Just back from Beach Club

[JanaV]

OK, I must be a dork. I was so unimpressed by it all!! Don't get me wrong, it was nice and everyone went out of their way to be friendly and helpful - like they are everywhere at Disney. But I'll never pay the high prices again. I'd rather use the extra money and do more character meals or extra special activities. We went with a 4 y.o. and a 9 y.o. and they spent a little time at SAB, but more at the quiet pool, even that wasn't much. They just wanted to be at the parks. We were at the resort to sleep, that's about it. The only thing that was GREAT was not having to wait in the huge lines for the buses from MK that we saw for the All Star resorts, but that was only at park closing.

Am I the only one who's scratching their head over the deluxe resorts?

Jana

 

[kathmzh]

It's funny how everyone is different, isn't it? I say the opposite about my kids. They want to be in the parks for a certain amount of time, but then they want to get to that pool! I suppose if you're only at the resort to sleep, they may not be worth it, although I think they're worth more for excellent proximity, too.
Hope you had a great trip!

 

[goofy4tink]

I'm finding that the more often we go, the less time we actually spend in the parks!! We go every day, but not for 6 hrs. at a time anymore. So, we enjoy those deluxes more than we would have. When we were there in Dec we were at BWV (where we own DVC) and we did a lot of non-park stuff. Dd spent a lot of time in the Community Hall, working on crafts, we played mini-golf. Spent more time at the pool. Did the parks for a few hours in the morning and then late afternoon into evening.

I have stayed at the AllStars, POR, the Contemporary and the Polynesian, besides BWV. Love them all. I would really love to be able to stay in every resort at least once. But if you plan on being in the parks all day, you most likely are better off in less expensive lodgings. It doesn't make sense to pay over $300 a night just to sleep.

 

[Leota]

Ditto, Goofy4Tink - As the years go by & we've done it all, we find ourselves really enjoying more Resort time. Also, my son being a young man now, he appreciates other things than just attractions. If he wants to go commando, he can, while we relax at the resort.

Our family loved BC - I'd have to say, it was all of our favorite. We did spend alot of time enjoying the resort tho. We particularly enjoyed SAB.

 

[PamNC]

we don't have kids so perhaps that's the difference. We prefer deluxe for the convenience if anything else. The Epcot Resort area is wonderful - love walking to MGM and Epcot. And, all of the excellent dining choices. We use to stay moderate, but once we went deluxe, we couldn't turn back. I will have to say that we have never, and never will, pay rack rate for deluxe. If we had to, it would be back to moderates for us.

PamNC

 

[Kaitysmom]

If all you do is sleep at your hotel, you are absolutely right. The moderates and value resorts are great. For us, the hotels are now part of the whole experience and we find that we are spending more time there than ever before. That is why we are going deluxe now - as long as we get a good discount. I like the bigger beds at the deluxe resorts too.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

I agree with many of the above posters. Now that I have several trips under my belt I feel far less pressure to get it all done and now enjoy some moments by the pool with the kids. My very first trip I almost had a meltdown when my DD 4 wanted to go to the pool at CRB instead of going on Dumbo.

Now I don't mind at all coming back to the pool at BC or GF, or maybe that has something to do with poolside waitservice!

 

[pooh2001]

Not using the pool - only sleeping at night - do a value resort

Just a quick dip in a pool to cool off and like disney soap - do a moderate

If you like to relax, sit by a pool, rent a boat, have a sit-down dinner or breakfast - do a deluxe.

My DH ALWAYS brings work with him to WDW. We even have a picture of him in EPCOT on the cell phone with a client. So, we use our time wisely. When DH is doing work in the AM, we go to the pool. Then have lunch at the resort and do the parks in the afternoon and evening.
Everyone is happy. We get our WDW vacation, DH still can talk with his clients, and we have family time for most of the day. We come back rested and DH does not lose a beat with his clients.
Our next pool to conquer is SAB. We have done the Dolphin's and Contemporary's - both great pools to hang out in the morning. I am just not sure if the YC/BC has a business center like the other resorts we stayed at

 

[*Fantasia*]

My children and I can't handle being at the park all day, so by noon time, we usually head out back to our resort and stay there until 6pm and hop to another park. And sometimes we end up not going back out. So we do spend a good amount of time in our room and enjoy the resort.

If I could afford it, I would prefer to be in a deluxe or moderate resort. I think for us it would be worth it.

 

[webprinter]

At the risk of getting shot, I agree with you. We exchanged into the Beach Club Villas last winter. When we opened the door, it was filthy!! There was grease and crumbs all over the counters and pink gel in the bathroom sinks. We called housekeeping and they agreed to re-clean it. However, even after they re-cleaned it, the furniture was still filthy. I also felt the rooms were small. The pool was great and it was nice to be close to Beaches and Cream, (our favorite place for dessert). It was also nice to walk to EPCOT, but we didn't really spend enough time there to make it worthwhile. Our daughter was 12 at the time and maybe that made a difference. Debby

 

[mommykds]

I agree with the posts above...if you plan to stay at the resort alot go deluxe, if not go value/moderate.

We stayed at the Poly & were at the parks all day. I didn't care for the Poly but we shouldn't have stayed there & paid what we did just to sleep.

The trip after that we stayed at the CB & it was perfect for us since we were at the parks all day again.

Our October trip this year is going to be "alittle" slower than in the past. We are planning some down time at POR because we hear it is a beautiful resort & there are some fun things for the kids to do there. We still planned on a moderate for this trip because the parks will be our primary concern. However we are planning a trip in August 06 which we are staying at the BC or Dolphin & since it will be hot & much more crowded than we are used to, our main concern will be the resort itself & the parks second.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

It's great that DIsney has resorts for every need. If my kids spent all their time in the parks and didn't care about swimming and such I would get two rooms at the values. My kids are younger (4, 6 and 7) so they still like coming back in the afternoon to nap/swim and we take it slower so we love going to the GF. The funnies thing is before we took them for their first time I was telling everybody that my kids wouldn't care about coming back to swim because we had an inground pool at home so that wouldn't be anything special to them. WRONG! The first day after about three hours in MK they wanted to go back and swim more than anything else. Live and learn.

 

[skiwee1]

We end up spending more time at the resort when we started staying deluxe. When we stayed at the CBR our entire goal was to get out of there and get to park. CBR was like a motel away from Disney. Once we tried deluxe, the wL, it opened up a whole new world. We now stay at the Poly and end up at the pool for a few hours every day before heading to the parks. If you spend most of your time at the parks, do not use the resort restaurants, pools, room service, or enjoy a larger room then by all means don't waste your money on a deluxe. A value would suite your needs just fine.

 

[DisOrBust]

It really depends on what you situation is.

1. Time of Year. Are you going during extended park hours and warm afternoons when you would use a great pool??

2. How many park days. This has really thrown a wrench in things for us. I usually planned 2 down days at the resort HOWEVER, now we all have APs or with the new MMY tixs I bet many now have more park days planned so you end up sending less time at the resort.

3. Who in your travel party? My parents in their 70,s come along every year just to stay at AKL, the parks are second.

This January we did a quickie 5 day visit before the APs expired and stayed at PO-R. It was perfect for us and has me rethinking the whole deluxe thingie..


Just MHO
sue

 

[ihearttink]

I agree with many of the posts. I perfer to stay at a deluxe now, as we do spend more time at the resort than when we first started going to Disney. I also like to sit out on the balcony at night and just relax, or in the morning to have coffee and read the paper before everyone is up. It's a nice peaceful way to start and end the day.

 

[JESW]

We are another deluxe family who spends A LOT of time at the resort. We have been fortunate to get to WDW several times and we get real selective on what we want to do at each park. (Kids are 6 & 10) Some trips we skip the AK altogether and go to a water park instead. The MK is always the most crowded so we have a plan to get in, do what we want, and then get out! We never, ever stay 6 hours at a park!

We love the deluxe resorts and find lots of things to do at them. It's great that Disney has resorts of all types for all different families.

Jill

 

[DisneyFans4]

Same here!!! I stayed Deluxe because we usually do the parks every other day and on the off days we enjoy the hotel and it's amenities. I too enjoy sitting on my balcony in the morning when having breakfast. There is nothing like sitting on the balcony and looking straight at Spaceship Earth!!!! We usually stay 2 weeks so going to parks every day is not going to happen!!!
Besides, I don't know about everyone else but I have found that once you stay deluxe you just can't go back to a moderate.....