Just back from a 3 week stay at POFQ - this is now our favourite resort and have already planned to return there on our next visit.
Not once in our 3 week stay did we have any problems with noise anywhere in the resort and certainly not in our room. The rooms have just been renovated and are very comfortable with good facilities. The beds have been raised to allow for suitcase storage underneath and this gives a whole new meaning to "climbing into bed"
The smoking areas are well away from the populated parts - we were in Block 1 and the smoking area was in a seated area with a fountain between this block and block 2. For a couple of days this area was being used by a film crew so the smoking was temporarily moved to a seat beside the river and again it was well away from the accommodation.
With regard to animals we only saw a couple of service dogs - however we were surprised to see that a family with one actually took it into the food serving area at breakfast - seemed totally unnecessary as all seemed to be fit and well and only a few yards way from their table.
One person came into the lobby area with a regular dog but a CM from reception quickly had a word with them and they left.
The pool is really nice with a water slide suitable for all ages! The one feature that seems to be lacking in the other resort pools is a shady area out of the sun when in the pool but here there is an arch formed by the sea serpent/slide that provides just that - great feature!
Only complaint was the laundry - these are run by an outside contractor so you have to take cash or a debit/credit card with you to get washing supplies and to run the machines. This comes as a surprise to first time users as everything else works with your Magic Band. During our first week they were having a lot of problems. First of all the washing supplies vending machine was rejecting credit cards - just displaying a card denied message. Luckily somebody told us that it was a fault and that supplies were being issued free of charge in reception. We later saw a lady with a baby in her arms frantically phoning her husband to tell him that all her cards were being denied! We told her of the problem much to her relief. Disney fell down here by not posting a simple message on the machine. Later all of the machines stopped working and those of us there at the time were transported to the facility at Riverside and given a number to call to get a ride back to the FQ. Luckily they got it sorted and we had no further problems there during our last two weeks.
During our stay we visited most of the deluxe resorts as we were thinking of trying one on our next trip with Animal Kingdom Lodge being top of our list. After spending some time in them we felt that they were all large and impersonal - sitting in the lounge area at AKL felt like sitting in a railway station. We loved the compactness and the atmosphere at POFQ.
This was our first stay at a moderate resort and as I said at the start this has become our firm favourite.
Hope this helps.