Which value resort should we stay at the night before our Cruise

[Lynn10too]

Hi all. I'm trying to plan a family Disney cruise trip for May 2016. I was comparing value resort prices for my group of 8. We are only staying the day/night before our cruise. My family has two small kids and two senior citizens. The seniors can't walk far. What would be the best value resort price wise that is also more convenient for my family? I stayed at the all star music before. My sister has stayed at the Art of animation. She likes it better but I think it cost more. When she got to go it was free because she's a journalist. I don't think she's paying attention to the cost, or to the fact it might not be comfortable for our senior citizen parents. She thinks AoA is the best place for her kids. Can anyone think of an alternative or tiebreaker?

 

[Anonny]

Sleep at Pop. Visit and eat at Art of Animation.
Request 50s or 60s facing the lake. That would be near the bridge between resorts and halfway between the main lobbies.

Only AoA guests can use the AoA pool. If that is why your sister thinks it would be best for her kids, spilt up, she at AoA, you at Pop. You'd still be walking distance to each other's rooms.

It's only for one night.

 

[Jennifer777]

I personally don't like the All Star resorts and Art of Animation really isn't that much more ($30 maybe?) so if it keeps your sister happy it may be worth it to spring for it. The all star resorts all share transportation to the parks so that was inconvenient for us. If Art of Animation has it's own bus service that would seal he deal for me. Also, the All Star resorts tend to cater to the big groups for competitions like soccer/cheer/dance so there are often lots of 8-18 year olds with less supervision than you would hope for.

Another option to consider for a possible tie breaker, depending on how many you each have in each room, Port Orleans Riverside has rooms with a 3rd pull down bed for kids so you may be able to fit more comfortably in those rooms. I've heard good things about it from those I know who has stayed there before. However, I would wait to decide or book anything until Disney offers the rooms on sale. Leading up to our last two cruises they dropped prices on certain hotels and some of the moderate hotel rooms were the same price or even less expensive than the value resorts so you could have more options.

Another thing you could check into to help you decide, if you're taking Disney transportation from the airport or to the ship, I'd call to see if they know what the pick up/drop off order of the different hotels is. When they picked us up from the airport, they dropped off at Art of Animation first and our hotel was a long 3 stops later. We ended up being on the bus for over an hour! If you're traveling with senior citizens, I imagine it would be helpful for them to not be stuck on a bus for an extra 20 - 30 minutes.

The other thing I would suggest since you're traveling with seniors is to call when you book so you can ask them to place a note with your reservation about room location so you aren't placed in a room where you have to walk a mile to get anywhere.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

If you are planning on using the resort amenities at all, like the pool, I would definitely go with Art of Animation. It's not that much more for just one night. If you are just using it as a place to sleep, then just go with whatever is cheapest.

 

[Scillycruisers]

We stayed at AOA, it was lovely and there was a great choice of food. However it was a long walk to the Little Mermaid rooms which were the cheapest. No problem for us but would have been if we had any mobility issues, so check where the rooms are! Also there were huge groups of cheerleaders staying, in fact one evening the line for the shuttle back to AOA was so long we jumped on the one to Pop instead and walked back across the lake!

 

[Lynn10too]

Thank you all these are great suggestions.

 

[jdb in AZ]

I personally don't like the All Star resorts and Art of Animation really isn't that much more ($30 maybe?) so if it keeps your sister happy it may be worth it to spring for it.

Another option to consider for a possible tie breaker, depending on how many you each have in each room, Port Orleans Riverside has rooms with a 3rd pull down bed for kids so you may be able to fit more comfortably in those rooms. I've heard good things about it from those I know who has stayed there before. However, I would wait to decide or book anything until Disney offers the rooms on sale. Leading up to our last two cruises they dropped prices on certain hotels and some of the moderate hotel rooms were the same price or even less expensive than the value resorts so you could have more options.

The other thing I would suggest since you're traveling with seniors is to call when you book so you can ask them to place a note with your reservation about room location so you aren't placed in a room where you have to walk a mile to get anywhere.

If you do stay at Port Orleans Riverside, make sure the seniors' room is on the main floor. We stayed in a 2nd floor room and there wasn't an elevator.

 

[mevelandry]

Art of Animation is amazing. If you go for Little Mermaid Rooms, it's not that much more.