I am so full of questions as our trip gets closer. This is my 8th but we are doing so many new things this time that I feel like a beginner again.
Currently we have my family (husband and 2 kids) at POR. My parents are at POFQ. Our hope is that this is a nice balance, where we are close but not ontopofeachother. I figure we can meet at the park in the am or maybe luck into being on the same bus, or it’s a short walk between the two. There may be nights where one kid stays with her grandparents while we are out later with older kid.
Is this realistic? Or will I find when we get there that the resorts are so immense it feels like we are completely and inefficiently separated? How long is the walk between the two, really? This is our first time at a moderate (we are Wilderness devotees, BLT last time) and I’m really starting to second guess whether we should stay at one place or jump to the Epcot area (Beach Club or Boardwalk).
POFQ is very small, POR seems very big but I haven’t stayed there. The walk from one lobby to the other is about 10 minutes, but I don’t know how long the walk would be to the furthest room at POR. At POFQ it would only be about 5 minutes to the furthest room. You’re unlikely to share a bus - we shared 2 times in a 2 week holiday.
I’d move to POFQ if I was you. It’s generally acknowledged to be the best choice for a mod. I loved it and wouldn’t want to stay anywhere else.
I agree with missoverexcited. We stayed at POFQ for 7 days and were only on a bus with POR once. If I had my choice of the two, I would stay at POFQ. My only complaint about POFQ was the food, but I’m Cajun and the food they serve is far from what I grew up on.
So if your younger child is going to spend the night with the grandparents and want to be fairly close to you guys the next AM, then I would probably recommend staying at the same resort. However, in general I would say this is a fine situation. We did the same thing a few years ago where my husband and I were at POR and his cousin was at POFQ. We had breakfast at alternating resorts and crossed back and forth in the evenings too. The walk isn’t terrible, but I also don’t think you’ll want to do it every day. The boat is terribly inefficient. We had a car to go back and forth between the two. It is nice to have the pool hopping option. We have since stayed at POFQ as well, and I personally think my heart will always lie in Alligator Bayou at POR but the splash pad at POFQ can’t be beat.
We prefer POFQ between the two, but POR would be our 2nd choice of moderates. If staying with your current plan, make sure you request your Riverside rooms to be towards POFQ to minimize the walk. Building 95 (Parterre Place) is closest and 90 (Oak Manor) isn’t bad. We stayed in Oak Manor and liked it as it’s also relatively close to the lobby/Quick Service for drink refills and main pool. Similarily for FQ, request buildings 7/6/4/5 to be towards Riverside with 7 being the closest. I’d also weigh what else matters to you in a room of course.
Looking at Google Maps if you swung building 95 at Riverside & 7 at FQ, it looks to be around half the distance than 95 to Alligator Bayou within Riverside. Which may just show how huge Riverside is…
I think you’ll be fine. The walk between the 2 is very nice and we often went from POFQ to POR for dinner in the evening. But agree - they hardly every share a bus.
I know POFQ is a big favorite among most, so I’ll give a contrasting opinion. POFQ was our least favorite resort and the one my family vowed to never return to. We had a miserable experience each time we went to the food court (which is why we started walking over to POR! - one night DH returned 3 times to try to get his order correct). The beds were the most uncomfortable we had ever had (although I was told after the fact by a cast member we could have asked to have the mattresses swapped out or a mattress topper put on to help…I’m not sure a mattress topper would have helped). And DS had a traumatic experience at the pool after a nasty fall where he asked the lifeguard for help and was told he needed to get down the stairs by himself - he was 7 at the time, fell at the top of the waterslide and scraped off a good chunk of skin on his foot and was bleeding everywhere - having him walk down the stairs in this state without assistance seemed a recipe for disaster, not to mention a health code issue. I was at the bottom and finally flagged down a lifeguard to help (this lifeguard was great. She helped clean him up, stop the bleeding, get some bandaids and an ice pack. I haven’t been able to get DS -now 9- on a waterslide since). And the bus lines were very confusing in the morning when it was really busy.
But we love POR . Have stayed there 3 times and had great experiences each time.