First-timer! Longer stay vs. deluxe resort - WWYD?

[bradyh]

Hey, guys! Long time lurker here, but my DW and I are finally taking the plunge! We're fanatics but could never afford the World until now, so we'd love to be "WOW-ed." We're kind of stuck on a couple options and were really hoping to get something of a vote from the community on which might offer the best experience!

We are looking to go some time in October-November to avoid the high holiday crowds.
Our budget is ~$5,000 and we are currently exploring the two paths below.

Which might you recommend for two first-timers?

1) Longer stay + cheaper room
• 4 days WDW
• 1 Universal (Harry Potter)
• 1 Discovery Cove
• 7 nights at value/moderate resort (AoA, Riverside, etc)

2) Disney + best resort
• 4 days WDW
• 5 nights at a deluxe (ALK - Arusha, Poly, etc)
• Better transportation (monorail)

Some notes:
• We don't plan on doing WDW parks for longer than 4 days.
• We plan to bring most of our own meals w/ a couple nice dinners there, so no need for a dining plan.
• This is sort of a very late babymoon (due this month!), so it will probably be our biggest trip for awhile. (We are not bringing the baby.)
• I considered DVC rentals, but I wasn't sure about the 8-9 month timeframe and non-refundability.

Thank you guys for any feedback! We're super excited!

 

[Alesia]

I would take the longer stay at a cheaper resort, no question.

Fwiw, I find that value resorts have much better, more consistent transportation than deluxe resorts do.

Unless you're actually planning on spending a significant portion of the trip at the resort, I don't really see the appeal. For us, the hotel is just someplace to sleep and shower - we'd rather spend the bulk of our time in the parks.

 

[Wubar]

Longer stay and more time in the parks, for me anyway. The parks are the only reason we go to Disney. I can stay at nice hotels 20 miles from my house if I'm interested in a deluxe hotel experience, but at WDW, it's the parks. Plus, if you decide to go longer than 4 days, you can take your time in the parks and not be stressed out over doing anything and everything in 4 days....

 

[foodiddiedoo]

So you'll have a 9 month old with you, or is the baby staying home? Pick the resort close to MK (one of the deluxes) if you are bringing an infant with you so you can get back to the room faster.

 

[davper]

Longer stay
4 days in WDW and 1 day at USO won't be enough. Can you stretch it to 9 nights? 5+ at WDW and 2+ at USO and do a split stay at a universal hotel or generic close by. Forget the 3rd park on your first trip.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

If it were between 10 days or 14 days i would go with deluxe. Since it’s between 5 or 7 I’ll go with longer stay.

I would stick to 7 days with the entire time at WDW. Especially for a first timer. I would only ever do both parks (WDW and universal) if we were staying for 10 or more days. I would completely skip discovery cove too.

 

[havaneselover]

Longer stay. I loved the deluxes but switched to values (necessitated by divorce) and love them too. Universal is fantastic and I've heard nothing but fabulous things about Discovery Cove.

 

[elgerber]

I would stick to 7 days with the entire time at WDW. Especially for a first timer. I would only ever do both parks (WDW and universal) if we were staying for 10 or more days. I would completely skip discovery cove too.

I totally agree with this! In addition to the fact that I think you need more than 4 days to see what you want to see, 1 day at US is very expensive versus adding a couple extra days at WDW.

 

[Hikergirl]

Hey, guys! Long time lurker here, but my DW and I are finally taking the plunge! We're fanatics but could never afford the World until now, so we'd love to be "WOW-ed." We're kind of stuck on a couple options and were really hoping to get something of a vote from the community on which might offer the best experience!

We are looking to go some time in October-November to avoid the high holiday crowds.
Our budget is ~$5,000 and we are currently exploring the two paths below.

Which might you recommend for two first-timers?

1) Longer stay + cheaper room
• 4 days WDW
• 1 Universal (Harry Potter)
• 1 Discovery Cove
• 7 nights at value/moderate resort (AoA, Riverside, etc)

2) Disney + best resort
• 4 days WDW
• 5 nights at a deluxe (ALK - Arusha, Poly, etc)
• Better transportation (monorail)

Some notes:
• We don't plan on doing WDW parks for longer than 4 days.
• We plan to bring most of our own meals w/ a couple nice dinners there, so no need for a dining plan.
• This is sort of a very late babymoon (due this month!), so it will probably be our biggest trip for awhile.
• I considered DVC rentals, but I wasn't sure about the 8-9 month timeframe and non-refundability.

Thank you guys for any feedback! We're super excited!

So with either choice you are only doing 4 days in WDW parks?
I would stay deluxe, but I'm biased because when I go to WDW I stay in the bubble and don't visit any other parks.
Truth is, I'd take what I would have spent on Uni and DC tickets and put it towards another night at a deluxe, and put another day on my WDW ticket. Stay at YC, BC or BW and just enjoy the atmosphere there for the extra day, or head over to Epcot for F&W.

 

[Colleen27]

I would take the longer stay at a cheaper resort, no question.

Fwiw, I find that value resorts have much better, more consistent transportation than deluxe resorts do.

Unless you're actually planning on spending a significant portion of the trip at the resort, I don't really see the appeal. For us, the hotel is just someplace to sleep and shower - we'd rather spend the bulk of our time in the parks.

I second this. It doesn't matter how nice our resort is for most of our trips - we're in the parks all day long. We've had whole trips where we didn't even use the resort pool because we were never at the resort during pool hours. Unless I'm specifically planning a trip that involves slowing down to enjoy the resort, like we did on our last trip with my mother at the Poly, I don't see any reason to pay more than moderate-resort prices for a place to sleep and am often happy in the values depending on the travel party (a family in a value room gets cramped, esp. if it means sharing a double bed).

 

[tvguy]

We went for the first time last year, but we are an entirely different situation.
This was our 35th wedding anniversary, kids are grown, so we stayed at the Grand Floridian and just bit the bullet on cost.
If we were to go again, we would stay at a less expensive hotel. Not sure we will be back though. The shorter hours at the Florida parks and distance and time need to travel between parks was a bit of a disappointment to us compared to Disneyland.

 

[bradyh]

So you'll have a 9 month old with you, or is the baby staying home? Pick the resort close to MK (one of the deluxes) if you are bringing an infant with you so you can get back to the room faster.

It will be just us. The baby will be with family.

Longer stay
4 days in WDW and 1 day at USO won't be enough. Can you stretch it to 9 nights? 5+ at WDW and 2+ at USO and do a split stay at a universal hotel or generic close by. Forget the 3rd park on your first trip.

We may be able to to stretch to 8 nights and add "cool down" day. Our main draw to Uni is the HP experience, so I don't know about 2 days. The DW also wasn't too keen on having to bounce between hotels in the middle (WDW to USO).

So with either choice you are only doing 4 days in WDW parks?
I would stay deluxe, but I'm biased because when I go to WDW I stay in the bubble and don't visit any other parks.
Truth is, I'd take what I would have spent on Uni and DC tickets and put it towards another night at a deluxe, and put another day on my WDW ticket. Stay at YC, BC or BW and just enjoy the atmosphere there for the extra day, or head over to Epcot for F&W.

Yeah, from friends and family we've spoken to along w/ personal research, 1 park/day seems very doable. This is pretty much our dilemma as well: does a base World + Uni/DC experience trump a more immersive World one?

 

[Lvsdisney]

I would do the shorter/ nicer mainly because i would find it difficult to be away from my infant for too long!

 

[mamamelody2]

I would go longer stay in a cheaper hotel, but I would keep the whole thing in Disney.
I think as first timers you are underestimating the scale of WDW. It's huge and there's a TON to do.
We are going for our 4th trip this fall. We will have 9 day Disney tickets, and I still know we won't get everything done.
DH and I went 2nd week of November last year. That was a great time to go! Moderate crowds, beautiful low-humidity weather, Christmas decorations out. I highly recommend it. Oh, and we got free dining, too!

 

[starry_solo]

Longer stay at a deluxe resort!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Now that you added the info about not bringing the baby i would go deluxe for 5 days. Without a doubt.

 

[badiggio]

Quality over quantity!

 

[Shanti]

Hey, guys! Long time lurker here, but my DW and I are finally taking the plunge! We're fanatics but could never afford the World until now, so we'd love to be "WOW-ed." We're kind of stuck on a couple options and were really hoping to get something of a vote from the community on which might offer the best experience!

We are looking to go some time in October-November to avoid the high holiday crowds.
Our budget is ~$5,000 and we are currently exploring the two paths below.

Which might you recommend for two first-timers?

1) Longer stay + cheaper room
• 4 days WDW
• 1 Universal (Harry Potter)
• 1 Discovery Cove
• 7 nights at value/moderate resort (AoA, Riverside, etc)

2) Disney + best resort
• 4 days WDW
• 5 nights at a deluxe (ALK - Arusha, Poly, etc)
• Better transportation (monorail)

Some notes:
• We don't plan on doing WDW parks for longer than 4 days.
• We plan to bring most of our own meals w/ a couple nice dinners there, so no need for a dining plan.
• This is sort of a very late babymoon (due this month!), so it will probably be our biggest trip for awhile.
• I considered DVC rentals, but I wasn't sure about the 8-9 month timeframe and non-refundability.

Thank you guys for any feedback! We're super excited!

You'll have a much better trip at a deluxe, paticularly with a baby. Since you know you're only spending 4 days at WDW either way, that makes the choice easy. Drop the fluff from the schedule & spend the 4 days/5 nights having a great trip at WDW.

 

[a742246]

I would go with the longer stay, Riverside is a nice compromise!
I would suggest that you spend a day exploring the different resorts and Disney Springs just in case you decide to come again with the baby.

Are you flying or driving?

 

[bradyh]

I would go longer stay in a cheaper hotel, but I would keep the whole thing in Disney.
I think as first timers you are underestimating the scale of WDW. It's huge and there's a TON to do.
We are going for our 4th trip this fall. We will have 9 day Disney tickets, and I still know we won't get everything done.
DH and I went 2nd week of November last year. That was a great time to go! Moderate crowds, beautiful low-humidity weather, Christmas decorations out. I highly recommend it. Oh, and we got free dining, too!

Whew, 9 days. You guys are gonna have a blast! We've been crossing our fingers that we end up picking dates that a few discounts or free dining happen to fall on. We may have to steal that November week. It sounds perfect, and I didn't know they decorated that early!

Longer stay at a deluxe resort!

I like your thinking!

You'll have a much better trip at a deluxe, paticularly with a baby. Since you know you're only spending 4 days at WDW either way, that makes the choice easy. Drop the fluff from the schedule & spend the 4 days/5 nights having a great trip at WDW.

We're actually not bringing the baby. It's sort of the last "just us" trip for awhile.

I would go with the longer stay, Riverside is a nice compromise!
I would suggest that you spend a day exploring the different resorts and Disney Springs just in case you decide to come again with the baby.

Are you flying or driving?

I think we're actually considering trying to add in a "cool down" day to check out some of the non-park offerings.
It'd be great to check out DS and the BW!
We plan to fly and take the Express to the resort. If we did Uni or DC, we'd probably take an Uber or taxi.