Disney Moderate Hotels

We stayed at the lake buena vista hotel & spa located on the same grounds as the premium outlets. Best value, got the deal on Expedia. They have a shuttle to and from the parks. It's closest to all the dining like a Fridays or a chick fil a among others. It's about a 2 minute drive to wal mart which was awesome when we needed to stock up on supplies.

Highly recommended!

We've only stayed at the Polynesian when we went. We started going when daughter was about 2 and went every 2 years until she was about 15. It is on the monorail line and one of the supposed higher end resorts. We LOVE it.

Polynesian is our favorite... We've stayed in the Concierge tower a couple of times and that was very nice. There are perks that come with the Conceirge tower that we were able to participate in such as a private safari ride at AK.. It is way more pricey but worth it to us. We just got on the boat taxi to head over to MK. The boat taxi runs from Grand Floridian and Polynesian. I could stay at the Polynesian and never leave the hotel... It has a beach and at night you just sit on the beach or your patio and watch the MK fireworks. Concierge also has food available. Drinks, fruit and simple snacks are available 24/7. They have specific times where they set out breakfast, mid morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, happy hour, dinner, dessert hour. We had a lot of meals right there which was all included in our room rates.

We never did meal plan because I don't like someone dictating where I am going to eat. We never did the meal plan and that worked best for us. We are not huge eaters and it would be a waste for us. Some people swear by it.

We do not rent a car. We fly to Orlando, get a private cab and are at the resort within an hour. There is a free shuttle to/from the airport but you are at the mercy of how crowded it is, how many stops it has to make. We just paid $100 each way, were done and on our way.

There are tons of options out there. I agree to start making reservations now, especially for character dinners, etc. LOVE Chef Mickey (Contemporary), O'Hana breakfast (Polynesian), Luau (Polynesian)

Have fun!

We stayed at the Contemporary Inn and it was well worth it. Our room overlooked the Magic Kingdom and we watched the fireworks from our balcony every night. The monorail goes right through this hotel, so it is very convenient to the Magic Kingdom.

My biggest mistake was not booking the character breakfast in advance. We ended up eating at 7am on our last day there. We were all exhausted, nobody was really hungry that early and it made the rest of the day seem so long!

If you want to at least investigate the off-site options so you have something to compare, look into VRBO.com. There are many houses near Disney, some of them executive-level homes that can be rented for a reasonable rate. Some of them have pools, too. We have never gone this route, but had friends that did and they were very happy with it.

Have fun planning!

We've stayed at Contemporary (boys were 4&6.5), Polynesian (6.5&9) and are now booked in the Art of Animation for January (8.5&11). It was convenient to be "on the monorail" when the boys were younger (and had less endurance), but as they are getting older (and staying up later), the convenience is not that important. I like Art of Animation because almost all of the rooms are suites (for the price of a room) so you get more space that way. We stayed at Port Orleans before we had kids, and it worked well for us as a couple. I don't know how it would be with kids in tow. Before we had kids, we also stayed offsite and rented a car (with another couple). Yes, it was cheaper (the whole thing was cheaper, for two rather than four!), but I'm not sure it was all that much cheaper in the long run, and the convenience (with the kids) of being on property is worth it to me. When they are older (and driving!) I might think differently...
HTH

We always stay at Port Orleans Riverside. We visited the French Quarter side but it was too "busy" for our tastes. The rooms at Riverside are small and nicely decorated. It's spread out and you'll need to do some walking. We didn't mind that. I was convenient to get to the parks with the bus system though I think that's true for any resort. We'd like to stay at a deluxe resort (Contemporary or Polynesian) once just to see the difference, but it would be hard to justify spending an extra $1,000 to do that when Riverside is nice and you're not in your room that much.

When I plan my trip to DW I like to plan a few days to stay at the hotel and enjoy the pool and relax. Help break up the trip and I dont feel like I need a vacation from my vacation. Because I do this I am willing to pay the additional to go higher up. We have stayed at Port Orleans Riverside. It is so beautiful and they have a great main pool as well as nice satellite pools. I will say the clientele does change when you go higher up. There is more of a calm relaxed feel. We have also stayed at Coronado Springs and it was nice as well. When comparing those 2 experiences I believe we had a better time at POR because we were closer to all of the main stuff. But if you do not plan on enjoying the amenities of the moderate then save your money. The last time we went we stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge and it was even more amazing. But again I like to spend time in the Hotel too. I have a friend going in september and his needs in a hotel are a bed and a shower so he will stay at the all star. I dont think it is worth it to stay offsite but that is just me. We have never left property when we have gone and have no interest. Have fun!

I've heard good things about both the Port Orleans and Riverside . We have friends that stay there every year . Another option is to check the Wilderness because it is on the low end of Deluxe . You can take the boat over to the Magic Kingdom . It is really convenient .I would call Disney now if you have your dates(you can always change them ) . We received an email about discounted packages in the spring . You never know , you may get an extra deal if you ask . Have a magical time !

just got back from port Orl riverside. I didn't research stuff, Dh's did. I was actually surprised because we were in the alligator buyou (sp) section. and while the rooms were cuter more kid like accent pillows ect. i thought they were extremely small and plasticy. It was not the quality i was expecting, and not like the photos of the riverside rooms i had seen on line.

We could have walked to the bus depot, i have no idea how long it would have taken, because of dd's disability we drove from the alligator buyou parking lot to the mail parking lot and the depot was right there, i guess there were 3 other bus depots for the other outlying rooms.

we were on the second floor and i never found the elavator so we lugged our stuff up stairs, again we had driven so maybe if we had flown it would have been delivered or maybe if we had asked and paid more a bell hop would have delivered it. It seemed reasonable to get to the parks, but If i could have afforded something right on the monorail line I think it

Have a wonderful trip! DisneyWorld is one of our favorite family vacations!
You might want to look at this blog that discusses all the pros and cons of each moderate resort. www.disneytouristblog.com/best-moderate-resorts-disney-world Then review the comments at the bottom and you will get more information to help you plan your trip.

I love Port Orleans FQ but I prefer Coronado Springs because of the food court. The buses were convenient and the main pool is awesome. I have stayed at the Polynesian (Deluxe Hotel) too and while I loved it, I can not justify the cost. The bathrooms at the moderate resorts are very small but I still think it is the best bang for the buck. Have fun!!!

This is where we considered staying, but chose a different resort, non-Disney, that had more activities on sight and wanted to travel outside of Disney. This hotel has DIsney bus service.
http://www.wyndhamlakebuenavista.com/