Just back from a 6 night stay at POR in the AB section. This was our first stay at a moderate. In the past we've stayed at WL, BC, and Swan and Dolphin as well as some offsite stays at Marriot timeshare villas. I was a little worried about staying at a mod, but the price was right at $170 a night so I figured it was worth a try. Overall, it was a good stay but we decided in the end it was not a resort we would go back to as we preferred the other resorts. Here are my pros and cons.
Pros:
-price (as mentioned) very affordable for a family of 5
-room was very smartly laid out, with great attention to detail and had everything we needed. Loved the fridge, the comfy queen beds, and the separate toilet/shower area from the sinks which was great for getting ready in the morning
-the resort was very attractive on the outside, with shady paths and nice landscaping
-LOVED LOVED LOVED the slightly noisy air conditioner!! I know sounds crazy but we need some white noise when sleeping all together in one room so to have the nice humming of the AC was such a blessing and helped us all sleep much better. I did add some extra white noise from my sleep pillow app on my ipad but it really wasn't necessary. More on the AC in the cons however....
-also loved the ceiling fan. I need air movement when I sleep and we have ceiling fans at home so this was a welcome touch.
-we traveled with another family and my request for connecting rooms was granted so that was so nice to have the door open between our rooms which allowed us to go back and forth between the rooms easily and the kids could go in each others rooms to play. It was just convenient and great that the request was granted
-ME from the airport was wonderful. Quick and easy and a fun ride. This was the first time I used this service
-Magic bands were wonderful as well and worked perfectly
-Room was very clean and was cleaned very early each day so always ready when we returned from the parks in the afternoons
Cons:
-This resort is HUGE and very spread out. We were in building 39 which felt like miles away from the main pool and the food court. We made the walk only once on the first day and I was dripping wet from sweat after going back and forth. Not how I want to start my day! Felt like I needed another shower before heading to the parks. Not fun. So we never used the food court at all after the first day. Same thing for the main pool. After marching around the parks all day no one wanted to walk over to the pool once back at the resort. we had a quiet pool outside our building which we used once but it was kind of boring for the kids (we have a pool at home so they look forward to resort pools with different features). We also overheard people at the pool openly saying they were not staying at the resort and just came to use the pools and the bus and the boat to get to the parks and to downtown Disney! This was a little odd to me. I remember at the BC they had people checking to make sure you had proof you were a resort guest before entering the pool area so it felt a little sketchy to me that there were these other people just there hanging at the pool.
-The bus......what can I say. We were closest to the west depot which was nice as it was usually the first stop so we usually got a seat. But then it stopped at the north depot, then south depot (was there an east depot? I forgot!) but it seemed to take forever to just leave the resort! We did not have a monitor at the west depot so it seemed so random as to what busses would show up. On an EMH day at AK, busses kept coming for HS! 3 in a row! Having said that we rarely waited more than 10-15 mins for busses, even leaving the parks. But the busses were crowded and we came to realize that we prefer resorts that have other options for transportation, even if just for some of the parks. I missed the boats at the other resorts. We have never stayed at a monorail resort so I can't really compare. But we just got tired of buses.
-The fold down bed was kind of hard according to my daughter. She's 5-4, and she fit fine on it but she found it too hard so we ended up using an aero bed we had packed just in case. The bed fit fine next to the AC unit when we moved the table over a little.
-Nothing special from housekeeping, no towel animals or cute arrangements of the kids stuffed animals. But the rooms were clean, which is essentially the job of housekeeping so this is not much of a con.
-The AC while good never reached the 65 that I set it to. Even at night it only got to 68. we were fine and actually my kids were chilly and asked for extra blankets! But I would have liked it colder (did I mention how hot I was this whole trip? LOL!)
-No elevators! We were on the second floor and after the long walks to the bus, from the bus to top it off by climbing a flight of stairs was just awful. Did I mention how hot I was even at midnight?
-Finally, I will just say again that there was so much walking at this resort, even to the bus stop. Also because all the walking is outside you just felt it more. It was super super hot last week so every bit of exertion made you sweat like crazy and we were all just soaking wet all the time it seemed! It was a long walk to the busses at the parks, then another long walk to your room when we got to the resort, sometimes after standing for the whole ride home on the bus. Our feet were all killing us! I know we've had long walks to our rooms, especially down those long halls at the BC but at least you are inside in the AC so it seems better.
So overall the resort is very nice and it was clean and affordable. But for us I prefer something a little smaller with interior corridors and different options for transportation. I didn't feel we took enough advantage of being at a Disney resort. It felt more like we were at a nice Hampton Inn, which is not bad but not what I usually look for in my Disney vacation.
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we are a family of 5 so I know we will be in AB.
