Tell me about your favorite moderate resort

So glad 2015 finally opened up, now I need to figure out my plan so I can book, LOL! Looking for opinions on where to stay… It will be just me & dd8. Because it’s not a family vaca I am trying to do it more budget friendly. I’m hoping for discount & going during early September (2015) for lower prices.

I have stayed at the campground but other than that, have only stayed in Deluxe, so I feel like the values will be too disappointing for both of us. Especially since pools are the big selling point, specifically slides, for dd7 (she is 7 now, but will be dd8 on the trip). I will have a car (though will want to use disney transportation often). Not sure if we will bother with water parks and I have little interest in DTD. We will definitely park hop.

I initially thought AOA would be great for dd, but that (most likely) won’t be part of any promotion & no slides at the values, so I’m thinking I’ll do one of the mods. I’m leaning toward CSR because of the pool, but POR & POFQ seem to be such big favorites (though I’m not super clear on why). I like the location of CBR (can you walk to Epcot from CBR?), but it doesn’t seem to get much love at all! I will probably want to stick to a standard room and we don’t mind walking at all, though I’ll admit having a long walk for EVERYTHING at a resort doesn’t sound fun. Any thoughts or recommendations?

Thanks!

I’ve stayed at all of them except OKW. POFQ is by bar my fav mod. By far. Romantic, small, quiet, well themed, well manicured, boat to DTD, 2 great pools (other in POR), Yeeha Bob over in POR which you can enjoy as well, beingets and I understand easy bus transport (we drive so no experience there). Really, you can’t go wrong w any DIS resort. PS While EP and DHS are close, don’t think these are safe walks from CBR. Super short bus rides though.

Let me tell you about POR. I love to stay in the Magnolia Bend section of the resort. That is the section with the Royal Rooms but standard rooms are nice as well. The one thing about the moderates you need to know is that there are no inside hallways.

Magnolia Bend is filled with majestic mansions. You walk the grounds at night and there are fairy lights twinkling in the leaves! In the morning you walk to the food court ( a very large food court) and you walk the path by the river that looks like a pane of glass, so soothing and peaceful!

During the day you can take a boat to DTD or swim in either the main pool or one of the quite pools ( yes, there is more than one!). At night you can see YeeHaw Bob! Check out: www.portorleans.org

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I prefer POR. I love that they have quiet pools in addition to the main crazy busy one but sounds like the slide is what you are looking for so POFQ would be a good option. Keep in mind though that POFQ is often excluded from Discounts so if the discount is a big deal you may have to have a back up plan of other mods that have the deals available.

We stayed at POR in 2012 and absolutely loved it. We are staying at POFQ end of this month. I really liked the theming at POR, especially the mansions section… very beautifully landscaped grounds, nice pools, good options at the food court. We didn’t have trouble with the buses, though we did have better luck from the main bus stop than the peripheral ones. We are staying at POFQ this trip because I loved walking through it on our 2012 trip… also gorgeous theming and I like the small size and short walks to the bus/food. We thought the rooms at POR were perfectly nice, and a meaningful step nicer than Pop, where we often stay when on a tighter budget.

I would withhold judgement on CBR until after the current refurb is done… you may get some great reviews after that, but I dont know. You cannot walk to Epcot, though.

I don’t know that I have a favorite. The only mod that I’ve stayed in is CBR, and I didn’t love it. No preferred room and no car, so the distance from the room to just about anything was a10-15 min walk (depending how tired I was). Based on visits, if I was going to stay at a mod it would be POFQ (or maybe the POR mansions). I love the theming, and especially for FQ, the relatively small size.

Love, love, love POR! Great food court, DDs love the pool and slide, beautiful resort. Yehaa Bob is amazing - fun for all ages! It’s funny, but one of our favorite things is listening to the “crickets” on the bus on the way back to the resort. DH and I stayed at Pop our last trip, and it just wasn’t the same… And I love loud 80s music, just not after a long day at the parks!

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I have to say POR Princess room is my fav! Its a great atmosphere, good food, and Yee Haw Bob is fabulous! The bus service is horrible though :frowning:. We also enjoy CBR for that Caribbean feel. Good luck!

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Stayed at CBR and POR - Loved both for different reasons. CBR was our first trip to WDW so will always be a favourite. DS13 (DS 9 at the time) loved the pool and slide. Just returned from POR - Alligator Bayou - me and DH really liked this one - made for a more relaxing trip: fishing hole, carriage rides, quiet atmosphere. But from my DS slide was lousy and wanted to go back to CBR. The benefit of Port Orleans is you can use both pools plus the quiet pools

Any love for CSR at all? I’m leaning toward this because of the pool and other amenities & because I just found out it is the same price as the other mods the week I’m planning on going.

We have stayed at CBR and CSR and loved both. Both are large resorts and we had good luck with busses at all. Loved the quiet pools as well.

We stayed at CSR this summer, former Deluxe-ers. It was tight with our family of 4, but with 2 the room would be more than adequate.
We LOVED the resort (room, not so much). The Pool was top notch, as was the placement of the nightly movie (in sand area of playground, away from pool a bit but very near bar service. The food was great and the bus service was phenomenal. It really is prettier than the photos. Casitas are far from the pool. Id stick with Cabanas if you can.