Worthwile to save 1000$??

[Jenn55]

So I'm trying to narrow down my budget and planning for my 2015 trip. Originally I was looking at dec 1-13th, but I would save 83$ by going the 29 nov to 11th of December.. So yay on that. However I had my heart set on port Orleans riverside for my son and I. Then I made the mistake of looking at pop century and it would be a good 981$ cheaper for the same dates!! Is POR really worth almost an extra thousand dollars? I know they have queen beds, which is a giant upside, and a slide at the pool. We also wanted to do a carriage ride and one of those kid pirate excursions which take off from POR. it would be easier to do those staying at that resort. But on the other hand, we are getting 9 day park tickets and plan on spending 2 days doing other stuff at disney, like resort hopping and the pirate thing as well as just relaxing and I'm wondering with not spending a lot of time at our home resort is it worth that much extra money??!! HELP!!

 

[ceecee]

IMO your son may like POP better, you didn't mention an age. DD loved the value resorts due to the fun factor until she reached the pre-teen age! You can always go to the resort for the carriage ride, regardless of where you stayed. DD did the pirate cruise when she was younger from the GF I believe. She also did the cooking class there. We stayed at ASMovies because she was obsessed with 101 Dalmatians!!!

 

[AprilRenee]

Well I love pop so I'm biased. But $1000 is a lot of money! I'd switch to POP.

 

[MichaelaF]

Two things. One, I really like a lot about POR, so I totally understand having your heart set on it! Two, it's pretty early, so you may see some discounts show up for POR when the time gets closer.

BUT - If it's just the two of you, honestly, I would probably save the money and stay at Pop. I'm not sure how old your son is, but assuming he's younger (pirate cruise age), he'd probably actually enjoy Pop as much or more. The way I look at it, how many other things can you spend that $981 on at Disney? Lots! You could (maybe) feel free to spend another $300 on, say the Christmas Party and some special merch or dinner and you're still saving $600. You don't really gain much of a transportation advantage at POR, unless you want to spend more time at DTD. If you were comparing POP to say, Boardwalk or Fort Wilderness, I may have a different suggestion, just because the transportation benefits are higher at those. But the transportation differences between Pop and POR are pretty minimal.

Another thought I tend to have - how much of that money could I save toward the NEXT Disney trip? That could easily pay for the tickets the following year.

 

[Jenn55]

Thanx everyone.. Son will be 9.5 when we go. We went back in January 2014 when he was almost 8 and did a split stay at AS Movies and the cars suite at AOA... He loved both, we stayed at the toy story building cause he loves both those movies. He loved the resorts, but it was also his first trip and he had been asking to go for years (it was a surprise Xmas present for him). I know I can do the carriage ride without staying at POR, I was just thinking it would be easier if we were already on the property. I also want to do the chip and dale sing along. I fell in love with POR while I was resort hunting the last few months, but as ppl have said, 1000$ can do so much, before and after the trip. We are gonna do the MVMCP and I want to do the candlelit processional as well.

I do really enjoy having a table service restuarant at the resort and I know pop doesn't have one. Also the more grown up details of the resort and the not so in your face disney aspects. The in your face disney attack was why I chose the resorts I did the first time as it was supposed to be our once a lifetime trip, trip.. Boy that didn't last lol..

 

[marmalade]

I always lean towards the cheaper trips after I see the huge $$$ saved by staying at a value. BUT once I get there I really wish I would have spent the extra money to stay somewhere else. I like the values and would stay in them again if that is all my budget would allow, but if I had the money I would prefer to stay elsewhere.

Roughly you have about 57 weeks until your payment would be due for a 11/29/2015 check in... that equates to approx $17 a week you would have to put away to pay for the POR upgrade. And that is without a discount which will most likely come out later. If it was me, I would be able to easily find an extra $17/week to stay at POR.

 

[MichaelaF]

Well, I'm not sure if it matters, but if table service is one of your factors, Boatwrights has generally pretty mediocre-to-bad reviews. Though it's a short walk or boat ride to some other, better table service options at DTD or POFQ.

If you feel it's worth it, go for it! I'm definitely one who likes to go back to a less "Disney-fied" resort myself, so I wouldn't judge you at all for staying at POR.

 

[Jenn55]

I always lean towards the cheaper trips after I see the huge $$$ saved by staying at a value. BUT once I get there I really wish I would have spent the extra money to stay somewhere else. I like the values and would stay in them again if that is all my budget would allow, but if I had the money I would prefer to stay elsewhere. Roughly you have about 57 weeks until your payment would be due for a 11/29/2015 check in... that equates to approx $17 a week you would have to put away to pay for the POR upgrade. And that is without a discount which will most likely come out later. If it was me, I would be able to easily find an extra $17/week to stay at POR.

See that's my issue, I love the idea of staying at a moderate, and I'd hate to get down there and think if only I chose a different resort. The 17$ extra a week is nothing, I mean I'm not made of money or anything, but will all I'm shelling out already, 17$ extra a week to put aside is basically pennies.. However it's that big number 981$ that I'm having trouble wrapping my head around..

Well, I'm not sure if it matters, but if table service is one of your factors, Boatwrights has generally pretty mediocre-to-bad reviews. Though it's a short walk or boat ride to some other, better table service options at DTD or POFQ. If you feel it's worth it, go for it! I'm definitely one who likes to go back to a less "Disney-fied" resort myself, so I wouldn't judge you at all for staying at POR.

I do like having the option of the boat to downtown disney, since it's where we're spending our arrival day!

 

[PrincessKymm]

If you have your heart set on it but don't want to spend the extra $$$$ why not do a split stay? Start at pop and then say midway switch to POR. And yeah id wait to see what discounts come out, we usually go in Nov. And have gotten discounts in the past.

 

[MichaelaF]

See that's my issue, I love the idea of staying at a moderate, and I'd hate to get down there and think if only I chose a different resort. The 17$ extra a week is nothing, I mean I'm not made of money or anything, but will all I'm shelling out already, 17$ extra a week to put aside is basically pennies.. However it's that big number 981$ that I'm having trouble wrapping my head around.. I do like having the option of the boat to downtown disney, since it's where we're spending our arrival day!

What about a split stay? You could get some time at POR, but still save some cash...

Edit: Sorry, I didn't see the PP. Something about the iphone app!

 

[Jenn55]

The other thing I have to consider is if my bf comes with us, him and I can't sleep on a double bed.. It just isn't big enough, so we would have to do a moderate... I think I will look into the split stay.. Originally I was hoping to do a split with animal kingdom and do the savannah view, but even if I could afford a 4000$ resort stay, I couldn't justify it to myself!

 

[davedmaine]

Really, it all depends on what you can afford. If it would put you in a financial bind, save the money.

 

[MichaelaF]

If you are considering any resort that has DVC, I would always look into the cost of renting points, if you can book far enough ahead. It doesn't apply for POR or POP but if you were thinking about AKL, you may want to check into AKVs. The Value rooms are pretty affordable if you can get them. David's is a great place to start looking at the prices for budgeting. We ended up renting points from a Diser last year (for $2 less per point than David's) for WLV and loved it.

http://www.dvcrequest.com/

It may be worth looking into OKW or Saratoga Springs DVC rentals and comparing prices - both of those are connected to DTD and POR by ferry boat and offer less "Disneyfied" decor.

 

[Jenn55]

If you are considering any resort that has DVC, I would always look into the cost of renting points, if you can book far enough ahead. It doesn't apply for POR or POP but if you were thinking about AKL, you may want to check into AKVs. The Value rooms are pretty affordable if you can get them. David's is a great place to start looking at the prices for budgeting. We ended up renting points from a Diser last year (for $2 less per point than David's) for WLV and loved it. http://www.dvcrequest.com/ It may be worth looking into OKW or Saratoga Springs DVC rentals and comparing prices - both of those are connected to DTD and POR by ferry boat and offer less "Disneyfied" decor.

We have looked into AKV and DVC... If I were do rent points I'd only do AKV cause tbh the other deluxe don't really interest me, but I know my sin would flip if he had a chance to wake up to animals in his backyard basically. Y issue with renting is having to put out the cost of the trip upfront. The upside to booking with disney is I can use a certain pay check each month towards the cost, one I don't need for other stuff... It's the only way we can afford to go back so soon

 

[Ladygoldenhair]

You may really kick yourself if you have your heart set on POR and your son hates it. There is just nothing POP about POR.
That is a lot of money to spend and to look at a sad face.

 

[Jenn55]

You may really kick yourself if you have your heart set on POR and your son hates it. There is just nothing POP about POR. That is a lot of money to spend and to look at a sad face.

That probably is my biggest fear! That he won't enjoy it if I pick POR instead of POP... but again if the bf comes I need to pick a moderate in order to be able to comfortably sleep. He died really love the two we previously stayed at but they were very disney-fied..

 

[Disneychick75]

Tell your son that while you will ultimately decide on the resort, you would like his input. Show him pictures of both resorts.
I would consider a split stay if you'll be there for 9 days. We've done them for 5 day trips. It's fun and a great way to stay at more WDW resorts. Easy too, call bell services if you want them to get your luggage or bring it to bell services and ask them to bring your bags to the new resort. Also, if you do a split, I'd suggest doing AK last because you sometimes miss the deluxe amenities when going from deluxe to mod.

 

[dsdeleon]

My son and I just came back from a split stay, POP then POR. It was an expensive downgrade!! The POR room smelled so bad, the resort is way too big and the rooms are stuffed, usually 5 adults and a baby which makes the pools and buses packed. I would never stay there again! POP was sparkling and the CMs are trying hard over there. POP all the way.

 

[turkey1031]

So I'm guessing you've checked out the videos and pictures of both rooms. I didn't realize how small the ones at pop were until I saw pictures. Do you have a blow up mattress that someone could sleep on? Also I'd compare food courts to what the 2 or 3 of you might like best. I think the bussing is better at pop.it feels like they come more often than at por. Don't know if that is true or not. Also sometimes por shares the bus with POFQ with por being the second stop so it may be standing room only if you have one of the later stops at por.

 

[cel_disney]

Does POR have a slide? I thought the slide was at POFQ?

We are biased / huge fans of POFQ but really dislike POR and CS for moderates. POFQ has a reasonable size, great pool with slide, easy single bus stop that doesn't usually share (and if it does - it's the first stop!), shorter boat ride to DTD, and a nice bar if you want to grab a hurricane.

We are staying at a value for 1 night for the first time this month before moving into our DVC a at BLT. Even though they are smaller, I would prefer a value over all mods except POFQ a I think. More color, more value, etc.

I would save the money for more activities an do a split stay if your DBF joins you for some of the time.