Getting ready for our first trip to Disney. I would love to stay at the WL but it's so expensive so I'm trying to talk myself into one of the Moderate Resorts. What does every one think? Caribbean Beach Port Orleans Wilderness Lodge
POR, mansion section is our fav moderate, 2nd is POFQ. They are sister resorts. IMO they have a little extra to offer with a boat to DTD, evening entertainment, horse & carriage rides, and the POR food court is my fav. Love the make your own pasta bar .
Hello! You will get lots or replies and hear people passionately explaining why they love their favorite resort. We were in the same boat, having gotten married at the GrandCalifornian in CA and wanting to stay at WL but severely questioning whether it was worth the cost. After doing it for our honeymoon and again five years later, we are again booked at WL. One way we keep the cost down is by booking a standard view room. At WL all of the (non deluxe) rooms are the same size, so the only difference is the view out the balcony. We have also been very fortunate and wound up with an upgraded view both times, even though we booked and paid for standard. While such an upgrade isnt guarranteed, it happens quite often since most of the rooms at WL are woods view or better. Of the resorts you mentioned, we have not visited Carribbean Beach, but we have spent time at POR and really like its quiet rural atmosphere, which we find to be similar to WL. Having the boat to DTD is a nice option, but it takes a while. At WL, we love having the boat transportation option to MK and to CR and Fort Wilderness. Bay Lake is beautiful, and the area feels like you are in a secluded forrest, not right next to such a busy theme park. Comparing POR to WL, the biggest difference is that all of WL is under one roof, which is especially a benefit in rainy weather. WL is much less spread out, so it is quicker (and dryer if its raining) to get anywhere. Location is the next difference, but this only really affects you for MK, since for either resort you'll be taking busses to the other parks. For dining, POR has a nice QS food court, while WL has a much smaller (although really good) QS counter / snack bar called Roaring Fork. WL has sit down dining at Artist Point, which is fancier than POR's Boatwright's. Both have boat and bike rental options, and nice pools. Whichever resort you choose you should have a great time staying on property at Disney. For us it feels like we are going to Disney, not to Florida. We stay on the property the whole time and love it, especially the time hanging around the resorts. Enjoy your trip!
I've stayed at all 4 moderates and based on my theme preferences/experiences would rank them as follows: 1) POR 2) POFQ 3) CSR 4) CBR We really like the moderates and try to stay at one of them for a couple of nights almost every trip.
Port Orleans, either side. Honestly, why push your budget if you don't have to? Not talking about you in particular, but nothing's worse than going on vacation and having to count pennies on everything because you splurged on the resort.
We're big fans of WL..... We're kicking around a studio there, rental from Dave's .... Priced out lodge room at 2200.00 for 8 nights vs same nights studio at the villas studio for 1300.00.... Kind of a no brainer, it's just the 2 of us, we do prefer the north wing at the lodge but the savings is nothing to sneeze at...so you don't get housekeeping every day... How much of a mess are we going to create.... Dave's point rental is easy to use, point calculator to see how many points needed, flat rate of 13.00 a point and no interaction with an owner, all thru the middleman.... I'd rather trust to a company than an individual!! Also, when we do Disney, not going to cut my resort pick and be miserable... We want WL, we're doing WL... Know what I mean!
Of the resorts you mentioned we have only stayed at CBR and that has been 4x. We love the Caribbean feel, music, lush landscaping, beaches with hammocks to relax on, gift shop is nice, food court is good, average food court IMO, and the pool area is awesome. Our DD loves the kiddie pirate ship and the main pool area has 2 water slides & hot tubs! Each village also has its own private pool & laundry room. The resort is large, however that's why we love it because even if it's booked it doesn't feel like there is hardly anyone there. We have stayed in the futherest rooms before from the main area and still was only a 6-8 min walk!! The buses have always been good, never any issue's, longest we might have waited was 10-15 min for a bus. It takes about 10 min for the buses to do the loop and stop at each village, then it's off to the parks!!
Out of your choices, we have stayed at WL and CBR. WL is one of our favorite resorts, but we did love CBR and wouldn't hesitate to stay there again. We've never stayed at POR, but it does look like a beautiful resort and does have a good following from people on these boards. I don't think you can make a wrong choice with any of them. If there's anyway WL is doable, that would be my choice; otherwise, I don't think POR or CBR are bad choices for a moderate. I would look at the theme/decor of each and choose the one that appeals to you the most. Good luck.
We've been to Disney once and stayed at POR, we loved it and will probably stay there again this year.
