Which Resort Would You Choose?

[SweetSerenity]

My husband and I are looking to go back to Disney World 11/1/18-11/10/18. I've been researching packages until I can't think straight anymore, but with those dates being the weekend of the marathon and just before a convention I wanted to go ahead and book this weekend. My dilemma is that I have it narrowed down to three vastly different choices, all with pros and cons, and I can't seem to sort through. So, I thought I'd turn to the panel of experts and ask you all for your opinions. We typically do Free Dining and sometimes upgrade to the Deluxe Dining Plan, but I can't count on that this year so there is the added expense of the dining plan. I'm not sure if there will be any discounts for us during those dates, though I certainly hope so.

My three choices are:
Pop Century
Caribbean Beach
Animal Kingdom Lodge

I have stayed at all three of those in the past and have liked them all, though I was at CB and AKL for 3 nights and stayed at Pop 8 years ago. I would consider a split stay to help with cost, but my husband will not do that due to the trouble we ran into on a split stay a few years ago. What reasons would you have to choose or not choose each resort? I'd like to hear your experiences, good or bad, to help me narrow them down a little more. Thank you all!

 

[Tigerlulu]

CB has a lot of construction right now—not sure what their status will be next year. It might be fine. But as it stands right now looking at that list I’d choose AK.

 

[Tallent]

I haven't stayed at Pop in a long time--we liked it but didn't like that we could hear the toilets flush from the room next to us and above us. We've stayed at CBR but the construction is a no-go for me at non reduced prices . We stayed at AKL last summer and fell in love! So AKL would be my choice.

Rachel

 

[illinidp]

We would go with AKL and it wouldn't be close

 

[catfan98]

AKL would be my choice. It is my dream resort, and I hope I get to stay there one day. The family vetoes me every trip as they like staying at the Epcot area resorts. But one day....sigh. So yeah, AKL, lol. I will say I have never stayed at a mod or value, so I can’t compare, just giving my opinion on which I would choose if all are affordable!

 

[mamamelody2]

I would do POP just because of cost. I'm not willing to pay tons of money just for the room. We are typically not there much at all.
Those dates are highly unlikely to be included in free dining if they offer it, either, so likely you will be paying full price for DDP.
BUT, budget is a huge consideration for us. If it wasn't, I'd do AKL. I have no interest in CBL.

 

[Dug720]

I have always been a CBR girl, but I am not going near there at least until they have actual dining in non-tent places. Though to be fair that is because I am gluten-free and do not trust a food tent set-up to be safe.

I stayed at Pop once and it was ok, but I 100% despise the "hospital chic" look they have gone with there, so it's a no-go for me from now on. (And apparently the All Stars will go that route as well once their conversion to hospital rooms is finished.)

I have stayed once at AKL and loved it. And truth be told the only reason I changed from there for my upcoming trip is that I don't plan to be in the room for anything other than sleeping. But it's already on my list for pre-cruise next February.

 

[hllb]

We just stayed at Poly. I wondered if the cost would be worth it since we wouldn’t spend much time at the resort. For us, it was. The room is bigger (with a family of 5, that’s important). It was very quiet and peaceful (other than the bustling main building). Transportation was great. The overall atmosphere too. We really liked it.

So I’d vote for AKL.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

AKL. It's so peaceful and beautiful. The pools are fantastic and the restaurants are great, too. It's such an oasis after park touring!

 

[cassie58]

If budget allows, AKL without hesitation! Especially with the length of your stay, as I would guess you might do a rest/pool/resort day and AKL has a lot more to offer than the other two with the animals, lounges, restaurants, 2 pools to visit, and just the beauty of sitting in the lobby!

 

[Haley R]

I vote for pop. I’ve never stayed at cbr so I can’t add thoughts about that. We stayed at akl last year and we decided we would rather save the money and go to a moderate or value resort.

 

[Sue M]

I would choose AKL. Very unique resort, and beautiful. Good bus service, and restaurants. Beautiful pool area.

As people mentioned CBR is a construction zone right now. You may try to go on the CBR web site to glean any further info on when it will be done.
Maybe another moderate? POR is our fav. It has a lot to offer with a boat to Disney Springs and a fun evening show in the lounge. It has beautiful grounds, love strolling along the river paths. We love the mansion section.

Pop would be my 3rd choice. We stayed there in Nov/Dec 2017 and had a refurbished room. I liked them better than I thought I would. The beds were very comfy, 1 queen and 1 queen Murphy bed that when up has a table. The bathroom was the best. Lots of storage, I never had to keep my toiletries on the sink counter.
The things I didn’t like- our room was really far away from everything and it’s a large resort. Room location here can make or break a stay. And no pretty walking paths to make it a more pleasant walk. Bus service was the worst I ever experienced. Maybe it was just this trip? We were there 10 days. My friend who also stayed there during my stay said in her numerous stays at Pop this was the worst bus service.

Something to consider is how you vacation. If you’re the park commando type and are at the parks open to close, I’d book Pop preferred location.
If you plan on taking mid day breaks and have a more relaxed touring plan taking time to enjoy the resort, I’d go with AKL or a moderate.

No one knows if free dinning will be offered, last year: Aug 21-Dec 23 Free Dining for general public (blacked out 10/1-11/13, 11/21-11/24, 11/28-12/7) lots of black out dates. I believe now both Value and Mod only get quick service, with Deluxe getting the regular plan. For me, I’ve found the free dining never a good deal with 2 people staying at a deluxe. You’d have to do the Disney Math. And now with reduced plan with moderate stay that’s no longer a good deal either. We stopped getting the DDP a few years ago. I found we ate what we liked and how we liked and it cost less. I get a gift card and load it with around what the cost of the DDP is and use that for dining. It’s easy, and we always have $ left over, so the last day we will use the extra $ for suvies.

 

[SweetSerenity]

I would choose AKL. Very unique resort, and beautiful. Good bus service, and restaurants. Beautiful pool area.

As people mentioned CBR is a construction zone right now. You may try to go on the CBR web site to glean any further info on when it will be done.
Maybe another moderate? POR is our fav. It has a lot to offer with a boat to Disney Springs and a fun evening show in the lounge. It has beautiful grounds, love strolling along the river paths. We love the mansion section.

Pop would be my 3rd choice. We stayed there in Nov/Dec 2017 and had a refurbished room. I liked them better than I thought I would. The beds were very comfy, 1 queen and 1 queen Murphy bed that when up has a table. The bathroom was the best. Lots of storage, I never had to keep my toiletries on the sink counter.
The things I didn’t like- our room was really far away from everything and it’s a large resort. Room location here can make or break a stay. And no pretty walking paths to make it a more pleasant walk. Bus service was the worst I ever experienced. Maybe it was just this trip? We were there 10 days. My friend who also stayed there during my stay said in her numerous stays at Pop this was the worst bus service.

Something to consider is how you vacation. If you’re the park commando type and are at the parks open to close, I’d book Pop preferred location.
If you plan on taking mid day breaks and have a more relaxed touring plan taking time to enjoy the resort, I’d go with AKL or a moderate.

No one knows if free dinning will be offered, last year: Aug 21-Dec 23 Free Dining for general public (blacked out 10/1-11/13, 11/21-11/24, 11/28-12/7) lots of black out dates. I believe now both Value and Mod only get quick service, with Deluxe getting the regular plan. For me, I’ve found the free dining never a good deal with 2 people staying at a deluxe. You’d have to do the Disney Math. And now with reduced plan with moderate stay that’s no longer a good deal either. We stopped getting the DDP a few years ago. I found we ate what we liked and how we liked and it cost less. I get a gift card and load it with around what the cost of the DDP is and use that for dining. It’s easy, and we always have $ left over, so the last day we will use the extra $ for suvies.

Thank you so much for your input. POR is one of our favorites, but we didn't have a great experience there back in 2016. The difference in price between CBR and POR was about 800.00, which seemed like a lot for the moderate category. By then, there wasn't much of a leap from POR to AKL.

The new rooms at Pop seem nice even though I know some people don't like them. We have a built in rest day without parks and we do like our naps. I can sleep pretty much anywhere, but I want us to be comfortable if we are spending a lot of time in the rooms.

Yes, I am afraid that my dates will be blacked out since they're so close to October. A QS plan would never work for us, though I could upgrade to the regular plan and pay the difference. I have contemplated not doing the dining plan at all, but we typically find that we save with it so we like doing it. You have a great idea about using the gift cards, though. I may end up dropping the dining plan and just doing that.

Again, thank you.

 

[SweetSerenity]

Thank you all so much for your replies. I have booked AKL. In the long run, it made more sense as we do spend quite a bit of time at our resorts resting and taking breaks. I appreciate all the help and input!

 

[Sue M]

Thank you so much for your input. POR is one of our favorites, but we didn't have a great experience there back in 2016. The difference in price between CBR and POR was about 800.00, which seemed like a lot for the moderate category. By then, there wasn't much of a leap from POR to AKL.

The new rooms at Pop seem nice even though I know some people don't like them. We have a built in rest day without parks and we do like our naps. I can sleep pretty much anywhere, but I want us to be comfortable if we are spending a lot of time in the rooms.

Yes, I am afraid that my dates will be blacked out since they're so close to October. A QS plan would never work for us, though I could upgrade to the regular plan and pay the difference. I have contemplated not doing the dining plan at all, but we typically find that we save with it so we like doing it. You have a great idea about using the gift cards, though. I may end up dropping the dining plan and just doing that.

Again, thank you.

I was surprised the first time we went without the DDP that we saved so much. And hesitant. After all, we always had the DDP at wdw.
I had the Gift Card loaded with what the cost of the DDP would have cost. We ate what we wanted, and ate well. And we came out under the cost of the plan.
I think the main savings for us was we don’t drink pop, and prefer water. We don’t want dessert after lunch most of the time. There are exceptions. And at dinner we prefer to share a dessert. Also we don’t use snack credits every day so at the end of the trip we end up in the resort shop buying Mickey rice crispies, bagged candy, etc to pack home. On the DDP all this is built into the plan, you’re paying for it.
In our case it’s paying for things we don’t want. Off the DDP you can skip that QS dessert that you didn’t want and wait till mid day to maybe grab that cupcake you saw somewhere else. Same with dinner and dessert. You don’t have to have dessert at the same restaurant. We love Kona Cafe then go get a Dole Whip downstairs for dessert.