We are headed to wdw in late August. We've stayed at all the mods and most DVCs. This time around we will have two standard rooms for 7 nights. Question is, are WL or AKL worth $2000 more just to stay at a deluxe? We've never stayed at a deluxe before. We have eaten at them and toured all but never stayed. We could use that $2K for plenty of other fun on the trip or even upgrade our flights to non-stop on the way home. Will we see a big enough difference to feel like it was worth it? We have fairly simple easy going tastes, we do like the resort feel of CBR and we only use disney transportation. I feel like we should stick with the moderate and feel like we dont need to hold back on special dining or purchases, possibly even have a good amount of cash on hand to take advantage of a decent bounceback offer (if they still do those). Anyone have experience making the leap for the first time? Thoughts? Would you do it again? Why or why not?
For $2,000 I don't think the AK would be worth it unless you are HUGE a fan of the zoo or of animals. The resort is beautiful, but the convenience factor just isn't there. WL is a boatride away from MK, so that makes it more attractive to me. The rooms at both AK and the WL are pretty small as far as the deluxe hotels go. The bedroom space is about the same size as a moderate, though if you include the bathrooms they are slightly larger. The amenities beyond room size are comparable to the other deluxes. I think I'd want either the BC/YC or Poly for the $2,000 difference. Last year we stayed at the AoA and used the extra money for the DxDP and did some fantastic character and signature meals. Last year we chose for the kids and went for the over the top AoA Cars section. This year my husband and I want to do a little more relaxing and get some pampering, so we dropped the DxDP and went for the Beach Club CL. I've stayed at the deluxe hotels before, and it's definitely worth it if you plan to spend a lot of time at the resort enjoying things.
Great perspective, thank you. YC/BC were both more and Poly felt outrageous. We've stayed at BCV in studios before so we feel like that was a treat with DVC points. But it really wasnt our favorite. The SAB area was great but we didnt use it enough to make it feel worth it. The walk to Epcot and boat to HS is a major bonus...
One option would be to stay a majority of the time at a moderate, then switch over to a Deluxe for 2 or 3 nights. Then you have the best of both worlds! I personally would say DAKL if you were going to upgrade. It's a very unique Resort unlike any other in the U.S.
I see that you stated that you considered the walk to Epcot and boat to HS is a major bonus, have you ever thought about staying at the Swan Dolphin? If you were looking at two standard rooms the SD offers a variety of suites. We stayed in an Executive Suite (3 posts with photos) and were very impressed with the rooms. As an added bonus we actually paid less that two standard moderate rooms would have cost!
Once I made a jump to deluxe, it was hard to book elsewhere (but I have). The 'worth' is subjective. Only you know if it is worth it for you.
Having always stayed at moderates we spent 2 weeks at the Beach club last summer. It was beautiful. The pool outstanding. The walk to Epcot just fantastically convenient. But we're back to POR this summer. So my conclusion. It wasn't worth it enough. We also really missed having a decent food court on site, even though we eat a TS daily.
we went from POFQ to teh WL on our second trip. Now we are going again, to the WL. For US it's worth the money. We love the lodge But I can't look in your wallet or head Only you can decide if it's worth it for you. ' When I doubt I make a decision in my head and start virtual planning. Either I find myself getting happier with the choice, or I don't. Then I know the doubts were right and it's not for me. It simply IS a lot of money!
For $2,000 no. That is a big jump for only being there how long in a day. We've stayed at all levels. We like the mods over the values- that seems to be worth it for us but it SO much of a jump between mods and deluxe and while they are nice there isn't that much of a difference.
If you haven't stay experienced a deluxe resort I would say go for it. AKL(Savannah View) is a magical experience. It is a toss up for my DW favorite room, right next to Polynesian Club Level, although for me my favorite is Poly Club Level by far. Whether or not the upgrade is worth another $2000 is a tough one. If you have limited funds and spending $2000 more on the room means not being able to do dinner shows, character meals, and the like, then I don't know. It still might be worth it as the experience of waking up in the morning and looking out your windows seeing African animals is really magical. Now with all that said we are staying at All Star Sports Resort for this year's family trip. We have stayed at Moderate and Deluxe resorts so far and now we want to experience a value resort. I'm sure it will be a fun family trip, and it will be a different experience.
I will have to make the same decision next trip! We loved POR until we stayed at BC. Strolling to Epcot our favorite park was priceless to us. But the money may not be there next time. What about POR or CSR. Alot compare CSR to deluxe as far as the beds go. We have not stayed there before. Though POR was alot of fun and you have POFQ right next door for beignets and another pool to enjoy as long as they still allow pool hopping between those 2 resorts.
We had stayed at all of the values, and one moderate (CBR) when we were trying to decide whether the jump to deluxe was "worth it". I really hemmed and hawed about it for quite some time, as the fear of spending that money and feeling like it was wasted weighed heavily on me. I have to say, we ended up doing CL at WL and it was absolutely fantastic!!!! in fact, we had said we were just going to do deluxe that once and then back to mods, and well....we are staying YC CL in April. I couldn't not book deluxe, and I couldn't NOT book CL. To us, it was worth it!! Now, mind you, we had/have 40% discounts for both of our deluxe CL stays. There is no way I would pay rack rate, but with a good discount we do feel it is worth it. Good luck deciding. I don't think you will be disappointed if you decide to take the plunge.
$2,000 is a pretty hefty down payment on an additional trip. I say it's not worth that much to upgrade.
Our first stay onsite was at a mod (CBR) and while we had a great trip and loved the resort, once we tried a deluxe, we haven't stayed anything else since. Worth is subjective as it's different for everyone and $2000 is alot of money, but for us it's worth it for a deluxe (and we love both WL and AKL). But as others have said, only you can decide whether or not the upgrade is worth the extra cost for you. We spend alot of time at the resort and enjoy the amenities that the deluxe resorts offer so the extra cost is always worth it to us. Good luck.
We are making the jump to deluxe with our next trip and I never thought we would do it. It was going to be about $1,000 more to do the BC over POR. At first we were going to do a split stay and bring that difference down, but then we got a big tax return and decided to stay deluxe the whole time. I'm still considering whether or not to spend even more for a special view or upgrade to club level, but I'm holding off for now and just planning on spending more money on experiences and dining, souvenirs, etc. $2,000 for me would be too much just to upgrade to deluxe. If it was an upgrade to deluxe plus club level then maybe. But I agree which deluxe would make a difference. BC appealed to us because of the convenience factor. I would say the same maybe for a monorail resort, but for any that weren't walking distance or monorail connected to the parks, no I wouldn't find it worthwhile.
I was strictly a values and moderates person until December 2010 when I did a split stay at AKL. Since then, I have gone as a traveling companion to a senior with mobility issues and have stayed at CR, SSR, and AKL (Kidani). In my world the price jump is in no way worth it. Closest would be CR for me. In the deluxes the buses run just the same, the food courts are WAY out of the way and with much smaller selections, and I did not experience any better customer service (in fact AKL was worse both times) than at a value or moderate. Yes, the rooms are larger and the towels are softer, but that is about it. As PPers have said, I would rather have another trip, stay longer and/or eat better food. The suggestion for a split stay is also a good one.
The suggestion to stay at the mod resort and then go with deluxe just for 2=3 nights sounds good to me. It would cost you a lot less than $2000, leaving some money for the other things you mentioned. I haven't done it yet, but it seems like a lot of people like split stays like that. They seem to do the first few days at a less expensive resort and really hit the parks then. Their last few days they spend more time at the deluxe resort they move to.
