Which moderate?

[*sarah*]

Planning a trip for next summer and in the past we've only done Value's, this time we want to stay at a Moderate. But I'm not sure where to start. Which moderate would you recommend for a family of 3?

 

[bcrook]

Coronado springs has beautiful theming, a fun pool, and my kids love the pepper market.

 

[debrapagliasotti]

We stayed at CBR a few years ago as a family of 4. Its a big resort, but the busses are quite good for the parks.

 

[h2odivers]

We love POFQ. it's quite yet you can use all the facilities of POR. It's kind of like having two resorts in one. The buses are great never to packed and run frequently. The boats to DTD are always a fun ride. It doesn't matter where you stay their all great resorts and you'll find your favorite, but plese go see Piano Bob at POR in the lounge area and bring your child its an awesome show.
Have Fun!

 

[WDWsBFF]

My all-time favorite mod resort is POR, it's always relaxed and pretty quiet there. The food court is huge and I always loved being able to get some pasta late at night after most of the parks were closed. Plus side to this resort as well, is that you can take a boat to and from Downtown Disney.

 

[AJA]

POR or POFQ! As others have said you can pool hop if you take an off day. You have the boat to DTD.

 

[mkoerner]

My family's favorite mod is POR for several reasons. There is a nice activity pool plus 5 quiet pools, the resort is large, but quiet and relaxing, they have a fantastic food court, the boat to DTD beats the awful busses any day, and you can easily walk to use the facilities at POFQ. A close 2nd for us is CBR, preferred room.

 

[OZ 877]

We have only stayed at POR, but it was great.

Have you thought about renting points? My wife and I stayed at AKL for our anniversary and the cost was about the same as staying in a moderate.

 

[LovesTimone]

We have stayed at all 4 mod's more than once - Here are our reviews on each

CBR - Great themed pool and kids pool area, Great Pool Bar, food court will more than meet your needs food was hot and service was great. Rooms are comfortable and the themeing is great, who does not love Pirates , ?The grounds are just beautiful. There is alot of walking here very large resort, But there are bus stops within each island, and an internal bus. This resort does not share buses with other resorts. No elevators. We never had a problem with mousekeeping in all our stays, and did receive towel animals almost every stay, everyday, overall cleaning was good

CS - Great themed pool, large resort so lots of walking and it has a convention feel is some of the rooms, not so much that Disney feel. Rooms are comfortable. Food Court was okay, there offerings were not really to our liking, we only stop for breakfast once, the rest for snacks in the evening. There are elevators. Mousekeeping was spotty, I think that they changed mousekeeper on us mid stay. As the first few days were not good and then the last part of the trip it was great. No towel animals here not at any stay. Buses service was just okay

POR - Great themed pool and playground, alot of walking but we feel not as much as at CBR and CS, Food court very good, had several meals breakfast and lunch no complaints. Boat to DTD nice way to travel. There are times that you share a bus with POFQ. Bus service was good not long wait times. We were on the 1st floor here and I can not remember if I saw elevators, I think that there are, just not positive. You can walk to POFQ, nice walk especially early in the am. Rooms are comfortable and quite, mousekeeping was good, a few towel animals not daily. Grounds are beautiful and well kept.

POFQ - This is the smallest of the mod's, themed pool great and hot tub is in a strange place. Rooms comfortable and quite. The river view room are great, nice and peaceful after a day in the parks. Food court is small, but offerings are to our liking, never any issue, food hot and good service . This resort shares a bus at times with POR, bus wait time okay. Mousekeeping here we feel is the best, not alot of towel animals, but the rooms were very clean on each of our stay's here. Not as much walking in my opinion. There are elevators.

Each of the mod's has something special to offer. Check out allears.com they have alot of pictures of the resorts. This might help you make a choice.

 

[boscov]

I would highly recommend POR. This is my favorite mod. I feel the theming is the best, it has a good pool with a good slide, the best food court in all of Disney and the activities and amenities are great. Yehaa Bob is great for the kids, the bikes, boats, walking trails....it's just a great place to stay. Enjoy!

 

[aubriee]

We've stayed at all four more than once and would rank them:

#1. CSR--best bus service, most comfortable queen size beds, best food court, biggest hot tub, best slide, love the white sand beaches and hammocks in the Cabanas and the lovely fountains in the Casitas. Because it's a convention resort, conventioneers are in meetings all day leaving the buses empty to for us and they are the only moderate to have the nicer H20 bath products with separate conditioner and shampoo bottles.

#2. POFQ--smallest resort on property so no room is very far from anything, love the boat to DTD, has queen size beds, but no as comfortable as the ones at CSR

#3. PORS--food court second only to CSR, but do not care for the bus system (shares with POFQ and since POFQ is first stop, the bus was always full when it got to us at PORS, in the middle of rehab and will have queen size beds. Very quiet and peaceful. Love the boat to DTD.

#4. CBR--bus service has been poor every time we've been there, as has housekeeping, don't care for the food court or TS restaurant, and main pool and hot tubs always packed. The quiet pools are nice though. Beautiful resort even though it is our least favorite.

 

[*sarah*]

Thanks for all of the replies!! Sounds like all of them are nice, I guess I might narrow it down to 2 and then let dh and ds decide. That's how I do a lot of the things on our Disney trips.

Have you thought about renting points? My wife and I stayed at AKL for our anniversary and the cost was about the same as staying in a moderate.

What does that mean, renting points? Sorry, I am a bit clueless!

 

[nklooz]

We loved POR, thought the theme was nice, the pool w/slide and hot tub as well as the quiet pools were so nice. Enjoyed the pool side bar. Loved the boat to DTD, a big plus for the two PO resorts. Overall, some the things that you would be getting on switching up, we really enjoyed about POR. It is somewhat spread out, and we decided the next time we stayed at a moderate we'd pay the slight upcharge for a preferred room location. We had no issues w/bus service or the bus sharing w/FQ. Never had unreasonable waits.

That said, our next moderate trip (doing CR for monorail w/2 yo in March), I think I want to try CBR as the pictures of the pool and the relativeily new small kids play pool area look great to me!

The theme of CSR does not appeal to me at all.

I didn't like the theme of POFQ as much as POR when we visited. But, would still consider staying there given how compact it is.

Enjoy trying your first moderate!

 

[KatMark]

We have only stayed at one -- the Coronado (CSR) and have stayed nine times and would have been back for number ten this past September but we ended up at two DVC resorts.

We love everything about the Coronado -- the comfy queen beds, the main pool and quiet pools, the largest hot tub of the mods, the fact that I can get a massage without having to go to one of the pricier deluxe spas. We love the theme, the friendly CM's that we have encountered on each and every trip, etc.

We have visited all of the moderates a number of times. If the Coronado were not available, we would then go with the POR-Riverside -- nice theme, great food court. POFQ and CBR would be way down on the list -- POFQ's hot tub is too small and there are no quiet pools and we don't care for the food court, smaller beds or the theme of CBR (the reason could have something to do with the fact that we go to the beach every trip).

 

[KatMark]

Thanks for all of the replies!! Sounds like all of them are nice, I guess I might narrow it down to 2 and then let dh and ds decide. That's how I do a lot of the things on our Disney trips.



What does that mean, renting points? Sorry, I am a bit clueless!

You can go do to the DVC forum where it will be explained better. Basically, you "rent" points from DVC members at an amount per point for each night's stay at a DVC property. For instance, if the OKW needs 10 points a night for a studio room and the DVC member charges you $13 a point, the cost to you would be $130 per night for that studio room. Just be sure you get references of the person you "rent" from.