Delux v. Value. Is it worth it?

[lovingmy2boys]

I am one who for the last 4 trips have stayed at the Swan/Dolphin and paid as much for that resort as you would pay at the Moderate resorts. I have only stayed in a Value Resort once and while it wasn't bad I won't go back. I am spoiled by the location of the Swan/Dolphin and if I could afford the YC/BC I would stay there. My first trip to Disney in 1998 we stayed at the YC and I loved every minute of it.

 

[nurse.darcy]

I stayed at ASMu this past August. I must first disclaim that I am a deluxe girl at heart.My then DH (I am now divorced) didn't want to spend more than 100 per night for a room so ASMu was our choice. WE LOVED IT. It was our first trip to WDW and we had an absolute blast. My son (14 at the time) thought it was a great place to stay though he didn't care for the bus service. When I asked him where he wanted to stay for this next August, he said either back at ASMu, or CR if we can afford it. . .lol

Gotta love a son with a sense of family finances. . .lol.

 

[lntsmom]

For anyone who is not Christian this is a mute point, so skip this post if you like.

In all areas of my life I strive to use my money as wisely as possible. I have to balance the true function of any one thing with it's opportunity cost. Spending money just because I have it and can would never be my first choice.

In all honesty, if I'd wanted to I could have booked a deluxe resort for our upcoming trip. The opportunity cost would have been not being able to add to emergency savings...but since the money for this trip came from an unexpected source, that was a choice I could have made.

My rules for Disney trips are:

1. Don't pay more for anything than I must. We can sleep in the value resorts just as well as we could at a deluxe resort. For my family, anything over the price of value resorts is just ego massaging. We don't need a bigger room, direct transportation, or someone bowing and scraping before us, so I don't pay for it.

2. Pay for everything up front with cash. Everything except meals and souvenirs was paid for the day I booked our trip. I wouldn't book a trip that I didn't have cash-in-hand to pay for.

Quite honestly, I know that I would have a much less enjoyable time if I was paying for a deluxe room.

 

[kapoof]

For anyone who is not Christian this is a mute point, so skip this post if you like.

In all areas of my life I strive to use my money as wisely as possible. I have to balance the true function of any one thing with it's opportunity cost. Spending money just because I have it and can would never be my first choice.

In all honesty, if I'd wanted to I could have booked a deluxe resort for our upcoming trip. The opportunity cost would have been not being able to add to emergency savings...but since the money for this trip came from an unexpected source, that was a choice I could have made.

My rules for Disney trips are:

1. Don't pay more for anything than I must. We can sleep in the value resorts just as well as we could at a deluxe resort. For my family, anything over the price of value resorts is just ego massaging. We don't need a bigger room, direct transportation, or someone bowing and scraping before us, so I don't pay for it.

2. Pay for everything up front with cash. Everything except meals and souvenirs was paid for the day I booked our trip. I wouldn't book a trip that I didn't have cash-in-hand to pay for.

Quite honestly, I know that I would have a much less enjoyable time if I was paying for a deluxe room.

i am a christian but don't get your points...especially 'ego massaging, borrowing or scraping money' thing is kinda wacked out too. your post is really misguided.

 

[JulieNMM]

Question is, what do you want out of your Disney experience? Figure this out and decide from there if it's worth it to you to pay the extra for the room.

That hits the nail on the head!!! What do YOU want to get out of this vacation? My family wants to be close to the parks, so we are staying at the Deluxes (CR and BCV split stay). We want to be able to quickly go back to the hotel and swim in the afternoon and not spend the whole trip on a hot bus with a million other people.

For people who just use the hotel room as a place to sleep and shower, the values are probably fine. Or for people who can't afford the deluxes but still want to go to DW.

JULIE

 

[jeanninepl]

We love to stay deluxe. We really enjoy our resort and it is a big part of our vacation. Therefore, its worth it for us.

Its all relative. Everyone has different ideas for what they want in a vacation. The resort is important to us and we have a BLAST at the pools and restaurants and enjoy the parks as well. Its a 50/50 split in our time. That is just what works for us and how we enjoy our vacation.

I am a school teacher and teach my kids that everyone is different - that is why they have so many flavors of ice cream to choose from!

I am also a christian, actually I am Catholic and my family is very strong in our faith. I am not sure that has anything to do wtih my choice of hotels.

 

[kapoof]

We love to stay deluxe. We really enjoy our resort and it is a big part of our vacation. Therefore, its worth it for us.

Its all relative. Everyone has different ideas for what they want in a vacation. The resort is important to us and we have a BLAST at the pools and restaurants and enjoy the parks as well. Its a 50/50 split in our time. That is just what works for us and how we enjoy our vacation.

I am a school teacher and teach my kids that everyone is different - that is why they have so many flavors of ice cream to choose from!

I am also a christian, actually I am Catholic and my family is very strong in our faith. I am not sure that has anything to do wtih my choice of hotels.

ita jeannie...staying value, mod or deluxe has nothing to do with salvation.

 

[luvdisney00]

To the OP,
I was in your shoes...my 1st trip with my family was to ASMo and we loved it. The kids enjoyed the theming, the food court was great, the small rooms didn't bother us and the busses were very good, even with a stroller. That was in 2000 when I had 2 kids. Then this last July we took our 3 kids and I would have needed 2 rooms at a value, so we thought we'd try something bigger. We ended up at the Polynesian and I can't go back. The Poly spoiled us for sure, I don't think I could stay in a value again without spending our vacation thinking "If I had just saved a little more we could be at a deluxe."
As other posters have said everyone is different and each opinion is unique. For me I'd rather cut back on other things and splurge on vacation. So to answer your original question...for me Yes it is really worth it.

Good Luck making a decision.

 

[Boo_Wazowski]

I also faxed over a room request a few days before we arrived requesting a room in the 50's building, top floor, lake view (see Epcot fireworks)....a quiet room. I am a light sleeper and I did not want to be near the pools, nor have people above me. We were in room 2442 (50s) and it was great. It's farther from the main building where the food, buses, etc. are, but we didn't mind the walk.

So were you able to see fireworks from there (50's building)?
We're in the process of planning a trip to the POP and will consider listing that building as a preference.

 

[eliza61]

We'd rather have an entire vacation without any spending limits than all the $$ on the room and then having to economize on everything else. We eat where we want, buy what we want, etc. ASMo will again be our homebase in June

Hey guess what. We do all that and stay at a deluxe without having to economize. Isn't life grand.

 

[eliza61]

For anyone who is not Christian this is a mute point, so skip this post if you like.

In all areas of my life I strive to use my money as wisely as possible. I have to balance the true function of any one thing with it's opportunity cost. Spending money just because I have it and can would never be my first choice.

In all honesty, if I'd wanted to I could have booked a deluxe resort for our upcoming trip. The opportunity cost would have been not being able to add to emergency savings...but since the money for this trip came from an unexpected source, that was a choice I could have made.

My rules for Disney trips are:

1. Don't pay more for anything than I must. We can sleep in the value resorts just as well as we could at a deluxe resort. For my family, anything over the price of value resorts is just ego massaging. We don't need a bigger room, direct transportation, or someone bowing and scraping before us, so I don't pay for it.

2. Pay for everything up front with cash. Everything except meals and souvenirs was paid for the day I booked our trip. I wouldn't book a trip that I didn't have cash-in-hand to pay for.

Quite honestly, I know that I would have a much less enjoyable time if I was paying for a deluxe room.

Does this mean because I stay at a deluxe I'm not using my money wisely or that I'm a lousy Christian? someone bowing & scraping before us would be called indentured servant, pretty sure they outlawed that.
Since the whole disney thing is based on a large cartoon mouse I don't think it would really help my ego. Now maybe if I was hanging out with Oprah?

Hey, what does it make you if you pay to stay concierge?

Please can the assumptions. I stay at a deluxe because my family & I have a good time there, which forgive me if I'm wrong but isn't that what vacations are about.

 

[MickeyNicki]

We used to stay at the value and loved it but we never used the amenities, we just slept and showered there. Then the price for the mods wasnt that much more so we jumped to those and again just slept and showered there. Now that we are spending the bulk of our vacations at the pool and using the resort amenities we love deluxe resorts and it is totally worth it to us.

If we go for a quick weekend we stay at whatever the best deal is because we will probably be in the parks most of the time for such a short trip.

 

[MissionMouse]

... is a delux resort at over $300/night really worth it? ...moderate resorts and most of those seem to share the buses, which I really don't want to have to deal with, hence my curiousity on the delux...

All Disney Resorts are over priced based upon accommodations and services provided. You are simply paying for location within Disney's own controlled territory....call it the Mouse Factor. Yes, you can find far nicer resorts off property for much lower, but most people will quickly say..."but you are not in Disney World." Let your budget guide you and realize many things are in place to steer guest to spend more, do more than your budget may allow. Choose wisely...and realize for most people who feel compelled to ask is it worth it...the majority of the time ithe answer should be no.

 

[Native NYer]

We just returned from our first trip to WDW. We stayed at the Pop Century Resort and loved every minute of our trip. The hotel was wonderful. Food was good. Transportation was excellent. We have no complaints at all. We are starting to plan our next trip and would love to upgrade, but is a delux resort at over $300/night really worth it? We have a 5 year old daughter who absolutely loved the over-the-top decor and pools at Pop. And, we really didn't spend all the much time at Pop, but, next trip I do plan to have a day or two of resort relaxing rather than run, run, run the whole time.

I have read reviews on the moderate resorts and most of those seem to share the buses, which I really don't want to have to deal with, hence my curiousity on the delux. Anyone out there who has stayed at both and can offer feedback.

Thanks.

I love the Poly. But if your daughter loved POP, I'd stay there and save the money.

 

[bas71873]

Yes, we were in room 2442 and you could see the fireworks at night. I don't think we had a preferred room, just got what I asked for, top floor, lake view. Hope you have a wonderful trip

 

[byoung]

Value yes if you want to save!