Which Rooms are Requested Most at Value/Moderate Resorts?

After the ability to create personalized touring plans, my second-favorite TouringPlans tool is the Room Finder with the ability to make a Room Request. Resorts at WDW are generally huge and sprawling, and even after you’ve selected one that you think will meet your needs, your actual experience could be wildly different depending on what actual room gets assigned to you. Things like the view, the noise level, and walking distances to parking lots, food, pools, and transportation are important. And the Room Finder has information about all of those things.

The example above is what you’ll find in the Room Finder for one of my favorite rooms on property – 4210 at Jambo House. Using the information above, I can figure out that I’ll only be paying for a standard view at this particular room, but there are obviously animals in the pictures. And a public comment tells me that this is where animals regularly get fed at night and in the morning – the two times when I’m most frequently in my room anyway! It’s also really really close to transportation and the lobby, but it’s very quiet too.

So that’s my favorite non-DVC room to request. Maybe you have a favorite too. Let’s see which rooms are most often requested at each value and moderate resort. That might save you the trouble of looking up rooms yourself, if you end up liking the same things.

Last updated April 4, 2023

Explain the Math!

Every time someone uses the room request feature for an upcoming trip, we record the room number that they used to generate the request. I can aggregate (add up) all of that information by resort or by specific room. The math here is SUPER simple. I just add up all of the requests for every room, and then pull the one with the most requests at each resort. I did this for all requests in the history of ever. And then I also pulled just the past 2 years, in case renovations or the addition of new transportation options (cough-Skyliner-cough) have changed what people are requesting.

The other two pieces of information that I can tie in are:

1. The average rating for those particular rooms based on post-visit surveys
2. The average length of stay for the requests

We’ll use both of those things to add a little color to our results.

Most-Requested Rooms at Value Resorts

Pop Century – 25,692 total room requests

Pop Century has more room requests than any other resort on property (over 12,000 more than the next-closest resort). The room with the most all-time requests at Pop Century is 6113. By itself, it has 744 requests. It’s in the 1970s section (1st floor of Building 6) and is a standard room. Despite being a standard room, there is only a 1-minute walk to the lobby and a 3-minute walk to transportation. Very good for a big resort. Rooms 1-12 in the same building are actually designated as preferred rooms for their proximity to the main building – but here’s the secret: room 13 is actually closer to the main building than most of those other rooms, other than 12. We’ve got two ratings for room 6113, and both were “Very Satisfied”. The average length of stay requested for room 6113 is 5.3 nights. So if Disney fulfilled every request from TouringPlans users for room 6113, we’d have that particular room booked for almost 11 years straight.

The room requested the most in the past two years is 5113 (261 requests in that time), which is the equivalent room in Building 5 in the 1960s section. Guess why this room is suddenly more popular? The Skyliner! And Room 5113 is pretty much the closest you can get to the Skyliner station without facing the pool (and therefore paying more for that pool view).

Art of Animation – 10,517 total room requests

The most-requested room all-time (and, also, for the past 2 years) at Art of Animation is room 7513 – it’s been requested 570 times. This is a standard room in the Little Mermaid section. It’s once again a corner room on the first floor of a building. All of the Little Mermaid rooms are more of a hike to the lobby and transportation, but this corner is just about the closest you can get to each (the same corner of building 9 may offer slightly quicker walks to the busses if you walk along the parking lot). The big win here is that room 7513 is as close as you can get to the Skyliner station from a standard room. We’ve only gotten one rating for room 7513, but it was Very Satisfied. The average length of stay requested for this room is 5.33 nights. That means we could book out this room for just TouringPlans users for over 8 years with all of the requests it has gotten.

All-Star Movies – 5,855 total room requests

Leading the pack of room requests at All-Star Movies is room 0755, with 213 total requests. It’s also the most-requested room at the resort for the past 2 years. 0755 is a preferred room in the Toy Story section, Building 10. We’ve got another corner room on the first floor! And this time it’s the room that’s very closest to the main building, with a 1-minute walk to the main building and a 3-minute walk to transportation. But it is a preferred room, so you’ll pay more for the convenience. We have 2 reviews from room 0755, and they average a satisfaction score of 4.5. The average length of stay requested for this room is 4.56 nights, so booking this room for just TouringPlans requesters would “only” book it for just over 2 and a half years.

If you’re looking for a standard-price room, your best bet may be 7755 in the Love Bug section, Building 7. It’s close to the parking lot if you bring your own vehicle, and one of the shorter walks compared to most other standard rooms.

All-Star Music – 3,614 total room requests

Room 0456 at All-Star Music is a family suite in the Calypso section, Building 10. It’s the most requested all-time, with 80 requests (and it’s also the most-requested in the past 2 years). For the first time, it’s not a corner room. But that’s probably only because the corner room is a standard room. This is the closest suite to the main building. Since it’s also right by the pool it’s another really loud choice. We haven’t had any users submit post-visit ratings for this room. But we do know that the average requested length of stay is 5.7 nights. With 80 stays of 5.7 nights, TouringPlans users could book this room for over a full year.

All-Star Sports – 3,523 total room requests

Over in All-Star Sports, room 6155 has the most all-time room requests, with 99 of its own. It also has the most requests in the past year. 6155 is a preferred room in the Surf’s Up! section, Building 6. Yep, the section comes with its own exclamation point. It’s a (you guessed it), first-floor corner room. (Getting the picture?) And it’s steps away from the main building. As a result, it’s rated as one of the loudest rooms on property, because it’s also right next to the feature pool. TouringPlans users have submitted 3 reviews for this room, with an average rating of 4.33. And the average length of stay requested for this room 5 nights. So with 99 requests, that could book up this room for 1.3 years.

If you’re looking for a standard room, check out room 2111 in the Hoops Hotel section, Building 2. This is another first floor corner room, and it has a shorter walk to the lobby and transportation than some of the preferred rooms in the Touchdown! section. So if you don’t want to pay for a preferred room, it’s a good bet.

Most-Requested Rooms for Moderate Resorts

Port Orleans – Riverside – 11,606 total room requests

With 270 requests, room 9239 is the most-requested room at Port Orleans – Riverside. It’s a Royal Room in Oak Manor (Building 90) with a River View. It’s also the most-requested in the past two years. Unlike all of the most-requested rooms at the value resorts, our first moderate room is on the second floor, but still on a corner. It’s in a very quiet location, with a beautiful water view and a relatively small walk to the lobby and transportation, given the spread-out nature of this resort. But that all comes at a pretty steep price. Rack rates can go as high as $502/night. Even so, the 3 reviews that we have for this room are all “Very Satisfied”. The average length of stay requested for this room is 5.4 nights. That means TouringPlans users could book this room for 4 years!

If you’re not in the market for a Royal Room, the all-time second-most-requested room (and from the past 2 years) might be more your speed. Room 1608 is a Standard Room (it has 2 queens and a murphy bed) in Building 16 in the Alligator Bayou section. It has 36 requests in the past 2 years. 1608 doesn’t have a view of the river, but it’s cheaper and is the shortest walk to the main building of any standard options in Alligator Bayou.

Caribbean Beach – 11,555 total room requests

Room 5261 in the Aruba section, Building 52 has the most all-time requests at Caribbean Beach – 514 of them. It’s a standard room in the middle of the second floor, but you actually get some sneaky peaks of the water through some landscaping if step out of the room. In addition to that view, the real secret of this room is walking distances. You’ll have quick access to the Riviera Skyliner station (and that resort, with its awesome dining). But you’re also close to a pool, and deceptively near Old Port Royale, just over a couple of bridges. This room also has a big perk compared to the previous most-requested room at Caribbean Beach (5264) – it has a murphy bed. All of that convenience and sleeping surface is awesome, but out of 4 reviews we have for this room, the average rating is “just” 4.25. That’s actually below average for this resort. The typical length of stay requested for this room comes in at 5.5 nights. That means if we booked this room solely for TouringPlans users, we could keep it occupied for 7.5 years!

Caribbean Beach has seen some significant changes in the past 2 years, and if we limit to that time-frame, it’s the resort with the second-highest number of total requests. A lot of that is because your general location (if not your exact room) has a huge impact on your stay and experience. Almost everyone wants to be near the Skyliner. 5261 has the most requests in the past two years, followed by 5264.

Coronado Springs – 9,531 total room requests

Room 8145 is the most-requested room at Coronado Springs, overall (323 requests) and in the past two years. It’s another standard view on the first floor with a sneaky peak at the water through some trees. It’s in Cabanas 8A, with a quick hop to the bus stop and the Dig Site pool almost right outside of the door. Gran Destino Tower and El Centro are pretty accessible via bridges too. We have two reviews from Room 8145, and they were both “Very Satisfied.” The average length of stay requested for this room is 4.8 nights. So with 323 requests, we could book out this room with just TouringPlans users for over four years.

Port Orleans – French Quarter – 8,520 total room requests

When I wrote about Building 6 being the “best” building at French Quarter, I got a bunch of people that reached out and asking “What about Building 4?!”. Well, your time has come, Building 4 fans. The most requested room at French Quarter is 4127, with 288 requests all time. It’s also the most popular in the past 2 years, even though the resort has been closed for over a year. 4127 is a corner room with a “garden view” on the first floor. And apparently the door to Sassagoula counts as a garden, because it’s right outside of your room! That means you’ve got the fastest trip possible to coffee each morning. But you’ll also have everyone else in the resort that wants coffee going right past your room. The pool and transportation are also very close. We have two reviews from this room, and both were “Very Satisfied.” The average length of stay requested for this room is 5.6 nights. That means we could book it with TouringPlans users for almost four and a half years.

The Cabins at Fort Wilderness – 2,624 total room requests

There are only two cabins with convenient access to the Settlement Outpost and Pioneer Hall at Fort Wilderness, so it’s no surprise that one of them is the most-requested “room” at this resort – all-time and within the past 2 years. Cabin 118 has 297 total requests, and is steps away from the main building and multiple transportation options (boat and bus). It boasts the same roomy layout as all of the other cabins located much further away. The cabin right next door, 120, gets about half as many requests. 118 is wheelchair accessible, while 120 is not. We have 6 reviews for cabin 188, and the average rating is a really high 4.83. The average length of stay requested for this cabin is 5.2 nights. So with 297 requests, we could book this room for just TouringPlans users for over 4 years!

What Does This Mean For You?

1. There is almost always a tradeoff between convenient locations and noise level. Especially at value and moderate resorts, the closer you are to the main building (and pools), the louder your location will be.
2. The exception to the above is if you want to be close to the Skyliner. You can get a pretty quiet location with convenient Skyliner access at Art of Animation, Pop Century, or Caribbean Beach.
3. There are plenty of spots where “standard” views are anything but standard. They’re more difficult to find, but if you browse the spots in this post or get comfortable using the Room Finder, you can get a better view than what you might expect.

 

Have you requested or stayed in any of the rooms in this post? Are you surprised at any rooms that did (or didn’t) make the list? And if the information in this post was helpful, stayed tuned next week to find out the most-requested rooms at Deluxe and DVC resorts.