat out (ddp was far too much food for us!) but I can see it being a major advantage if you use it,

We went to visit por and we loved the look of it, it's beautiful and very Disney! We would love to stay in the mansions area in the future! I didn't like pofq much, the hotel seemed too small and not a true resort like the others.

 

[disneyholic family]

actually, i meant to say the OKW has a much bigger room than POR plus it has a kitchenette..

usually the OKW is the same price as SSR..

i'd go with OKW if i were you..

 

[Neoshoegal]

We've stayed in both the POR and SSR.
We love the theming of POR, we stayed at the Aligator Bayou side and loved it. The landscaping, food court, ... all fabulous. We wouldn't hesitate to stay there again.
SSR, well the theming is definitely way less but it is a lovely place, no doubt. We were in the same position for our trip next year. Pricing they are both pretty much the same (with an upgrade to the full dining) and although we prefer the look and feel of POR, we chose the SSR again.
We felt that it gives better value. Having a balcony allows you to be in your room without worrying about people passing by, more privacy. It also makes the rooms brighter. The other advantage is the AC, it's quieter at the SSR than at the POR. We also liked the sofa rather than a second double bed as it gives a roomier feeling. So it's all practical reasons.
If the POR has rooms like the SSR, we'd be staying there!

 

[torsie24]

I did the opposite and switched from POFQ to AKL before leaving.

(If it helps we got upgraded to Savannah view from Standard, and would pay the extra again in a heaertbeat, but then it was only £300 different for us, I don't know what you guys will be saving between the two.)

I would choose POFQ if I were you. We think SSR and OKW are both far too big. And not Disney-ish and we wouldn't want to be out by DTD as the bus journeys to DTD seemed to always take forever!

Although if I were booking a mod now I'd go for CSR as it's had all the upgrades and the rooms look on a par with the Deluxes.

 

[Danauk]

I always get flamed for saying this but I don't like ssr, it doesn't appeal to me, lack of theming and resembles a condo complex off site. I also don't think ssr and okw appear to be true deluxes like the others?

I completely agree with this, whilst I have used the spa at SSR and enjoyed that I too don't really like the theaming of the resort. The whole area is just too large for my liking, plus for us we do not like it's location.

 

[disneyholic family]

do the moderates (POR) offer regular free dining, or just counter service free dining?

if it's regular free dining, then it doesn't matter so much which one you pick..

but if POR only offers counter service free dining, then you have to go for SSR or OKW if you want table service free dining..

so that would be the question for me - do they off the same free dining?

 

[wayneg]

Everyone has different reasons for choosing a Disney hotel, for us its price, type/size of room and which DDP is included.
Theming is not really an issue for us, we go around all the hotels to see the theming not too bothered about staying in them. Even our fave AKL I would want a savanah room, would rather stay at OKW than standard room at AKL.
This August we stayed at OKW, will be again next August, fits our needs perfectly.

 

[scojos]

we did pors last year and loved it but found the rooms to small for 5, hence ssr next year...
the pools, food court and bar and TS at pors were great, service was stunning and kids were well occupied...
if you are looking for quiet, we found (building 18) v quiet.
we had a great holiday.
1point, buses to PO were v good if you dont have a car reports on resorts board states ssr is poorly serviced!
tracy

 

[Lizzybear]

Last year you could upgrade the CS free dining at moderate resorts to regular free dining for not very much, certainly minimal enough that you'd be making a substantial saving on buying the regular dining plan or the same meals OOP
We chose CSR over SSR for a few reasons but mostly theming, though we ended up not being overly keen on CSR anyway. However, we loved POFQ when we stayed there in 2007 and would be happy to stay there again or try POR if we chose to stay onsite in a mod again.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

The theming is different at all the Disney resorts, that's the idea to appeal to various tastes.
SSR is supposed to be like Saratoga in New York, we had the full tour around there a few years ago. It is a big resort. The dining and bar facilities I think let the resort down, the rooms especially at the Grandstand area should be in great condition as they are still fairly new and the price makes the resort good value for money.

Have you looked at the resort boards? All the hotels have a dedicated thread and photos. I haven't been to POR so cannot really compare but you have to remember one is DVC and one just a hotel - there is a lot of difference especially with the cooking facilities you would have at SSR.

If you want to be close to DTD then SSR is a sound choice, I would think seriously about which you feel is located better for your needs.

 

[starrysky]

We stayed at POFQ this last aug/sep and loved it. Nice and compact and it was great having the boat to DTD it made dinning options much easier. Also you can take the boat to POR.

What put us off choosing POR was its size and as we did not have a car, from some of the buildings it was a long walk to the food court.

We looked at OKW and SSR and like others have said its just like the off site place we stayed in last time with a bit more theme.

 

[jtlover]

We stayed at AKL this August and will be at SSR next September as we are cutting down on cost and also taking an additional person next year

As said before you can get SSR much cheaper at the moment with free dining August - October 2010. We have opted for a 2 bed villa as there are 4 of us going. I am really looking forward to it having all the extra space. You should youtube SSR rooms to get an idea of what you get there. If SSR was not on offer we would have gone to POFQ

 

[MrsTigger]

I did the opposite and switched from POFQ to AKL before leaving.

(If it helps we got upgraded to Savannah view from Standard, and would pay the extra again in a heaertbeat, but then it was only £300 different for us, I don't know what you guys will be saving between the two.)

I would choose POFQ if I were you. We think SSR and OKW are both far too big. And not Disney-ish and we wouldn't want to be out by DTD as the bus journeys to DTD seemed to always take forever!

Although if I were booking a mod now I'd go for CSR as it's had all the upgrades and the rooms look on a par with the Deluxes.

I would really love to stick with AKL but for us its a £900 differance to the mod hotels

I would def choose to stay at CSR and wouldn't think twice about changing to there but there doesnt seem to be any availability between 4th-6th oct which is half way through our trip. This was our first choice of hotel when we thought about booking

do the moderates (POR) offer regular free dining, or just counter service free dining?

if it's regular free dining, then it doesn't matter so much which one you pick..

but if POR only offers counter service free dining, then you have to go for SSR or OKW if you want table service free dining..

so that would be the question for me - do they off the same free dining?

With POR we would get free counter service but we can pay a little extra to get the regular dining which then brings it to the same price as SSR with free regular dining.


Thanks for the feedback everyone.... I just wish we could stayed at CSR as it would be best of both worlds then- cheaper plus our fav mod....