Best Moderate Resort?

[csace7]

I plan on visiting Disney World next spring. What do you think is the best moderate resort. I am leaning towards Caribbean Beach because it has the Skyliner but Coronado Springs seems like it has a lot more amenities. A lot of people here seem to like Port Orleans because of the quiet and price. I do like the idea of hopping on the skyliner at the end of a long day and getting off right at my hotel room.

 

[buzznina]

First, both PO resorts will probably not be open by then, unless there are big changes with travel etc., so you are just looking at either CBR or CSR. I personally think the skyliner is a big advantage for CBR. In all honesty, our family really have liked all 4 of the Mod resorts and would not hesitate to stay at any of them. But with that said I think CBR would get our vote because of the skyliner.

 

[csace7]

Thanks for replying! I really like the Skyliner. Do you know if you can get off at Epcot and take a monorail to the transportation center to go to Magic Kingdom? I think the Skyliner stops at the world show case of Epcot

 

[Dug720]

Thanks for replying! I really like the Skyliner. Do you know if you can get off at Epcot and take a monorail to the transportation center to go to Magic Kingdom? I think the Skyliner stops at the world show case of Epcot

No. First you'd have to go through Epcot and park hopping is not happening right now - and no word as to when it will come back. Second, the Epcot monorail is not running right now.

(As an aside, unless you are in the building right next to the Skyliner, and even then there would be a short walk, you're not "dropped off right at your room". You'd still have to walk - potentially further than from a bus stop. Just some clarification.)

 

[Brett Wyman]

CBR always seems under maintained and dated to me. Maybe that’s a theme? I’m not sure but there’s a reason, prior to the Skyliner, that CBR was always dead last on any moderate ranking list. So take that into account. How bad do you want to use the Skyliner? You also have the Riviera in walking distance which is nice. The CSR rooms and grounds and are light years better in my opinion, and the tower is basically feels like a deluxe. But of course CSR is pretty isolated from everything.

 

[LlamaMamaof2]

I prefer PO but have booked with CBR for December. I went with it based on the skyliner and the quick service at RR. I have a teen who won’t ride the skyliner so lots of uber for her- but one teen who loves it. Also can do the room with 5th sleeper at CBR and not CSR if that’s needed for your family. The food options at RR looked great and it’s just a skyliner ride to AOA or Pop, which again teens like their food court.

 

[SarahC97]

CBR is our least favorite moderate. The main pool is nice and the grounds are beautiful, but the bus options to two parks are abysmal and the rooms need a refurbishment. CSR is the nicest moderate, IMO. The rooms are really lovely, it has a great main pool, it has a ton of restaurants (though it remains to be seen what will open with the resort), and it's very centrally located which makes getting to any park pretty convenient. For getting to the parks for rope drop, I don't really think the Skyliner is an advantage. Still took us nearly an hour to get on a skyliner gondola to take us to DHS for rope drop and we made it with only about 10 minutes to spare.

 

[pigletgirl]

My favorite is POFQ, but obviously it is closed indefinitely until we hear otherwise. I have always stayed away from CBR, but because we now live in the desert southwest, CSR feels a little too familiar for us. It is a beautiful resort though.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

I plan on visiting Disney World next spring. What do you think is the best moderate resort. I am leaning towards Caribbean Beach because it has the Skyliner but Coronado Springs seems like it has a lot more amenities. A lot of people here seem to like Port Orleans because of the quiet and price. I do like the idea of hopping on the skyliner at the end of a long day and getting off right at my hotel room.

I’d be surprised if either POR or POFQ is open by spring. If it’s between CBR and CSR I’d choose CSR. The only positive to CBR is the skyliner. We recently stayed there and the rooms are very much in need of a major refresh. They’re the oldest moderate rooms at Disney. We had nothing good to say about CBR. If the rest of CBR restaurants aren’t open soon it should be categorized as a value since there’s nothing that special about it. The GDT at CSR is awesome and feels deluxe. The grounds are much nicer and the new rooms are amazing. Such pretty views.

Another option I’d you Really want to do a skyliner resort is skip CBR and CSR and pick POP. The rooms are newly remodeled and the amenities aren’t much different than CBR. Outside of dining, it’s not that different. In fact the buses at pop are better too since it’s not as many stops. CBR has the most internal bus stops at Disney.

 

[bsjs0708]

For us its the Fort Wilderness cabins...boat to monorail and MK entrance

 

[DeterminedOne]

I have stayed at all the mods - except Fort Wilderness that I only recently realized is a mod. Prior to Skyliner I would have claimed Port Orleans resorts. The Skyliner though is a game changer. I loved CBR for its vibe & access to Skyliner. For example: I was mid center of HS. From there to Skyliner to my room in Trinidad was 30 minutes. Would not have happened via bus. CBR all the way!!!

 

[csace7]

First, both PO resorts will probably not be open by then, unless there are big changes with travel etc., so you are just looking at either CBR or CSR. I personally think the skyliner is a big advantage for CBR. In all honesty, our family really have liked all 4 of the Mod resorts and would not hesitate to stay at any of them. But with that said I think CBR would get our vote because of the skyliner.

Great insight, thank you. My party will consist of all adults and to be honest we can’t afford the deluxe resorts but the moderates look great. We like that light theming the moderates have.

 

[csace7]

No. First you'd have to go through Epcot and park hopping is not happening right now - and no word as to when it will come back. Second, the Epcot monorail is not running right now.

(As an aside, unless you are in the building right next to the Skyliner, and even then there would be a short walk, you're not "dropped off right at your room". You'd still have to walk - potentially further than from a bus stop. Just some clarification.)

Yeah I tend to exaggerate a little bit. I heard CBR is the biggest moderate on property. Some people said it can take 10-15 minutes to get to your room from the sky liner stop

 

[csace7]

CBR always seems under maintained and dated to me. Maybe that’s a theme? I’m not sure but there’s a reason, prior to the Skyliner, that CBR was always dead last on any moderate ranking list. So take that into account. How bad do you want to use the Skyliner? You also have the Riviera in walking distance which is nice. The CSR rooms and grounds and are light years better in my opinion, and the tower is basically feels like a deluxe. But of course CSR is pretty isolated from everything.

CBR was built in the late 80s and it looks a little dated. The rooms look tired too but they did add some light Caribbean touches to the design.

 

[The Foolish Mortal]

I like Coronado. CBR is my least favorite moderate resort

 

[Brett Wyman]

CBR was built in the late 80s and it looks a little dated. The rooms look tired too but they did add some light Caribbean touches to the design.

Outside of the central hub, which looks great, the rest of the place feels entirely dated. The rooms feel old and dingy and some of the "quiet" pools look straight out of a poorly maintained Motel8.

 

[Devil13]

Coronado GDT by a mile

 

[fairygagamother]

We liked Caribbean 30 years ago! Now, not so much! And to be honest, I wasn’t that crazy about Coronado the first time we stayed there & crossed it off my list.
This past pre-covid spring, I ended up spending 2 nights there after the family left. I didn’t get there until after dark & couldn’t figure out where to go to eat. So, again, I was not enjoying my experience there. But— the room was very nice! And the next day after I figured out where everything was, I absolutely loved it! The bar over the water was great! And there were several bus stops that made it easy to get around. (After I finally acclimated myself!)
Grand Destino Tower is fantastic! The views are fabulous & the rooms are very modern & new feeling. So now I am a real fan of CSR & highly recommend it!

 

[MomOTwins]

If the tower is available and in budget at CSR, that is a no brainer for me. It is brand new and very nice, with great restaurants. I haven't seen the non-tower rooms, and those don't look as great from the pictures, but don't seem really much different than the rooms at CBR.

The limited dining situation at CBR right now is a real deterrent for me. I don't get when people say they can just walk to eat at Riviera. We were at Riviera this summer and walked down to CBR's skyliner one morning to get in line early and maximize our changes of getting a ROTR BG and I swore never again---it was a loooooooong hot walk in the sun, when you've already been walking a ton at WDW and your feet have blisters, more walking is a big no thank you for me.

The other thing about the skyliner is it goes down whenever there is lightning in the area. Granted we were there in August, but we were only able to use the skyliner about 50% of the time, and the bus alternative was very slow.

 

[DeutscherDon]

Hello,Csace7. we have stayed in all the moderates and they are all really nice to us. POR is probably our favorite but we also really like the Rustic cabins at ft wilderness. They have a kitchen and sleep six. Very quiet. Relaxed. Trailsend Restaurant is a good Place to eat. You can fish, ride horses, You can barbecue on the porch. Bus service is good there as well. Obviously no skyliner
but that’s the great thing about Disney something for everyone.