Why Spend $$$ on a Deluxe?

[DisneyMomx7]

To each their own.

I also clip coupons, but I also make our vacation a priority and our budget includes it.

We've never paid rack rate. Started out in 2003 with the stay 7/pay for for 4 offer and then we got APs and have always used the AP discounts - anywhere from 35 to 40% off rack rate.

For us the resort IS part of the vacation.

DH is more frugal than I am. That being said on our second trip we thought we would try a mod. We walked into our room at POR and within 30 minutes DH was back over at the GF switching our rooms -- HIS IDEA!

We like the bigger rooms, balconies or patios, indoor corridors, transportation other than the bus, nicer restaurants, room service, etc.

We are not park commandos and the resort is definitely a part of our vacation.

 

[BudgieMama]

We looked at POFQ and were all set to book there... but wanted to upgrade from QSDP to the regular DP. That would have cost us £240.

For an extra £200, we could book for SSR, which would automatically upgrade our DP. For us, it worked out cheaper to upgrade.

We also preferred the look of SSR, and read the reviews, which were on the whole very positive. We'd not heard of DVC at the time, so I now understand why the resort is quieter and the studio room the basic option. We're travelling as two adults, so ruled out value as they were very child themed, and wanted somewhere nice and grown up!

 

[spritna]

I like the idea of getting two value trips for the price of a one deluxe

 

[smiths02]

I like the idea of getting two value trips for the price of a one deluxe

Nice idea, but that doesn't work for many people
1) If you have a family larger than 4, your options are more limited...you can't do one room in a value
2) Not everyone is gonna have the vacation time for 2 trips or the desire for 2 trips to Disney
3) By the time some pay for plane, Disney tickets, food, souvenirs, photo pass, etc...the extra $1000 to stay at Deluxe doesn't come close to paying for another trip
4) Some people can afford Deluxe every trip (some people earn more than others)

 

[arcticdisneylovers]

We stay at CR every trip and can't imagine staying anywhere else We go in Jan and always get some sort of deal. For us it is ALL about watching Wishes every night on our balcony We have no desire to survive the park during the fireworks crush and we enjoy the view from TP rooms.

 

[KalamityJane]

For us, we will stay deluxe because we stay DVC. With 3 young kids, the last thing that both my husband and I find relaxing is restaurants. The kitchen is invaluable! We also spend a lot of time at the resort, and having space is extremely important to us.

 

[Mousemommy1]

I like the idea of getting two value trips for the price of a one deluxe

Again, a matter of personal preference.

It's just like when people say "I'd rather stay longer at a value or mod, than shorter at a deluxe"....of course, that is based on that persons specific financial situation.

Although my DH has a ton of comp and personal time, getting him to use it is tough. So, when we go as a family once a year, we make it count and stay 10 nights, deluxe CL. We don't compromise on length of stay by staying deluxe. What we do do is to live well within our means in our every day lives so that we can budget our annual vacations, the way we like once a year. I wouldn't change the way we do it at all. But again, very specific to ones own situation.

 

[DCDisney]

There is no way our deluxe stays would cover 2 value trips. Maybe if you staying CL or theme park view, etc. The lower cost deluxes-WL and AKL for us have been a few hundred dollars difference over mods and I think our enjoyment of the amenities has been worth the cost. I like the indoor hallways. In general I feel like the service is better. I like having a few sit down restaurant options on site. When we have stayed at the more expensive deluxes we usually do a split stay and spend a few days to take advantage of the special amenities like being close to epcot for the food and wine fest, special pools, close to MK for MNSSHP, etc and we always have some scheduled down time to enjoy. I've stayed at values before and really don't like the lights, noise, chaos, etc but others probably don't like the calm, quiet, etc that I prefer. I don't like being with big groups of kids who stay at values on school trips either. Standing in line for the buses too and the little beds. I can handle it for 1 night when we get in late and don't want to waste $$$ for a deluxe room when we will only be there an hour before we go to bed.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

What an odd question.

People stay where they want to and because they can afford it. Some prefer (or require) the extra space the deluxes offer. Some do it for the bigger, nicer pools, or the interior corridors, or the onsite TS restaurants, or the access to the Theme Parks by foot or by monorail or by boat.

What is worth spending money on to one person may not be to another. When we pay out of pocket, we stay at Pop. On our last trip, DH's uncle gave us his DVC points to use and we loved the resorts! If we could afford to stay at a deluxe OOP we would. They felt more luxurious, but I still love the values and the mods.

I like the idea of getting two value trips for the price of a one deluxe

While I LOVE WDW and DLR, I also love to travel other places with my family during the year. I have a vacation budget and I like to streeeetch it to get the most bang for my buck. When I look at the cost of a Deluxe Disney hotel I have to look at which other vacation I'd have to give up to afford it. I would love to stay at the Grand Floridian...it's on my bucket list, but so far, taking my other vacations has always won out.

Some of the WDW trip budgets I've seen on the boards cost more than all of my 2013 summer vacations combined and we went to:

- WDW (8 days at Wyndham Bonnet Creek),
- DL (4 days at my sister's house) and
- Hawaii (7days at Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas on Kauai and 4 days at Wyndham Waikiki Beach Walk on Oahu) this summer!

All three trips together came to about $7500! Thank God for timeshares!!!! (Timeshare costs, food, activities, tickets, rental car & flights are included in that vacation budget). Also....this was not a typical travel year for us. It took 2 years of saving for a couple of these special events (daughter's WDW graduation trip & Hawaii family reunion).

We also spent 5 days in a cottage in the Outer Banks, NC for spring break and ended up adding a long summer weekend with DH's family at Stone Harbor, NJ (not included in our summer vacation budget above).

So it is all about what spending for a Disney Deluxe resort is worth to you.

 

[TJA]

OP - when you mentioned your room is just a place to sleep, etc., that right there is the difference for our family. We stay at deluxes because we love lots of resort time and a few years ago began staying Club Level which we are now addicted to. And our latest love is having a great room view -- we stayed at Poly with a TPV last 4th of July and it was the most amazing view and room we've ever had in Disney. We sat on our patio watching Wishes each night -- it was something we looked forward to every single day. If we were huge park-people, then we'd probably stay at Pop -- we visit there each trip because my kids love the arcade (and prizes!). But we have so much fun on our Disney vacations doing things the way we do them that we can't stop buying AP's and going back.

 

[luvthemouse71]

I stay in all categories of resort, but the deluxe resorts are my favorite. People spend their money the way they want and if they can afford it, then no one else should care.

I shake my head at people I know who buy packs of cigarettes each day or go out drinking every weekend. Or spend hundreds of dollars on a designer purse or pair of shoes. But really, I shouldn't do that either..it's not my business.

I'll be at AoA this December because my sister wants to try a LM room. But, I would have loved to do WL at Christmastime. At the end of the day though, I'll be at WDW..that's what matters.

 

[robinb]

So let me hear it! How do you justify spending that kind of money on a room? Do you spend all your time there? Is it just to say "been there, done that'? Is the difference really worth twice the cost?

I'm honestly curious about this...

Because the Poly is on the monorail and it's super easy to stroller right on and off, especially for afternoon breaks. Oh ... wait ... At Poly now---monorail closed from 11-6!

Personally, I can't justify the price of a Deluxe and I have been to all of them except the YC & the GF. In fact, if I didn't own DVC I don't think I would stay onsite again. The prices have gone from "expensive" to "absurd" for all resort levels.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3181903

 

[anmickey]

I think just as most other things it's a matter of personal preference and budget. Different things are important to different people. I can't stand overspending on anything but that also doesn't mean I'm cheap just to be cheap. We are staying deluxe this trip and the biggest factor for me was convenience. That doesn't mean I was willing to spend rack rate for it. Were spending approximately $260/night for 10 days at WL. We liked poly best but considering the extra prices and the construction going on it wasn't worth it to us. For some, it may be worth it.

I've stayed at DLs hotels at CL and for ME it wasn't worth the money. For some, it is.

Some people like to have a kitchen and cook a majority of their meals. This does not appeal to me AT ALL but I respect that it works for them.

I knew one couple that brought all their snacks into disney and went off site for dinner (this was at DL where it is easier to do this). To me, this made 0 sense and I thought they were short changing themselves by not experiencing disneys wonderful food offerings. However,they were very pleased with their decision and it worked for them.

Bottom line, everyone puts a value on what's important to them. And this is a personal decision. Sounds like value/moderate works perfectly for you. For others, it doesn't. Nothing wrong with either decision.

 

[Bilierka]

I have stayed at WL three times, CBR three times and POP once, am going summer 2014 and will stay at POP again, we go every three years or so and the parks are out top priority, as long as I have a clean room, hot water in the bathroom and a decent pool food court, I.m fine. The deluxe trips were always sharing the cost of the room with others, and twice at CBR I shared cost, paying the entire bill myself, It's POP for us. And by the way, the most comfortable beds were at CBR and the most uncomfortable were at WL!!!!

 

[Dis703]

Well there were a few reasons we went deluxe on our last trip. First , we were 6 people although we counted as 5 plus an infant. So unless we were doing two rooms or a family suite values were out for us and that left POR or cabins for mods. I thought POR looked beautiful but I wasn't sure about squeezing 6 people plus 2 pack and plays in the room. And I stayed POFQ once and shared buses with POR and that trip the buses were not a good experience.

We ended up booking BC mainly for location. It seemed like it would be much easier to take breaks for naptime especially at Epcot and HS where we could just walk back to the resort vs folding up the big double stroller carryinG all our stuff and bringing the three little ones on the bus. I strongly prefer the boat or walking or even monorail over buses with little ones and double strollers.

Being on the Boardwalk was fabulous too. To be able to walk out of our resort and over to see the nighttime entertainment or head to the bakery, candy/ice cream shop or various restaurants was great. Much nicer than being stuck with only one QS. The nicer pool really doesn't matter to me because we don't really swim. But the extra TS options at the resorts I like.

We also splurged and stayed club level and that was really priceless. The use of the lounge which was right outside our room, was fabulous. We had breakfast there and got drinks to bring to the park. Stopped in on the way to and from naps for snacks and more drinks. Made dinner out of the evening appetizers one night to save some time. Desserts and hot cocoa in the evening. And it was a nice quiet place for me to wind down at night after the kids were asleep.

We won't likely do deluxe again for a while and my next trip with just my 5 year old we are staying value for the first time. But it was well worth every penny to me to stay deluxe.

 

[lizabu]

Yes you do. On the page before this one I mentioned that even after paying for a town car both ways, I still save lots of money over the WDW Epcot resorts.

This has been my experience too. And we don't do the DDP so that's a non issue. It's too stressful to have to think about whether you're getting a good value or not. I've heard of people ordering the most expensive thing on the menu just to get the most value out of their DDP. I'd rather just eat whatever I want and not have to think about it. We always spend less than what a dining plan would have cost us.

 

[Anonomom]

For us, it's all about the convenience. With small children, it's hard to beat being able to walk to one or more parks. We tend to hop back and forth between the parks and the resort all day long and I love that staying nearby makes that feasible. It takes 15 minutes door-to-castle to get from the CR to the MK; I don't think it ever took us less than 40 minutes to get to any park from any of the moderates we've tried.

I should mention that we do not pay rack rate for any resort; if we couldn't get at least a 30% discount we simply wouldn't go. And I personally wouldn't be willing to pay for some of the deluxes, even with a discount. But I can certainly understand why someone else might.

 

[karly05]

Location, location, location. My favorite thing about the Beach Club is the short walk to Epcot and the boat to DHS. At the end of my stay at POFQ this year, I told the nice lady CM at the front desk that if they could just pick up POFQ and move it to the back gate of Epcot, it would be perfect.

And I can explain the interior/exterior corridors thing: In the Outside (non-Disney) World, interior corridors = "good" and exterior corridors = "bad." This is because most places with exterior corridors are motels on the interstate exposed to the public where any random person could drive by and lurk, knock on door, etc. etc., while in theory the interior corridor place is a "nicer" hotel, where the intruder would at least have to come through the lobby. I was a little leery of doing POFQ (my first non-deluxe) this year, but it's a full-fledged Resort in the Disney Bubble, and in a weird way the exterior walkways at POFQ seem less isolated/"spooky" than walking through a long, enclosed corridor.

 

[kmb584]

For me, I grew up staying in the Deluxe resorts so booking one is sort of like second nature. We've also stayed at and enjoyed the Moderates but the monorail resorts were a fantastic convenience and worth the money spent when my daughter was an infant and young toddler. As a single mom it was tricky at times juggling all of her gear, the stroller, and her; being able to just walk out of our "front door" and onto the monorail was awesome.

I personally enjoy the overall feelings of the Deluxe resorts and appreciate the larger room size. Indoor hallways aren't necessarily important but I do like them. When I'm staying in a Deluxe I feel like I'm staying in a true resort/hotel compared to a motel. On the flip side of that coin, the outdoor corridors at the Moderates don't keep from staying at home, especially when it comes to CSR. The rooms there are what I consider to be Mod Deluxe, the resort itself is simply beautiful, and even with outdoor corridors it doesn't have the motel vibe about it (same for POFQ, another favorite of ours).

 

[MissDaisyofTexas]

We stayed at Wilderness Lodge this past summer with a large group (we got a large group discount, which helped offset the high cost). In the past, we have stayed at moderates. I must say, Wilderness Lodge had a lot going for it!

I liked how we didn't have to get wet in the rain to wait for the bus, go to the lobby or eat at the restaurants. Everything was covered, and it rained a lot while we were there.

We also loved seeing the Magic Kingdom fireworks from the back of the hotel, and the boat light show (I forget what that's called). We did hang out at the resort quite a bit to get our money's worth.

But, unless we get a super group discount like that again, we will only pay for the moderates. I think the moderates are also very fun! As long as my kids have a pool (and a waterslide is bonus), they are quite happy.