which moderate

[Dad_Z]

From what I have seen, "preferred" tends to put you closer to the pools and/or buses and/or food, but also closer to crowds and noise. I would not spend the extra money unless I intended to spend a lot of time at the resort pools. Even then I might not do it.

If smoking is a significant issue for you then you might want to call the resorts to get their smoking policies on common outdoor facilities. I would be suspicious of what you had heard about their being less smoking outside of designated areas at the mods. That seems like an overly broad assessment. I would suggest contacting the resorts and inquiring about the smoking policies, including where designated smoking areas are, and enforcement of non-smoking policies/areas. It's funny that you mention that issue - that is the one thing that we didn't like about POR. Smoking was allowed around the pool areas - even the kiddie pool. We left this area very quickly one afternoon just because of the smoking. My DW talked with the resort and they indicated that smoking was allowed around the pool areas. My guess is this policy is pretty universal. The next time we go down we will definitely be inquiring as to the smoking policies (which, thankfully are getting more restrictive) and the designated smoking areas.

 

[lauraf]

From what I have seen, "preferred" tends to put you closer to the pools and/or buses and/or food, but also closer to crowds and noise. I would not spend the extra money unless I intended to spend a lot of time at the resort pools. Even then I might not do it.

If smoking is a significant issue for you then you might want to call the resorts to get their smoking policies on common outdoor facilities. I would be suspicious of what you had heard about their being less smoking outside of designated areas at the mods. That seems like an overly broad assessment. I would suggest contacting the resorts and inquiring about the smoking policies, including where designated smoking areas are, and enforcement of non-smoking policies/areas. It's funny that you mention that issue - that is the one thing that we didn't like about POR. Smoking was allowed around the pool areas - even the kiddie pool. We left this area very quickly one afternoon just because of the smoking. My DW talked with the resort and they indicated that smoking was allowed around the pool areas. My guess is this policy is pretty universal. The next time we go down we will definitely be inquiring as to the smoking policies (which, thankfully are getting more restrictive) and the designated smoking areas.

Thank you for all your information, and it wasn't that noisy(just the neighbors were a little loud). Our room this time was just a little further away and we paid the extra just so we were sure we would be close to the buses and dining hall, and last year was our first time and didn't know any better. But it sounds like POR would not be one of our choices. Smoking is very huge for me.