Talk to me about Moderate resorts.....

[MommytoMJM]

So, we got an absolutely AMAZING gift today, due to the generosity of a benefactor who would rather not be named, our family (Andrew, MJ and Me) were given a four night stay at the beginning of October at one of the moderate resorts. This is something we would never in a million years be able to pull off for ourselves. Anyway, I am not sure which of the resorts we'll be in yet, we rated them CBR, POFQ, POR, and CS in that order and they'll let us know which one had availability. Has anyone stayed in these before?

MJ is autistic, uses a WC for heavy walking, has asthma, a g-tube, Epilepsy and is mostly non verbal.

I use a WC for heavy walking.

So, how will we fare at these resorts? I have never stayed at a resort with MJ (in fact, the only time I have ever stayed at WDW was 10 years ago in ASMu)

 

[SueOKW]

I'm afraid I don't know much about those resorts - but i do want to send my best wishes for a GREAT time!

 

[SyracuseWolvrine]

CBR: No Elevators, however, all the buildings are only 2 stories tall. If you request a ground floor room for medical reasons, that request is VERY likely to be granted.

know nothing about POR or POFQ

CSR is actually a very nice resort. it's VERY quiet and has a relaxed feel to it. I haven't seen the rooms, but a friend that used to work there says they're pretty nice.

I haven't actually stayed at any of these resorts, but I've picked up shifts there. I got a more relaxed feel at the Coronado than I did at the Caribbean Beach.

 

[MarieS]

We stayed at CBR for a couple nights and chose this moderate because CRO told us it's got the biggest room size. This was important to us because both of my boys use wheelchairs and in most hotels we are cramped. We did request first floor thru special reservations. We liked the theme with all the landscaping. Some people feel the resort is too sprread out, but this was not a problem for us. It was about a five minute walk to the food court and we had our own lift van so we didn't use the busses.
Have a good trip!

 

[pugdog]

We have stayed at all of them.

CBR- All of the handicapped rooms are on the first floor. The rooms are the biggest of the mods, but the resort is huge and sometimes the walk to food can be long. But there is an internal bus you can use to get there.

CS- not alot of hills has the biggest rollin shower of any resort. It is a convention hotel so sometimes there are alot of convention goers.
Has elevators for hc rooms on upper floors.

POR nice rooms but there are a couple of big hills

POFQ also nice rooms and fairly level.

Both POR and POFQ you can use the boats to get to DTD.

Out of all these our fav would be POR for thr type and quality of food.
And CBR for the room size. Any one you pick well be nice.

 

[leise]

We have stayed in CBR, which was lovely, quiet and friendly. The one thing I would say though was the food court wasn't that big, and got very very busy and noisy. My DS who is autistic couldn't handle it at all. I thought it was smaller and with less chioce than the one as ASMovies. That said they probably all get busy and noisy at times....

 

[DIS-NH]

CBR & CSR are both great choices. CBR has more "quiet" pools. Both offer short walks to the bus stops. CSR has a great breakfast buffet at the Maya Grill if you like a big breakfast.

Best of luck.

 

[HopperFan]

CBR - was very spread out and we went to other resorts to eat because the food court was so loud. Bigger rooms was minimal to us, we couldn't even tell.

POFQ - Have only visited but it is the smallest of the resorts and has elevators.

POR - Love this resort, Mansion side has elevators. Plenty of quiet pools. We enjoy the food court, plenty of room and the sound issue was not a problem there. Lush landscape and a laid back atmosphere.

CSR - Love this resort, some think it is large but a much tighter footprint than CBR. We found the pool area to be very spread out and enjoyable. Food court is upscale and plentiful. The resort is beautiful and quite peaceful. Because it is convention, I think it feels less crowded because the folks are working.

 

[SueM in MN]

Nice gift!
You've gotten a lot of opinions already. I'll add mine to the mix, but just wanter to add that all of the moderates are nice and I think you will be happy whatever you choose.
We have stayed at all of them except for CS.
Our favorite is CBR.
The rooms are bigger than the other moderates.
Even though it is a large resort and spread out, it is connected with nice walkways. There are a lot of nice sand "beach" areas with places to sit and sand to play in (NOTE: you can't swim from them). There are 7 quiet pools in the resort. As was already mentioned, the food court can be noisy. CBR was the first moderate built and the food court is maybe a bit small for the size of the resort. The buildings that are closest to Old Port Royale (where the food court is located) are considered Preferred locations and are an extra charge. Here's a link to the CBR page on the DIS, which includes a link to a map of the resort.
One thing I remember at CBR is that if you are on the beach in Martinique or Trinidad North, looking toward Aruba, you can see the highest fireworks from Epcot (Aruba is actually just behind the American pavilion).

POR is also one of our favorites. Some people have noted that some of the paths are bumpy (we didn't notice ourselves, but my DD likes bumpy).
We really like the food court at POR and usually go there for a meal on each trip even though most of the time in the last few years we have stayed at OKW.
Here's a link to the POR page. The DIS website lists the average room as the same as CBR, but I don't think tha't true. As far as I know, CBR is larger. There are 5 quiet pools for about the same number of rooms as at CBR. The food court is much larger though - at least the seating area.
A nice feature that was already mentioned is the boat you can take to DD. Very relaxing (is wheelchair accessible).

PO French Quarter is a very pretty resort. Much smaller than the others (although at over 1000 rooms, it's not exactly a small resort). As was mentioned, there are elevators, but you may not necessarily be close to an elevator and may need to backtrack to get to one. I believe there is only the one main poll, but it is very large.
You can also take the boat to DD.
Here's a link to the French Quarter DIS web page.

I don't know anything about CS except what I have read and seen from the outside. Here's a link to the DIS page about CS.

 

[Joanna71985]

MommytoMJM, that's GREAT!!! I hope you all have a nice time. I've only stayed at POR and POFQ and they are both nice. Whichever one you choose have a wonderful time!

 

[spotdog]

I found the POR Mansions to be quiet. They had elevators, the pool was next to the building and fairly quiet. Laundry was right there, too.

If you can, request one of the Mansions just across the bridge from the food court. When the food court, with the big mill waterwheel, got a bit too busy for me. I took my food to an outside table or back to my room.

The boat to and from Downtown Disney is a relaxing way to spend the end of your day. If you get the POR refill mugs, get hot chocolate on the way back to the room.

Have a magical trip.

 

[jencav5]

I've stayed at POR with my autistic DS. We stayed in a bottom floor mansion. It was very nice and quiet. The resort is very beautiful and relaxing. We enjoyed it. I think you will be happy whatever you get! Have fun!

 

[Ambassador]

We have stayed many times at POR and POFQ, and highly recommend both. POFQ is more level, but the small hills at POR are not near the main services building, but on the path down to FQ (you don't have to go that way). Riverside does have Boatwrights, a full-service restaurant. Both resorts have been renovated recently.