Income and Resort Type

[Spartan]

This is an interesting read - not only for what different people's priorities are, but for what they do to take their vacations.

For us, income does play a part. Vacation funds are near the bottom of the disposable income priorities, but luckily we still have enough for what we consider a nice (moderate level) trip once a year, as well as some other minor trips such as long weekends to other locations that we can drive to. A lot of that comes from our income tax money we get back. We probably should adjust the way we file so that the government doesn't get to earn so much interest on our tax money each year before refunding it to us, but we like getting that large check back that we know we don't have to spend on necessities. I have a decent job, which lets me wife stay home most of the time with our 3yo. We have talked about her going back full-time, but we are also close to increasing the size of our family (hopefully), and we figure the cost of daycare, plus the fact that she really enjoys the time she gets to spend with him during the day, wouldn't really make it worth it to us (although, if anyone would like to volunteer to spend a couple of weeks with him while we do the potty training, I'm sure she wouldn't mind ).

I know there are ways we could be more frugal throughout the year, but I hate taking my own lunch, and come the weekend, I need a night out with my family for some entertainment. For me, giving up those things during year to stay at a nicer hotel for a week is not worth it. Right now my "second" job is grad school, and my stress level gets pretty high at times, but I guess the little cheap things I do through the year are more important than one really nice thing for such a small portion of the year. I'll be done in the spring, so if that gets me the promotion that I'm hoping it will, then maybe we'll change - but for now we can't have it all. The funny thing is - the only thing about the deluxes that I really like is having the balcony. I like the fact that the moderates are spread out and I like the choices and conveniences of the food courts. Deluxes feel crowded to me when we visit them to use the pools (just kidding), or spend a few days at one (WL). I like hanging out at the quiet pools of the moderates - If only I could figure out a way to bring a portable balcony with us that I could attach. We're deciding between Maui or a Carribean all-inclusive for our 10th anniv./Me finishing school trip, and that's probably where we'll go more all out and free spending (to a point), but that's not a yearly trip type of thing for us.

 

[DrTomorrow]

Stage of life and lifestyle more than income.

DW and I are newly-empty-nesters; not writing $15K of college checks every year really frees up some disposable income!

More than that, though, is the fact that we live way below our means. We have a condo which is big enough for the two of us but much smaller than the mini-mansions so many of our friends have - and our mortgage payments are smaller, too. We do squeeze our pennies (Costco, coupons, specials), we both pack lunches for work, we use the library a lot (books, CDs, DVDs) and we've discovered that, for just the two of us, eating/drinking out isn't that special and rarely worth the money. Our cars are both older and paid off; to me, a new car is fun for, oh, 3 or 4 weeks, then it's just a car. DW makes all her clothes out of burlap sacks and make-up out of flour and food-coloring - ; just kidding, there.

But we have decided that we DO enjoy - and get value from - nicer and more convienent choices when we travel. We'll pay a bit more for a non-stop flight that leaves when we want to, instead of a red-eye that takes us from Detroit to Orlando via Nome, Phoenix and Boston. We like the UPH for the freedom, even if it costs a bit more. And we love the deluxe resorts for the atmosphere, the amenities, the larger rooms, the Monorail (this trip), the daily sponge baths from Mousekeeping (I tip REALLY well!).

So although we are lucky enough to have enough money that we have lots of options, we only choose those that we view as "worth it."

 

[barbeml]

Interesting thread. Hubby and I make pretty good incomes and have no kids, so we have enough to stay where we want if we make it a priority. We also live in a townhouse rather than a mcmansion, and have paid off our cars.

I love to get a good deal and we happen to enjoy the moderates. When we got the rehab upgrade to the Poly last year, we considered it our Disney trip of a lifetime and enjoyed it to the hilt. We might do AKL or WL in the future, but I want to do the cruise next year.

What we save on lodgings we wind up spending on animation art and restaurants!

Also, I really love to squirrel money away for our trips, even though I could just put it all on the credit card. We save change in a giant crayon bank, I buy some Disney Dollars ahead of time, and this year I am setting aside money every month to pay for my nephew's trip with us.

 

[trustknoone]

WOW

So many different rhymes and reasons for how and why everybody does things the way they do them.

For us it was a battle over quality of vacation. DH wanted Deluxe and I wanted AllStars. He had always wanted to stay at the Poly so I finally relented on our third trip and was utterly miserable the whole time even though I had a code rate of 189 I could have been at the AllStars for 3 nights for every one at the Poly. About 6 months after that trip we bought DVC, he gets his nice Deluxe and I get to paln and get the most bang out of the points. I still make him move on weekends (double points for the same room), sometimes to the AllStars but for our upcoming trip he gets to go stay at RPH and get "Front of the Line" at Universal 110 ENT rate.
Mostly he thinks I am just insane but he lets me win because of how misereable the prices made me. Prime example of my insanity is that we are getting in so late for our first night that he has agreed to stay off-site at HoJo's. I had an internet rate of 29.75 and rebooked when I saw it had gone down to 28.00. He could not believe I had rebooked for 1.75.

Angela

 

[PamNC]

Yes, income definitely plays a part for us. 9 years ago when we got married and had our WDW honeymoon, WE WERE POOR. We stayed at All Stars. Then, as we made more money we moved up to moderates. Now, we make more money and we stay Deluxe. But, mind you...I would never pay rack rate for a Deluxe. We wait for a code or an AP rate. And I sure as heck wouldn't pay $4,000 for a week-long concierge visit, whether I could afford it or not.

I will say, I won't stay at All Stars anymore. I might might might stay at a moderate...but I doubt it.

PamNC

 

[momto2]

Kathy,
Thanks for asking a question that I have been wondering for quite some time too. We got a great deal to stay at the GF gv room with the FTP. I really couldn't believe it - this was a dream I never thought I would see. I was pinching myself to see if it was real. Then when I went on the boards, it appears that everyone posting was staying at the conceriege level or main building - no one seems to get a GV room. There are so many posts regarding conceriege that it makes one think they really aren't staying at a great place UNLESS they have a conceriege room.

Thanks for the question, I haven't read the entire post yet, but will very soon.

 

[DrTomorrow]

momto2:

Please don't interpret all of the Concierge posts to mean that GV isn't fabulous. Remember that most of the posts on these forums involve people asking for information, and with FTP, there are a lot of folks doing Concierge for the first time - so there are a lot of posts about it. Enjoy the GF GV, OK?

Have a great time!

 

[michygoomy]

First off, great thread! Really interesting.

Second off, ROTFLMAO DrTomorrow! Great post.

Third--my story. This is my first trip where I am flying, staying 7 nights with UPH *and* staying in the World so it FEELS like a deluxe vacation to me, regardless of staying at ASR! We don't go on a big trip every year, more like every 3 years, with road trips in between (which have been GREAT fun too!). Every trip has been some sort of trade-off--honeymoon staying off-site, with only 4-day passes, another trip on-site due to business travel, but with only 1 1/2 days in the park, another trip staying elsewhere, driving from the NE, and just doing WDW two days, and finally, the last trip, flying, but staying in a house with other family members.

I admit--I've ridden that monorail, drooling on the window at the other resorts, but when it comes right down to it, I don't think I could book it. I checked out prices for other resorts when I was booking my FTP, and while they were a good deal, too, I had to go with ASR.

I travel for work and have stayed in some awfully nice places. Every time I walk through those deluxe hotels to my deluxe room, I think, "This is totally wasted on me". I just don't NEED it. (As an aside--once I had a huge walk-in closet in a hotel room for a 1-night trip. I hung my one little outfit in there, it was pitiful.) Especially going to Disney, where we plan to go 'commando' now that the kids are older.

So, off I go on my little deluxe-for-me vacation and I plan to enjoy every blessed minute of it!!

(Hey, did I do OK with the acronymns? I'm trying to learn all the appropriate ones!)

 

[sm4987]

My family and I stayed in our first deluxe resorts this summer. We figured that we could afford to stay. We were at the WL at first, and honestly, it didn't seem any different than the CBR (which I love). That being said, half-way through, we switched to the CR and we loved it. I belive that we could afford to stay there again if we wanted to, it certainly is worth the money to us. That being said, I would stay at a mod or a value also. I think it come down to (for us) what do we want out of our vacation. For the next couple of trips, it will probably be deluxe near the Magic Kingdom as our kids are still fairly young. it's all about preference.