Looking for advice on which Moderate to choose

[BadDad]

My vote goes
CBR#1 (Aruba / Jamaica Village): Morning sun / Epcot fireworks from Jamaica Beach
CSR#2 Cabanas: watch out for conventioneers
POR#3 Nice - boats to DTD
POFQ#4 never stayed but did morning walks to there from POR

Note: I was checking out the menu options at the mods and food court prices at CSR are $1-3 higher for the same item.

 

[mm1971]

Hello everyone!

This is my first post here and I am in need of some expertise from you fellow Disney lovers! Hubby and I will be celebrating our 5 year anniversary this year and what better way to celebrate than with a trip to Disney!

In the past we have stayed at POP, however this year we are thinking of staying at a Moderate resort to try something new (and because it's kind of a "milestone" year for anniversaries, so we want to splurge a little ). I have a couple of questions that I was hoping you guys could help answer.

We will be traveling most likely the first week in September (after labor day), staying for 9 days and hoping/praying for FD. Caribbean beach is out because I think the negatives outweigh the positives so it's between POR, POFQ, or CSR.

Hubby and I are leaning towards the latter but I see so many good reviews for the POR resorts so I am asking...out of those three, which moderate would you choose and why?

I also had a question about transportation. Normally we stick to Disney transpo, but we are entertaining the idea of renting a car. Is parking free at the resort/parks? Is it better to rent a car versus relying on the Disney transportation? Any info would be very helpful as I know NOTHING about this.

My final question is regarding room discount vs. FD. I am terrible at math so for me it's very hard to figure out which discount is better for two people. I would think that anything "free" would be better, but I've read a lot of posts that discredit that theory. In the past on the FD plan, we have paid OOP for roughly 3 sitdown meals during our trips but for the most part, we have eaten at QS places and used up all of our credits (we take snacks home). Can anyone offer any insight into this debate and perhaps help make it a bit more clear for me?

I think those are all the questions I have for now..LOL. Any opinions are welcome and greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I would recommend POR over the others for trips with no children. The grounds are very nice and you get the TS restaurant and bar area. Boat to DTD, quiet pools and the short walk to POFQ for a change of pace if desired. It's pretty easy to get to the parks and back once you learn the way if you drive.

We usually rent a car and yes parking is free for all those staying on property. We like to have the flexibility of going off property to visit other attractions, snack, coffee in the morning, etc.... You also have a lot more flexibility with a rental car. For example, we will go to the parks in the morning, leave and head to a water park mid afternoon (leave our stuff in the car) and then hop somewhere else or back to the park later. If you are not staying at a monorail resort, we have found that being able to drive where you want in easier and much faster than the buses.

As far as FD, if you do not do a lot of TS meals then OOP is usually the way to go depending on the % off. For POR, it is either 25% or 30% usually. That is $480 off the room if you are at 30%. If you think your meals will be more than that for the week, then FD is the way to go. Last year we did OOP as we got a really good discount. This year, FD save us $185 over the room discount based on our planned eating patterns so we went with that.

Just some thoughts. Happy Anniversary!