Am I stupid for not booking a nicer resort with the 40% discount?

[frannn]

I used the 40% off several weeks ago to book AS Music for our Sept 2007 trip. At the time, I also priced a moderate, AKL, and WL. All were available. I think the moderates would have cost me an additional 600+ for my entire 10 night trip, and the deluxe would have been an additional 1150 more. I am second guessing myself still, to this day. We have stayed at the AS all of our approx 8 trips. For the past few trips, it has been DH, DD4, and I. We probably could've squeezed more $ out of our budget to stay at any of these places, but I couldn't convince myself it was worth it to do anything other than a value. We usually only hit the pools once or twice during our entire trip, love the food court option (as opposed to only TS), and love the theming at the AS. We will be on the DP, wouldn't be an issue regardless. DD17 will be going to (community) college this Sept, and DH and I will be paying. I want to be able to continue to go to WDW once a year, so I think I should cut costs wherever possible. Yet, I continue to second guess myself. Should I have taken this opportunity to stay at a nicer place at least once for less? Are we missing out on anything great (other than more space)? DH wants us to stay at the Contemp for our 10th anniversary, which will be in 2009 rolleyes2 betcha there won't be any great discounts for us then). Did I make the right decision to stick with the AS? If the DP is free, this won't be an issue.

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

No you are not.

Stupid is when you try to vacation outside your budget.

Stay with what your first instinct told you. And just have a magical vacation!!

 

[countingthedays]

Frannn, based on what you’ve written and my interpretation of that, it seems you and you family love staying at ASMu. You’ll be at WDW staying a place you love, AND you’re getting a great deal – sounds pretty good to me!

I would offer this as a different perspective: Think long term. Disney always has offers/discounts out there-always, so I wouldn’t be too concerned about not getting one in the future. It may not be as wonderful as 40% off, but who knows? it might. If you were to calculate how much money you saved this trip by staying at ASMu vs. CR and put that money aside, you could then put it toward something special for that wonderful anniversary stay you have planed next year at CR. You’re 10th will only come around once and wouldn’t it be great if you used this years savings difference toward something you ordinarily wouldn’t do – perhaps upgrading to CL, or a few special dinners at Victoria and Albert’s?

Please stop kicking yourself! As I said, you’re at Disney, staying at a place you love and you got a great rate to boot. How can that be bad? You are going to have a terrific time this year and you have all that planning to do for next year at CR. Relax and enjoy.

 

[sarah4770]

All the moderates have a food court as well as a table service, except pofq.
It depends on what you are comfortable paying. 10 days is a long time, you are lucky, I have never been able to stay for 10 days.
I just downgraded from yacht to pofq/wl (split stay)over christmas using the 40% off pin.We are going for 7 days!! I figure, as much as I love the yacht club, and its location,it may be to cold to swim, and we are not in our room that much over the holidays. I may downgrade the wl or stay for less days there, too, because it is still a lot of money. I don't think I will add the dining plan for the last days at the wl because 1) I am sure we will have credits/snacks left over for our first day at the wl.2) we can always eat off site or get a pizza or get a big breakfast and snack the rest of the day. That is a way to save over $100 a day.
so what I am getting at, is maybe you could stay at the AS music for most of your trip, and then get a room only at a moderate for the last few days, and you will come out about even, and still be within your budget.
We went to the ASsports/poly this past christmas(5 days) and I still regret spending all that money at the poly.(its paid for). we only spent one day at the resort. Next time, I would split differently. The only reason we are doing the first part of the trip at pofq is because that is my son's favorite, and I promised I would take him back there, otherwise I would happily stay at sports or music again, especially when you are not in the room very much. Just my (very long: ) 2 cents.

 

[jdd]

I love the All Stars! I don't think you made a mistake at all. The only reason we moved to the moderates is because our family got bigger and we need the additional room. Save your money and go on a second trip!! Like you, we're hardly ever in our room - and I doubt we'll ever stay in a deluxe - just not worth the cash IMO!

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

I'm in the same boat as you frannn...I keep flip-flopping back and forth about where to stay. I also have a 10-day reservation and orginally started at a deluxe, then changed to lower-priced accomodations and added the DDP as my family was anxious to try it again. So, for now, we will stick with what we've got and then re-evaluate the sitution if free DDP is offered (which I don't have real high hopes for). Plus, in our case...it also happened that this trip is when we need to renew our APs (which added another huge expense). In my mind I kind of have a set amount of where I want to be budget-wise and will do whatever is possible to get the biggest bang for the buck.

 

[PeachesDoesHair]

We decided Pop was for us. We just love Pop and we're happy that we were able to save 40%. We thought about a moderate, but then decided we would just stay at Pop to have an easier time saving up for our vacation.

 

[kribit]

Nope, not at all. We actually booked WL and AKL for 2 separate trips...we cancelled one of the trips and seriously considered changing our deluxe choice back to POR. We had a set amount to spend, so we are still in budget - we're celebrating our 10 year anniversary so we thought a little splurge wouldn't be so bad. I just don't think about how much money we would save by going mod. Honestly, I love POR so much, that I hope I'm not disappointed with the deluxe.

I think you are very smart.

 

[photo_chick]

I say stick to the original resort plan and use any discount savings you did not originally plan on as extra spending money.

 

[d4est]

I understand how you feel. When I first booked it was at POP. I was fine with it & thrilled to be saving.

A few days later, I called & switched to AKL. In my mind, I figured we would never be able to budget (& continue to afford a yearly vacation) for a deluxe without the code. I couldn't forsee such a great deal coming along again. I decided to grab the gusto! Without the 40% we would be at value or mod. This was my one chance to go deluxe, so I grabbed it.

It doesn't make you stupid not too, lol. Only you know what is right for your family.

For mine, I know this is our one shot at deluxe. At least until the cars are paid off, lol!

 

[abaldacci]

stick with your plan, your happy, and that's what matters. have a great trip.

 

[QueenRahel]

i believe you should stick with the value resorts and save your 600 dollars...the other disney hotels are very magical but if you dont use the hotel pools often, which i think if you did than it may be worth it, then splurge on other things to do....if you have time you should go and explore the other hotels you may be interested in...have a dinner there or just walk around and then youll know next trip for sure if its worth saving the extra cash.....all of the hotels are the best there but is worth staying at the value resorts if your not donald trump!

 

[DisneyBaby2004]

A few days later, I called & switched to AKL. In my mind, I figured we would never be able to budget (& continue to afford a yearly vacation) for a deluxe without the code. I couldn't forsee such a great deal coming along again. I decided to grab the gusto! Without the 40% we would be at value or mod. This was my one chance to go deluxe, so I grabbed it.

For mine, I know this is our one shot at deluxe. At least until the cars are paid off, lol!

We are in the exact same boat. Incidentally we are staying the exact same dates as you also (12/10-12/14) . We have stayed at AKL before but it was only one night before heading over to US/IOA. The price for us to stay in Dec at AKL (w/ pool view bunk beds) is less than our trip in May. So it was worth it to us to stay deluxe this time.

 

[d4est]

We are in the exact same boat. Incidentally we are staying the exact same dates as you also (12/10-12/14) . We have stayed at AKL before but it was only one night before heading over to US/IOA. The price for us to stay in Dec at AKL (w/ pool view bunk beds) is less than our trip in May. So it was worth it to us to stay deluxe this time.

Too funny! Our stay is so short because we are moving to Universal, HRH! Gotta love FOTL!!

 

[MEK]

i know how you feel. I booked AS Music with the 40% off code for late August. It is just me and DS 12 for 7 nights. It was so tempting to book a deluxe, but since the rest of my family is staying home, I just couldn't do it. Now, if the rest of the family was going - I would have gone for AKL or WL.

I'm still pretty content. I have a really positive feeling about As Music and I am hoping to really like it!

 

[HayGan]

I too can completely understand your dilemma! When I booked I was originally going to go with POP. However, when I heard the price of POFQ with the 40% off, I immediately booked it! Then I started second guessing myself about whether or not I should have gone with the Poly. I've just decided to let it be! I can use the savings for another trip next year.

Plus I figure if free dining does come out, I can stick with POFQ and save even more $$$! That wouldn't have been the case for us if we went deluxe because the 40% off would have been a greater discount.

 

[DznyLvr2005]

no not stupid at all, I was going to do the same thing! ... but...
We had booked CBR, then realized we could get 40% off, so we changed our ressies for AKL, ONLY BECAUSE this is probably the only opportunity we'll be ablt to do this, because we HAVE to start saving money (after this disney trip )
I was debating on whether we should just stay at CBR, but I kept thinking that I'll probably never stay at AKL savannah view without a discount and 40% is a steep one!
Have fun wherever you stay!

 

[chrismis]

My family and I are returning to Disney in Dec 08 for our 6th trip and I seen many posting about a 40% discount code??? How do you find this code, I've searched high and low.
Thanks for the help!!