Hi - Just booked trip to WDW for this Thanksgiving. It's our 3rd trip and we stayed at the Disney Beach club last time and LOVED it, so we know how great it is. Question: This was a last minute idea due to a great airfare (checkout delta fares to florida - really low!!) - so we'd love to save a little money on lodging. The carribean beach hotel is almost HALF what the Disney Beach club is - will we be disappointed if we go for the "moderate"? Our kids will be 7 and 3 1/2 and LOVE the water, but will also be spending lots of time at the parks. Also, if we do go moderate, is the Carribean Beach the best choice for a family like ours? Thanks for any advice you can offer!!

Do a search on this site. A think the former general consensus was to go for the Dixie Landings/Port Orleans if going moderate.

Hey, Linda.......my husband, two teenage daughters and I stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort and we absolutely loved it! The room had two double beds and was plenty big....decorated beautifully. We were there at Christmastime and enjoyed it thoroughly. There is a good-sized inexpensive fast food restaurant and one that costs more....the food is tasty in both places. There is also a place ... like a food court...only this is for breakfast...waffles at this window...pancakes over there...eggs over there...very fun. We would stay there again, no question. We have also stayed at Dixie's Landing...again, a very nice place...but in my opinion, the Caribbean Beach Resort was decorated more to my taste. Go, you will enjoy it and be very comfortable.

I've read complaints that Caribbean Beach is seriously due for refurbishment & is starting to be a bit shabby -- when our airport van has stopped there (about a year ago), I'd tend to agree (My "standard" for comparison is also Beach Club hotel )

I've stayed at Dixie/Port Orleans, and thought it was very nice, with a better than average pools for the "moderate" category. I think it'd be my choice if I was going to stay at a moderate.

Don't be so quick to write off Beach Club as unaffordable -- business is slow this year & Disney has some low key promotions (they never volunteer the info!). I'm leaving for the Beach Club in under 3 weeks, and :

- list price rack rate for a std view room was $320 (11% tax extra).
- with Disney Club ($30 to join), dropped to $248 (tax incl)
- then I found out about promo code CVZ, price dropped to $188 (tax incl).

I found out about the CVZ promotion at:
http://www.mousesavers.com/disneyresorts.html

Just stayed at Caribbean Beach in 6/01. It is being refurbished-the Jamaica section where we stayed was brand new-just request a renovated room. The food court had pretty good food with a great variety. The pool was nice with a slide, fountains, etc.

Linda,

I side with those who recommend Dixie Landings/Port Orleans. We've just gone through some agonizing decision making ourselves, and we finally chose Yacht Club because of the great discounts we could get by using the codes noted at mousesavers.com. You might find the discussion boards interesting at wdwinfo.com.

If you're thinking Beach Club, you might get a comparable rate, with discount, at the Polynesian--though i'm not sure that's true at Thanksgiving. The reason I mention that is that the Poly is on the monorail to the Magic Kingdom, and my hunch is that that's where you might spend lots of time with kids that age. The convenience of the monorail to your hotel at the end of a long day at the parks might be worth the extra money.

Hope this helps--but do check out wdwinfo.com.

Hi Linda - I've stayed at most of the wdw resorts and i can agree that dixie is better than carribean. Carribean is very spread out, more so than even Dixie landings. Also, Dixie Landings has a pool slide that my kids loved when they were younger. Won't be as cool as the pool at beach club- also, I checked out the mousesavers, and they have a great deal for the animal kingdom, with the savannah view 198.00 - it's brand new, and I'm sure your kids would love seeing the animals right out the window!

I've stayed at both of the properties and here's my humble opinion.
1. Yacht / Beach Club is a grade above Carribean and Dixie (I've stayed there to)
2. Pool at Beach Club is one (if not the)
3. Location at Beach Club is much better (walking distance to Epcot & boat ride to MGM)
4. Beach Club rooms are not much bigger /better than the Carribean or Dixie (all most all WDW rooms are small and not that spectacular cause they want you out in the parks spending $$)
5. Dixie is not any better (IMHO) than Carribean. In fact, I'd probably pick the Carribean but it's a close call
6. I'd recommend saving the $$ and go w/ Carribean or Dixie.
PS: Get a room fridge and you will easily save the $10 a day they charge.

How did you get those cheap airfares at Thanksgiving? Right now ALL airlines are offering R/T from Hartford to Orlando for around $ 80, but on Travelocity it says only until November 15th. I wanted to go Nov. 23rd-28th. Can you let me in on how you got the low airfare after the 15th? Thanks so much!

TTT

I had a horrible stay at the Caribbean Beach Resort. From the spiders on the wall by the bed to the worst bellmen and housekeepers in the Sunshine State, it was a nightmare. Stay ANYWHERE else.