Opinions on moderates

Mickey24c

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jun 2, 2008
We are planning on staying at a moderate for our next visit. We have two teens-what is everyones thoughts for the best moderate for older kids?
 
That depends on what your teen would be interested in. For our family the pool is important for the kids so we'd choose either CSR or CBR. My boys would prefer CSR as the first choice, but again that is just my family and everyone is different.
 


Our fav is Por Resort. Love the mansion section, but depending on size of the teens, the Aligator Bayou (AB) section has a pull down Murphy bed if one of the teens wants own bed and is small size under 5’2? Or likes sleeping curled up.
A heads up both CBR and CSR are under construction. So before considering either of those do some research.
 
POFQ is fun, with a live band at their resort and a short walk to POR for Yehaa Bob. They'd get my choice over the other 2. Plus, you are close to DS, if they want to walk around there, for more entertainment.
 


Just with the huge amount of construction going on at CS & CBR I would stick with either Port Orleans resort. I know they say that there is minimal disruption during the day but to not have reduced rates is something that Disney should address. I know that at some point people who had booked before construction announced were being either offered a move at no extra cost or given a $75 per day credit on a gift card, but now its a case of "hey, now you know deal with it"
 
If you're going to stay at a moderate I would choose Coronado Springs. Every other moderate we've had bad experiences at.
 
We are planning on staying at a moderate for our next visit. We have two teens-what is everyones thoughts for the best moderate for older kids?

Imho, What I'd suggest is either CSR, or POR... Based on the construction that is happening over @ CSR, that would have to way in on your decision.

What I've found is that other than POFQ, they are all spread out some....

POFQ is nice, don't get me wrong. The theming and stuff, a great food court, (BEIGNETS), but to me it's kinda claustrophobic.... And the pool, is geared towards lil kids IMHO....

CBR Has construction going on, and it's been a long time since the 1 night we stayed here. This place just didn't scream Disney at all, and was super spread out, and had horrible bus service....

POR as someone earlier stated is a great resort.... Spread out yes, but it doesn't appear that way....Everything is fairly close to the main island, and across the bridge to the main bldgs. It has nice rooms, nice pools, a great slide, great places to eat, the boatride to DS'sand pretty good bus service...Except when coming back from F!...That was horrendous.

CSR. was our favorite, and probably would be if we didn't buy DVC....I'm basing this on when we went in 2010. I realize things were different, buyt I loved the way Pepper Market used to be.. I loved the quick grab n go for breakfast. Also Maya grill ( Hidden Gem ) & Las Ventanas (New) has some decent reviews... The pool ( is what sets it apart...) from the others...The long slide , to it's spread out areas, to the HUGE Hot tub..(Largest on property) Also the quiet pools are nice and they have a gym over near the one @ Casitas...

What puts it over the top for us is the BEST bus serv. out of ANY resort IMHO. We usually are early risers, so we go to the parks with every other early riser. (Therefore packed buses) I'm always giving up my seat to kids, or the elderly. And this is returning as well.
At this place, I believe out of 10 days, there was 1 time where I did stand on that trip..That was it....Never did this happen at any resort...I beliueve the fact that it's partly a convention resort, but it never felt that way.. We alo loved the theming, the rooms, the comfy queen beds..
 
POR is beautiful and the resort has a good layout...its big but it doesnt feel that way because of how its laid out. Gorgeous lush grounds, great food court, nice pool....and the boat to disney springs is awesome.

CSR would also be a good choice. Beautiful resort, awesome pool! They have QS at the pool which is nice, no need to go to the main food court. Overall i like the POR food court better though.

RE: POFQ....i think their pool is too baby-ish. Esp for teens.
 
The only one I haven't stayed at is CBR; I walked around once and didn't like it.
CSR and POR are both beautiful. I think POR has a nicer food court and they have the boat to Disney Springs. When I stayed at CSR they had club level rooms (limited club offerings) which was really convenient but sadly that building was torn down with renovations currently underway. I am looking forward to trying CSR once the renovations are done.
I didn't care for POFQ; it just felt so cramped.
 
We have been coming to Orlando 10 years now and always stayed at POFQ, except last July where we did a split stay. 1 week at POFQ and 1 week at Universals Portofino Bay. Now it was lovely but there just isn't enough at Universal to stay for a week there, and we have been to Seaworld, Busch gardens many times and had decided to give them a miss that trip.
To put it in perspective, on our last full day we decided to go to the Magic Kingdom. Never done this as an offsite guest, going to TTC and standing for half an hour in 90* heat in queues for security, then the boat. After our day we got a resort bus to POFQ to get the boat to Disney Springs. As we got off the bus at POFQ and walked through the big doors and walked past the fountain, it felt like coming home.
So POFQ is our resort, and will never stay offsite again.
 
My boys are 13 & 16, and we stayed at POFQ in June of 2017. We thought the pool was so-so (geared more for little ones), but the resort itself was great. It's small and we felt perfectly comfortable letting our guys roam. As the week progressed and we got our bearings, my DH and I felt fine with our boys walking over to POR to check out the arcade, food court, and pool there.

The rooms are nice sized and the food court is good. My guys liked the freedom of doing their own thing between POR and POFQ. I would highly recommend this resort if that is what you are looking for, for your teens.
 
What puts it over the top for us is the BEST bus serv. out of ANY resort IMHO.
This use to be true. I know you said your comments were based on staying there in 2010, but we just returned from there two weeks ago (we were there for marathon weekend) and the bus service was horrendous! Twice we had to make a mad dash for our car after waiting over 45 minutes for a bus to Epcot to make our ADR's. I used the phone at the bus stop once to inquire why the bus time board would indicate a time and then reset to every 20 minutes. The person I spoke with didn't know why that was happening, but had spoken to "someone" in transportation and assured me that the GPS locator said that a bus would arrive at "blank" specific time. So we waited and the bus that showed up was a bus for Winter Summerland (mini golf) and, yes, we asked the driver if they were going to Epcot. When that same driver came around again, she said that after this trip (to mini golf) she would be going to Epcot. We figured out later that there were three buses that were going to Epcot; two that rotated between mini golf and Epcot and one that was strictly going to Epcot. It seemed the people at "transportation" had no clue that the buses were doing that.

So between the bus service and the lack of choices at Pepper Market, I have sworn off CSR. I say that with a very heavy heart since this has been our preferred resort since 2010 for the exact reason you stated above in your entire post. I will say that we had a renovated room in Casitas 3 that was wonderful, but the room could not overcome the other complaints.
 
At one time or another, all resorts suffer from bad bus service. I wouldn't base my decision because of bus service at any resort, regardless of whether it is a value, moderate of deluxe. My choice for older teens would definitely be CSR, and it also has a full-service restaurant.
 
I would go with POR. We just stayed at CBR last month. If you plan on any amount of resort time, the construction is really disruptive IMO. The food court is closed. Your food options are a very limited buffet at breakfast & dinner, a couple of food trucks (2 I think) & prepared cash & carry salads/ sandwiches at make shift cash & carry locations located throughout the resort. Again, these cash & carry selections are very limited.

We did not swim as it was too cold, but the main pool looked smaller than the main pool at POR. And there is construction right near the pool. Apparently they do have characters at the pool sometimes to help compensate for the disruptions, but I doubt your teens would care about that. No arcade.

We were in Aruba, the last bus stop. We were not impressed with the bus service, long waits for buses with many already pretty full before our stop. Many people complain that POR is too big & spread out, but we thought CBR was just as big. Also, you have to take an internal shuttle to the main check in lobby. There is no way to walk there.

I think POR with no construction, full food court plus a sit down restaurant, better pool, arcade, entertainment with Yee Haw Bob & transportation to Disney Springs is a much better option right now.
 
We love CSR. There is construction going on right now if that will make any difference to you. We were there at the end of May 2017 and it wasn't bad. It is our favorite resort. I agree with the comments about the best bus service. Consistently great service. Occasional long wait but not many. Cheers!!!!
 
At one time or another, all resorts suffer from bad bus service. I wouldn't base my decision because of bus service at any resort, regardless of whether it is a value, moderate of deluxe. My choice for older teens would definitely be CSR, and it also has a full-service restaurant.
Soooo true:thumbsup2 If we eliminated resorts based on transportation, we would be running out of resorts to stay at:laughing:
 

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