moderate vs deluxe disney resorts First trip

[elizabeth gordon]

This will be the first family trip and the first time staying at a Disney resort for us in October.

Our first concern is transportation to and from the park. It will be me my husband our 4yr and 20 month old. We plan on taking our double stroller to the park as well. I don't want to be on a bus for most of the trip you know.

Our second concern is food. We need family friendly restaurants located near by for breakfast and possible dinner.

We haven't narrowed it down yet with the moderate resorts but if we stay in a deluxe it will be the Polynesian or wilderness lodge.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for your time

 

[Ginny2128]

The only moderate resort I have stayed in was the Caribbean Beach resort. It was nice, but the distance between the rooms and the pool/QS area was frustrating at times. We opted to rent a car for that trip since we would be standing in lines early for Star Wars Weekends (before the buses began to run), and it took us 5-7 minutes at the very worst to drive to Hollywood Studios, Epcot, or Magic Kingdom. We didn't take Disney buses at all for that trip, so i can't speak to the bus times to parks from that hotel.

That being said, we've stayed at a few deluxe resorts and I prefer their proximity to the parks. Polynesian is nice because of the monorail and makes it easy to bring younger kids back for a short nap or swim in the pool and return to the parks in the afternoon. Plus, there are Dole Whips available at your hotel!

Wilderness Lodge has a great pool and water transportation to the Magic Kingdom. I don't remember the bus to HS or Epcot being too painful. Animal Kingdom is always a bit of a ride (unless you are at the AK lodge) just because the park is much further away from the others. If you are not dead set on wilderness or Polynesian, I tend to prefer the beach or yacht club. The pool is fun (white sand bottom and shallow sand bottomed pool for the kids) and it's super easy access to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. It makes splitting the group up much easier, too. When my siblings were around the age of your kids, my Dad would take the youngest back for a nap and my mom and I would keep going with my toddler sister. The proximity of the hotel to the parks made it easy to meet up for reservations or certain rides later in the day.

 

[Babsy]

WL is undergoing construction at the moment. I wouldn't stay there until that is completed, personally. If the budget allows, I would go with the Poly. It is great to be on the monorail with small children and a stroller. You can get to both Epcot and the MK via monorail easily form the poly. Also you have nice large comfortable rooms and a magical theme. There are lots of good places to eat at the Poly itself and at the other monorail resorts.

If you go moderate, I would suggest a preferred room at CBR. The pool is great there for your 4 year old. Fairly good dining as well. Second choice would be POFQ for the small size, but there is only the one small food court. You can walk to POR from there as well.

The best option, though, IMO, is the Poly.

Enjoy!

 

[Sue M]

With a moderate you'd have to bus to sell parks. I woukd imagine it would be a little difficult getting the kids out of stroller and diaper bag, etc and stroller folded up before bus arrives, and ready to board. Especially returning to resort when kids are possibly exhausted and sleeping.
So one of the monorail resorts would be handy, having monorail transportation to 2 parks. I really like GH & Poly.
And rooms are larger than WL. Also the mentioned construction wouldn't be enjoyable, especially for a first visit.

 

[AllieBoo]

If you don't want to have to ride the buses as much, I would stay at the Poly, so you can have the monorail to MK And Epcot. Or, you could do YC or BC, where you could walk into Epcot (which is awesome), and walk or Boat to DHS. The BC/YC also have a great pool with a sand bottom and waterslide.

 

[Shellyb84]

Polynesian!

 

[fllwntr]

I've never stayed at a moderate resort, only deluxe and a couple of stays at Pop. The size of the moderate resorts is a little intimidating for me because there are a lot of bus stops within the hotels (this was something I didn't like at Saratoga). I like to be able to walk to the lobby when I need to, not hop in a car and drive up there.

I would stay at the Polynesian. The rooms are much bigger and you have the option of the monorail, boat or bus. You'll also be able to watch Wishes from the beach. Wilderness Lodge has a lot of construction, the rooms are smaller and there is no monorail access.

 

[jimmiej]

I've never stayed at a moderate resort, only deluxe and a couple of stays at Pop. The size of the moderate resorts is a little intimidating for me because there are a lot of bus stops within the hotels (this was something I didn't like at Saratoga). I like to be able to walk to the lobby when I need to, not hop in a car and drive up there.

I would stay at the Polynesian. The rooms are much bigger and you have the option of the monorail, boat or bus. You'll also be able to watch Wishes from the beach. Wilderness Lodge has a lot of construction, the rooms are smaller and there is no monorail access.

That is true for 3 of the 4 moderates. However, French Quarter is small (geographically), with only one bus stop, up front, near the lobby.

 

[johnsgrl]

I had the same issue with transportation to the parks for our October trip with my 2y/o GS. We always drive down and have a car, but I have an intense dislike for driving to the TTC, then having to wait for a monorail or ferry to get us to MK. The solution for our October trip was BLT, we can either walk over to the Contemporary and board the monorail to get to MK, or walk directly to MK (which I have read is somewhere between 5-12 minutes walk). Given with a toddler in the party we will be spending our time at either MK or the resort, I see a monorail resort as a near necessity. I rented DVC points for a 1 br Lake View the price wasn't much different than booking a single deluxe room for the same time period.

 

[TJA]

This will be the first family trip and the first time staying at a Disney resort for us in October.

Our first concern is transportation to and from the park. It will be me my husband our 4yr and 20 month old. We plan on taking our double stroller to the park as well. I don't want to be on a bus for most of the trip you know.

Our second concern is food. We need family friendly restaurants located near by for breakfast and possible dinner.

We haven't narrowed it down yet with the moderate resorts but if we stay in a deluxe it will be the Polynesian or wilderness lodge.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for your time

If you don't want to be on a bus for most of the trip, then moderates won't work for you cause that's the only source of transportation they have (unless you rent a car...but then you would still be unloading and folding your double stroller each time).

We've had first-hand experience with double strollers in WDW. We have twins and started taking them to WDW when they were 7 months old and still haven't stopped now at age 12. I want to say we were in WDW maybe 15 or so times with our double stroller/double jogger. Our family liked the BC for many, many years when the kids were young because they loved the sandy bottom pool area and we loved walking to 2 parks. We'd also take our time getting to MK and walk through Epcot to catch the monorail to MK. We did anything to avoid taking a bus. But since you didn't name BC as a contender, I'd definitely choose Poly over the WL. At Poly, you'd have a larger room, more comfortable beds (imo), character breakfast, Ohana dinner, Kona for any meal, monorail -- TTC gives direct monorail to both MK and Epcot, and one of the things we love most is the view from the Poly. It's amazing to be able to watch Wishes so clearly right from the Poly pool and/or beach.

As far as family-friendly restaurants nearby, there are Ohana and Kona right at Poly, plus the fast-food place too. All family friendly. Ohana has a character breakfast. You'd be a monorail ride away from both CR and GF which both offer character meals. Of course, you're a monorail ride away from MK which has endless options.

 

[Kimberly9701]

I love YC & BC for my F&W trips with friends. 2015 was the first time I took my son to Disney World. I knew without a doubt that a monorail resort was our only option.

Between the 3 I chose Poly. I think CR is too "hotelish", and I think GF could be anywhere, although it is beautiful, but we stay at a resort in Boca Raton that I feel is just as beautiful. Poly is something different. Your 4 year old will LOVE the pool. The entire atmosphere is something special. We only used the monorail once or twice to MK, we preferred the boat..the ride back is so pretty.

So, needless to say, my vote is POLY!

*We are staying at CR on our next trip, only bc it is winter and wouldn't use the Volcano pool..and I want to be able to be in the same building as restaurants/monorail/etc. I keep checking on Poly availability in case I change my mind..lol. But I won't, I can't deal with a 6 year old repeatedly asking to swim in December.

 

[kjmollypup]

We were in your shoes last year. First family trip, actually first trip in many, many years (hadn't stayed on property in something like 30 years). Two kids and double stroller as well. Decided on the Poly and never looked back. The ease of rolling that double stroller onto the monorail just cannot be beat. Also, the boat back and forth to MK is a great option, although you have to fold the stroller for that one. I haven't taken a bus on property yet, but the boat just seems more fun and peaceful! Plenty of great food options there too. Could've eaten a few more meals at Captain Cook's, but had lots of ADR's at MK restaurants. The splash area at the volcano pool is great fun for the little ones. The only downside to the Poly that we've found is that we aren't sure we will be able to go down from deluxe after the experience, and in fact we are booked for the Poly again this year, and we definitely didn't intend to go back to WDW this soon. The whole experience won us over.

 

[1971DBday]

I have done moderate, deluxe, and DVC. While my kids are getting older and I have kicked the stroller to the curb, if I had to do it again it would be Poly because of the monorail! We are DVC now so even though the Poly does not have a full kitchen, unless you stay in a Bungalow, the convenience of the monorail for two parks is priceless. We did moderate for the first three years of DD10 being in a stroller. There is nothing like getting on a crowded bus with a baby in your arms and not one person offers you a seat. (Yes, this happened to me.). It is so unsafe!!! If I can decrease that chance by 50% and I can afford it sign me up! By the way, I was also standing next a woman sitting in her wheelchair (stayed in it to save seating I guess) when her harness device came lose so I shoved one of my feet under the wheel so she wouldn't role any further while holding my 8 month old baby. It hurt and I asked for help as soon as we stopped.....have I talked you into the Poly yet???

I am a picky eater and I'm happy with the options at Captain Cooks. I could probably make your kids eating habits look wonderful!!! Love WL to but monorail is a definite bonus to Poly!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Based on the description of your family and what you are looking for in a resort, I would choose Poly. You will have a monorail to two parks at your disposal, plus Capt. Cook's, Kona and O'hana at the resort. It's also very easy to get to GF and CR on the monorail for other family friendly, casual restaurants. At a mod, you will take the bus everywhere and your dining issues will be limited unless you pick POR or POFQ and take the boat to DS. Poly will make your life much easier.

 

[flutterby3]

If you're choosing between the moderates, I'd go French Quarter because of its smaller size. We did so much less walking from the bus/car to our room, plus dining was close by as well. Staying at Coronado was so much more of a hassle when it came to finding your room every night because of the larger size.

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

Poly for the Monorail, Ohana and Kona Cafe
WL for the boat to MK, Artist Point (spendy) and Whispering Canyon Cafe
POFQ because it is smaller, easy to navigate and share everything with POR