Walt Disney World Moderate Resorts Overview

9 September 2026 by Steve Bell

Disney Moderate Resorts: More Resort Without Going Deluxe

Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside

Disney’s Moderate Resorts occupy the middle of Walt Disney World’s three traditional hotel categories, but thinking of them simply as the step between Value and Deluxe misses much of the point.

You are paying more than you would at a Value Resort, but what you get for that extra money depends heavily on which Moderate you choose.

The biggest differences aren’t necessarily inside the room. Better pools, more dining choices, attractive grounds, lounges, recreation, and—in a couple of cases—better transportation can make the resort itself a bigger part of your vacation.

That can be worth paying for if you intend to use those things. If your room is mostly somewhere to sleep between long park days, a Value Resort can still make more sense.

For military families, there is another comparison worth making. A Disney Moderate and Shades of Green solve the resort decision very differently, particularly when room size and Disney theming enter the equation.

Which Disney Resorts Are Moderates?

Walt Disney World currently has four Moderate Resorts:

• Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort — A sprawling Caribbean-themed resort with the Disney Skyliner as its biggest transportation advantage
• Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort — A large resort with extensive dining and convention facilities plus the very different Gran Destino Tower experience
• Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside — A large, beautifully landscaped resort divided between Alligator Bayou and Magnolia Bend, with boat service to Disney Springs
• Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter — The smallest and most compact Moderate, with New Orleans theming and boat service to Disney Springs

The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort were once part of Disney’s Moderate category. The replacement cabins are now a Disney Vacation Club resort and should no longer be included when comparing Disney’s Moderate Resort hotels.

What Do You Actually Gain by Moving Up From a Value Resort?

Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – French Quarter

The Moderate category makes the most sense when you look beyond the room.

Compared with Disney’s Value Resorts, Moderates can give you:

• More developed resort grounds with landscaping, waterways, walking paths, and places to relax
• Feature pools with water slides plus additional recreation
• Hot tubs at the feature-pool areas
• More dining and lounge choices, although the selection varies considerably by resort
• Additional transportation options at Caribbean Beach and the two Port Orleans Resorts
• A calmer resort atmosphere that can feel more removed from the energy of the theme parks

That last point matters more than it may sound.

Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort

If you enjoy returning from a park, walking through attractive grounds, having a drink at the resort, spending an afternoon at the pool, or eating dinner without immediately heading somewhere else, you are using more of what the Moderate price buys you.

If you leave early every morning and return exhausted every night, some of those advantages have much less value.

The Four Moderate Resorts Are Not Interchangeable

The Moderate label tells you the price category. It doesn’t tell you what staying at each resort will be like.

Caribbean Beach: Choose It for the Skyliner

Caribbean Beach is large and spread out, but it has one transportation advantage the other Moderates cannot match: the Disney Skyliner.

The resort is the hub of the Skyliner system, giving guests aerial gondola transportation to EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Buses handle the other theme parks and Disney Springs.

That can materially change a vacation if EPCOT and Hollywood Studios are important to your plans. Instead of treating transportation as something you simply tolerate at the resort, the Skyliner can become a reason to choose it.

Coronado Springs: The Moderate That Can Feel Least Like a Moderate

Coronado Springs is unusual because it combines a traditional sprawling Moderate Resort with Gran Destino Tower.

The Village rooms in Casitas, Ranchos, and Cabanas retain the more familiar Moderate layout with resort buildings that have exterior room entry. Gran Destino is a multistory hotel with interior corridors, an impressive lobby, lounges, restaurants, and rooms that feel much closer to a conventional upscale hotel.

Coronado also has the strongest overall dining and lounge lineup in the Moderate category.

The tradeoff is transportation. Disney buses are the only complimentary transportation to the theme parks and Disney Springs, and the resort has multiple bus stops around its large campus.

Gran Destino can therefore be a very appealing choice if the hotel and dining experience matter more to you than having a non-bus connection to a park.

Port Orleans – Riverside: Beautiful, Relaxed, and Very Large

Riverside is divided between the rustic Alligator Bayou buildings and the more formal Southern mansion buildings of Magnolia Bend.

It is one of those resorts where the grounds themselves are part of the appeal. The Sassagoula River, mature landscaping, bridges, walking paths, and spread-out layout create a particularly relaxed atmosphere.

That same size can also be its disadvantage. Your room location can make a meaningful difference in how far you walk to dining, the main pool, and transportation.

Riverside also offers boat transportation to Port Orleans – French Quarter and Disney Springs in addition to Disney buses.

Port Orleans – French Quarter: The Compact Moderate

French Quarter is the outlier in the category.

It is much smaller than Caribbean Beach, Coronado Springs, and Riverside. That makes it especially attractive if you like the Moderate Resort experience but don’t want a long walk across a sprawling property every time you need food, transportation, or the feature pool.

Its Mardi Gras and New Orleans atmosphere is distinctive, and boat service connects the resort with Port Orleans – Riverside and Disney Springs.

The major compromise is dining. French Quarter does not have its own Table Service restaurant, although Riverside’s restaurants are nearby and Disney Springs is accessible by boat.

For some guests, the compact layout is worth far more than having a Table Service restaurant at their own resort.

Moderate Resort Rooms

Port Orleans – Riverside

Most standard Moderate rooms have two queen beds and sleep four. King-bed rooms are also available in various categories.

Typical room amenities include:

• Two queen beds in standard two-bed rooms
• Mini fridge
• Coffee maker
• Television
• In-room safe
• Free Wi-Fi

Coronado Springs Resort Gran Destino Tower Room

Traditional Moderate rooms have exterior entry. Gran Destino Tower is the major exception, with interior hallways and a much more conventional hotel layout.

What About Families of Five?

Families of five have options at both Caribbean Beach and Port Orleans – Riverside.

Caribbean Beach offers Standard and Preferred rooms with two queen beds plus a child-size pull-down bed. Not every room has the additional bed, so families of five need to book the appropriate room configuration.

Port Orleans – Riverside also offers 5th Sleeper rooms in Alligator Bayou, with two queen beds plus a child-size pull-down bed.

In both cases, remember that the fifth bed is child-size. These rooms can be a very useful way for a family of five to stay at a Disney Moderate without booking a second room, but they aren’t designed to sleep five adults in full-size beds.

Transportation Can Be a Major Part of the Decision

Caribbean Beach Skyliner Station

Transportation is one of the most meaningful differences among the Moderate Resorts, but only one of them gives you non-bus transportation to a theme park.

Caribbean Beach stands apart because the Disney Skyliner serves both EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios. If those two parks are a major part of your plans, that can be a genuine reason to choose the resort rather than simply a nice extra.

Port Orleans Water Taxi to Disney Springs

The Port Orleans resorts also have boat transportation, but that service goes between the resorts and to Disney Springs rather than a theme park. It is useful and enjoyable, especially if Disney Springs is part of your plans, but it doesn’t change park transportation in the same way the Skyliner does.

Coronado Springs relies on buses for Disney destinations, while resort size and the number of bus stops can affect the experience at several Moderates. French Quarter’s compact layout is an advantage here because you don’t have the same sprawling-resort logistics before or after the bus ride.

Dining Is Better Than at a Value—but It Varies a Lot

Port Orleans – French Quarter Quick Service

Moderate dining is another area where the category label can hide meaningful differences.

All four have Quick Service food and pool-bar options, but the larger dining experiences vary:

• Coronado Springs: The broadest dining and lounge selection in the Moderate category, including Quick Service, Table Service, lounges, and bars
• Caribbean Beach: Quick Service, Table Service, lounge, and pool-bar options
• Port Orleans – Riverside: Quick Service, Table Service, lounge, and pool-bar options
• Port Orleans – French Quarter: Quick Service, lounge, and pool-bar options, but no Table Service restaurant of its own

How much should that affect your decision?

It depends on how you vacation. If you expect to eat most meals in the parks, an impressive resort restaurant lineup may add little practical value. If you build resort time into your trip, having a good restaurant or lounge at your resort becomes much more useful.

Pools and Recreation Are a Real Moderate Upgrade

Coronado Springs

This is one of the clearest differences between Disney’s Value and Moderate categories.

Moderates feature pools that include water slides, and the resorts offer hot tubs and additional recreation that you won’t find at a Value Resort.

Port Orleans – French Quarter

If your family plans a pool afternoon, takes midday breaks, or spends meaningful time at the resort, this is an upgrade you can actually use.

If everyone considers the hotel pool something they might visit once if there’s time, don’t give the amenity more weight than it deserves when choosing where to spend your money.

Don’t Overlook Resort Size

Port Orleans – French Quarter

Caribbean Beach, Coronado Springs, and Riverside are large resorts.

That contributes to their atmosphere, but it also means room location can affect the vacation more than it does at a compact hotel.

A beautiful resort isn’t as relaxing when you’re frustrated by the walk from your room to breakfast every morning.

That makes Preferred room categories worth considering differently than a simple “better view” upgrade. At some Moderates, paying for a location closer to dining and transportation can solve an actual daily logistics problem.

French Quarter largely avoids this issue because of its much smaller footprint.

See: Do Room View Categories Matter at Disney Moderates?

Where Does Gran Destino Tower Fit?

Gran Destino Tower deserves special attention because it stretches the meaning of Disney’s Moderate category.

Its rooms have interior corridors, and the building includes an impressive lobby, restaurants and lounges, and Club Access room categories—features much more commonly associated with Disney’s higher-priced resorts.

Yet Gran Destino remains part of Coronado Springs and is officially a Moderate Resort.

If you like the idea of Moderate pricing and amenities but don’t like exterior-entry motel-style buildings, Gran Destino is the obvious place to look first.

Its limitation remains transportation: staying in a tower doesn’t give you a monorail, Skyliner, boat, or walking path to a theme park. Coronado Springs transportation remains bus-based.

How Shades of Green Changes the Moderate Decision for Military Families

Shades of Green

Military families have an option that most Walt Disney World guests don’t: Shades of Green.

I wouldn’t try to force Shades into Disney’s Value, Moderate, or Deluxe categories. It isn’t a Disney Resort hotel, and the comparison works better when you look at what you’re actually getting.

Shades gives you substantially more room than a traditional Disney Moderate room, and its standard rooms sleep five plus a crib. Disney’s Moderate Resorts give you much stronger Disney theming and, depending on the resort, advantages such as the Skyliner or Disney Springs boat service.

That creates a useful decision:

Do you place more value on room space and practicality, or on having more Disney in the resort experience?

For a couple spending most of the day outside the room, a beautifully themed Disney Moderate might be an easy choice.

Put several people, luggage, and a longer stay into the room, and the extra space at Shades can become much more important.

The comparison also isn’t simply about the published room rate. Military families should compare the actual Shades of Green rate with the Disney Moderate rate available through the current military room offer.

See:

• Shades of Green vs. Disney Moderate Resorts: Which Is Better?
• Shades of Green Rooms vs. Disney Moderate Resort Rooms: Which Is Better for Your Family?

Who Might Be Better Off Somewhere Else?

A Moderate isn’t automatically the smart middle choice.

A Value Resort may make more sense when:

• Your primary goal is lowering the hotel cost
• You spend almost all of your waking hours in the parks
• You won’t use the better pool, restaurants, lounges, or recreation
• A Disney Value Resort with Skyliner access gives you the transportation you care about

A Deluxe may make more sense when:

• Walking, monorail, or boat access to a theme park is a major priority
• You want a more upscale hotel experience and are willing to pay for it
• The resort itself will be a major part of your vacation

And for military families, Shades of Green deserves serious consideration when room space, sleeping five, and overall value matter more than Disney theming.

Which Moderate Resort Fits Your Trip?

A Disney Moderate makes the most sense when you plan to use the resort as part of the vacation—not simply as a place to sleep. The pools, grounds, dining, lounges, and transportation advantages have value only if they matter to the way your family actually travels.

Once you’ve decided that a Moderate is the right category, I would narrow the four resorts this way:

• Caribbean Beach: Start here if Skyliner access to EPCOT and Disney’s Hollywood Studios is the advantage you will use most, or if your family of five needs a 5th sleeper
• Coronado Springs: Start here if dining, lounges, or the more hotel-like Gran Destino Tower experience matter most
• Port Orleans – Riverside: Start here if you value beautiful grounds and a relaxed atmosphere, or if your family of five needs a 5th sleeper room
• Port Orleans – French Quarter: Start here if you want Moderate amenities and atmosphere without the sprawling-resort problem

There isn’t one Moderate that is best for everyone. The useful question is which resort has an advantage that will actually improve your vacation.

Let Military Disney Tips’ Recommended Travel Agent Assist You

Choosing among Disney Resort categories becomes more complicated when you add military room discounts, Shades of Green, room configurations, and transportation differences.

My recommended Authorized Disney Vacation Planner can help you compare the available options and book the Disney resort that works best for your family at no additional cost to you.

I recommend using an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner (travel agent)! Doing so can take the stress out of planning a Walt Disney World, Disneyland, or Disney Cruise Line Vacation, which can be a complicated and overwhelming task.
You have probably seen elsewhere on the site that I recommend The Mouse Experts powered by The Curated Travel Collection as my preferred Authorized Disney Vacation Planners.

The Mouse Experts - Military Disney Tips Recommended Disney Only Travel Agent

Final Thoughts

Caribbean Beach Resort

Disney’s Moderate Resorts can be an excellent middle ground, but not simply because they sit between Value and Deluxe on Disney’s price ladder.

Caribbean Beach can improve transportation to two parks. Coronado Springs can give you a surprisingly upscale resort experience. Riverside gives you beautiful grounds, extensive amenities, and an option for families of five. French Quarter gives you much of the Moderate experience in a far more manageable footprint.

That’s how I would choose among them: not by deciding that “Moderate” is the category I want, but by deciding which resort gives my vacation something I’ll actually use.

• Walt Disney World Resort Hotels
  • Disney World Value Resorts
  • Disney World Moderate Resorts
  • Disney World Deluxe Resorts
• Do WDW Room View Categories Matter?
• MDT Tested & Approved Resorts
• Walt Disney World Resort Guest Benefits
• Walt Disney World Resort Theming