Need help deciding between value & mod

[DisneyPrincess21]

Okay, so I need some advice for my upcoming trip in September. I will be going with my parents (Mom 54, Dad 56, And Me 25) We enjoy spending time at our resort and enjoy tropical and relaxing theme's as well as Pop culture stuff.

I currently have booked two rooms at the Pop, one room for myself, one room for my parents.While we are use to staying in the same room together, I thought it would be nice to go with a value so we could afford 2 rooms.

But now I am starting to wonder if the luxury of having two separate rooms will make up for the fact that we are in a value resort instead of moderate, or if we will be disappointed with the "downgrade", and I really don't want to wait till after the fact to decide if it was a good idea or not.

Also, we are not the typical people who are only in our rooms to sleep, we usually spend a good amount of time in our resort to relax, so we will probably notice the downgrade more than the average person who only uses the room for sleeping.

I had an idea of maybe we could stay 2 days at Pop with 2 rooms, and then switch to the 1 room at the moderate the last 2 days? Or should we stick with Pop the whole 4 days? Or should we not even risk the disappointment and go with 1 room at a moderate to share?

While I do like the theme of Pop, I worry that it may be a little too basic for us. We have only stayed at POFQ and CBR (in pirate room) before. Outside of WDW, we are pretty much "moderate hotel" people. For example, when we are really "budgeting" we will stay at a Hilton Garden Inn, Or Hampton Inn, that's is budgeting to us. We don't like to stay anywhere run down or cheap/dirty looking. In other words, we don't stay anywhere that looks like you could get bugs :blush: So the idea of a value hotel is making me and my mom kind of nervous. (my dad on the other hand, could stay at a motel 6 with no problem :bolt:).

How "value" is Disney's value hotels? Are they pretty much comparable with a value hotel in the real world ie-Motel 6, Knights Inn, etc? Or are they better then those hotels?

I Loved the theme of CBR and would love to stay there again. And even though we only have stayed there once, it still kinda felt like "home" to me. But on the other hand, I would like to try other resorts also, such as CSR or Pop. CSR seems like it has a nice theme also, and the queen beds are a plus (well at least for my parents, cause I already get the whole bed to myself so it doesn't really matter to me. :secret:)

I am confused, and I need honest advice on what I should do, don't sugar coat it. If the values are noticeably below the moderate standards then please feel free to be frank with me.

Also, any advice on which resort out of CBR, CSR and Pop, you like better and why, would be very helpful.

Thanks! :wave:

[Scar]

The values are not any more "run down" than the moderates. If you are concerned, you may want to stay at a resort that has been recently renovated. In fact CBR had the most "run down" room I've ever seen at WDW.

As far as the room itself I think the values are a little smaller, one sink compared to two, but other than that no difference, at least to me.

The real difference is that values are more "busy" than mods. The mods are more spread out and seemingly have fewer people and less crowded bus stops. Even the theme is more relaxing at the mods. Although you can find a quite spot at the values, if you want to step right outside your door and have quiet, go with the mod.

And if having a table service restaurant at your resort is important, you won't find one at the values (or POFQ.)

[Wishmaker]

I have to agree with the above post. If you have been to CBR and love it, I would go back. POP is my favorite of the Value and MODs. CBR was beautiful but way to spread out for me. The plus of CBR was that we had our own pool.
The rooms at POP are no different than any other MOD except for size. By reading your thoughts. I would stick with the MOD, it dosesn't really sound like POP is your thing.
As always though, you really can't go wrong with Dinsey. Either way you will have a great time. Happy Vacation :mickey:

[Beauty908]

I just stayed at Pop a month ago. Imagine a Super 8 hotel with splashes of Disney (bed spread, wallpaper,etc). For my group we didn't mind (its a bunch of College students) but we were definitely more focused on the parks. By the time we are back in the room, we are ready to shower and sleep. The rooms are kept very clean and you can get rooms that connect to each other. There are a couple of pools in the resort. We stayed in the 1950s so the pool was a giant bowling pin. hope this was helpful.

If you choose the cheaper route don't let it become something that will take away from your vacation. You can have just as much fun at a Value as you would anywhere else--just choose your mind set :mickey:

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Personally, I would stick with the two value rooms instead of one moderate room...I don't think the mods are that much bigger...I wouldn't compare the values to a Motel 6 at all, although they are efficient and lower priced, you still get the disney theming and great Disney service and towel animals....

[MOJoe]

When i stayed at All Star Music a couple of years back, i was surprised how "nice" it was. There just didn't seem to be that big of a difference between it's "value" room over the mods i've been too. So if your main focus is your room and the amount of it, then go Value.
If your focus is the resort itself, then it's a little more complicated. While there are more features at the Mods, like hot tubs, full service restaurants & lounges, the really big difference is the crowds. There just are way more rooms and thus people in the Value resorts. So everything seems busier, especially the bus stops. Again, you can have a great vacation at a Value. But if you want to feel like you really "got away from it all" then you will want to upgrade.

[#1donaldfan]

...your not going to be in a bad spot either way, but I will say the values tend to be more crowded, with the food court being the most crowded.....I don't believe any Disney owned property / resort will have a motel feel to it....they want us ALL back, every budget level !!:blush:

[CleveRocks]

I used to have this great, complete list of every difference between the Moderates and Values, but my old computer crashed and I don't have it saved anymore.

Value rooms are 260 sq. ft.
Mod rooms are 314 sq, ft. (CBR's are 340 sq. ft.).

Value rooms have no fridge (or you pay to rent one).
Mod rooms have free fridges.

Value resorts have a single bus stop.
Mods have multiple internal bus stops, meaning that no room is too far from the bus. [POFQ has only one, but it is such a small resort that that's all that's needed.]

Value resorts' bus stops are uncovered.
Mod resorts' bus stops are covered (think protection from rain and hot sun).

At Value resorts you have to bring towels to the pool.
Mods have pool towels at the main pools.

Value resorts have Luggage Assistance; it's not available 24 hours a day, and you need to make an appointment.
Mods have full-service on-demand Bell Services, open 24 hours a day.

Moderate resorts each have some type of recreational activity available (boat rental, bike rental).
Values don't have that.

Values have only a food court.
Mods (except POFQ) have a full-service restaurant, in addition.

At Value resorts, your maximum room charge limit is $500.
At Mods, it's $1,000.

At Values, you can request a king-size bed but you can't guarantee it.
At Moderates, you can guarantee a king-size bed by reserving that room category and paying extra for it.

There's probably more, it's just not coming to me now.

[DisneyPrincess21]

Thanks everyone for your help. We decided that we are sticking with the moderate's and we will just drive over to Pop one day to check out the gift shop and food court. We are gonna stick with what we know. :thumbsup: