Upgrading to Moderate~Worth It?

EricaH

Earning My Ears
Joined
Feb 3, 2012
I'm planning a 7-night stay this April. It will be me, my husband, and my two children (ages 16 & 12). Currently, we are booked to stay at All Star Movies. However, I found a deal for Port Orleans for about $500 more total for the week. We don't plan on spending a ton of time hanging out at the resort, probably just sleeping and a possible afternoon rest during the day. Last time we visited, we stayed at Coronado Springs and haven't tried a Value Resort before. If you were in my shoes, would you pay the extra money to upgrade resorts or save the money to spend on souvenirs/dinning?
 
I think I would stay put in your case.

The upgrade offers no transportation advantages, and you don’t seem to need the slightly better amenities a moderate resort offers. Seems like the money is better used towards experiences or souvenirs in your case.
 
I would.

From what you mention, I think the $70 a day is worth the upgrade. Unless there was something specific that you would be doing with the $500, or something you've planned but would remove by spending it on the room. While $500 in a week is a lot of money outside of Disney, it can be burned though quickly when you're there and over the course of the week, you may hardly notice it. Food and souvenirs are cool but when you are back home I think you'll look back on the experience, and where you stayed will likely be far more impactful than anything you eat or buy. I just get the impression that the money you saved would be spent anyway and, for me, the room is the most bang for the buck.

Or...I'm way off and you should save the money. Either way. :)
 
Two teenagers-boys here. We ❤️CSR, the guys love the pools, work out room, live music at night, we waaaaaay prefer the counter service at CSR, even though it’s large it’s not nearly as hectic as we always found the values to be (we’ve stayed in them all over the years when they were littles). I would definitely spend the money on the resort BUT we have been many times and don't buy souvenirs or go for extravagant/character dining anymore.
If you’re going during spring break, it just adds to the chaos (and fun!). You may think you won’t spend much time at the resort but if the parks are mobbed, having a break at a great resort is quite nice.
But Mickey ice cream bars and ear hats are cool too. :earboy2:
 


Just to make it more confusing, I vote 'maybe' and that's because depending on which Port Orleans, compared to the All-Stars, you may have less of a walk from the bus stop to your room.
 
I'm planning a 7-night stay this April. It will be me, my husband, and my two children (ages 16 & 12). Currently, we are booked to stay at All Star Movies. However, I found a deal for Port Orleans for about $500 more total for the week. We don't plan on spending a ton of time hanging out at the resort, probably just sleeping and a possible afternoon rest during the day. Last time we visited, we stayed at Coronado Springs and haven't tried a Value Resort before. If you were in my shoes, would you pay the extra money to upgrade resorts or save the money to spend on souvenirs/dinning?
Save the $500.00 and spend it on an AH event at MK or AK. Best money we spend at WDW and your kids are at the perfect ages for AH.
 
Stay at ASMo, but do something cool with the $500. I like the idea of AH that @Scubadaddy32 mentioned. You could also do a tour, a nice meal, a trip to the Void at DS, etc.

You’ll have renovated rooms at ASMo, so I don’t think PO offers much practical advantage since you don’t need a 5th sleeping surface and both resorts use buses. Now if your kids were really interested in spending time by the pool, the ability to use the water slide at PO might be a draw. But would it be worth $500 more? For that price, you could add water park tickets, and go to to BB or TL.
 


My family would upgrade, however we do use the amenities, especially the pools. If your family will not likely use the extras you are paying for, check to see if there is more space in the room and if that extra space is worth $500.

Personally, if I could upgrade to a moderate with the Skyliner for $500 I would in a heartbeat.
 
It depends, what is important to your family. My family enjoys the ease of transportation to the parks and quick access to coffee/food in the mornings. So if you are referring to French Quarter, then maybe it would be worth it for us, but if it was Riverside, that would not be something we would enjoy. I find every Disney trip and family enjoys something different. Either way have fun!
 
If you can upgrade to a standard room at POFQ, I’d do it.
But if you’re talking about a standard room at POR, I’d stick to Movies.
 
I would. In addition to a much nicer resort area (pool slide, hot tub) you also get a larger room with 2 sinks instead of 1. And you would also be able to boat to Disney Springs, which is a much nicer way to go than taking a bus. And you will be closer to both the Magic Kingdom and Epcot.
 
We stayed at POFQ last December with our 2 year old, and absolutely loved it. It’s small and well themed and the one bus stop was so nice. I highly recommend it.
 
All Star Movies is a nice resort and is a fine choice for your young family. It is well laid out and has a fun animated movies theme. It really is a great value as a Disney owned resort.
However, with 4 people in the room, I would choose a moderate - especially for such a low increase in cost. We have stayed at ASMo as well as both POR and POFQ. Our preference would be to stay in POR. However, many other people prefer POFQ as it is smaller and all rooms are close to everything. Either way, you will have 314 sq ft in your room at PO vs 260 sq ft in ASMo. That extra space makes a difference to us. You will also have nicer landscaping and a slide at the pool. You will be closer to most theme parks (except AKL) so will have somewhat shorter bus rides at PO, especially to MK. You will have covered bus stops and. some seating available while you wait. When you do go back to the resort for a rest, the room will be more spacious and you will have more options to relax with such things as renting a Surrey bike or going fishing. You also have a boat ride to DS available, nice if you return to the resort for dinner. You have two PO resorts that you can use the amenities of - including the pools. You may not plan to use the amenities a lot, but if you do desire them, they are available. AT any rate the larger room would be worth the extra $$ to me. We like ASMo fine, but it is basic with few frills. It is just more relaxing when you do return to a moderate resort vs a value. So, if you are commando touring, you get a bit more of a break whenever you are at the resort, if that makes sense.

Anyway, whichever you choose, have a great vacation!!!!
 
We did a split stay on our last trip between All Star Movies and Port Orleans French Quarter. I really liked the size of POFQ and we enjoyed the food court there. The pool was nice but we walked over to POR one day to use the pool there and we liked that pool better. POFQ has a slide at their pool but your kids might find it a bit small. There's also a splash pad but your kids would likely be too old for that. There is a hot tub but at POFQ it's not right by the pool. At POR the hot tub is right in the pool enclosure, which we preferred. The buses were nice at POFQ and we liked that they never seemed too crowded!

Our stay at ASMovies was great as well. We had a preferred room that was really close to the bus stop that we ended up loving! I didn't find the room there to feel hugely smaller but it was obviously a bit. I noticed that the dresser was a bit smaller (so our clothes didn't fit as well and we needed to use closet space). But we really liked the shelves above the refrigerator and since we had a grocery delivery, that space was great for storing all of that. The pool at ASMovies is fine but nothing super exciting. There's no slide or hot tub there. I liked the food court fine at ASMovies as well but I missed the create your own pasta that they had at POFQ (but I've heard that's eliminated there now as well). We had good luck with the buses but there were times that they were pretty crowded!

If we were going back we would probably choose ASMovies again over POFQ just because we prefer to be more frugal with our money but I can see us doing a shorter stay at POFQ again!
 
With 4 people I’d make the switch. When All-Star Sports first opened we were in a room with 4 people for 2 nights and it was a little tight. With two younger kids it might be doable; otherwise, I wouldn’t want to do that for a week.
 
Not worth it. 500 is a lot. That’s a lot of money to save period. We love POFQ. Wouldn’t pay 500 more for a week though. Sometimes I can get it for 100 more depending on military offers. And talking to customer service. I’d pay that. Not 500. Especially since you won’t be at the resort a lot. WDW is for the parks. Resorts for sleeping and showers. Lol.
 
We LOVE POR. It is our favorite resort! The tropical atmosphere of the AB section is fantastic and our favorite. They have secluded tropical paths and even a small bridge or two:) The quiet pools are in each section and a lot of fun if you don't want to trek to the main pool - it's kind of like having a private pool and has never been crowded in our experiences. The Mill QS restaurant has a huge selection of food and a neat atmosphere. Their resort store is the best we've seen anywhere in WDW. They also have the surrey bikes you can rent, a carriage ride, and the boat to downtown Disney. The Mansion side has, well, mansions type buildings and groomed green areas and also quiet pools. The buses have never been a problem for us in all our visits, even though they have 4.
It is an individual thing, but I would opt to spend the $500 and go to POR anytime!
 
If you can afford it and it isn't going to be a stretch, I'd go for the moderate. We stay in the values for a night or two but I can't see staying in one the entire trip. We like a hot tub so having one at the moderates is a huge plus to us. We like the quiet pools, a little less busy than the main ones. We like the larger rooms. I actually prefer POR to POFQ but that is just because I don't like the outside looks of POFQ, too hotel like for me. The size of POR never bothers me, I don't find the walk - even from the furthest building - very far but I don't have a little one. The public areas of the values are a little too busy for me, by that I mean crowded and loud. Frankly, I probably wouldn't stay at a moderate for longer than a 4 day trip. We are big fans of Epcot and HS so we tend to stay at Swan/Dolphin. At times it's actually less than a moderate but with deluxe inside hallways and walking to two parks.
 
If you have the extra money, I say go for it. If it'll take away from other things from the trip, then don't. I was going to upgrade from Pop to a moderate, but decided against it as I really won't be at the resort that much to justify spending more money. If I had the extra money to spend, sure, but the money would've came from something else. We would've cancelled an expensive ADR or something.

I don't think it is worth it if you won't be in the room that much.
 
We are staying at ASM, i wanted ( not avab in our stay) to upgrade to pop or AoA because of the skyliner... we are all about transportation to and from the parks. We do not use the pool so that was not a factor. I do not know your daily plan and if you plan on being gone all day every day... if you are only sleeping in your room stay at ASM.

ASM has all new beds/ rooms
 

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