We are planning our millionth (approx) trip to WDW for spring break. We have only ever gone at Christmas or autumn. I’ve booked reservations at two different hotels: POFQ and the Hilton Buena Vista Disney Springs and they’re the same price. I’m trying to decide which to go with.
We have only ever stayed in Deluxe hotels and love more luxurious hotels, so I’m nervous about going moderate. We have never stayed off property before. We LOVE a great pool.
As far as I can see it, both the POFQ and the Hilton BVDS have pros and cons:
PROS to POFQ: -on property
CONS to POFQ: -less luxurious than we generally like; - pool isn’t that exciting
PROS to Hilton BVDS: -lazy river and great pool; -walking distance to Disney springs; -luxurious; shuttles to all parks
CONS to Hilton BVDS: -not on property so lose those benefits
Spelling it out like that, I guess my question is: Is staying on property really worth giving up a better pool and more luxurious accommodations?
Guess it all depends on how much pool time vs. park time then (especially if you are rope droppers). The 30 minutes extra in the morning for on site is the big benefit right, so if you are rope droppers then on site is a no brainer. If you hang around the pool in the mornings and go later in the day and at night then the Hilton sounds great.
We use Disney transportation as much as possible. So French Quarter.
However, the table service is at Riverside.
The Hilton you’re looking at is right across from DS. Really really in walking distance. I’m unsure as to whether most on property benefits actually matter right now.
We stayed up the road at Doubletree which isn’t very much in walking distance to us. We said when we left we’d only stay near DS if we were at the Hilton.
For us, we’d pick FQ because the transport outweighs the pool. Altho we’ve always liked the look of the FQ pool slide.
Thanks for the insight, espec. regarding table service at Riverside.
I actually can’t believe I’m leaning more towards off property given how we have stayed ON property for more than 15 trips! Never off! The last time, though, we went to Disney Springs for dinner on our arrival night and the shuttles from Wilderness Lodge to and from Disney Springs were atrocious. It was a nightmare situation getting to DS (someone barfed on the bus so it had to pull over and wait for other bus to rescue us… we ended up being late for our DS dinner reservations by an hour and a half due to the Barf Bus) and trying to get home to the hotel after DS had a 45 minute wait for a bus to arrive and my kids were miserable. I think all that just stands out so clearly in my memory that staying within walking distance to DS sounds awesome. ha. No barf bus!
It’s small but perfectly formed. Everything is close, wherever your room is. Fairly central for transportation, only one bus stop, the boat to DS - which I assume will be back shortly. Staff are awesome. And there are beignets, which is really the main reason.
We stayed at the French Quarter 4 years ago and loved it compared to the rest of the moderate resorts. We had a ground floor room across from the pool. Very little activity there. The pool is not as big as you might think but it does have a slide. Be careful if you requested a river view or something close to it. The transportation boats do blow their horns so sleeping might be a problem. We didn’t have a problem with noise at all. It is a short walk through the lobby to the buses. I guess it depends on if the convenience is the trade that is worth it. Are you driving to the parks or depending on hotel transportation. We considered staying off property this time, but one hotel wanted you to schedule the shuttle for the bus. Deal breaker for us. We are flying in and don’t want to rent a car.
So quick question after just returning from DLR. Are these really beignets because what they have at DLR is not a beignet…it’s a donut and they are very different things. Not that donuts aren’t good but they aren’t beignets. LOL
Yeah, they should be like airy puffy bread with a fried outer texture and only really sweet because of the powdered sugar. But a donut is similar to that but more yeasty and glazed so sweeter. Not a cake donut though a yeast donut. I think that’s what it is, beignets don’t have that yeast flavor and the texture is denser where there is breading, they are a bit crisper on the outside than a yeast donut and less sweet.
I would never stay offsite for the same price I could stay onsite. FQ is the most beloved moderate for a multitude of reasons listed. Unless you plan to Uber everywhere and spend a lot of time in the pool I wouldn’t choose Hilton over FQ. Hilton may have buses, but they are not Disney buses and will not be as regular or direct routes.
Unless they have renovated in the past year, the Hilton is not that luxurious. The rooms were old and the pool wasn’t that amazing. I wasn’t really impressed. I love POFQ–that would be my vote.
They are doughnut-y.