Moderate vs. Deluxe Hotels

[NeedmyDisneyFix]

I want to refer my parents to it for one of their get-aways (they get away from us two times a year) but they don't see how great WDW is so I doubt they would want to go. They would rather go to Cancun, which is beautiful but I'd get bored of just the beach.

[Sharpays Mom]

We have stayed in moderate and deluxe over the years. We stayed at the Caribbean Beach but found it to be enormous and too much walking from food court/main building to the room for my elderly parents and my then 4 year old. For compact moderate, I prefer Port Orleans French Quarter. Hands down my favorite is the Contemporary because of the convenience (walking to the magic kingdom and monorail to epcot) and because of the view from the park facing tower rooms. And, the rooms are close to the transportation/food/shop/main desk. Can't get more convenient than that. However, they have become so expensive that this past trip (mid March) we stayed in Port Orleans Riverside. We liked it just fine although it too is huge. I requested a room in a building close to the main building so it worked out OK for us. I would not have been happy had we been in one of the outlying buildings. It did seem that the transportation to the various parks takes longer - waits for the busses seemed endless at times. One drawback of resorts near the Seven Seas Lagoon is related to renting boats. If you have teenagers who do not have a driver's license, they'll be disappointed that they won't be able to drive a speed boat rented at the Contemporary. Much to our pleasant surprise, my now 15 year old could drive the motorboat rented at POR without my being on the boat. Still, I think you can't go wrong in any Disney resort.