What makes you decide to stay at a value, mod, or deluxe?

[Belle83]

It's pretty simple for us. Deluxe is out of our budget, and we don't like the themes/decor of the values (two adults, no kids). Thus, moderates

 

[Missytara]

The moderates fit my budget; allow me the flexibility when I invite friends to afford the cost and still have wonderful amentities.

 

[karly05]

I'm in the "Location, Location, Location" camp. If money were no object, Beach Club probably would always be my first choice - I love the walk to the IG at Epcot, and riding the boat to DHS. I love the looks of the BC, too, so pretty and fresh and bright.

If I'm going to try to start going to WDW more frequently, though, I have to be a little reasonable, so I'm actually trying POFQ for the first time on my next trip - the compact size and the prettiness/charm of it are what convinced me to give it a shot. I'm eager to see how I like it. (I think the only thing I'm "iffy" about is the "exterior corridors," as this will be my first experience with that.)

 

[Pakey]

I'm doing 3 WDW vacations this year. In July I stayed GF RPC because I wanted a cabana every day. In October I am staying BWI CL because of closeness to Food & Wine. In Dec I'm staying at Pop because it's a park marathon trip and I won't be lounging or swimming and see no reason to spend more money for a place to shower and sleep.

I prefer Pop over the mods.

 

[MinnieSummer]

For us it depends on why we are going. If it is an unplanned, spur of the moment overnight trip we will stay at POP, if my daughter brings a friend then we get a family suite at ASMu, as we only will be using the hotel to sleep the one night and won't use the pool or other amenities. If we are going for a whole weekend we will stay moderate as we usually use the pool and restaurant the first night, and sometimes swim the second night. If we are going for our Christmas trip it depends on the cost and how much we managed to save. We prefer deluxe or Villas for the holiday trip but, like this year, we just haven't been able to put enough aside so it will be CSR. Of course, if we eliminated the spur of the moment trips we probably would have enough saved to stay at a deluxe for Christmas but who wants to eliminate those?

 

[cluvsdisney]

If we are using points, we stay deluxe. If we add on a day, it will be a mod or maybe WL.

 

[autismgoesdisney]

I didn't read the responses but for us we choose moderate. Mostly cost, though now that we have a car, we feel we can visit deluxes at any second. We really enjoy the pool slides and the bar inside and entertainment at mod

 

[mmtwinmama]

We just returned from our first BC stay. While it was wonderful and worth spending the money, I won't do it again. We went in thinking that we would not be in the parks as much, but I was wrong. If I knew that going in I would have booked POP and saved big bucks.
It was our boys 6th time so I just imagined them falling in love with being at SAB. Don't get me wrong... We went to SAB every day, but after 1 - 2 hours both kids were ready to go back to a park. We had zero down time. Yes, I could have forced the kids to relax, but for me (in Disney) I let them dictate. DH mostly golfs and I'm happy doing what the kids want.
And, we have always been a family that does not mind the busses. So, next time we will go back to POP... MAYBE a moderate.

 

[luvthemouse71]

Most of the time, I do Deluxe. This is mostly for my longer trips.

For my solo trip in December, I booked AoA. I did this because it's a new resort, and I'm scoping it out for the next time my sister comes with me. I think she'd really like it. It looks fun.

I'd also like to stay at CSR and book one of the new rooms at POR someday.

 

[MickeyNicki]

1. Length of stay. If we are going for a short weekend then I want to be as close to the parks as possible BUT cost is a factor because we will most like not use the pools and other amenities so why pay for them. For a long stay I want something quiet and relaxing with great amenties for the $$

2. Time of year. If we are going during F&W then I want to be at an Epcot resort BUT cost is a factor because the prices are going up and the discounts are going down so a split stay will have to do (mod-deluxe).

3. Discounts. Sometimes there are selected resorts available with the discount and I refuse to pay full rack rate.

4. Points. DH has a Starwoods account for his business, as well as a million other hotel type rewards card, so I would rather trade in points for a free room on a short stay instead of paying full price.

 

[Mousemommy1]

It comes down to what we are willing to spend. We have had lots of stays at values in the past, and like them just fine. In 2011, we were able to go during free dining and thus upgrade to a moderate. We were less than impressed with the moderate we stayed at, so didn't think we'd do another moderate and just stick with values. But then we discovered the 40% military discount that brought deluxes into our comfortable range, so this year we did WL CL, which was a huge mistake because not only did we love staying deluxe, but also using CL!

So, for next years trip, we are lucky to have the 40% again, so it was a no brainer for us to do Poly CL (a dream resort), but since we want to do another 10 night trip, we booked 8 nights Poly CL and 2 nights at POR to fit better into our budget.

When / if we don't have a good discount, we realize we probably wouldn't stay deluxe because the prices are way too high at rack rate.

 

[tinkermommyof3]

Family of 5 and Deluxe works best. Moderate was too big with too many people in one resort. Only fit at POR unless we get 2 rooms at another Mod. We could get a FS at a value but that would still be a very large resort. Not our idea of a relaxing vacation. Deluxe gets us a big enough room and a comfortable sized resort--plus the perks are not so bad either!

 

[jnfr2424]

Whatever is the newest resort is then that's where we are staying.

 

[Princess on the Run]

We stay in deluxe villas because we like the 2 bedroom suites and kitchen. With 3 little boys, it makes the stay much more civilized if we can send them to bed and then enjoy a little time to unwind (or give the youngest a nap when he needs it). Having the washer and dryer is awesome so I don't go home with suitcases full of dirty laundry (I wash the night before we leave and usually one more time while we're there). The kitchen allows us to get a solid breakfast in before leaving the room so we can go straight to the parks and enjoy.

Between needing the room and accommodations and all the other little perques, it makes the most sense for us.

I feel like vacations are a time to enjoy how hard you work the rest of the time, so I want to make it count!

 

[*Fantasia*]

I pick the resort depending of the season. If it's during the cold weather, I would rather stay at the moderate resort at POFQ/POR due to having a hot tub and the boat ride to DTD. Summer is hot and hot tub is not necessary so we don't mind if we stay at the value. If budget permits, I would rather stay deluxe at the Poly or the WL. I like the big rooms at the Poly and I love being in one roof at the WL. I love those two deluxe resort for the theme and the location!

 

[rentayenta]

What is your thought process to decide where to book?

We own DVC so that's the main deciding factor. We are though staying arrival night at AoA. The decision is two-fold. I don't want to spend a ton of points for a Saturday night stay when we won't arrive until about 6 pm and I'm dying to try the new AoA resort. It looks like so much fun.


We chose the THV because sleeping in a treehouse sounds so cool and Walt was the originator of them. We chose AKV because we've stayed there before and viewing the animals from the balcony while enjoy a cup of coffee cannot be beat. It's wonderful.

 

[Cadyrose]

For us it is deals, money, how long, season....

Our first trip we did ASMovies....had a good deal (they did the whole value, tickets for family of 4 for under $1600)...it was great but hated the bus sharing....

So we tried Pop (i forget the deal)...we loved that it had it's own bus...

We would have been fine value but our trip on 11 it was 15% off value, 20% of mod and 30% off deluxe....it put WL in our budget so we splurged and truly feel in love....

This next trip, we are going for the holidays a short 4 day trip with MK being park of choice 2.5 out of the 4 days with each other park getting 1/2 a day...we loved the closeness of WL but originally booked POFQ w/ free dining....this trip though we have changed hotels 4 times because two deals came out....after we did POFQ, we really looked at price and saw WL wasn't much more with FD...so we changed. Then we got 30% room discount and I have always wanted Poly...booked Poly CL for same price as WL w/ FD....again talked a lot about CL and uf we would actually use it and knew we wouldn't. Since we didn't want to pay for a service we wouldn't use, it came down to what hotel did we think was the epitome of holidays in Disney, WL or GF....we opted for less savings with GF but we want to be immersed in holidays...we are from Northeast so WL is fairly similar to how we decorate for the holidays around here so GF won out....I am still shocked that we switched as much as we did because we have never done that but again, so many factors go into it and each trip is different....

I hope to try Poly next time or a split stay that includes poly but will only do it with a room discount promo...my dream trip would be a ten day with an epcot/hs hotel for half and poly for the MK part of a stay.....but that will need a year and a half to save....

 

[bookgirl]

I look at the overall experience. I've done all three levels and I'd do any again, so I just look at what do I need the resort to do, how much do I want to put out overall for the vacation, am I letting price/savings interfer with my experience.

I am doing a split stay (ended up needing to wrap around a long held reservation at a mod). I'll be at a mod for part (love POFQ and stayed there before) and a value at either end of the stay (one night at AoA and two nights at ASMu where I've stayed before).

For my time frame and the events going on I just could not get a price at a deluxe (or more exact at the deluxe I wanted BC) that I was comfortable with. Did I need the deluxe on this trip, nope so I was fine getting a value since it was going to save me 50% of what my original bookend at a mod was going to cost.

I won't stay at a resort I don't have any interest in no matter what the cost but, I won't just throw out 2 times the price to stay where I like if there is a option that I also like for less money.

It's about the big picture for me, I know where my vacation dollars are going overall and it's going to be a great trip. Paying less for those three nights I added, means a couple of other big costs for the trip will be right in my budget.

ETA: I'm not a pool person, I'm more of a casual diner so food courts and the more casual sit downs work for me (I usually do one or two high dollar meals but that's over a week), and since I'm often solo for parts of the trip I don't need a queen (though I do prefer them which is why I have a mod for most of the trip). My only deal breakers are do I like where I'm staying and will paying more for a room mean I have to comprimise other activities.

 

[memakwed]

We don't stay at values simply because we prefer a quieter pool. I know a quiet pool isn't necessarily as quiet as it should be but quieter is what DS8 prefers. Not happening at a value. We like Mods and Deluxe. Individual hotels in each category are subjective but we try to find one with amenities that we will use. We also look for other opportunities for transportation other than buses. Bed size and location and rates factor in too.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

First our options are more limited because we vacation as a family of 5.

We chose deluxe for several reasons:

location, location, location
queen beds
interior hallways
room service
club level rooms
balconies or patios

Now we could do a family suite, 2 rooms at a value or POR but we would rather spend a little more as we are not commandos and do use the amenities at the deluxe resorts.