Should i give up my luxury for once a year trips

[ChipnDaleRule]

This is the dilemma.
Since we've come back from Disney I've been busy trying to work out how we could go back to Disney sooner and more often. Currently we go every other year for 18 days and stay deluxe(I love my luxury), but we could manage to do a week in October staying budget (probably Pop) and then two weeks in August staying at a moderate, which would be great(in theory). My problem is I'm finding hard to let go of my deluxe resorts(SAB, walking to EPCOT,larger beds,balcony etc).
I have a person on one shoulder saying every year is better, and the other person on my other shoulder saying less is more
Would anyone else find it hard to go from a Deluxe resort to a Budget?
I know its a nice problem to have, but its OUR time together,Scott works away a lot, we don't go anywhere else, never go out at weekends.Basically we live like hermits to afford our holiday, so i have to get it just right

 

[wayneg]

No-one can advise, you only know yourself what you would be happy with.

I have stayed in £9/nt rooms upto £300+/nt.
In Florida I really don't care, it has to have internet connection, aircon, clean beds, clean pool & fridge. Apart from that I really don't need 5 bars, fitness centre, 3 restaurants.............
We have stayed at AKL, this month will be our 4th time at OKW, nice resorts but 100% no more overall holiday enjoyment than staying at the Fairfirld Inn LBV.
I know others will say they will only stay in luxury so only you know.

 

[chmurf]

you say that you never go out, and that it's YOUR time together, so you go for luxury.
Now take the problem from the reverse angle. Less luxury means you're able to "go out" more often.

You like it at deluxe because ? you get to get pampered and all...
now you could go to moderate or values and get pampered every week end for the rest of the year at a local spa for that same kind of money. You'd definitely get to go out more.

I'm probably going to go against the tide here (and I do that because I know UK boards don't flame, lol) but I really consider that Deluxe is a complete waste of money.

Bear with me here (and keep in my that it's only thoughts based on how, me, myself and I, tour WDW, your mileage may vary) :
If you go to Disney's to see the parks and enjoy the dining and stuff, then you'll spend very little time in your sooo expensive room.
Why, then, don't you rent a condo with the same ammenities and services offsite. You can get one for the price of the moderate (some with even better service)

Walking or monorailing to parks ... sure, it's a perk. But with so many amenities and service, and I could even bet you that, getting up at the same time, and driving to MK, we'd hit the park before you'd even exited GF. there are so many things to do at deluxe that in the end you really don't do what people do at WDW

Why don't you try a split stay first, like a week at POP, then a week at POFQ

As I mentionned in the "what would you do, PE or upgrade resort" thread, I'm a former CEO, I have loads of experience in all that's "deluxe" and "palaces".
Let me share this small secret : ever since we go to POP, we have discovered that a hotel room was merely designed to sleep". All those higher hotels are just selling you dreams, and last time I checked, dreams were free.

(my $0.02 - maybe worth a litlle bit less actually)

 

[Plum85]

I have to agree that a little bit of luxury is nice, but is it worth all the sacrifice. I'm going with DBF for 16 nights. We are staying at Vista Cay for the 16 nights, a beautiful condo apartment with fully equipped kitchen, overlooking pool, clean well kept gated community in great location. BUT I have arranged for us to spend two nights at the YC with a pool/lagoon view. It's right in the middle of our holiday so we can spend two luxurious nights enjoying the YC amenities such as the pool, the boardwalk, Epcot etc and really soak it up. Prior to and following the YC I know the apartment is a place to sleep/nap and swim. Why don't you try something like that? I couldn't justify a long holiday at a deluxe because id feel like being out of he hotel so much would be a waste! Hope this helps!

 

[dixonsontour]

Personally i'd go more often but i'm not bothered about luxury.

I think dropping from deluxe to value may be hard as you would be comparing the two.

Have you thought about maybe trying something totally different eg a villa offsite, few days at beach etc.

eg last October we stayed at Floridays as I got a great deal and choose to do the non disney parks and lots of cheap offsite eating. We had a great time. I think though if we'd done just disney we'd have compared it negatively to the trip the year before when we stayed onsite at okw with ddp.

 

[torsie24]

I'm in the 'go less frequently and have luxury trips' camp.

We're next going in 2014 and will be staying at AKL and either BW or GF.

Yes we could go more often, but we love the resorts so much that we'd be sad not staying at them.

As it is I'll be sad staying in a normal GF resort room and not Club Level like on our honeymoon, but we definitely can't afford £1k/night for 2 weeks!

I'm not willing to sacrifice on the hotels, and neither is DH. So we're happy to accept that we won't be having annual WDW trips.

Also, the flights are very expensive lately, so that's another factor, as they're a big expense, and going more frequently would cost a lot more in flights and take more away from the budget for the next trip.

ETA: We do spend a lot of time at our resort, we don't leave Disney property more than one day per trip, and we don't do full park days. If I was the sort of person who arrived at a park with rope drop and stayed until closing, or drove offsite to eat and shop, then I'd probably consider a villa or something. But we don't do that and staying onsite is the best fit for us. We've not tried any Mods or Values, but can't see we will on our next couple of trips, we will visit AoA though to have a look around, but I don't like that the rooms don't have a balcony as we love having breakfast/lunch on our balcony with a nice view.

 

[Elise79]

Its very personal - for example when it was just the 2 of us we were very happy at CSR (has the queen beds like a deluxe at the time it was the only one but now PO do too) as it felt quite upscale but at a much lower price tag.

Now we have DD its a 1 bed villas at a DVC resort. If we have points it will be BLT otherwise we are just as happy at OKW which you can get some great discounts on.

We like to go as often as we can - we started off with annual trips and have now been twice a year since 2009. This year will be 3 trips. This is our family time - DH & I both work hard at more than one thing and DH does long hours so this is our compensation.

I have also started to cook in our villas and I really enjoy it - going more frequently we do not feel the need to be rushing around so enjoy the down time

 

[darthtatty]

I would love to go every year but think it would just be too much for us.
we stay at a deluxe for the location, however we do always consider other resorts before booking. In the end we just go with our deluxe, as we know we'd miss it so much.

good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[tinks_1989]

I would rather go every other year and enjoy luxury to be honest! The wait is half the excitement! POP just doesn't do it for me at all I would rather stay off site! I know people love it and we all have our own opinions but that's mine!

 

[bazzanoid]

I'm with Wayne on this one - the accommodation is merely a means to an end. Because a lot of us normally go, a villa is generally the best in terms of price and logistics for us. But when there's only two of us, an offsite cheap hotel does the job

 

[paulh]

to me a room is a room to sleep in,we stay in the DVC resorts because we have the points.We were luckey enougth to have bought at a good price 13 years ago.We have stayed in the values and have enjoyed them as much as the deluxes.Would have stayed a couple of nights at AoA if the rooms we wanted were open.You can always visit anouther resort/spar no problem.to us on-ste better as we feel more secure.Also if are always planning on going to disney and to stay in deluxes why not think of buying DVC,ok big outlay but costs comdown and pays for its self after a few years
Paul

 

[ChipnDaleRule]

you say that you never go out, and that it's YOUR time together, so you go for luxury.
Now take the problem from the reverse angle. Less luxury means you're able to "go out" more often.

You like it at deluxe because ? you get to get pampered and all...
now you could go to moderate or values and get pampered every week end for the rest of the year at a local spa for that same kind of money. You'd definitely get to go out more.
As I mentionned in the "what would you do, PE or upgrade resort" thread,

Don't get me wrong, we don't sit round a candle trying to keep warmbut spare money has always been Disney money, and we don't feel as if we're missing out on anything special by not having meals out or me getting a manicure.Now on that PE thread i was defiantly in the economy corner

Have you thought about maybe trying something totally different eg a villa offsite, few days at beach etc.

That is something the whole family is in agreement on,the whole villa way is just not for us at the moment, maybe when the children are older and want to go further afield and explore out of Disney.

I In the end we just go with our deluxe, as we know we'd miss it so much.

Thats what concerns me

I would rather go every other year and enjoy luxury to be honest! The wait is half the excitement! POP just doesn't do it for me at all I would rather stay off site! I know people love it and we all have our own opinions but that's mine!

We have actually stayed at Pop twice before when the children were little.maybe i wouldn't mind Pop for the week because i think it would be a place to sleep, as we would want to cram in as much as possible into the seven days. Its just the other bit i need to think about.
At the end of the day its not as if I'm trying to talk myself into camping or anything

 

[queendisney]

I think its a very personal choice as well..we have stayed on site delux and really for our touring style it was a waste of money. We love POR and having looked around the value's I know I couldn't do them as they are so much in your face with the theme of each one. Just too busy for us! I am not in the 'its just a place to sleep' camp and still want beautiful surrounding and will not consider staying off resort (been there done that and just didn't feel the magic). Maybe you should just try a split stay your next trip to include a moderate and a delux. But I do totally understand where you are coming from on this. You are in the same situation as we had with 'to save money and stay off resort' or just go for it and do what really makes you happy and 'stay on resort'. We tried and won't do it again.
There is no right or wrong everybody is different, we all want different experiences, some love POP and I can also see why, some think staying on resort is a total waste of money, some see their hotel as a place to sleep and not as part of their holiday experience and some love the luxury, you must do what feels right for you.

 

[tinks_1989]

We have actually stayed at Pop twice before when the children were little.maybe i wouldn't Pop for the week because i think it would be a place to sleep, as we would want to cram in as much as possible into the seven days. Its just the other bit i need to think about.
At the end of the day its not as if I'm trying to talk myself into camping or anything

Like I said its peoples opinions but we both work hard to save for our Disney holidays like most people on here and if it means working a little bit harder or wait a little longer another trip to stay some where nicer I would!
I personally think that there are much nicer resorts off site for a better price then the values on site!

 

[Tinkerbell1989]

DBF and I are going to CSR for the first time in October, and it is expensive. It would have been cheaper for us to stay offsite but we wanted to treat ourselves (and the free dining didn't hurt!)

I guess it depends on what you are used to. I used to holiday in tents and caravans, and when we've been to Florida in the past we stay in villas, so this trip for us (we've said for now anyway) is a one off!

Xx

 

[wayneg]

I personally think that there are much nicer resorts off site for a better price then the values on site!

To give you an example of difference in cost I am looking for a hotel for 10 nights 31st Oct-10th Nov, I have option of http://www.rosenshinglecreek.com/ a 5 star resort at £48/nt + tax, the deal includes free parking and free Wifi(both usually extras)
Exactly the same price I can get a value resort for onsite for the same dates.

 

[tinks_1989]

To give you an example of difference in cost I am looking for a hotel for 10 nights 31st Oct-10th Nov, I have option of http://www.rosenshinglecreek.com/ a 5 star resort at £48/nt + tax, the deal includes free parking and free Wifi(both usually extras)
Exactly the same price I can get a value resort for onsite for the same dates.

Exactly that is lovely!

 

[wayneg]

Exactly that is lovely!

Doubt we will take it though, we prefer to be around LBV, Fairfield Inn is Favourite just now, £36/nt inc breakfast, we know we like it there.

 

[queendisney]

but thats the point exactly, people are so different...
I would never stay off resort again..don't care how nice the places are they are not Disney Resorts. I would def wait and save for a holiday and stay on resort then ever stay off resort. Perfectly happy paying Disney prices. I love staying on resort and nothing will tempt me off again.

 

[ben1993]

I change my mind over this all the time. I've stayed in a super cheap motel on I-drive and had a fantastic trip, stayed at Pop and had a fantastic trip and stayed at AKL and had the best time yet. I think I'd probably change it up and do a cheaper but more frequent set of trips, then save longer for the luxury trip etc.