5 Best Disney Moderate Resorts at Walt Disney World (2026)

We open the Moderate list with the most modern, fun-leaning pick for EPCOT-focused families: Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort, a five-village resort in bright pastel colors (Martinique, Barbados, Aruba, Jamaica, Trinidad) wrapped around Barefoot Bay lake with a white-sand beach and a lighthouse. The headline feature is that it's a major Disney Skyliner hub — the gondola goes straight into EPCOT (via the International Gateway entrance) and on to Hollywood Studios in just a few minutes, and kids treat riding it like a ride of its own. The family highlight is Fuentes del Morro, the main pool themed as a Spanish fortress with towers, water cannons, 2 slides and a separate kids' splash zone. Renovated rooms sleep up to 5 (Trinidad swapped its old pirate rooms for a Little Mermaid theme). Straight talk: it's a very spread-out resort with long walks, the Skyliner only reaches those two parks, and there's no character dining. Score 8.5/10.

Our #2 Moderate pick for the best atmosphere for families — Disney's Port Orleans Riverside Resort is a large resort themed on rural Louisiana along the Sassagoula River, split into an elegant Southern-mansion side (Magnolia Bend) and a rustic bayou side (Alligator Bayou). The headline draw for princess-loving families is the Royal Guest Rooms themed to Tiana from The Princess and the Frog — the headboard has a bayou scene that glows with fiber-optic lights like fireflies or fireworks, plus art of Tiana and Naveen (note for 2026: a renovation left these only in the Parterre Place building and made them plainer than before). The main pool, Ol' Man Island, is themed as an old swimming hole in the woods with a 95-foot slide, a fishing hole and a playground, and there's a relaxed boat to Disney Springs. A real family win: the Alligator Bayou rooms sleep 5. Straight talk — the resort is huge with long walks, parks need a bus, and some rooms are under renovation through 2027. Scores 8.6/10.

Our #3 pick for families whose kids live for the pool — Disney's Coronado Springs Resort is themed around Mexico and the American Southwest, ringing the man-made lake Lago Dorado. The kid magnet is The Dig Site, a main pool built as an ancient excavation: a 46-foot Mayan pyramid with a waterslide shooting down it, a jaguar statue that spits water, and the biggest hot tub in all of Walt Disney World — one of the best Moderate pools going. The newer side is the 15-floor Gran Destino Tower (opened 2019), where rooms feel high-view and closer to Deluxe, plus the rooftop Toledo restaurant with fireworks views over Epcot and Hollywood Studios, and a genuinely beautiful Spanish-modernist dome lobby. Straight talk: this is a convention resort with plenty of business and seminar guests, so the Disney-for-kids feel runs thinner than elsewhere. It is also sprawling, with long walks, and parks are bus-only. But if your kids want a pyramid pool and you want a smart tower room, it earns its 8.3/10.

Our #4 pick is the most unusual stay on this list for big families and outdoorsy travelers — The Cabins at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort isn't a room in a building, it's your own private log cabin tucked under the pines across a 750-acre campground on Bay Lake. Disney rebuilt every cabin from scratch in 2024, so they're modern, run about 527 sq ft, and each one sleeps 6 with a full kitchen, a porch and a private BBQ grill — cook your own meals and a long trip gets a lot cheaper. The family headliner is Chip 'n Dale's Campfire Sing-A-Long, a free nightly campfire where Chip & Dale turn up in cowboy gear, plus the legendary Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue dinner show and a pile of camp activities — horseback riding, archery, biking, fishing. A relaxed boat glides across the lake to Magic Kingdom. Honest catch: it's huge, so you'll want a golf cart or a car. Score 8.7/10.

We close out the Moderate list with the cutest, smallest one — Disney's Port Orleans French Quarter Resort, themed on the New Orleans French Quarter during Mardi Gras, with two-storey pastel buildings, wrought-iron balconies, jazz alleys and gas lamps. At 1,008 rooms it's the smallest and most walkable Moderate resort — a single loop of 7 buildings, no internal bus required. The family highlight is Doubloon Lagoon, a Mardi Gras pool built around a giant green-and-blue sea serpent named Scales whose pink tongue is the water slide, topped by a King Triton statue, with a Mardi Gras alligator band and a kids' splash zone. Rooms were renovated in 2025 in a purple-gold-green Tiana/Mardi Gras theme and sleep 4. Straight talk: there's no table-service restaurant here, and 5-person families need the sister resort, Riverside. Scores 8.6/10.