is there a kind of unspoken snobbery between resorts?

[kakiegirl]

We go to Disney alot and have stayed at several different resorts but never a deluxe yet. We usually stay in All Star Movies mainly by choice even if we could afford deluxe for a whole week we would still choose All Star Movies for our week long vacation. We love the Disney theming and maybe because it is the first resort we stayed in when my dd was 3 it just feels like our home away from home. We have even told the DVC representatives at the parks that we would by into DVC in a hearbeat if they had a Disney themed resort. So you can't always judge why a person stays at a certain resort by how much money they have. I have never felt like a Cast Member looked down on us for where we are staying. They have asked before but just making polite conversation. The only time I felt looked down upon was with a reservations operator. I called in one time when discounts were released. We were not planning a trip at that time but I was just curious if it was a big enough savings I though we might decide to make a long weekend trip. I got a quote on the All Stars and it was not much of a savings at all so I thanked him and said I didn't want to make a reservation a this time.. We have always wanted to try out the Poly so I decided to get a quote for it. I was shocked when he informed me that if I couldn't afford the value resorts I didn't need to waste my time getting quote for Poly. I was shocked. I told DH later if I had it to do over I would have reserved a room at the Poly just to spite him even if I called back later and canceled it.

 

[married2mm]

We go to Disney alot and have stayed at several different resorts but never a deluxe yet. We usually stay in All Star Movies mainly by choice even if we could afford deluxe for a whole week we would still choose All Star Movies for our week long vacation. We love the Disney theming and maybe because it is the first resort we stayed in when my dd was 3 it just feels like our home away from home. We have even told the DVC representatives at the parks that we would by into DVC in a hearbeat if they had a Disney themed resort. So you can't always judge why a person stays at a certain resort by how much money they have. I have never felt like a Cast Member looked down on us for where we are staying. They have asked before but just making polite conversation. The only time I felt looked down upon was with a reservations operator. I called in one time when discounts were released. We were not planning a trip at that time but I was just curious if it was a big enough savings I though we might decide to make a long weekend trip. I got a quote on the All Stars and it was not much of a savings at all so I thanked him and said I didn't want to make a reservation a this time.. We have always wanted to try out the Poly so I decided to get a quote for it. I was shocked when he informed me that if I couldn't afford the value resorts I didn't need to waste my time getting quote for Poly. I was shocked. I told DH later if I had it to do over I would have reserved a room at the Poly just to spite him even if I called back later and canceled it.

That's just plain rude.

It's good though,on vacation,all has been well.
As you say,it's so often personal choice,and that's it.

 

[minnie mum]

I disagree with those of you who say the bus stops are not decided by hotel price. Lets be realistic here. Disney World is a business. It's not about treating everyone equally, it's about how they can upsell you to the next level. There's no shame in that.

If you don't think transportation is an issue, take a closer look at the pricing of the hotels on the monorail line.

Bus stops, and bus service is not dependant on the level of the resort. If it was, every deluxe resort would have its own bus to those parks not serviced by the monorail (or friendship boats at the Epcot area resorts). And yet these resorts have to share buses to other areas. The moderates do not, as a rule. Nor do the values (AS resorts excepted).

If Disney considered bus transportation a perk for deluxe resort guests, they'd have dedicated buses for each resort (AKL is the only deluxe that has this- out of geographic necessity). And probably beverage and food snacks being wheeled up and down the aisle. Oh wait, if they did that then they wouldn't have anyone standing on the bus. Hmm. Maybe they need to have a dedicated fleet of buses just for the deluxes, so no one has to stand, either.

 

[smiths02]

Talk about snobbery.

Now many of the snobs are working their butts off to top each other with stories of higher and higher snobishness.

Oh, and a couple weeks ago I walked into the Rolls Royce dealership wearing last seasons Manolo Blanhik's. I could see the sales people rolling their eyes, so I went to the RR dealership down the street.

It seems a lot of posters are just telling stories how you shouldn't be snobby because the person you are judging could actually be rich or a customer paying a lot of money.

What if the person you are judging really can only afford to stay at All Star, or heaven forbid, off property? Then is it okay to judge them?

 

[StephyDee]

It seems a lot of posters are just telling stories how you shouldn't be snobby because the person you are judging could actually be rich or a customer paying a lot of money.

What if the person you are judging really can only afford to stay at All Star, or heaven forbid, off property? Then is it okay to judge them?

I personally think HECK NO! Back in '96 and '97 when my family and I visited WDW, my parents could only afford AS Sports, and while we finally got to some fancier resorts in '09 and '10 (POFQ and SSR respectively), we would never judge, because we were once in that boat. Plus, we just naturally aren't like that. Even if someone is staying CL in CR with bucket loads of moolah to spare, they shouldn't judge someone who honestly can only afford something along the lines of the AS resorts or even offsite.

I've said it before, but really what's important in that situation is the fact that EVERY ONE of us decided to go to WDW. All the resorts are a part of the whole "World", where the main focus is the parks and experiences themselves. We all have a shared interest (at least we all should, I know there are a select few that are different like that ) We may be staying at different places, but in the end we all wanna see the castle, see the 'big golf ball' , ride all the awesome rides at HS and/or experience the nature of animals in AK. Oh, and BB/TL/DTD/etc.

 

[TDC Nala]

By both guests and cms?

Extreme case-
but say you're staying at all stars -"that's great "says cm.
Staying at grand floridian-"how wonderful "says another.

Anyone had any experience of this?

I am afraid I don't see the difference.

I mean, is there a really huge difference between saying "that's great" and "that's wonderful?"

If they'd wrinkled the nose and said "Maybe you can afford a better resort next time" after one mentions Allstars, then yes.

Wouldn't this also be "spoken" snobbery, if indeed the different choice of words can be considered snobbery - some people just like using certain words - rather than "unspoken?"

 

[WDW in Pearls]

Bus stops, and bus service is not dependant on the level of the resort. If it was, every deluxe resort would have its own bus to those parks not serviced by the monorail (or friendship boats at the Epcot area resorts). And yet these resorts have to share buses to other areas. The moderates do not, as a rule. Nor do the values (AS resorts excepted).

If Disney considered bus transportation a perk for deluxe resort guests, they'd have dedicated buses for each resort (AKL is the only deluxe that has this- out of geographic necessity). And probably beverage and food snacks being wheeled up and down the aisle. Oh wait, if they did that then they wouldn't have anyone standing on the bus. Hmm. Maybe they need to have a dedicated fleet of buses just for the deluxes, so no one has to stand, either.

Your argument doesn't really make sense.

Granted, I don't get rocked to sleep when I'm staying at the GF, it is still deluxe. Your food and beverage argument makes no sense whatsoever and has nothing to do with anything I said.

 

[lillykat]

This experience is definitely out of the norm. By policy, they do not charge your card until you hit the limit for your resort category. As to whether you have to authorize them to do that or to reset your spending limit, reports vary. I've never had to do that except once when we were trying to do one transaction that was more than our $1500 limit (buying APs). Others report having to speak to the resort all the time. But they definitely don't normally charge anything to your card until you have spent the limit (or very close to it) in the card. It's possible that they advanced charged $1000 to your father's card after speaking with him, giving him a credit balance, but I've never heard of that before except with gift cards applied at check in.

Sorry, if I confused anyone. I meant that once you hit the 1k they automatically charge the card. I didn't mean if you charged $600 they would. Just that once you hit the limit they automatically charge it to your card and you start over. This has always happened to us in the past at the $1500 and this trip at the $1k. No precharges. We checked in together. They told us there was a 1k limit. We said what happens if we are on the parks and charge dinner and are at dinner. Will they decline our card, force us to call the resort, or have to stop at the resort to authorize further charges. They said no. When you put a credit card on file when you reach 1k they simple ding the 1k and you start over. I can tell you my father asked several questions bc he did not want to be bothered charging to the roon if he would be stuck going back to reset constantly since wad paying for all 6 of us to eat.

When we stayed at Akl and poly in the past we did not have to reauthorize or stop by the desk. They just charged our card and we started over.

 

[vicki_c]

Sorry, if I confused anyone. I meant that once you hit the 1k they automatically charge the card. I didn't mean if you charged $600 they would. Just that once you hit the limit they automatically charge it to your card and you start over. This has always happened to us in the past at the $1500 and this trip at the $1k. No precharges. We checked in together. They told us there was a 1k limit. We said what happens if we are on the parks and charge dinner and are at dinner. Will they decline our card, force us to call the resort, or have to stop at the resort to authorize further charges. They said no. When you put a credit card on file when you reach 1k they simple ding the 1k and you start over. I can tell you my father asked several questions bc he did not want to be bothered charging to the roon if he would be stuck going back to reset constantly since wad paying for all 6 of us to eat.

When we stayed at Akl and poly in the past we did not have to reauthorize or stop by the desk. They just charged our card and we started over.

Well then I agree with you. That's pretty much always been my experience as well. The limit was just reset without my knowledge or involvement, except that one time and that was a unique situation since I was right there at guest relations trying to charge over $2000 to my KTTW card in one transaction (must have had a brain fart that day thinking I could do that)

But I have seen others post that they had to return to the resort to handle it at the desk?

 

[Southern Bell]

Glad to know this about the credit card. Last two times we have been to Disney we have had the free dining. But this time we are going to be charging all our meals everyday for 6 people. I know it can be an inconveniece but its not really a bad thing that Disney is doing with a limit. I would expect that alot of young families are staying at the value resorts, and it helps keep their spending in check. But you would think they would do the same for everyone, because they don't know everyones paycheck. My husband put something like that on his own credit card for our protection if our credit card is stolen. So when alot of money is spent over a few days our credit card stops untill we call to start it again. We call every Christmas. LOL!

 

[maxiesmom]

Your argument doesn't really make sense.

Her argument makes perfect sense. If Disney wanted the bus service at the deluxe resorts to be superior to the bus service at the value and moderate resorts, it would be much better than it is! Many posters will agree that the deluxe resorts have some of the worst bus service there is! You tend to share with a few other delxue resorts--which means the buses are packed to the gills, and getting seats is rare indeed. And also means that the rides are long as you drive from resort to resort picking up guests.

If Disney meant for the bus service to be "deluxe" instead of equal, they failed miserably. The bus service is the bus service, and is not upgraded along with your resort. It is a totally separate thing.

 

[jrtoastyman]

There's an obvious difference between the resorts that is not even unspoken in some cases. With that said, however, I've never seen a CM do anything but gush about whatever resort was mentioned in response to the "where are you staying?" question.

 

[smidgy]

Her argument makes perfect sense. If Disney wanted the bus service at the deluxe resorts to be superior to the bus service at the value and moderate resorts, it would be much better than it is! Many posters will agree that the deluxe resorts have some of the worst bus service there is! You tend to share with a few other delxue resorts--which means the buses are packed to the gills, and getting seats is rare indeed. And also means that the rides are long as you drive from resort to resort picking up guests.

If Disney meant for the bus service to be "deluxe" instead of equal, they failed miserably. The bus service is the bus service, and is not upgraded along with your resort. It is a totally separate thing.

SO TRUE! we plan our split stay trips around this fact. the epcot deluxe resorts are notorious for lousy bus service. you can walk or take a boat to epcot or DHS. take a bus from BW to Mk or AK? yikes! this is why we concentrated our DHS, epcot days at the 2nd half of our trip, when we were at BWV. and our AK, MK days at the begining, when we were at AOA.

 

[mefordis]

This thread has me thinking. As far as prestige goes, I would order them in the following order. Sorry if I missed any!

1. GF
2. Poly
3. YC / BC / BWV (tied)
4. BLT
5. CR
6. WL
7. Treehouse Villas
8. SSR
9. OKW
7. POR / POFQ (tied)
8. CSR
9. CBR
10. Art of Animation
11. POP
12.All Stars

 

[katieam1]

This thread has me thinking. As far as prestige goes, I would order them in the following order. Sorry if I missed any!

1. GF
2. Poly
3. YC / BC / BWV (tied)
4. BLT
5. CR
6. WL
7. Treehouse Villas
8. SSR
9. OKW
7. POR / POFQ (tied)
8. CSR
9. CBR
10. Art of Animation
11. POP
12.All Stars

I agree with your list except I might put OKW ahead of SSR because I think more of the DVC members would pick OKW over SSR because the room sizes are a bit larger at OKW. As a member generally when I look SSR is always the last one available except when it comes to the Treehouse Villas which are always booked when I look.
As far as bus service having stayed at all levels I just think is bus service I do not think anyone has better service. I personally do not like riding the buses no matter which resort we are at. The last trip we actually did end up using the buses and we were staying at BLT. It was terrible and halfway through I just told my husband to just get the car ready we would take that. GF, Poly and CR/BLT were all sharing buses a lot of times it was so packed we skipped over the GF after the Poly because there was no more room in it. I have had times at Pop and PORFQ where the buses were always packed and we waited forever and just decided to drive to where we were going. I have also had times when staying at Pop where the buses were coming one after another and we witnessed the deluxe resort lines being backed up so I think the bus service is hard to say one way or anther of resort differences it just depends on the demand and time I think. After reading through the thread I thought back and I guess I have been asked which resort I was at but do not recall being uncomfortable with the response I was given once I told which resort. I just took it as them trying to ask me questions. I also get where are we from a lot too and the only reason that question used to get on my nerves is because when we say New York they think New York City automatically. We then explain no we live in Central New York to which "I never heard of it" always follows. So now I just say Central New York and leave it for them to go from there. My family usually does DXDDP so we hit a lot of restaurants during our trips and have never felt which resort made a difference although I was not thinking about it or watching for it so I will have to pay more attention to the questions I am being asked and how I am responded to this trip coming up. Always interesting hearing other people's comments on this topic or their experience with it.

 

[maxiesmom]

This thread has me thinking. As far as prestige goes, I would order them in the following order. Sorry if I missed any!

1. GF
2. Poly
3. YC / BC / BWV (tied)
4. BLT
5. CR
6. WL
7. Treehouse Villas
8. SSR
9. OKW
7. POR / POFQ (tied)
8. CSR
9. CBR
10. Art of Animation
11. POP
12.All Stars

I would put the Contemporary above the boardwalk area resorts, and put CSR at the top of all of the moderates. And I would probably put CBR after AoA.

However, if I was talking bus service, the deluxe resorts would all be at the bottom. The worst bus service I have had at WDW was while staying at the Beach Club. We had horrible bus service there!

 

[married2mm]

I would put the Contemporary above the boardwalk area resorts, and put CSR at the top of all of the moderates. And I would probably put CBR after AoA.

However, if I was talking bus service, the deluxe resorts would all be at the bottom. The worst bus service I have had at WDW was while staying at the Beach Club. We had horrible bus service there!

Why would you put cbr after aoa?

Interesting comments from all re the buses!

 

[maxiesmom]

Why would you put cbr after aoa?

Interesting comments from all re the buses!

Because CBR has 7 bus stops, and has yet to be refurbed.

 

[CuteAndFluffy]

AKL between CR & WL?

 

[patty57]

Ranking the resorts is really subjective. Personally, I would rather stay at an Epcot resort over anything on the monorail, although the GF is certainly the flagship for the WDW resorts.