How on earth can anyone afford a deluxe?

[slenderella]

We can afford a Deluxe resort by skimping and saving the year before we plan to go. We also make our ressies as soon as we can. It is a $200 deposit then we make payments every month. We have stayed at a moderate before and loved it, but my DH loves to spoil his "GIRLS", therefore we stay at a Deluxe.

 

[dairyqueenmom]

Planning our first trip to WDW in March 2008 (me, DH & DD4) using frequent flier miles, so we thought we'd splurge for a really nice Disney resort. Now, we've stayed at some really nice hotels on vacations (when we've gotten good deals) ... Four Seasons, JW Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, etc.... but imagine my surprise when the room only portion at the Poly of our 7 night vacation came to almost $5000! Yipes! The other deluxes weren't much better!

Our week long Maui vacation at the Ritz was half that!

Now, I have never been in a deluxe room, but from the photos they don't look 5 star. And according to AAA, the GF, Poly, etc are three diamond. But so are CSR, and POFQ, for that matter.

I am just wondering how everyone affords this... between airfare, park tixs, food & souvenirs, it is an expensive endeavor, without a $5000 hotel room bill. And I see on these boards tons of people who stay at the Deluxe resorts year over year. Am I missing out on some sort of discounted room deal for the deluxes?

We have always stayed at moderates or values. We have never been able to justify the expense, until now. We bought into Disney Vacation Club, now we will always stay at the deluxe resorts. We get twice as much space as the before, that is great because there are 6 of us.

 

[mgilmer]

The word "worth" is subjective. I don't think Mercedes Benzes are worth $80,000 dollars but they sure sell a lot of them. Why do folks get judgemental with the deluxes. If you can afford $5 grand to stay at a deluxe, go for it. I've paid twice that to stay in a hotel just to be able to see the eiffel tower out of my room.

Yep, I love the deluxes, think they are totally worth the money and we wouldn't even think about staying anywhere else.

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

I usually go in value season, get AP discounts, and split my trip between deluxes and cheaper resorts. I've managed for years on an $8/hr job (finally got a new one that pays more, though- yay!)- I just have to make choices about what I want to spend my money on. Pretty much all of my income that doesn't go to bills and necessities goes towards vacation.

 

[hopelea]

I have always stayed at a value or off property until this year. This will be our last trip to DW without the crowds. My dd will be in HS next year and we will not be able to take her out of school. I talked to my dh and explained that to him and we really budgeted for this trip. Yes, it is costing me a lot more to stay at a deluxe (WL), but this will be the only time. I wanted my dd's to experience a deluxe with us once. Then it will be back to POP! (I do love it there). My mom has always wanted to stay at a WL also. She is now 70. She wants to stay there so that is where we are staying.

Can't wait to experience it.

 

[stitchlover]

I think there are so many different hotel levels and types because there are so many different income levels and desires. I don't think anyone needs to feel guilty about staying in a deluxe. We are staying deluxe for the first time this coming spring and more than likely will do AKL in '09. After that we will decide do we want to go back to moderate or continue at Deluxe. We are able to afford it because we budget for it...we are a one income family. Also we pay cash for the whole trip...we don't believe in credit cards.

If I'm lucky I'll actually convince husband to purchase DVC and then we will be deluxe from here on out!

 

[DizneyNutz]

Planning our first trip to WDW in March 2008 (me, DH & DD4) using frequent flier miles, so we thought we'd splurge for a really nice Disney resort. Now, we've stayed at some really nice hotels on vacations (when we've gotten good deals) ... Four Seasons, JW Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, etc.... but imagine my surprise when the room only portion at the Poly of our 7 night vacation came to almost $5000! Yipes! The other deluxes weren't much better!

Our week long Maui vacation at the Ritz was half that!

Now, I have never been in a deluxe room, but from the photos they don't look 5 star. And according to AAA, the GF, Poly, etc are three diamond. But so are CSR, and POFQ, for that matter.

I am just wondering how everyone affords this... between airfare, park tixs, food & souvenirs, it is an expensive endeavor, without a $5000 hotel room bill. And I see on these boards tons of people who stay at the Deluxe resorts year over year. Am I missing out on some sort of discounted room deal for the deluxes?

Don't have to be expensive per say. We rented out some of our unused points at the WL this year Nov. and Dec. for around 660.00 for five nights each. You can't stay there for that price. I would suggest checking the rent/trade boards if you really want to stay at a Deluxe Resorts and are looking for a deal and are flexible.

 

[Aliceacc]

The quick answer to your question is that we really can't afford a Deluxe. But we're staying at the Contemporary next August anyway (at the cheapest room there we can get.) By the way, we're both teachers, so we can only travel during "Value Season."

There are 5 of us, all 5 over 4 years old, so we're somewhat limited anyway. If we were to stay at a Value, we would need 2 rooms or a Family Suite at ASMu. Compare that price with the cheapest Contemporary room. They're not equal in cost, but they're in the same neighborhood.

Now let's throw in the convenience of hopping on the monorail or walking a tired 5 year old back to the resort for a swim....hmmm, those few hundred dollars difference is sounding smaller and smaller. With a hotel with a pool slide, we can skip the water park option-- more money saved.

Our typical family vacation is a week upstate at a lake. This is going to be the only Disney Trip we'll take when our kids are young. So, just this once, we'll find the money.

My kids are SO excited about the trip in general, and about the idea of a hotel where the monorail goes right in! I can't wait!!!

 

[decomouse]

.... And I see on these boards tons of people who stay at the Deluxe resorts year over year. Am I missing out on some sort of discounted room deal for the deluxes?

Location, location, location. We had always stayed in the tower at the Contemporary, but one year the DDs wanted to try POR. Contemporary tower rooms are much larger. Last year we chose the Poly. Again, very nice sized rooms. You ever travel with teenage girls? 900 bottles of nail polish and other accoutrements take a lot of space. LOL. Just kidding on the nail polish, but they do take more things than DH & me. When you are there for a week, the extra space is really nice.

We like the lagoon/MK view. Often at night we sit out on our balcony watching the water pagent and fireworks, having a glass of

. Or in the morning we watch the day break with our coffee. We like being on the monorail. The monorail resorts have much less travel time between the things we want to do. From POR we had to allow a good bit more travel time for anywhere we wanted to go. Even at 20 & 14 the DDs still love MK best. However, food is better everywhere else. It's easy to leave MK, go eat lunch or dinner at one of the resorts and then go back to the park. We found we liked the Poly so much that we booked it again for this Christmas. It's worth it to us.

I hope you have a most magical trip.

 

[decomouse]

... And I don't know about you, but to me, walking distance to Epcot or just a boat ride from the Magic Kingdom or having the monorail running through the lobby is more worth the $300+/night than a few waterslides and an overpriced arcade!

YES, YES, YES.

 

[SGMCO]

We Can't that why we have never stayed at a Deluxe.
We just enjoy eating at the Deluxe Restaurants and looking around the
lobby and that's enough of a fix for me.
We always stay in MODs, I think they are a very wise use
of our Money.
We get plenty enough benifits from staying in a MOD and truely
enjoy our Trip.
I also have never ruled out staying in a Value but my DH really
likes the resort to be relaxing and quite after the day at the park.
We also go during VAlue Season (lowest rate) and try for the FD every year,
which save us Food expenses.

 

[Ruppins]

I have read most of this thread so far, and still think there is something of the OP's original question to answer.

Disney deluxe resorts are very nice. They are not, however, the equivalent of a really top of the line hotel (different star systems mean different things). The rooms are as nice as a good business hotel in most cities. They are not the Penninsula, or four seasons resorts.

You lose something in room quality, lose lots in personal service, and are subjected to crowds. In most high end hotels, very few people stay 3 or 4 per room. Because of the kids, and liability laws, the pools, while pretty are also shallow and crowded.

You gain something in being close to the reason you are in Orlando. You gain by having easier access to people who can assist you with dining and activities. You may assume (many assume too much) a certain tolerance for young children that most good hotels wouldn't have.

Passholder rates or AAA rates, and a little planning used to get you a room for about $200, which was pretty reasonable. Recently, prices and crowding seem to be going up. These hotels are quite nice, but they ain't the Ritz (or Four Seasons). You wouldn't want to stay at any of them at their price, if they were located anywhere else (except maybe next to an absolutely beautiful beach-with no other hotel nearby). That, anyway, is my 2 cents.

 

[decomouse]

View from our balcony last Christmas at the Poly:

 

[stellablue]

This is our first trip to WDW together and also both of our first trips back since late 1980's/early 1990's.

There are only two of us (no kids). We are far from financially rich, but we wanted to make it as special as possible.

We decided to go during value season, since it's relatively easy for us to take off work then. We also used our AAA discount which saved a ton!

We opted not to go for a value resort for quietness reasons. Yes, I know it's WDW and there are screaming kids everywhere, but the value resorts look like they are louder than the others. We also don't really care for the "loud" decorations at the value resorts and didnt feel we would be comfortable there. Maybe if we had children it might be different...

We decided to split our vacation into 2 resorts: moderately priced Caribbean Beach for 3 nights and deluxe Animal Kingdom Lodge for the other 3 nights.
AKL, by the way, is the cheapest of all the deluxe resorts. We did pay a little more for a Savannah view, but we figured why stay at the AKL if you dont have a savannah view?

We arent going until Feb 2008, so we are working extra hard to pay for our trip. WDW is a very special vacation, definately not something we can afford every year, so I also figure if we are going to go, we should do it right and as we wish.

BTW, going during value season and also with the AAA discount, it's actually ALOT cheaper than we had anticipated!! But then again, there are only two of us and we don't have children, so I'm guessing that makes a big difference!

 

[FLA NUT]

I got bad grades, didn't go to college, and I'm lazy. I'm staying at the Poly for 2 weeks in July.

 

[WildernessBride]

We can afford a Deluxe resort by skimping and saving the year before we plan to go. We also make our ressies as soon as we can. It is a $200 deposit then we make payments every month. We have stayed at a moderate before and loved it, but my DH loves to spoil his "GIRLS", therefore we stay at a Deluxe.

I must agree, we love the WL and we are able to stay there because we book far, far in advance and save a little at a time.

 

[KirklandTutu]

We're DINKS (duel income, no kids) in our 30s. We can afford deluxes because of this. I can't imagine having our same income and being able to afford the same lifestyle in general, not just Disney vacation style, that we have now.

We go to deluxes just because they feel better. I hate motels where where you enter your room from the outside, maybe it just reminds me of the family vacations that I hated when I was a kid.

We haven't stayed at a value, but the beds between moderates and deluxes must have a difference because the deluxes seem more comfortable, as well as the bed coverings. I like having a fridge, I like that it's more quiet, I like the resteraunts that are right there as well as the room service.