Y’all, I need backup! I shared a hot take with the rest of the DFB team and found out that pretty much no one here agrees with me. But I know there’s gotta be SOMEONE out there who gets what I’m talking about and would take my side. I mean, everybody else hates these hotels too, right?

The matter of which Disney World hotel is the best is a hotly debated topic. Should you go value, moderate, or deluxe? Close to Magic Kingdom or EPCOT? Are you team Skyliner or Monorail? There are lots of different ways to approach your decision of where you’re going to stay the next time you visit The Most Magical Place on Earth, but if I were you, I’d cross three hotels off the list immediately!!

So here’s my hot take: I think that most of the moderate-level hotels in Disney World are USELESS (except for ONE…which I’ll tell you about later on). I know that’s gonna prompt some angry responses, but give me just one second to explain where I’m coming from!

First, a little background. Disney World hotels come in three different categories: value, moderate, and deluxe. Value hotels are the cheapest (of course) and generally offer the fewest perks. They don’t have incredible restaurants, and you can’t take the Monorail or walk to any of the parks from these hotels. However, you can stay at these hotels for a FRACTION of the price of a deluxe hotel, which is why you’ll almost always find me at Pop Century Resort when I visit Disney World.

Deluxe hotels are the most expensive but also have the most perks. They tend to be pretty fancy, have the best transportation options, and have some of the best restaurants in Disney World. Plus, you can take advantage of Extended Evening Hours if you’re staying at a deluxe hotel. (That means you get to stay past closing time in some parks on certain days!)

Moderate resorts fall somewhere in the middle (as you might’ve guessed, based on the name 😂). But really they’re closer to the value level than the deluxe in terms of both price and perks. So here’s my beef with the moderate hotels: If I’m getting practically the same perks as I’d get at the value hotels, why would I pay the upcharge for moderate?

Are Moderate Hotels at Disney World USELESS? Let’s Crunch the Numbers.

We’re gonna deep dive now to find out if my take is actually justified. First, let’s check out how the prices of these hotels compare to value and deluxe. Then, we’ll analyze transportation and other perks and decide whether the upcharge is really worth it. Finally, I need to tell you the ONE exception to my rule of never staying at moderate hotels.

Show Me the Money

I compared hotel prices for two different weeks in 2024. First, I picked a random week in September, when prices are going to be comparatively low (since it’s not typically a busy time for Disney World). Then, I looked at the BUSIEST time, which is the week of Christmas to New Year’s.

Note that I didn’t include prices for the Cabins at Fort Wilderness, mainly because the average price for those is $876/night, which is about double the cost of most moderate-level hotel rooms. These aren’t normal hotel rooms — they’re literally cabins — so I felt that their differences took them out of the equation. It’s a totally different way to experience Disney World! But those are another moderate-level option if you want to go that route.

I did include the prices for Art of Animation Family Suites, which have a large living area with a pull-down bed and a couch that stores another pull-out bed, a kitchenette, a separate master bedroom area (that’s — count ’em — three full beds), and two bathrooms. These are GREAT (very roomy, and the two bathrooms is a huge bonus), but the extra space means they’re significantly more expensive than the other value hotel rooms. Because these rooms are so different from the normal value and moderate hotel rooms (in both size and price), I left them out of the averages.

For the week in September, here’s what I found:

Value Hotels:

• All-Star Resorts — $213/night
• Pop Century — $230/night
• Art of Animation Standard Rooms — $270/night
• Art of Animation Family Suites — $574/night

Average (excluding Art of Animation family suites): about $238/night

Moderate Hotels:

• Port Orleans (Riverside and French Quarter cost about the same) — $332/night
• Coronado Springs — $306/night
• Caribbean Beach — $324/night

Average: about $321/night

So moderate hotels are, on average, about $83 more expensive per night than value hotels during a non-peak time. Not anything super crazy but definitely not nothin’.

Deluxe Hotels (I just included a few here, though there are a lot more deluxe hotels to choose from):

• Riviera — $1,015/night
• Grand Floridian — $782/night
• Yacht Club — $720/night

Clearly, moderate hotels are significantly cheaper than deluxe hotels, which frequently cost more than double the price of moderate hotels.

For the week of Christmas/New Years, here’s what I found:

Value Hotels:

• All-Star — $274/night
• Pop Century — $355/night
• Art of Animation Standard Rooms — $374/night
• Art of Animation Family Suites — $808/night

Average (excluding Art of Animation family suites): $334/night

Moderate Hotels:

• Port Orleans — $465/night
• Coronado Springs — $426/night
• Caribbean Beach — $473/night

Average: $455/night

During peak times, the moderate hotels average about $121 more per night than value hotels.

Deluxe Hotels (I just included a few here, though there are a lot more deluxe hotels to choose from) :

• Riviera — $1,203/night
• Grand Floridian — $1,224/night
• Yacht Club — $980/night

Yikes.

In conclusion, I found that moderate hotel rooms were more expensive than even the priciest value hotel rooms (aside from those big Art of Animation family suites) every time. Though it wasn’t by an incredible amount (either $80 or $120 per night), that would certainly add up if you’re staying multiple nights. So is that $80-$120 upcharge actually worth it, or should you just go value? Let’s analyze the perks and transportation.

Transportation

First, can we just agree real quick that deluxe hotels have the best transportation? There are three deluxe hotels on the Monorail line, which gives you quick access to both Magic Kingdom and EPCOT. The Contemporary is literally a 10-minute walk from Magic Kingdom’s entrance. Wilderness Lodge has boat access to Magic Kingdom. EPCOT-area hotels like Yacht Club, Beach Club, and Boardwalk Inn are within walking distance of EPCOT, are close to the Skyliner station at EPCOT’s International Gateway, and have boat access to Hollywood Studios.

Riviera also has a Skyliner station, though this hotel might be the exception because I’ve had some bad experiences at that particular station. It’s located on the way from Caribbean Beach (the main Skyliner hub) to EPCOT, and sometimes the Cast Members forget to leave gondolas open, so they load them all up to capacity at the Caribbean Beach, which means if nobody gets off at Riviera, the guests waiting at Riviera to go to EPCOT have to just sit and wait for an available gondola. Sometimes that takes what feels like ages.

OK! So most deluxe hotels have pretty good (or amazing, in some cases) transportation options. What about value hotels?

Buses 👎 Skyliner 👍

The All-Star hotels (which are the very cheapest) have pretty lame transportation. It’s just buses, and due to the hotels’ locations, the bus rides can be pretty long.

However, I love the Skyliner station at Art of Animation and Pop Century. That gives you easy access to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios, which is a huge bonus in my opinion. Other than that, the only option is buses.

I take every opportunity I can to shout out the transportation team at Pop Century. They’re CRUSHING IT. Seriously, I don’t know what they do differently, but when I stay there, I always feel like they’re so on top of things. Buses come quickly, the Cast Members are efficient and friendly, and I’ve never been left feeling frustrated with how long I have to wait. So a huge double thumbs up to those folks.

Moderate hotels are a bit of a mix when it comes to the variety of transportation available. Caribbean Beach has that main Skyliner hub, which is a great perk! The Port Orleans hotels also have boats that go between the hotels and Disney Springs, which is super fun and convenient. Coronado Springs just has buses and — like the All-Star hotels — is located pretty far from most parks, which means longer bus rides.

The Bane of My Existence

However, there’s one hotel transportation problem that is the bane of my existence, and the worst culprits are definitely the moderate hotels. Have you already guessed what it is? If you guessed internal bus loops, you are correct. And you probably — like me — have been burned by them before.

Some Disney World hotels are so big that they can’t just have one bus stop. They need multiple stops throughout the resort because it’s too far for guests to all walk to a single stop. The problem with these loops is that they can mean longer bus rides, depending on where your room is on the loop. When you’re trying to make it to Magic Kingdom for rope drop, those loops and the resulting delays are incredibly annoying!

Only a few hotels have these internal loops, but almost ALL of the moderate hotels have them. Caribbean Beach is the worst offender, with eight internal bus stops. EIGHT. Good grief. Coronado Springs is next, with five stops. Port Orleans — Riverside has three stops, and only Port Orleans — French Quarter escapes, with no internal bus loop. (Though we have to warn you that SOMETIMES Disney will make French Quarter and Riverside share buses, which means French Quarter gets pulled into that wretched internal loop. That usually only happens during very not-busy times, though.)

The other hotels with internal bus loops include Saratoga Springs (with five stops) and Old Key West (also five stops), which are both deluxe hotels.

So although I like the boats to Disney Springs at the Port Orleans Resorts and that Skyliner hub at Caribbean Beach is nice (as long as you get a room that’s close by — that hotel is super sprawled out!), the internal bus loop problem is enough for me to consider most of the moderate resorts as some of the worst for transportation.

Let’s Talk PERKS 🤩

Are there any other perks that make moderate resorts more valuable? The short answer is no. But I’ll go into the long answer, too, if you want.

The Great Equalizer

All Disney World hotel guests get to take advantage of Early Theme Park Entry, which means they can enter any of the four theme parks a half hour before other guests every day of the week. That’s available for guests at value, moderate, and deluxe hotels.

Fancy Hours

Extended Evening Hours are only available to people staying at deluxe hotels, and it means they get to stay late in select parks on certain days. Usually Extended Evening Hours take place on Mondays and Wednesdays and get guests an extra two hours in the park. Double-check the schedule before you go to make sure they’re happening during your trip!

So no extra perks for moderate guests yet.

Just Keep Swimming 🐟

One perk for Caribbean Beach guests that I have to mention is the pool! The Fuentes del Morro pool is a deluxe-level pool hiding in a moderate-level resort, and you’ll love it.

Doubloon Lagoon pool at Port Orleans is another popular one! And actually I have to admit that Coronado Springs’ The Lost City of Cibola Pool is pretty dang cool, too. So yeah, the pools at moderate resorts are actually crushing it, I’ll give you that.

None of these pools holds a candle to Stormalong Bay at the Yacht and Beach Club resorts, but they’re probably a step up from the value resort pools (though people do love the Big Blue Pool at Art of Animation).

AJ Made Me Add This Section

So I showed this post to AJ and it was at this point that she started yelling at me about all the perks at Coronado Springs. To be totally honest, the bad transportation options at Coronado have been enough of a strike against it to make me pretty much count it out entirely. I’m all about getting to the parks ASAP, and the combination of being far away from most parks AND having an internal bus loop AND not having any boats or Skyliner makes this an automatic NO for me.

But if transportation isn’t the most important thing to you — or if you’re driving your own car to Disney World so the free transportation is like “whatever, I’ll just get to the parks myself” — then you should know that AJ is in fact right and Coronado has some pretty sweet perks.

Really, in terms of both food and facilities, Coronado is sneakily a deluxe-level hotel at moderate-level prices. It’s got club-level rooms available, not one but TWO gyms (but seriously, who is going to the gym on their Disney World vacation? My only cardio is rope drop), a salon (just in case you break a nail while you’re there), and several sit-down restaurants. There aren’t ANY other value or moderate hotels that have a gym or a salon.

I think AJ is biased and just loves Dahlia Lounge so much that she can’t be reasonable about that dang internal bus loop, though.

If We’re Gonna Call Ourselves DFB, We’ve Gotta Talk FOOD

Let’s talk about the food!

Value hotels have, almost without a doubt, the worst food options in Disney World. They each have a food court, and the food there can be decent, don’t get me wrong! But it’s not really super special or exciting.

Deluxe hotels are home to some of the BEST food in Disney World. Jiko and Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge, ‘Ohana at the Polynesian, and Steakhouse 71 at the Contemporary are a few of my all-time favorite restaurants. The restaurants are more expensive, but the food there is 100% worth it. BUT no matter where you stay, you can go to those deluxe hotels and eat at the restaurants. (It is my dream, however, to eat my weight in noodles at ‘Ohana and then be able to just roll to my room at Polynesian rather than having to take the Monorail back to Magic Kingdom and then get on the bus from there to Pop Century.)

Moderate hotels have better food than the value hotels in my opinion, but I don’t usually go out of my way to eat there unless I’m actually staying there (which I rarely do).

I DO have to give Coronado Springs its due here. This hotel has a BUNCH of restaurants, and they’re pretty much all leaps and bounds better than the value hotel food courts. Barcelona Lounge has specialty coffee and an artisanal cocktail bar, Cafe Rix is a great place to grab gelato, Maya Grill has Tex-Mex food in a grand setting (get the Margarita Flight here — trust us), Rix Sports Bar & Grill has some fun pub-style eats, Toledo — Tapas, Steak, and Seafood is a beautiful sit-down restaurant with equally fantastic food, and that’s not even all of them.

Of course, we can’t forget AJ’s beloved Dahlia Lounge, which boasts upscale tapas, hand-selected wine, and incredible views.

Check out all the Coronado Springs restaurants here!

Another exception to the “moderate resort food is meh” rule is Port Orleans — French Quarter. In fact, I’d consider the French Quarter to be an exception overall to my “no moderate hotels” rule in general.

The ONE Exception: Disney’s Port Orleans — French Quarter

Port Orleans — French Quarter has Mickey beignets. I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t 90% of the reason why I love this hotel. If you haven’t tried these before, you need to book it to Scat Cat’s Club (either the lounge or the café, depending on what time of day you’re visiting) and pick some up ASAP. You can thank me later.

In addition, French Quarter does not commit the cardinal sin of an internal bus loop, which is another huge green flag for me (as long as Disney doesn’t make them share buses with Riviera, as mentioned in the transportation section).

And finally, this hotel also has those boats to Disney Springs, which gets you quick access to even more great food, plus all the shops and entertainment available at Disney World’s shopping and dining district.

All of those perks together sometimes convince me to shell out the extra cash for either my whole trip or book a split stay and just stay at French Quarter for one or two nights.

I need to hear your opinion on this! Are you anti-moderate hotels, like me? Or do you think I’m totally wrong? I’d love to hear from you in the comments!

Stay tuned to DFB for more tips and updates as you plan your upcoming vacation!

Click here for an overview of ALL the Disney World hotels.

What are your favorite Disney World hotels? Let us know in the comments!