"Once you go deluxe, it's hard to go back."

[Bob NC]

"Once you go deluxe, it's hard to go back."

Sounds like a snobby statement to me.

It would be different if the WDW Deluxes were truly deluxe. It's not like they are the 4 Seasons or the Ritz. They simply get the name "Deluxe" based on location and a couple amenities, and ridiculous room rates.

I've stayed at the Poly a number of times, if I had my choice right now I'd choose CSR over the Poly every time. I just decided I like it better.

The phrase, "Once you go deluxe, it's hard to go back", should be tempered with a HEAVY grain of salt. I would in no way suggest to anyone that this would be true for them.

I've stayed at Poly, CR, WL, AKL, Golf Resort, Disney Inn, Shades of Green, CBR, CSR, OKW, FW Cabins, DTD Hilton, and my last short trip was my first time trying a value, POP. My trip to the POP was as enjoyable as every other one listed above.

 

[ethanwa]

Sounds like a snobby statement to me.

I didn't say it, just quoting someone else.

 

[ethanwa]

The GF is not the Ritz Carlton. Or the Four Seasons.

I haven't even been to the GF yet and I know this is true for sure. I think many people do have an impression that a "deluxe" means 5-star hotel. That's NOT true and I can tell just from the pictures. Maybe low or mid 4-star? We'll see when I get there.

I've stayed at the Wynn and Encore in Las Vegas and those are amazing 5-star hotels. I definitely don't expect anything near that from Disney.

Doesn't matter for me anyway, I'm just going there to have fun with the family!

 

[fairestoneofall]

We went from GP to FW to Pop to CR. And we'd stayed mostly at Values and Mods before that series. Honestly, we enjoyed them all. My kids LOVE Pop. If money were no object, sure--I'd always stay deluxe. But we definitely don't pine away for a deluxe when we're staying Value or Mod.

 

[AshleeH]

I'm definitely a Deluxe snob! I love them! We always have full days in the parks, but we budget that time (if we're out until midnight, we have a late morning to relax; if we do an early morning, we come back midday and then go back to the parks at night) so it's wonderful to relax, to let the kids have their own TV and room, to spread out and organize our own purchases and items. The amenities are a huge bonus for us.

My husband works long hours in a family business and we go on vacation for one week every year, so he likes that vacation to go all out so he can completely forget about work for a while. I grew up in Comfort Inns and Holiday Inns and Motel 6's for vacations and would've easily done that my whole life, but what can I say? He's spoiled me now. And money is meant to be spent .

 

[KatMark]

"Once you go deluxe, it's hard to go back."

I've heard this saying a lot on the boards. Our first stay on WDW Resort will be at Grand Floridian. Can anyone put some context to the saying? Why is deluxe supposedly so much better?

E

Personally, I've never felt that way. We used to stay at the Contemporary and the Polynesian on our trips, and moved to a moderate after that and then stayed at our moderate nine of the next ten visits. We would have been back at our moderate in September but we got a deal too good to pass up on a stay at two DVC resorts.

We are quite happy with our moderate and see no reason to spend the money for the deluxes that we would be willing to stay at (there are only two deluxes that we would still want to try; the others hold no appeal for us).

But it is all a matter of personal opinion, wants, needs, likes/dislikes, etc.

But we had no problem going from a deluxe to a moderate.

 

[olecow]

I think the moderate resorts are as high as we'll go. We just don't spend enough time at our resort to justify paying that much more for a place to lie down. When my wife and I go alone, we usually stay at POR, which has all the amenities we need, but if we're with the kids, we do a value resort.

 

[scdufek]

Though our first two stays were Deluxe AK Savannah view, for our third family trip is going to be at the moderate POR, since we are a family of five. For financial reasons our choice was either 6 night Deluxe or 9 night moderate. I'll definitely take more days at WDW!

 

[buzznina]

We have been lucky enough to have stayed at all 3 levels and had a great time at each. We have yet to be blown away by a deluxe enough to say that we can only stay deluxe . We usually go for 8 nights and will spend 2-3 of them at the resort so it is not like we just sleep and shower there we use the resort amenities. In the past the deluxes offered more then the Mods, like queen beds, daily poolside activities and night movies. Now all Mods(once POR finishes their refurb) but one have queen beds, they have poolside activities and nightly movies. POR/POFQ are our favorite and we like having the option to be able to rent a boat or surrey bike, take the boat to DTD etc. Really the difference now is location, additional transportation (boats, walking or rail), more TS restuarants(but not much CS) and larger rooms with balconies. We have settled into the Mods, especially now that they have queens, we like to have a fridge and our oldest DD likes pool slides. I always do a price comparison between the 3 levels when planning a trip and even when the deluxes have a 35-40% discount, it's still a quite bit more then the 25-30% discounted rate of the Mods. For our family we are able to have a great time at either of the levels and we do not need to have seperate rooms to spread out, we do that enough at home and WDW is familiy time It's just great that WDW has all these wonderful themed resorts to choose from and stay at

 

[buzznina]

If I can't afford a Disney deluxe then the next best option for us would be the Swan or Dolphin - they have really great rates at least as good as the mods.

When you say "at least as good as the mods rate" are you comparing the rate to a Mods rack rate? Because whenever I check the Swan/Dolphin against a discounted Mod rate they are usually about $75 more per night. Then you have to add on the extra $12 per night mandatory resort fee and for us since we drive another $9 per night parking fee and it is now around $100 more per night and that is with whatever Swan/Dolphin special(s) they have going on. I even became a Starwood member to see if that helped, anyways the Swan is still on our list to stay at, but I have a hard time with the mandatory and parking fees one of these years

 

[autismgoesdisney]

This is my fear. Our next trip we are going to surprise my DD with a one night stay at AKL Savannah view after our 7 days at POR. I am so afraid that I will love deluxe and not like going back to POR the following year!!!!!!!

 

[LittleStinkerbelle]

My DH definitely feels this way. For him, the biggest draw of the deluxes that we've stayed at is having non-bus transportation to at least one park. I've not had much success in getting him to go back to a mod, value or to try AKL since we've started staying at the MK-area and Epcot-area resorts. Of course the bigger rooms and additional amenities (including the dining options) don't hurt either.

 

[CanadianGuy]

My first hotel going to Disney the first time (for 2 days.. ahh newbies.. lol) ... was a fleabag on I-92. No kidding.

For my follow up ten night stay back in 95 ... I booked into All Star Music.

After that - I've tried all three levels of Disney resorts...

I won't go back to the flea-bag.. or anything on I-92 (lol) .. but even if I'm just staying at a value -- I'm still AT Disney.. and that beats work or whatever any day of the week!

That's how I see it.

 

[texasteacher35]

I think DELUXE means more hotel services offered at the resort, versus moderates and values having more limited dining options (seated dining),more bus riding,and possibly less "resort" ammenities...i.e., spa services, room service, proximity to the park, and it seems like fewer rooms/less people at most deluxes...not all of these apply to EVERY deluxe...i.e. Animal Kingdom and Wilderness Lodge have a few different options versus the resorts on the monorail. I am not knocking any of them, I love ALL things Disney! Just for our family, the deluxes are more the type of hotel I have stayed at my whole life, growing up. Just my opinion, as to what distinguishes the deluxes apart from the others.

 

[kerri0616]

We've been fortunate enough to stay at all 4 levels...Value, Mod, Deluxe, DVC. Our most recent trip was Xmas week at POFQ. I can honestly say that I'll be happy staying there anytime!

I will say that since I've stayed Value, I'll never go back. I just really like the moderate amenities and found it worth the upgrade.

It's nice having so many choices!

K

 

[Colleen27]

Personally I haven't found that to be true. In fact, for us it was just the opposite - we stayed at mods and deluxes for years, but the budget for our last trip forced us to try a value and now we're having a very hard time justifying the higher priced resorts, at least for trips when my mom is traveling with us so we're booking two rooms regardless.

For a trip like the one we took in '07, with only 2 park days and 2 resort days and the intent of taking it slow in the summer heat, I'd absolutely book a deluxe again but on most of our trips the resort amenities are totally wasted on us because we spend so little time in our room or at our resort.

 

[Sue M]

We don't have any problem going back & forth between our fav mod, POR & Deluxe. Esp now that POR has Queen beds & newly refirbished rooms. But i would have a problem going Value. Our children are adults now, and just not into the giant icons, and no hot tub.

 

[CluelessDisFan]

The first trip we booked to stay on property was booked for All Star Sports, when we got there we were surprised with a free upgrade to the Polynesian! The entire trip we couldn't stop talking about how amazing the location of resort and convenient transportation was. Also DS loved the volcano pool!

When it came time to book another trip. I still was thinking whats the most economical and booked again at a value this time we booked Pop, but with only having Quick service dining we knew that wouldn't do. I still only planned to upgrade our dining. Then at the end of the day DH and I could not see ourselves being comfortable on a double bed and we upgraded to PORFQ, we loved this location almost as much as the Poly. I still can't see myself spending $ for a deluxe, although we probably will never end up at a Value.

We are returning to PORFQ in 2 weeks!

 

[skater]

We spend lots of time at the resort including at least one whole day doing nothing but swim and eat in the food court. We love POR as a family resort. DH and I like to stay at WL or AKL on trips without the kids. I think we will stick with mods for family trips, but it would be hard to go back to mod for our "alone" trips.

I like having the nice restaurant on site (probably would prefer the better food court at POR with the kids though) with DH. I also enjoy the overall upscale feel - especially at AKL.

 

[Ginny Favers]

We stayed at the CBR awhile ago, when we didn't have kids, and one of my biggest disappointments was the bus service, how crowded it was, and how we had to wait 5 stops just for the bus to get out of the resort. Having young kids, we didn't want to subject them to that, so we stayed at WL the last time. The buses made fewer stops and were less crowded, and the boat ride to MK was nice and easy.

We are staying at WL again, but my parents want to take the whole family on a trip next year and plan on booking POR. If I'm not paying, and since my kids will be older, I'll deal with it. CBR was just fine for us, especially since we're not the type to hang out around the resort.