Value v. Moderate Resorts at Disney World
Moderate v. Value Resorts. Many guests planning Walt Disney World trips wonder whether it’s worth saving money or paying extra for better amenities, pools, transportation, dining, etc. This comparison weighs the pros & cons of each tier and gives our verdict as to which accommodations are the best picks for different types of travelers. (Updated February 9, 2023.)
For starters, this post assumes you’ve already determined that you want to stay on-site at Walt Disney World and have narrowed your search to these specific categories. If not, you might want to start with a different comparison:Â Off-Site v. On-Site Walt Disney World Hotels.
As for this comparison, we break it down to a bunch of different categories (price, theme, rooms, recreation, dining, transportation) because the ultimate answer as to which is better is going to be [spoiler alert] “it depends.” What it depends on is how important each of the considerations below are to you. With that said, let’s try to analyze the five most important features of Walt Disney World hotels to see where each tier has advantages…
Before we get going, we need to offer a caveats about this overarching comparison:Â it’s really clunky. Arguably, Walt Disney World has outgrown the Value, Moderate, and Deluxe Resort tiers. Nowhere is that more apparent than in these two tiers, which include everything from standard rooms at the All Stars to Family Suites at Art of Animation to Cabins at Fort Wilderness to Executive Suites at Gran Destino Tower that border on luxury accommodations. (Some of them are nicer than Deluxe Resort rooms!)
To the greatest extent possible, we’re going to “smooth over” this range of room categories by focusing on standard options at each resort. This makes things easier for us, and also more practical for you since the standard accommodations are the most common category. Realistically, you’re probably not debating between a barebones room at All Star Sports and an Executive Suite at Gran Destino Tower. If you are…maybe this isn’t the post for you!
Anyway, let’s turn to the comparison categories of Value Resorts versus Moderate Resorts at Walt Disney World…
Price
Standard rooms at all Value Resorts are cheaper than standard rooms at all Moderate Resorts. Again, the Art of Animation Family Suites, Cabins at Fort Wilderness, and various room types in Gran Destino Tower are outliers here in that they’re not an apples to apples comparison with the other hotels in the categories, we won’t give them much consideration.
According to our highly unscientific calculations, Moderate Resorts are about $70 more expensive than Value Resorts per night (sometimes less, sometimes more). This difference varies widely based upon season, discounts, etc., but expecting to pay about $70 more per night at a Moderate Resort is a good baseline.
One complicating factor with this comparison is the Skyliner Resorts, which are discussed in greater detail in the transportation section. Just as Moderates cost more than Values, there’s a “Skyliner Surcharge” within each category. As a result, the price difference between a standard room at Coronado Springs is typically much cheaper than one at Caribbean Beach, and between the All Stars and Pop Century.
Conversely, the gap between Coronado Springs and Pop Century often is not as significant. Regardless of the actual number, it’s true that, on average, standard rooms at the Moderates cost more than a good chunk of change more than Values on a nightly basis.
Advantage: Values
Theme
Moderate Resorts generally offer more nuance and subtlety in the way of themed environments. You have a lot of ancillary details that come together to form a cohesive backstory and more convincing environment that transports you away from Walt Disney World. This is especially true at the Port Orleans Resorts, where you can spend a lot of time exploring to pick up on morsels of the theme.
By contrast, the Value Resorts convey their style through larger than life icons. At the All Star Resorts, these are primarily oversized Disney characters. If you’re traveling with kids, don’t underestimate how much they might enjoy these icons. Most adults will be less intrigued by the theming at Value Resorts, which generally attempt to distract from the “boxy” plain, motel buildings that comprise the hotels with the eye-grabbing icons. There is nothing nuanced about the theming at these hotels, and adults will almost always prefer the more engaging, interesting, and oftentimes romantic theming of Moderate Resorts.
Advantage: Moderates
Rooms
On average, standard guest rooms at Moderate Resorts are larger by about 60 square feet. (Caribbean Beach is even larger.) We have a post that offers a break-down of the size difference of all Walt Disney World hotels.
It used to be the case that the Moderate Resorts had nicer rooms with better bedding and superior themed design. It was also the case that the All Star Resorts were looking tired, with faded and dated decor. That has changed with the most recent room designs, which are relatively consistent at Pop Century and all of the All Stars.
There have been some complaints among Walt Disney World diehards that these rooms are light on theme and feel sterile and cold as a result. While it’s true that they favor function over form, the consensus among regular guests (read: non-fans) has been resoundingly positive. For our part, we love these new rooms, finding them to use space exceptionally well, and having thoughtful features, and more.
Moderates still have a better sense of themed design and feel more upscale and less utilitarian as a result. However, some of these are now feeling tired and overdue for updates. They also lack the same space-saving features found in the new rooms at the Value Resorts, which do help bridge the gap in terms of size.
Really, this comes down to your priorities. Our personal favorite rooms are at Coronado Springs Resort, which offer the best of both worlds. However, we also are big fans of the functionality of the new rooms at the Value Resorts. They don’t have the most elaborate designs, but they really get the job done and serve their purpose well!
Advantage: It Depends
Dining
Each Moderate Resort has a table service restaurant (except French Quarter, but it’s a 10 minute walk from Riverside, and a brief boat ride from Disney Springs), some of which are pretty good. They’re not Deluxe-caliber restaurants (the kind of restaurants that draw non-resort guests to them), but they’re not bad. Basically, they’re good options if want to do dinner at your hotel.
All Moderate and Value Resorts have counter service restaurants. The advantage here also goes to Moderate Resorts, as they offer more varied and interesting menus. By contrast, the food courts at the Value Resorts are much more utilitarian. (Even this has exceptions–the food courts at Pop Century and Art of Animation are both Moderate-caliber.)
This only really matters if you’re going to be at your hotel to eat these meals. We usually eat every meal in the parks or at hotels near the parks, so dining at Moderates and Values is always a non-factor for us. It is a factor when for Deluxes, but usually not these categories. (For example, if you’ll be leaving Disney’s Hollywood Studios for a meal at Yachtsman Steakhouse, for example, staying at the Yacht or Beach Club makes it easy to make a pit stop at your room before or after dinner.)
Advantage: Moderates
Recreation
All Moderates have themed pools with water slides, and each of these pools is pretty cool. Value Resorts also have lightly themed pools, sans slides. Aside from Art of Animation’s Big Blue Pool, no Value Resort Pool made our list of the Top 10 Pools at Walt Disney World, whereas several Moderate pools made the list.
Moderate Resorts also offer bars/lounges and various other forms of activities, like boat rentals, that aren’t available at the Value Resorts. The advantages here universally belong to the Moderate Resorts, which unquestionably have better amenities than the Values.
Without question, the most/best amenities are found at Coronado Springs. This is Walt Disney World’s primary convention hotel, and it shows. That’s why Gran Destino Tower was added, and it has a ton of amenities for adults. Multiple restaurants, bars & lounges, fitness centers, hot tubs, and more. If these things matter most to you, Coronado Springs blows away the competition–it’s more like a Deluxe Resort than a Moderate in this regard.
It’s really more of a question of whether you’ll use use these amenities. If your party will spend a significant amount of time at your hotel each day, these recreation options could be pretty important. It’s also worth noting that, Moderate Resorts are typically more spread out (French Quarter excepted), so if you are firmly opposed to walking, the Value Resorts might be slightly more appealing. Conversely, this added space offers more areas to explore, and the Moderate Resorts are great for a leisurely stroll in the evening or morning, giving them a true resort (rather than hotel) vibe.
Advantage:Â Moderates
Transportation
This is where things get complicated, and the distinction between the Value and Moderate Resorts really breaks down. You might think that transportation is an important amenity, and those paying extra for higher-tier resorts would be rewarded with more efficient transportation. You would be wrong. Transportation is not consistently better at more expensive hotels, especially when it comes to bus transportation.
In reality, this category is all over the place. The worst transportation at any of these resorts is at Coronado Springs, followed closely by Port Orleans Riverside. That’s because both of these larger resorts have internal bus loops, which is tedious and time-consuming. Coronado Springs the worst due to the addition of Gran Destino Tower, which means more people and strain on the buses.
In the middle are the All Star Resorts (all of them). On occasion, these can share bus service to the parks, but we have not experienced that recently–it seems pretty rare now. More importantly, they each have single stops at each resort. The All Star buses can be a wildcard. Sometimes, buses will be dispatched for each resort and will be running quite often, making them incredibly efficient. Other times, there will be huge lines in the morning or otherwise long waits. Our recent experiences with bus service at the All Stars has been generally positive–a big improvement as compared to a few years ago.
It’s a similar story with Port Orleans French Quarter. This resort has a more compact footprint than its sister property, and bus service is generally efficient.
The best transportation is at any of the Skyliner resorts, which include Art of Animation and Pop Century, plus Caribbean Beach. These offer aerial gondola service to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and EPCOT, which is an absolute gamechanger. The downside is that they do offer bus service to Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom, where the two Value Resorts have a slight option since Caribbean Beach Resort has an internal bus loop.
The Skyliner is efficient and predictable, so long as you aren’t visiting during storm season. (Even then, we’ll take the Skyliner resorts.) These are not all equal–Caribbean Beach gets the slight edge since this is the Skyliner hub resort, with two stations that are convenient–meaning direct access to both parks.
We place the Skyliner advantage on par with or perhaps slightly above that of the monorail. That’s really saying something, as the monorail resorts are all Deluxes and charge a significant price premium. The advantage of being able to hop aboard a continuously-loading aerial gondola cannot be overstated, making it exceedingly easy to get to EPCOT and DHS for Early Entry, or taking a midday break. For us, this is the ultimate trump card–and why we’ll usually opt for the Skyliner Resorts over anything else in both of the Value and Moderate Resort categories, unless there’s a significant price difference, unavailability, or discount exclusions. All of those things do happen often, unfortunately.
Advantage: Skyliner Resorts, spanning both Value and Moderate Resorts
Verdict
As is probably clear by now, Value v. Moderate Resorts is not a clean comparison. So it thus should not come as a surprise that this is not a neat verdict, with one category being the obvious winner. To the contrary, the outcome is very circumstantial, and often comes down to specific hotels being better options rather than broad categories.
Whether it’s worth it for you to pay more for a Moderate Resort depends upon your preferences, budget, and how much time you’ll be spending at your hotel. If you like a richly themed environment, the Moderate Resorts score points. If you’re primarily interested in how much your kids will enjoy a resort, give the Value Resorts a second look. To the bewilderment of some adults, kids absolutely love those large icons.
If money is an issue, the premium pricing you’ll pay at a Moderate may not make a whole lot of sense. Even then, the surcharge is not equal across the board. Skyliner Resorts are typically more expensive within their respective categories, and there’s also a surcharge for Gran Destino Tower, which is really more like a Deluxe Resort, albeit an isolated not. We warned you at the outset that this is very much an “it depends” topic, and now you should see why that’s totally true.
Ultimately, what we can offer is our personal perspective as we regularly stay at both Value and Moderate Resorts. Assuming we’re doing it for enjoyment and not a resort update, we usually choose Skyliner Resorts for a quick weekend trip or when the parks are our primary focus. Pop Century is my preferred resort for this type of trip, especially when I’m looking for the best value for money.
If our budget is a bit healthier, we choose Caribbean Beach Resort. Its added amenities are nice, as is the added convenience of being the Skyliner hub. We also like having access to better dining, even though we (admittedly) often don’t take full advantage of it. Then there’s the pool. Even when we don’t use these things, having access to them is nice.
If it’s a longer trip or we’re looking at stretching our budget further, that’s where the other Value and Moderate Resorts come into play. Thanks to the new rooms, the All Stars have really grown on me, especially at times when they’re not hosting youth events. If I’m doing a longer solo trip, the parks are a priority, or I’m trying to keep costs down, I choose whichever of these is cheapest.
Then there’s Coronado Springs Resort. When we’re traveling together and will be spending a bit more time at the resort, this option usually wins out. Its rooms are better, base rates are lower, discounts are better, and sometimes we luck into an upgrade to Gran Destino Tower. We also prefer the fitness center, pools, and restaurants. We find ourselves doing late night meals at Three Bridges after the parks close quite often, and also love Toledo Steakhouse and the lounges in Gran Destino.
Finally, there are the Port Orleans Resorts. These were once our favorites, and still are exemplars of themed design, with beautiful grounds that make for romantic evening walks. We still very much love the idea of the Port Orleans Resorts, and with each visit, we fall in love with them all over again. But if I’m being honest, we don’t have the same pull to return to any of these as the above options. Each of those have functional advantages, whereas it’s all about the form of Port Orleans. To each their own, though. I certainly wouldn’t discourage anyone from booking the Port Orleans Resorts!
Planning a Walt Disney World trip? Learn about hotels on our Walt Disney World Hotels Reviews page. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. To save money on tickets or determine which type to buy, read our Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post. Our What to Pack for Disney Trips post takes a unique look at clever items to take. For what to do and when to do it, our Walt Disney World Ride Guides will help. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts
Is it worth it to you to stay at a Moderate Resort, or if you’re paying more, do you just splurge all-out by staying at a Deluxe Resort? Or, do you just save as much money as possible by staying at a Value Resort? Share where you normally choose to stay (and why!) in the comments!
I came across this article looking for whether i should stay at a moderate resort for more or stay at the value resort again as i wasnt sure what the big difference was…
I stayed in the pop century in 2011, and i really liked it, as a disney lover its great for non picky disney loving kids at heart… like me!
but as i saw there was an offer to stay at the caribbean beach resort with free dining and $100 free money, i thought, i might as well upgrade if they’re gunna be even better! one question though… do ALL rooms come with the fridge and coffee makers or do you request them?
In the value resort you can request a fridge for a fee per night.
All rooms come with the fridge in Moderates. No fee.
You know what I miss whenever I stay at a value resort?
The hot tub.
And whenever people ask me about the differences between the moderates and the value resorts, I’m like “no hot tub.” It’s a BIG DEAL for me. Nevermind the fact that I can rarely get into the hot tub at the moderates because people just let their kids loose in their at ALL HOURS of the day and night like it’s their own personal bath tub. It’s annoying as hell.
But yes, I love the hot tubs.
Interesting. Can’t say I’ve ever used a Walt Disney World hot tub. I think the “kids loose at all hours” thing is the major deterrent.
I have stayed at Port Orleans Riveraide with my kids when they were small and we needed th extra trundle bed. We enjoyed it, but you don’t see “Disney” everywhere. We stayed at Pop Century next and enjoyed how “Disney” it felt! We are planning a trip in September and plan to stay at Pop Century again. You can walk to Art of Animation and even use there buses to get back if their line is smaller. We have small children and they seem to enjoy the value resorts more.
Have you stayed at the Fort Wilderness Campground? If not, you are missing out on a whole new Disney experience! I’m a huge Disney fan but can’t get there as often as I would like. My family has stayed at the campground all 3 times we have gone as a family (my husband and I took our first “empty next” trip outside the campground last year, for our 30th anniversary). Even with grown kids, we are going again this December to celebrate my 50th birthday! 🙂 We LOVE staying in the campground: low-key, very quiet & peaceful, lots more space for just your family, having my own bed & food, beautiful walks/runs around the campground, etc.
Hey, I’m planning our first Disney trip for May of 2014, and the kids will be 12 and 10 by then. It’ll be just the three of us. I was wondering if you all think a value or a moderate resort would be a better choice. I’m considering the Alligator Bayou at Port Orleans Riverside, and the PoP Century. Advice?
When we come back to the resort at night (and for the day off we like to take in the middle of the vacation) we want to sit and relax in a hot tub, and that is the one amenity the value resorts do not have. It seems like a silly issue to base our decision on, but for us, it is totally worth it. In fact, we debated upgrading a step further to the Polynesian, but the lack of hot tub automatically crossed it off our list. Last year we even watched the fireworks from the Caribbean Beach Resort hot tub on our last night.
My one and only trip to DW was 5 years ago and I can say I wouldn’t do it any differently than I did. And I am currently planning a return trip this year. We stayed at Coronado Springs last time and other than the bed sizes (which have now been upgraded from doubles to queens) I have no complaints. We went the first week of May and because CS didn’t share buses with any other resort we never waited more than a few minutes for a bus to pick us up from a park. I would look over at the value resort pick up areas at the parks and was very glad I didn’t have to wait in those crowds to get back to our resort. The longest route from our hotel was to Downtown Disney.
IMO, building 8A was the best for us as we were very close to the main pool and also a quiet pool and had a bus stop just a few feet from our building. The con to this is that we were quite a ways from the main lobby building, but it was so beautiful that we didn’t mind the walk. There was always a club car passing by to hitch a ride on to the main building if we were feeling lazy. I’m glad we made the decision to spend the extra $$ and will gladly do it again for our next trip. Incidently, we are considering DVC as a option so we can keep up the vacations!!
Hey Tom! My husband, 9 y.o. Son and I will be going to Disney October 10-15 this year (2013). We stayed at Pop Century in mid October last year and loved it. We are considering All Star Movies this year for a change of scenery, but I am worried about the bus sharing issue. Do you think it will be a big issue that time of year? I have heard that they have their own bus for Magic Kingdom but share for Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Downtown Disney (those are the other places we plan to go). We don’t want to have to wait for buses forever but would really like to stay here for our son. What do you think?
We choose the moderates only because of the queen size beds. With a husband and a son that are 6′ 4″, it is hard to fit into full size beds. We are staying in Port Orleans Riverside in June using Disney transportation. Does anyone know what transportation is like during this busy time?
WDW Port Orleans Riverside only shares a bus with Port Orleans French Quarter during low peak season. During the very busy seasons each resort has it’s own bus.
We just got back from WDW; this trip we went Deluxe and stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge. It was nice but my husband didnt like how dark it was – not Disney colorful like the other places we have stayed. I do not believe that our AKL room was any bigger than the rooms we have gotten from Caribbean Beach Resort, we’ve stayed there on three previous trips. The only experience we didn’t love was our UPGRADE to waterview pirate room(it’s A LONG WAY from the main house with the food court etc) the bus stops at each island so that wasn’t bad but getting to the food court was too far and the internal transportation isn’t worth it when travelling with a child in a wheel chair. NOw we request a certain island and have no trouble. We have also stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and it was nice enough, but it was a longer walk than I wanted to get to the bus stop. We actually visit the PO Riverside food court on every visit for the build your own pasta place. We normally ride the water taxi from DTD to PO Riverside. I think my husband’s favorite is Caribbean Beach Resort (a moderate). Our AKL room was no bigger than our CBR rooms, just a different arrangement and an enclosed closet. The trouble is, it is so far away from everything – it’s a long bus ride to everywhere and yes, you expect that you would have better bus service from a deluxe – not so! Also, AKL Mara was (for us) the worst food court of all the places we’ve ever been. We visited friends at the Art of Animation CARS Family Suite – those were very nice – you felt like you were part of the movie – yes, you could see the big box motel under the colorful decor but my kids didn’t seem to notice.
For my upcoming honeymoon, my FH and I are staying the first four nights at the Beach Club and then the remaining sixteen at Pop Century…we have had wonderful experiences there. We stayed there when we got engaged. My fiance proposed at Disney and had an engagement package sent from the Disney Florist…unfortunately, the florist wrote the wrong date down and he was on the phone with them all day. He kept checking with the hotel concierge and they felt so bad about the situation that they made some Disney magic for us. There was a knock on our door at 10:30 pm and I’m like, who the heck is at the door, John?? In comes two Disney employees with cake, a beautiful collage frame, a gift certificate and stuffed Mickey and Minnie Mouses 🙂 Pop Century always has a special place in my heart!
Never a long bus wait and I love their main pool and pool bar Petals!
We tend to ony sleep at the hotel so for us a value was the way to go we would rather spend the extra money in the parks
We have one son who’s now 5 (almost 6) and doesn’t swim yet so he really has driven our choices where to stay.
We’ve stayed at All-Star movies back in 2010 when he was three (his first visit). We got a deal on the rooms for $80/night and since we didn’t know how he’d take to Disney we didn’t want to spend a lot on a room. We knew we’d only be visiting one theme park (Magic Kingdom) because he was just too young for other parks so we knew our 4 days would mostly be spent at the resort pool. My son loved the kiddie pools at AS-movies and loved floating in his swimmie arms at the “big” pools.
As Tom pointed out it really depends on your finances and circumstances.
The following year we took him again but this time stayed at Caribbean resort because he was into pirates and swimming better. He loved the pools and again we only went to one theme park (Magic Kingdom) but also down town Disney since he was walking better.
Now this year he’s ready to swim but we choose All-Star sports because he’s really into sports now. We will probably introduce him to Epcot this year as well and since he’s almost 6 he doesn’t need a stroller anymore.
As Tom said where you stay depends on your $$ and party. Kids require a different set of rules at Disney (as any parent knows) so plan accordingly. Once my son starts to swim without assistance we’ll start staying in more adult themed resorts and work our way up to places like the Animal Kingdom.
Great job Tom comparing these two options. Eventually as my son ages we do want to stay in better resorts but for now where he is spending a lot of $$$ on resorts would be overkill.
Good article! I have always been a Deluxe resort person, and we recently stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter for the marathon. We were disappointed in the rooms as we felt, for the price, they should’ve been nicer. And we have 4 kids, so I can’t even imagine staying there with kids as it was tight with just two of us. The grounds were beautiful though, and we enjoyed the overall atmosphere at the hotel. Haven’t tried the Value resorts, but we are DVC and we love Bay Lake. Great post – thanks for sharing!
I’m betting you wouldn’t like the Values given your comments about French Quarter. Nothing wrong with that–once you become accustomed to DVC accommodations, it’s hard to go back!
We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside with our four small children (ages 7,5,4, and 2) in December 2010. We loved it! We enjoyed the amenities, and we never waited long for the bus service. We would stay there again if we would fit! I’m interested to hear your take on the Cabins vs. Art of Animation, those are the two were trying to decide on for our next trip!
We’ve stayed at the cabins several times and love the cabins themselves and the atmosphere. A bit of Room to spread out (6 of us -2 kids, us &2 grandparents) and it’s so peaceful in contrast to the parks. Full kitchen always allows us to give the kids a great breakfast before we head to the parks.
We’re Considering AoA this time too, but it looks way too small for 4 adults & 2 kids (6 & 8 ) Anyone have any thoughts on this?
We’re staying in a suite at Art of Animation next month…stay tuned for a review!
We have stayed at 3 different resorts. In 2007, we stayed at the Animal Kingdom.m We loved it! Our decision to stay there was my son was just turning 2 and we didn’t need to pay for him at the resort, parks or meals. In 2011, the kids picked All Star Sports. Again, they loved the oversized sports, large characters, daily/nightly activities in the pool area, food and 2 fun themed pools (both in close proximity). No transportation issues at all. In 2012, we surprised our children with a vacation and went Moderate at the Caribbean because it was cheaper than value because of a promotion. Rooms were bigger, but everything was sooooooo very far away. I didn’t mind the walking, but by weeks end we were all tired. The pool was nice and they loved the slides. Pool area was too crowded, we often wouldn’t stay long. Transportation was a nightmare. The length on time around the resort was long. We would have long wait times for buses. The us area wasn’t separated by park in a small area. When we make the trip again, I am thinking we would stay at a value resort, unless,the offer was too good.
Thanks for sharing your experience. This is definitely something those traveling with small children should keep in mind!
Our family prefers the Moderate resorts and our favorite one is Port Orleans French Quarter. I believe it is the smallest resort on Disney property, so walking to the front where the bus stop, shop and food is located, from even the furthest building, is not a long distance. Plus, since the latest renovation in 2011, they now have queen sized beds (which is a must for us). Two of our favorite things at French Qtr are the Beignets at the food court and the boat to Downtown Disney! Busing is shared between French Qtr and Riverside, but the buses stop at French Qtr first, hence the reason we are leery to try Riverside.
We have only stayed at one High End Resort, The Beach Club in 2011, which we loved, but even our girls (currently 16 & 23) agreed that the extra cost per night wasn’t worth it when you are gone all day long at the parks. Now, if we were a family that spent a good deal of time at the resorts, then we would be willing to pay the extra to stay there to enjoy the room size & amenities, the awesome pool and the spectacular atmosphere of the resort. We have not stayed in a value resort so my view is based on friends’ opinions that have stayed at them and what I read online. Our resort list includes (French Qtr — 5 times, Coronado Springs — 2 times, Beach Club — 1 time and Shades of Green — 2 times). Side note, Shades of Green is a great resort and we would stay there more often, but you can’t participate in the Disney Dining Plan if you stay there.
Shades of Green definitely is a great resort–stayed there several times as a kid, and recently once when we went with my parents. My hold-up about it isn’t the DDP, it’s that the buses stop running much earlier than Disney’s own buses. We found ourselves walking from the Poly to Shades of Green several nights because we missed the last Shades of Green bus! Granted, we stay past park closing, so this is a complaint that’s probably unique to us!
Otherwise, love that hotel!
While I love the moderate resorts, I always seem to have trouble fitting them into my budget. I’m usually looking for either the cheapest option or I’m going to splurge and stay at a Deluxe. But the biggest obstacle to staying at a moderate resort, for me, is the Swan & Dolphin. Using a AAA discount (military, Govt, and teacher discounts are also available,) I can usually stay at the Swan or Dolphin for about the same price as a moderate. And while I don’t believe that either hotel is any nicer than most moderate resorts, the location is so good that I can’t pass it up. The ability to walk to Epcot’s International Gateway or take a boat to Hollywood Studios means that I won’t have to take a bus or drive (I loathe both).
What kills us about the Swan & Dolphin are all the bogus “resort fees.” Whenever we’ve checked, even the best discount rate puts it above the best discount rate at a moderate by about $40/night, too.
We’d gladly pay more for the Swan & Dolphin for their location, but $40/night is a bit too much more for us.
With over 50 visits I have stayed at every resort including Swan & Dolphin, and they are all great. When traveling with family we find the deluxe resorts the best. In the last several years we purchased points from DVC members and in most cases save 50-75% off rack rates plus with full kitchens our food costs are reduced by 50-75%. On my solo trips I have stayed at deluxe, moderate and
Value and I find the values to be just fine. All Star Sports is my favorite, its the first pickup local and the
First dropped, but to me anywhere on property is good as long as I’m there.