Need advice please about choosing resort

[firenice]

Hi all! Taking son (6) to WDW august 4-13th. Right now I have us reserved for AKL standard view, DDP, PH....Thinking of switching us to different resort. Here are the choices:
POFQ - DDP would pay for trip back for MNSSHP/not APs
POFQ - DP would almost pay for both MNSSHP & APs
or
Pop - DDP would almost pay for both MNSSHP & APs
Pop - DP would pay for both with some $ left over

I guess the other option is just to stay where we're at and not return for another year. I just really want to also take him to a Star Wars weekend and of course trick or treating at MK. POFQ sounds devine! I've read great stuff about Pop too! I just worry that if we'll be there for 10 days that Pop will not be the home away from home needed. Any opinions would be graciously accepted :)

[wdwgrandma]

Lots of folks love Pop. We've stayed there a few times and it works for us - even on the longer stays. We use the money we saved on nice meals, parties like MVMCP or MNSSHP, and souvenirs.

POR and POFQ are beautifully themed resorts. We've stayed in both and are staying at POR again this October. The rooms, however, are only fractionally larger than what you'd find at Pop or the All Star resorts. Even the rooms at AKL aren't huge.

We love AKL and just stayed there again this past May. It's probably our favorite Disney resort. So I can totally understand your dilemma: stay at a value and use the extra money for other fun things, or stay at a deluxe or moderate but curtail the extra activities.

[DisneyFreak]

I'll use a quote from a castmember we talked to when making reservations a week ago...........

........"All the rooms look the same when you're sleeping."

If you plan on spending a lot of time at the resort then it makes sense to maybe spend a little more for the ammentities. If you are going to be park hopping and keeping busy elsewhere then it makes sense to save money on the room and use the extra for other activities.

[Mari]

hahahaha... loved what the cast member said! that is so true!!

I think the reason to choose a deluxe (at least for us) would be the convenience of being closer to the parks, having a sit down restaurant there and the activities for kids...

However... AKL is very far from the parks, so thats not very convenient... still... waking up to animals is worth it in my book!

What about staying at both?? would that be possible for you??

In our case, we will be staying 5 nights at WL, because it is very close to MK and to where we will be spending most of our holiday, but I didnt want Tatiana to miss waking up ti giraffes and zebras, so we are switching resorts for the last 2 noghts of the trip

[Mari]

oh!! as for the dining package...

I think the deluxe dining package is only worth it if you plan to spend most of your time sitting down for meals.... otherwise, in my opinion you wont get your money's worth, so the normal dining package would do... you still get 1 sit down meal a day, but with the counter service and snack credits you dont have to worry about spending an hour and a half or more sitting in some restaurant....

[firenice]

Thank you so much! I weighed your great replies and went with POFQ w/DP. Now I can pay for the APs for us. I was relieved to make things more central and to cancel many reservations (wanted to vacation not be strangled with plans). Now when my son goes on the Pirate Adventure he'll leave from POR instead of GF. We'll be able to rent bikes and watercraft. He'll be really excited to be able to go to DD via boat too :) Again, thank you very much for your wonderful opinions!

[Mari]

yei!!!

glad you are all set! Im sure your DS will have a fantastic time!!!