moderate VS deluxe hotels in Disney

so we are considering taking the kids to Disney this year. My kids will be 5 and 8. I am wondering what is the main different b/t the deluxe vs the moderate hotels besides the monorail. When I am pricing it, it is coming to a $1000 difference. Is it really worth it for the deluxe? I am between the contemporary and the Port Orleans Riverside btw. Thanks!

Re: moderate VS deluxe hotels in Disney

How many days are you going? To me $1k for a week + would be worth it for the convenience. That said Riverside is a nice resort with lots of small hidden pools and a boat to Downtown Disney.

Re: moderate VS deluxe hotels in Disney

almost a week- 6 nights, 7 days. I have also heard good things about the POR, I am leaning toward it so far

moderate VS deluxe hotels in Disney

i would go for POR... or look into PO French Quarter, too... its smaller and you can use the pools at POR, too if you want to... i think all the disney resorts are nice and well run. so for $1000 i would go for POR. if your kids were toddlers that needed to nap in the afternoon, it might be worth it to stay at one of the monorail hotels to be super convienient to MK and EPCOT... but i think you'll be fine at a moderate. ALTHOUGH when are you thinking of going? sometimes disney has 30% room prices... so you might be able to get a deluxe for a good price. it might be worth talking to a disney travel specialist ( they're free if you book through them!!) and they keep track of any discounts for you and will let you know, change your reservation for you if you want to, help you with dining reservations, FastPass, etc...

moderate VS deluxe hotels in Disney

I wouldn't stay at a moderate, never have. Too many internal bus stops at Riverside which means it takes much longer to get to the parks. If you are renting a car (super inconvenient for the MK though), then it's irrelevant.

Message edited 1/26/2015 3:54:15 PM.

Re: moderate VS deluxe hotels in Disney

We have stayed twice at AKL and twice at the poly. Now we have stayed the past two trips at POR. It was great. Felt like we go a break from the parks. Nice food court with a lot of choices, buses were in fact very easy, pool was great and the kids never wanted to leave the slide. Honestly, while we enjoy the poly and love AKL , riverside was a great hotel. They also have carriage rides and a nice boat to DTD. We have stayed in both the royal guest rooms and the preferred view.

Btw I see people complain about the buses. Both trips we had a rental but used the buses 90% of the time. Interestingly people say how horrible they are but the joke was the buses from the poly were much worse than at POR. POR doesn't have an internal bus system though like CBR or CS.

Message edited 1/26/2015 4:27:24 PM.

Re: moderate VS deluxe hotels in Disney

Not all Deluxe resorts are on the monorail.

Some key differences

1) Room size. Deluxe rooms are much larger
2) Beds/Space - Most Deluxe have a Day bed. Some Moderates have a trundle bed, but not all.
3) Service - Room service/bell service/concierge are all a step up at Deluxe
4) Dining: Moderates have sit down restaurants and some of them are quite good, but Deluxe resorts have really unique dining onsite such as character dining, signature restaurants, or dinner shows.
5) Access: Moderates all have bus service to all parks. POR/POFQ have a boat to Downtown Disney. Most Deluxe Resorts have special access to one or more parks such as monorail, boat, or even walking.
6) Moderates have exterior hallways and no balconies. Most Deluxe resorts have some kind of patio or balcony and hallways are interior.

Hope that helps! I've had a lot of guests really loving POR lately, but because they are so popular they have been excluded from some of the recent promotions. I love the Royaal Guest Rooms. They are really special

Re: moderate VS deluxe hotels in Disney

We have only stayed in deluxe rooms or off site and the deluxe rooms were never great. Not even Grand Floridan's pricey rooms were anything special. Was totally unimpressed with the room for the price point.

I would not focus on deluxe vs moderate but pick the theme that your kids would like best.

I want to stay at Arts of Animation the next time we go to Disney for the fun looking pool. Think our kids would really enjoy it. This is considered a value resort.

We recently stayed at the new Four Seasons Orlando resort and it was fabulous. Everything about this resort was awesome. The pool was the nicest pool I have been to since having children.

Re: moderate VS deluxe hotels in Disney

Message edited 1/27/2015 7:09:50 PM.

Re: moderate VS deluxe hotels in Disney

I posted the same question about 2.5 years ago. If you do a search for my username and the word disney on this board, you should be able to find it pretty quickly. There was lots of great info on it.