Do You Think There's a Greater Difference...

[autumnpalm]

Between values and mods? Or mods and deluxes? Obviously the difference between values and deluxes is pretty big, but for those trying to determine where they can get the best bang for their buck.... where would you say the "jump" is?

What is it that makes the "jump" for you? Pool area? Room size? Theming? Indoor/outdoor hallways? TS restaurants? Pricing? Transportation? Location? Atmosphere? Resort size?

Just curious!

 

[Alexander]

Room Size
Pools (We can't stand the pools at the value resorts.)

Definately pools if I have to choose one. The mods have multiple pools and the quiet pools are actually a bit quiet compared to the themed main pool area. Value pools are nuts and overloaded with people.

We won't even stay at the Animal Kingdom Villas again until Kidani is open because one pool just doesn't cut it for a large resort.

 

[KatMark]

For us, it is the ability to have some peace and quiet and not feel like people are "always there." We found the values to be too crowded and too noisy. We've also found some deluxes to be like that. We prefer the moderate--they are spread out and they never have felt crowded to us and we find it very quiet, soothing and relaxing. Plus we love the pools, the quiet pools (the spa at the CSR), the hot tub, sit down restaurant, etc.

 

[TJA]

For us, it's all about location/transportation. We love taking our double jogger and therefore love the convenience of being able to walk, monorail, or boat to parks. It's very relaxing to us when we can let our kids rest/sleep in the jogger and easily getting back to our resort. Having said that, we tried a moderate for the first time last spring and we did like it a lot! The differences for us between the moderate and the deluxes are: Mods only have double size beds (very small and inconvenient.....to us), while deluxes have queens. Mods have large food court (we loved this....), while deluxes have small food courts but often include fine dining and/or character meals (which we love even more....). Mods are spread out and have outside corridors, while most deluxes offer inside corridors. We will stay at a mod again, but we will always favor the deluxes.

 

[KatMark]

For us, it's all about location/transportation. We love taking our double jogger and therefore love the convenience of being able to walk, monorail, or boat to parks. It's very relaxing to us when we can let our kids rest/sleep in the jogger and easily getting back to our resort. Having said that, we tried a moderate for the first time last spring and we did like it a lot! The differences for us between the moderate and the deluxes are: Mods only have double size beds (very small and inconvenient.....to us), while deluxes have queens. Mods have large food court (we loved this....), while deluxes have small food courts but often include fine dining and/or character meals (which we love even more....). Mods are spread out and have outside corridors, while most deluxes offer inside corridors. We will stay at a mod again, but we will always favor the deluxes.

Actually, the CSR (Coronado) now has queen beds--so one mod has queen beds.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I think it depends most of all on the pricing: rack rates, available discounts, and time of year, but there isn't one universal answer.

A Deluxe at 40% off is probably a great value, while 40% off a vlaue isn't that much of a savings. A deluxe during value season is a much better deal than rack rates during Christmas. Conversely, A fixed discount like free dining, is probably more of a deal at the value resorts. Then again, there is a HUGE variety in pricing among the deluxes and room categories.

Next up is experience. I think it's fun to stay at a variety of resorts. So part of my answer depends on where I've stayed on recent past trips. We had our first stay at Pop in 2007, and part of the thrill was discovering a new place! The Swan was a great value to us on many trips...but after a while we wanted something new.

The next thing I would say is time = money.
With little kids who must nap...the convenience of a deluxe is a big value. It becomes a great value. Likewise, in February changing into long pants at night is a must, location's a big plus. In April or October, it's easier to go all day, so closeness is less important.

When I travel with different family members the prioities change. One family memebr, insists on a large pool for laps. Another really values a hot tub. So even though the Poly is a deluxe, I don't think I'll ever get DH to stay there.
Other times the prioirty is being inexpensive.

AS far as amenities...That's though to answer, but I'd probably say the biggest jump for us is missing the amenities at the values. It almost doesn't make sense to me that the values don't have pool towels. We really missed the fridge, coffee maker (how can you have coffee without milk?). I don't eat much in the rooms, but being able to have a little food in the room is a big plus!

The moderates have nice room decor, all ofhte above, great pools....but the locations are about like teh values, the busing is often slow, the resorts are often BIG. I don't like losing so much time walking back and forth across the resort.

The room size isn't so much of a factor for us, generally - unless you have a room filled to capacity. If you've got a family of five - that extra space is worth more of a premium than with two people. (I've had trips of both). An extra vanity sink outsid ethe bathroom can be a real time saver. For others, having an extra room, and thus an extra bathroom, is a real plus.

I think there also a few intangibles - like having an easy escape route from your room (outside corriders) or having interior corridors in cold weather. The deluxes also allow you to customize your room view. How do you price the value of seeing giraffes or the MK castle from your room?

Finally, here's an intangible that's mostly either ignored or disputed on the DIS. I don't care what others say. There's at least an imagined class difference between the resorts. When you are GF, you know you are at the flagship resort. Some folks prefer the atmosphere of Pop, or the mods- and that's fine. That's part of the point - it's hard to price one's comfort level when it comes to class. Some folks can easily switch between any resort and some don't even notice any difference, others notice but don't care, some feel uncomfortable staying outside what they feel to be their own class level.

 

[hfehr1s]

I think there is a much bigger difference between values and mods than mods and deluxe. We normally stayed moderate and stayed one night at a value last trip. I thought the whole atmosphere/set up etc. was quite a bit different than the moderate. I do think there is a difference between mod and deluxe, but I think the gap is slightly smaller than from value to mod.

 

[kaffinito]

Well, for me the jump is about the amenities I prize.

I like to have a good food court with a large selection. I also like to have a hot tub at the pool, larger pools, a pool slide (I'm a new convert to those) and a fridge and coffeemaker in the room. I also love to have lush green grounds. I tried a value that was sort of ok, but I wished the whole time that I was back at POR. I really missed the coffee maker, fridge, landscaping and better pool.

That being said, I also see no reason to stay Deluxe. Deluxe doesn't offer me anything different from a Mod. Sure it has sit down restaurants, and a better pool/theming, but other than that why should I spend the money to stay there? It doesn't make sense to me to stay somewhere just so I can say I've stayed there - KWIM?

To sum up, we just bought DVC at BLT so I will have to see how I feel after staying there since it looks more like an office building than a lush tropical getaway. But I could also alternate my stays (and I plan to) between AKV which I loved and BLT. Honestly, I bought DVC because I'm faced with having to get two rooms at a value or a mod for future trips. My 16 year old is getting older, and I really don't want to share a room (or a bathroom!) with him if I don't have to.

 

[Buzz2001]

In the case of CSR, the difference is greater value to mod. CSR has lots of things you'd find in a deluxe; queen beds, fitness center, spa, salon, full menu room service and the only resort dance club.

 

[ScrapperBelle]

We have never stayed at a value, so I can't comment on those. For me, the difference between mods and deluxe would be: room size, having a private balcony/patio (I'm used to my outdoor space at home...so that's a big one with me), and nicer restaurants onsite.

I don't think there is much difference in the landscaping, cleanliness, or friendliness of CMs between the 2. We have always had excellent service no matter where we stayed. I will say I have seen slightly better service at the smaller resorts...just because they have less guests to see to.

Growing up, we always stayed at the CR and POLY. Since I've been married we've spent about 1/2 our trips deluxe, the other 1/2 mod. Price is the really big deciding factor for us. When we can afford it, deluxe is always our 1st choice (our favs...YC and POLY), but we are more than happy to stay mod when we have to (POFQ is our fave).

 

[MarkinNM]

In the case of CSR, the difference is a.... salon and the only resort dance club.

NICE!!!!

I did not know that until now!!!!

VERY NICE, looks like my wife an I will have to have a date night in June when we go and no children, well for 1 night!!!

 

[Luvamouse]

Not having stayed in values or mods, I can't answer that part of the question. I can however tell you that our reasons for staying Deluxe are:

1) Bed size. DH is 6'3" and I don't care who says you can fit a guy that tall in a full size/dbl bed AND allow for another person... well, in 19 years we haven't found that double bed. That and the day bed-- even though I have 2 girls, the 50 minutes we spent listening to them argue about who was on who's side at the Hampton Inn in North Carolina, on the ride to Florida was NOT worth repeating!!

2) Room size. We drive, never fly anywhere, and therefore have more 'stuff' than many who might fly. That and we stay for at least a week, so we like the feeling of being able to have our own space. The rooms at the Poly are big. In Tahiti they were huge! 476 sq. ft.

3) Inside corridors. Important to me. Personal thing, no bad experience, but a number of outdoor corridors in the past with light showing all around the doors and noise from such. I sleep better in a building with inside corridors. That simple.

4) Transportation. No matter how great people say the busses are from the values or mods, I don't want to try. We spend 50% of our time in MK and Epcot and so being on the monorail works for us. It lets us escape the parks quickly too.

What doesn't matter? Cleanliness, food choices, theming (only to the extent that I think all of it is great), pools (do they have water?? OK.), "kid" or "adult" themed means nothing. They are everywhere...we even bring two ourselves .

I think all of the WDW resorts seem great for one reason or another. If we could get Queen sized beds I'd even stay at a different resort for a few nights.

 

[disneymomof2boyz]

I think the difference is greater btwn the values and mods. We have stayed at POP and we will never stay there again simply because it felt crowded and the beds were HORRIBLE. It was fun, and I can see why some would be drawn to it, my kids loved it. We have stayed at every mod and the difference is definitely noticible. The beds were nicer and the resort grounds were beautiful. We especially loved our most recent stay at CSR, the queen beds cannot be beat.
With that being said, we will be staying at SSR this April, and we will see what all the deluxe craze is about!

 

[eeyoredude]

My DW and I have stayed at both ends of the spectrum of this debate.

The value resorts to me are much like a Motel 6, they offer a clean place to stay at a reasonable price. They're are typically more noisy than other places and more crowded. You can get a queen bed in these as we have done it, but the room had only a shower and no bath. Also the resort is not so much to look at. The food was pretty much fast food quality

The deluxe is more spacious and has better beds. We stayed at the AKL and the inside was impressive, as was the views of the animals on the outside. The room was nice but noisy due to the fact it was next to the stairwell. We did not use the extras features of the place due to being in the parks all the time, so I can't comment on spas and such. The food was much better though.

The values are great for families that are on a tight budget, and the deluxe for those who have some cash to burn. So with all that being said, for our next trip in April we have decided to go with a mod (CSR) and hopefully it will be a good in between.

 

[Luvamouse]

My DW and I have stayed at both ends of the spectrum of this debate.

The value resorts to me are much like a Motel 6, they offer a clean place to stay at a reasonable price. They're are typically more noisy than other places and more crowded. You can get a queen bed in these as we have done it, but the room had only a shower and no bath. Also the resort is not so much to look at. The food was pretty much fast food quality

Are you sure? Or was it a King room? I was sure the only non-deluxe room that slept more than 2 was CSR new beds now? Interested to know.

 

[teach22180]

I think the difference is greater between a Moderate and a Deluxe because of location and transportation options such as the Monorail and the boats to WL. The Deluxes have such amazing themes, and walking to Epcot is a dream of mine some day!

The difference between a Value and Moderate is a pool slide, fridge, table service restaurant and a privacy curtain. Not that big of a deal to me, but I prefer a good food court anyway.

 

[sotoalf]

Unless I've missed it, no one's mentioned the most important distinction between the three categories: the length of your stay and how often you're going to enjoy the resort's amenities. If you're at a park twelve hours a day, I see no reason to stay at a deluxe. As veterans and locals, we don't need to stay at a park that long, therefore deluxe is the only option for us.

 

[Buzz2001]

NICE!!!!

I did not know that until now!!!!

VERY NICE, looks like my wife an I will have to have a date night in June when we go and no children, well for 1 night!!!

CSR has a lot to offer.