I can't help but wonder how folks pay for the deluxe rooms and for 10 days or so...

[cseca]

Yeah, definitely DVC.
I fell in love with Boardwalk the 2nd time I came down to WDW. Promised myself that I'll be staying there sometime in the future. Then found out about DVC the next stay and bought into BWV... LOL!!!
Now I can stay there whenever I come down... it's absolutely marvelous!

And if I can't use my points, there are always people who are looking to rent some points. So no problems there...

LMK if you have any questions. I've had points since 2000.

 

[annaaidan99]

We did deluxe our first trip to Disney (well, our first as a family). I booked well in advance and made payments towards it. At the time, I justified the end cost by saying we probably wouldn't be back any time soon. That was Feb. 2006. Little did I know that free dining would lure us back in September-there was absolutely no time to save for a deluxe on that trip. But we had just as much fun- this year we're doing a value again. It is relatively painless to save for, and we can go longer and come back more often.

 

[MEK]

2 kids in private school. That's my deluxe stay $ and then some. For now it's values and mods, but it doesn't detract from my vacation. I still have a great time. To me the hotel is secondary. I think when you read about other people's stays you get a longing to go deluxe, but I have found the service at values and mods to also be far above average compared to other hotels and vacations. I would rather take more vacations at Disney and stay cheaper. That's just me. In fact, I take pleasure in seeing how inexpensive I can make my Disney vacation. It's sort of a game.

I am considering and AP and if I can score a good rate on a deluxe at somepoint, I would try definately try it. I just put a top limit on what I am willing to spend and then work around it.

 

[CPer'sMom]

Now I know this won't (can't) work for everyone (!) but here's a tip .... Take lots of Disney trips with your children so they also learn to love Disney as you do ~~ make sure to tell them that Disney offers a College Program. Then when your 'child' is in college she/he will do the college program, love it and continue to be a seasonal CM when that program is over. Not only does Mom get lots of *extra* trips to visit while she's doing the CP, but the resort discounts are great!!

 

[DisneyBride'03]

My aunt did that! My first trip was with her, I was the babysitter if you will, had my own room with a lagoon view at age 12!!! That explains it.....well my cousin, her son, did the College Program and she did lots of trips.
During our trip last month, DD10 and I meant some girls doing the program on a bus to Epcot....by the time we got there, DD10 said that is what she wants to do!! Woohoo!!!!

 

[Fairydust.Indy]

We make a decent living, but I am a stay at home mom, have two kids in college, one in high school, and one in kindergarten...( I know...I'm crazy!) We save all year for our Disney vacations...and will just take small vacations close to home throughout the year. Disney is our splurge. We are so spoiled with the Deluxe Resorts...can't do it any other way now. Our secret is to rent DVC points from a member. We have done it four times now...and you can stay in a deluxe resort, basically for the same price as a moderate. We have had a great experience every time. Just have to stay away from the weekends to make it a value!!

 

[Epcot242]

Like others have mentioned, I think it depends on how close you are and how often you go. For us, we live in PA (a good 22-24 hour drive) so getting to WDW isn't easy. As a result, we go once a year and go for about 2 weeks staying in the BCV or BWV. I think in a situation like that, it's OK to splurge a bit on a villa or on a Deluxe resort. Then again, I'm somewhat biased. But my bottom line is, it depends on the context and situation of the family that is staying in the deluxe.

 

[bennythepug]

We have a CM friend who can get us 40% off rooms - I am so tight that I would hate spending that on a hotel room - we love staying at the BC- This will be our 2nd trip this year, but we do not eat out a lot

same here, except my brother is a cast member.
we are staying in a FW cabin- which price wise I think is conseidered a deluxe! We would never be able to afford the cabin w/o his discount

 

[ObsessedwiththeMouse]

Hi-

We are going to the Poly over Christmas for 9 nights.

First of all, my brother is a cast member, so we are only paying $222/night.

Yes, I think that's still expensive (and our daughter is in private schooling also), but we have NEVER been on a Disney trip by ourselves. Every other time, my parents have always paid for us and we have had to stay with them in a room.

For me and my husband, we want to go all out for this trip. It's only money and you can't take it with you. That's my motto.

Have a great trip!

 

[nbodyhome]

So for the next 47 years we will never have to pay for another hotel room again and definetly not have to stay in a value or moderate hotel again.

Its the best thing we ever did. Totally so happy with our purchase.

Hope this helps

I am not anti-DVC at all (I think the accomodations are lovely!), but you still have dues and such, I looked into DVC a number of years ago and not being able to make the math work for me. The interest I would have had to pay to put the money down (or the interest that I'd have made in the bank), and dues, and such - and then having to plan to stay midweek when the points were cheaper, etc., it was too much for me! Plus I like flexibility when travelling - going to Europe, I'm heading to a London area Bed and Breakfast again tomorrow, less than $100 per night. Same with my Paris hotel, a lovely little hotel for $85 or so for my double room. I am too cheap usually for deluxe rooms OR DVC! (If I wanted a room at a DVC resort, I'd probably rent points - sort of the best of both worlds - a nice room, and a good deal!)

DVC is a great option for those who want to stay deluxe year after year, though (and want to cook in-room, and save money there). I am a Pop Century type of chick (reformed from a Polynesian/deluxe chick!) I believe DVC owners now get more benefits than they used to also (discount AP's, etc.), which is valuable.

 

[ransom]

We stay deluxe by living below our means in other respects, and then we get all the discounts we can (AAA room rate, using the DDP, cheap air fare, etc.). Plus, we go off-season, which helps a lot as well.

Still, we can't easily keep this up indefinitely, so we're considering DVC.

 

[islandmum]

I love the DVC properties and villas but could never buy one for the simple reason that we love to travel and that would tie us down too much. Plus we dont have the guaranteed same time off each year - we take it as and when.

We are looking at renting DVC points which would be great but definately not to buy.

 

[tinknsnow]

I think you just answered you own question here . You say that you take several vacations a year. It is very likely that you are spending the same if not more on all of your vacations combined as someone who only takes one vacation and stays deluxe at Disney.

My family for example only takes one "real" vacation a year and for that vacation we choose Disney. We will be staying at the Polynesian from 5/13 - 5/20 and then the Contemporary MK View from 5/20-5/23. We spend extra to stay at the monorail resorts because first of all we love them and secondly we have 3 children 5, 2, 8 months and spend most of our time at MK. We always head back to the resort for a swim/nap in the afternoons and then usually go back to the parks for dinner and not having to haul everyone through a parking lot and then get them all buckled up or fold up strollers and pile everyone onto a bus is worth the extra to us . Any other trips that we take during the year are generally to visit family so we feel that for our 1 "real" vacation we will go all out.

Similar situation here.

We have three kids, all 8 and under. If we all want to stay in one room (yes!) then our choices are deluxe resorts. We also like the MK (we'll typically spend only 1.5 days out of a week's time away from the MK), so we stay at a Magic Kingdom resort.

We take one major trip each year-- always Disney. Until my kids tell me they're not interested, that's where we're going.

I am at at-home mom, but I do have a professional degree and do relief work some weekends to make some extra money.

My husband and I worked very hard to earn our degrees-- and we can afford nice vacations. We only allow ourselves to splurge big once a year. I could drive myself crazy with envy over my neighbor's new loaded SUV, while I drive an '01 minivan. However, when my kids are grown, they probably won't remember that their mom drove them around in an older vehicle... or that the kitchen cabinets needed to be replaced. They will remember the great family vacations to WDW!

 

[islandmum]

. I could drive myself crazy with envy over my neighbor's new loaded SUV, while I drive an '01 minivan. However, when my kids are grown, they probably won't remember that their mom drove them around in an older vehicle... or that the kitchen cabinets needed to be replaced. They will remember the great family vacations to WDW!

amen to that! exactly what I said earlier .... I coudlnt give a hoot what I drive as long as it gets up my hill of a driveway and works everyday, and we dont even have flat screen tv's (oh the horror!!), ipods, flashy kitchen, etc etc

but we do take fantastic, long vacations all over the world and can afford to put the kids into private school - both of which are things that they will ALWAYS remember, learn from and appreciate.

to have not experienced another country or culture to me is unbelievable .... theres so much out there to go see and experience.

 

[MickeyNicki]

I would have to save for a very long time to do that!

 

[Hope73]

Our first disney we did stay at a delux the POR 7 nites with dining. After the our last three rips have been at the mod level. I did not find that it was worth it to pay the extra amount of money. I love the mod level especially the dining there. We do eat a tthe hotel a lot and if you are at the delux level your choices are limited.

On the other hand to me it is worth the little extra money to not be at a value resort, room size, pools more themed, transportation and again the food is better.

 

[eliza61]

when travelling - going to Europe, I'm heading to a London area Bed and Breakfast again tomorrow, less than $100 per night. Same with my Paris hotel, a lovely little hotel for $85 or so for my double room.

I know this is seriously OT but where are you staying in Paris for $85.00 bucks, we're headed there, the end of July and it's running us close to $400 a night? The only stipulation I put on the trip was it had to be in Paris proper (don't want to have travel to get to major attractions)

 

[Summer-Caitlin]

We are staying at CBR for 3 nights, POFQ for 4 nights and AKL for 7 nights. We have splurged on AKL as it is our wedding/honeymoon. This is the first time we have stayed on Disney property and what swayed it for us was the free dining and of course the stipulation that we had to at least stay 4 nights on Disney property to be allowed to get married there. I'm so happy we have paid a little extra to have my dream honeymoon.

 

[amelia1]

money to spend so I am going to spend it. This will be our first trip and my girls are 4 and 2. I can only imagine the look on my 4 year olds face when she see's giraffe out our balcony. With that being said....I think you can have an awesome trip in a value resort as well. You make your own memories regardless of the room you are sleeping in.

I'm not trying to find out how much money people make or anything like that.

I just know that we do pretty well for a family. We could always do better, but who couldn't? I just can't imagine planning a trip and telling my husband that we're going to shell out $350/night while at Disney... and that's not an "all-inclusive" plan.

I would just have the hardest time justifying that no matter how much I want to spend the night at the Grand Floridian or wherever...

I guess if I wasn't a stay-at-home mom it wouldn't bother me as much. Also, we'd have the extra income, but goodness.


Is there a secret that I'm missing out on? I know there are plenty of folks who can just flat-out afford it, but what do middle-class folks do? Just save extra hard?

Not tryin' to be nosy.. at all. It's just something that I think about a lot now that I want to go to Disney more often.

with jealousy.

 

[tiggersmom2]

We used to stay at Values and Moderates....but since having my youngest son and daughter, we are deluxe snobs!!!!

My favorite resort is the Polynesian and I won't go unless I can stay there at least part of the time (did I mention I'm spoiled too?!!! ). Next month we are doing a split stay between the Yacht Club and the Polynesian ( my hubby wants Stormalong Bay) and I can't wait!!

How do I afford it? I have a WDW fund and I contribute to it EVERY week. 401K...what is a 401K I have a WDWK!!!!

*disclaimer* I DO have a 401K - I am just being silly.