Moderate or Deluxe?

[XxDisneyfanxX]

Hey,

Ok, so here's the deal. In late august 2014 I am planning a trip to disney. I live in Florida and my family and I always stay at a value resort. This year I want to do something different and big for my 25th bday. I am trying to decide where I would like to stay. I am looking at moderates but I would really like to stay at a deluxe so my question to you is: is it worth spending the extra money to stay at a deluxe resort or should I just go with a moderate. I am trying to spend about 5 nights so I just want something to make this trip worth while.

 

[jaceraden]

Is it worth it is subjective and you will get all sorts of opinions.

I have done value and I have done deluxe. I have not done moderate. The one thing I will say about deluxe is that it's hard to go back to value after staying deluxe. Not sure how a moderate would play into that though.

Have you considered a split stay? Half moderate and then splurge on deluxe for the last few days just to see what it's like?

 

[Dacky619]

I agree with PP, only you can decide what is "worth" it. I think mods give you the most for your money and wouldn't pay rack rates for deluxe resorts. If there was a good discount, maybe. If you really want to stay at a deluxe, have you considered a split stay? 5 nights might be too short for you but it is something to think about.

 

[Rosy Robin]

I've stayed in all 3 styles. Value is ok, moderate is nice, but u definitely won't want to go back to value, unless it's a budget or theme reason. Deluxe is super nice and it seems people will pick it and enjoy the amenities instead of all their time at the parks. Depends on what u have planned. We are going 5 days June 2014, but only 3 days at parks, so we can relax at pools, pool hop, etc. I have never done this myself, but as the others suggested, stay at value for 2-3 days and then have Disney move you to Deluxe for last 2-3 days and enjoy the amenities/luxury of them.

 

[Mousemommy1]

Staying deluxe is worth it to us for the larger rooms, interior hallways, balconies and most of all LOCATION!

We do spend a good amount of time at the resort though, so the amenities are important to us. When we have stayed at values, they were fine, but we did commando touring because we didn't want to go back to the resort until we had to.

At the deluxes, for us, we always want to go back to the resort and enjoy all there is to offer there. We like the deluxe resorts as much as we like the parks.

 

[mickey2minnie1]

We plan 1-2 days at the resort to relax and use the amenities and enjoy the dining. For me that is another additional vacation to the parks. it is worth it if you have it and are going to take advantage of what is offered, IMHO.

 

[mariamouse]

During a hot month like August when you will want to return to your resort a lot for mid-day swim/rest breaks, I do think the convenience of a deluxe resort location would be especially felt. I'm 24 (going on 25 this June, so happy almost bday to us!) and would probably opt for the Epcot area since there is so much for adults to do around there. Perhaps the BC/YC would work well since the pool there is so amazing? WL is also conveniently located, though, if you want to spend a bit less.

There was a particular agency that had a GREAT late August promo deal at the YC/BC/GF this past year. You might want to consider booking for the weekend that that promo runs this year if you are set on a deluxe. The promo was literally almost half off! Feel free to PM me if you are not already familiar with the promo and would like more details.

 

[Aliceacc]

My family of 5 doesn't fit into a moderate. (There's no way my 15 year old son, who towers over me, is fitting into one of those Murphy Beds at POR!)

So for us, yeah, it's worth it.

What I suggest is that you take a look at the slide shows at www.allears.net and see which resorts seem most appealing. Do the math, and see whether it's worth it to you.

Know that the cheapest Deluxes are probably going to be the AKL and Wilderness Lodge, as well as a Garden Wing room at the Contemporary. So start there.

 

[mickeynut1]

Hey,

Ok, so here's the deal. In late august 2014 I am planning a trip to disney. I live in Florida and my family and I always stay at a value resort. This year I want to do something different and big for my 25th bday. I am trying to decide where I would like to stay. I am looking at moderates but I would really like to stay at a deluxe so my question to you is: is it worth spending the extra money to stay at a deluxe resort or should I just go with a moderate. I am trying to spend about 5 nights so I just want something to make this trip worth while.

As others have said, worth is subjective as it's different for everyone, but for us, the deluxe resorts are definitely worth it. Our first onsite stay was at a mod and we loved it, although once we tried a deluxe, we were hooked and haven't stayed anything else. We spend more time at the resort than we do the parks and the deluxe resorts fit just what we want in terms of atmosphere, room size, and dining options (just to name a few).

 

[jperrot1]

I think you'll find the upgrades to be worth it. The moderate resorts have much more to offer including covered bus stops and slides at their main pools, and sit down restaurants, much bigger rooms, bigger beds (except CBR) and in my opinion food courts that aren't so busy. I think you'll notice the difference between value and moderate. Then again jumping to a deluxe gives you even more: character meal offerings, more dining choices, a little bigger room. The monorail resorts are really magical with monorail transportation and access to any of the 3 monorail resort dining options as well as MK.

The pp that stated you'll not want to go back to the value resort is accurate. Values are great when you want to save a lot of money and still stay on property, though.

 

[CanadianPaco]

We've worked our way up the resort ladder and couldn't believe how much we loved the deluxe trip@ AKL! It was awesome but we're back at a moderate for March for cost reasons. If finances/deals work for us, we'll definitely try another deluxe!!!

 

[ColoradoDisney]

We've stayed at value, moderate and deluxe over the years and have enjoyed all of them. In general, the more time you spend in theme and water parks, the less important the resort is.

As we have visited WDW many times and we are getting older, it is less about conquering the parks and more about enjoying WDW. We find ourselves wanting to spend more time at the pools. We also find we want to hop and visit just specific items at the park. For example, we want to eat dinner and see illuminations. This is much easier to do if you are staying at a Boardwalk area resort. We are contempt with spending the afternoon at the Wilderness Lodge pool and ordering food from Whispering Canyons Cafe. If we feel like catching the boat from the MK fireworks we do, if not we head to the beach and watch the electric light parade.

You might think of the financial trade off of what could you do with the money you save between a value and a moderate or a moderate and a deluxe. Would you rather spurge on several nice diners vs. a nicer hotel? Could you extend your trip longer if you stayed somewhere less expensive?

For us, we choose Yacht Club for our next trip. Why?

-We have a fixed amount of time to travel because of our kids school schedule. We have 7 nights.
-Hotel costs are only about 1/3 of the total trip cost. Even if we stayed at a value, the over trip cost is 15% lower. The big costs for us is airfare, tickets and meals.
-Location, location, location. We want easy access to EPCOT & Hollywood Studios. I absolutely refuse to rent a car at WDW. Not because of cost but I don't want to even think about directions, where I parked, getting into a hot car, toll money, returning a rental, touching my luggage, etc. I am on vacation. I would rather late in the occasional bus line.
-Pool. We would rather hang out at a deluxe pool than go to a water park. As a result, we only get MYW with Hopper (no water park). That saves a few dollars toward the deluxe hotel cost.

 

[henry72]

We've stayed at value, moderate and deluxe over the years and have enjoyed all of them. In general, the more time you spend in theme and water parks, the less important the resort is.

This is true. It really depends on how much time you plan to stay at the resort.

With kids (3 trips) and even before kids (3 trips), DH and I are all about the parks. We do stay moderate each time and have always enjoyed it. I have no interest in the value resorts. I would love to try a deluxe but can't justify the additional cost when we won't be enjoying the extra amenities (besides location of course).

 

[BubMunkeyBles]

I'm weird and don't normally care for moderates anymore than values. I do love deluxe hotels. If I was going to splurge I'd go for a monorail one or Beach Club/Yacht Club or Boardwalk so you can walk to Epcot and Hollywood Studios.

 

[njpyro]

Personally, i prefer moderate, but I rarely spends time at the pool and never do a " resort" day. With the price of tickets, I prefer to spend as much time as possible in the parks. That being said, I also only go for 4 or 5 days at a time.

 

[WildReekies]

We are staying at a mod.. This is our first trip to wdw. When we did US we stayed hard rock hotel and went back to hotel about 1pm every day and didn't return to the park. It was glorious. Should I be upping my budget to stay at a deluxe? It's almost 2 grand difference. Why has everyone else paid for a weeks stay with RO discounts? Currently we can do POR/tics/(Fd)/ flight for 4200 staying at a Felix raises that to 6200.

 

[buzznina]

We have stayed at all 3 levels and can honestly say that once we went deluxe we have no problem staying at Mods. We will stay at values for budget reasons. We do not find the big cost difference, between Deluxe and Mods "worth it" to us, and we do a couple resort days on an 8 night stay, so it's not like we are always at the parks. We will still stay at a deluxe resort but knowing that we are splurging to do so. Just another opinion