Have you made a switch from value and/or moderate resorts to deluxe? Was it worth it?

Bowen Family

Mouseketeer
Joined
Feb 4, 2017
What's been your experience 'upgrading' your resort stays? Did it meet your expectations?

Our story: we vacation in Florida once a year and usually split our stay between visiting family in the Orlando area, and enjoying a few intensive park days while staying at POP.

For the record, we love POP and have always had a great time there! But we're increasingly drawn to the idea of a longer and more relaxed stay at a deluxe resort. Primarily for two reasons: 1) proximity and transportation options to the parks (MK and Epcot are our favs); and 2) better pool amenities for enjoying downtime during resort days and afternoon breaks.

Really interested to hear experiences of others that have made this switch. How did it alter your Disney experience? Would staying a week at Boardwalk or Wilderness one year make it hard to go back to POP the next? Did park proximity and transportation make a big difference for your touring plans?

Thanks for sharing your insights!
 
We did a split stay at Music and Beach Club. We have always loved Music. We prefer it to Caribbean Beach. We’ve always shopped and eaten at the deluxe resorts, so we knew they were beautiful. But after experiencing deluxe accommodations, there was no turning back. Our next trip was at the Contemporary, more because it is the cheapest deluxe than any other reason, but we were pleasantly surprised by how awesome it is. This summer we will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary at the Polynesian Village Resort, and we can hardly wait. We have not forgotten our good times at the Music, but unless we are no longer able to afford deluxe, that is where we will remain.
 
I did exactly what you are talking about. First trip was ASMovies, second trip was port Orleans riverside, most recent trip was
animal kingdom lodge and wilderness lodge. I must say that the deluxe category was our favorite, we are even staying at the poly for the first time on our next trip. However that doesn't mean it has ruined the other categories for me. I will happily return to the moderates, I think they are wonderful and some the best themed resorts on property. I would also totally return to a value if it best suited my needs for the trip. And found the transportation to be pretty much equal amongst
all three.
So to answer your question, yes moving up to deluxe has spoiled me a little bit, but it certainly hasn't ruined other categories either.
 
We did deluxe last trip and I only want to stay deluxe now! We are doing two nights at POFQ before our stay at BWV but I've always wanted to try POFQ so I'm excited about that. Luckily I got a deal renting points because I can't justify the Disney prices. We've also done deluxe on a labor day exclusive deal. These are the only two ways I can justify staying deluxe. If not back to moderate it is. I don't think it's ruined mods for me because I have very fond memories of my mod stays.
 


Once you get a taste of deluxe, it's hard - but not impossible! - to go back. But for us it's mostly the location....we usually stay at Beach Club and the walk to Epcot and walk/boat to HS is really nice. That said, even the value resorts, as you know, have a lot going for them. We have stayed at AoA and recently at Pop and were very, very pleasantly surprised by each. So on a year I want to have more of a "budget" trip, it would not be hard for me to go back to a value. Treat yourself once for the experience.

As my wife recently said to me when suggesting a hotel/hotel category to a friend with an upcoming trip - picking your favorite Disney resort is as hard as picking your favorite child. (We've stayed at Pop, AoA, CBR, POR, AKL, BWI, BC)

And as @mi*vida*loca said, if you can, do it renting points. I would not pay rack rates for deluxes.
 
We did the opposite, we started staying at the deluxe resorts, first the MK resorts since those were the only resorts on property, when they opened the Epcot resorts we switched. Now we do split stays with a night at a value or two nights at a moderate then move over to an Epcot resort. The week before Christmas we stayed the entire trip at CSR and I was not happy. My problem was that Epcot and HS are our favorite parks and having to ride a bus to get there instead of walking was killing me. I enjoyed CSR, I have stayed there before and knew I would. I missed the ability to walk to the two parks and I missed the hot tub at the quiet pool. We tend to spend a lot of time at the hot tubs since my son has a bad back and the ones at the quiet pools at the deluxe resorts tend to have less kids. Although my son does enjoy the fact that there is a bar at the main pools.
 
Let me say first, the values are great for what they are... a bed! When I first starting going to Disney it was parks parks parks... what is downtime, hotel pool... no way we have a pool at home but now that has changed. We enjoy the parks but its also about the vacation as a whole.

I've stayed at values when I first started going (me paying) and when I needed cheap accommodations Pop was my go to resort. (After one stay at the All-Stars I said nope!!! Room was worn down and just had no appeal). Usually my value stays now are when I change plans and fly in a day early because of flight times or price but even now that is becoming hard :sad2:. Last stay at Pop was suppose to be 2 nights before my stay at Wilderness, I switched to Wilderness a day early!!!

My desire to stay deluxe has now lead me to buy into DVC (home Poly)... so that might answer your question right there. :tongue:

For me I will go down to a moderate and I still enjoy POR and CSR but I really have no desire to go back to the values. I will say that as an Annual Pass and DVC member we visit Disney differently now. We spend time at the resort and enjoy a slower pace which is why the deluxe resorts are so great (as you said above).

And really if you go the DVC route (rent points) you are paying about the same as the mods for the deluxe resorts.
 


We did a split stay at Music and Beach Club. We have always loved Music. We prefer it to Caribbean Beach. We’ve always shopped and eaten at the deluxe resorts, so we knew they were beautiful. But after experiencing deluxe accommodations, there was no turning back. Our next trip was at the Contemporary, more because it is the cheapest deluxe than any other reason, but we were pleasantly surprised by how awesome it is. This summer we will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary at the Polynesian Village Resort, and we can hardly wait. We have not forgotten our good times at the Music, but unless we are no longer able to afford deluxe, that is where we will remain.

Do you mean cheapest deluxe on the monorail line? And maybe the garden wing? Just asking because the Contemporary has always seemed hugely more expensive than almost anywhere else on property to me. Maybe I'm missing something!
 
If you look at my signature, you'll see a progressive theme...........yes, and heck yes, it's worth it. Though, I will say I'd be okay in a Mod but I could never, ever, ever go back to value. I'd stay offsite first.
 
Do you mean cheapest deluxe on the monorail line? And maybe the garden wing? Just asking because the Contemporary has always seemed hugely more expensive than almost anywhere else on property to me. Maybe I'm missing something!
The Contemporary is definitely the least expensive deluxe on the monorail. I'm guessing that's what they meant.

I have stayed offsite, at AoA, and at CBR. For offsite and CBR, we had a car. For AoA, we used the buses (that wasn't a family trip though, just me and my running buddy). Of those, my favorite was AoA. The theming was great and the buses were excellent. CBR, we stayed in the pirate rooms. For the money, they were TINY, but the theming was great. But, the buses were awful (glad we had a car to fall back on) and I didn't care for the dining there. The pool was nice enough. Off site is OK, but I'd probably only do that if we had a big group again. That trip was us and kids, my sister, and my parents.

We are staying at Poly in 2 weeks, so I guess we'll see if the extra money is worth it! With all the love POR and POFQ get here, I'd like to try them sometime.
 
We are not part of the "Once you go Deluxe, you can't go back" club:laughing: We really like the Deluxes and GF is our favorite resort, but even though we can afford them, we still rarely stay there unless we get a super deal. We just have a very hard time justifying the $$ difference on a Deluxe over our favorite Mods POFQ and POR. Only at WDW do we prefer our room to open up to the outside, we love GF, AKL, WL grand lobbies, having a balcony is not a big deal, location is great only to a couple of parks. We also spend a lot of time at the resort and the Mods gives us what we need and we save $$. Probably be doing a bit more split stays in the future:)
 
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Do you mean cheapest deluxe on the monorail line? And maybe the garden wing? Just asking because the Contemporary has always seemed hugely more expensive than almost anywhere else on property to me. Maybe I'm missing something!
Yes, Garden wing. Although we got a last minute deal and were upgraded to the tower!
 
We loved the All Stars when the kids were young and much smaller! We also loved POFQ when they were young.

When they were teens, we booked WL Club Level. We loved it more than words can describe! We didn’t love it for the club level (which was excellent but not worth the $ - we had 30% off). We loved the theme, the lobby, the pools. It was the first time we ever had a balcony and we loved sitting out there at night!

Staying in one main building made all the difference in the world to us. We love the short, covered walk to the busses that was lined with beautiful lanterns. We loved that our kids could go to the arcade or gift shop together and still be in the bldg. We loved the boat to the Contemporary and Ft Wilderness. The kids rented little boats to drive around. We spent every afternoon at the resort enjoying the amenities, did the parks early and late. We enjoyed table service at the resort.

The next trip, we booked POR to save money. I just kept comparing it to WL. We missed the main bldg so much! Missed the balcony, the boats, the convenience. I think FQ is the best Mod bc it is smaller, one bus stop, and has a boat to DS.

That being said, we would not stay at a deluxe that has multiple bldgs like the Poly or most of GF.

I am planning another trip. My top 3 choices are Contemporary, WL, and FQ.
 
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we have only stayed in Mod but have visited many deluxe thou for dinner and just to look around. and if we could afford it I know we your stay

we have never been to or will stay at a value. I think we will be in the Mod section for life
 
I don't find it hard at all to go from a deluxe to a value. I tend to bounce around the different resort levels. The key is appreciating each resort for what it is. I love the proximity to the parks that the Beach Club and Poly have. I also love the in your face and fun feel of the value resorts.
 
Our first onsite stay was at CBR and while we had an awesome time and loved everything about the resort, we tried a deluxe the following year and haven't stayed anything else since. The deluxes fit our vacation style as we tend to spend more time at the resort than we do the parks and we enjoy the extra amenities/dining options the deluxe resorts offer.
 
When the kids were little we used to stay at pop and loved it! Now we like a bit more space and I love having a balcony. We definitely spend more time at the pool at deluxe hotels, AKL pool being our favorite. I would have no problem staying at pop again if it was just my DD and I and we were going to be park intensive. My DH does miss the pop food court.
 
I just did a split stay at Pop (my first value) and Bay Lake Tower and I actually liked Pop better. The renovated rooms are nicer than some of the deluxes. Clean, modern, lots of storage, and so many outlets! After staying there, I may not stay deluxe any more. I don’t care about room size (just two of us traveling), and I don’t use the pools (have one at home), so as long as the room is nice, I’m happy at a value.
 

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