Anyone else too cheap to book a deluxe?????

[Dopey420]

I prefer deluxe for the following reasons:

Better pools and hot tubs
Better food courts with more accessible hours, including 24 hours a day service
Better bars with local craft beers
Indoor room access (except Saratoga Springs)
Ability to walk in some parks (such as Epcot and HS from the BW/YC/BC/Swolphin resorts; MK from Contemporary)
Number of tobacco users at the value resorts- way too much smoking and dipping by the guests in the values
Number of unchaperoned kids at values

 

[happymommy]

I've never ventured outside of the value resorts... and that's fine by me. lol

As a reformed resort snob, I totally hear you! Almost wish I had never done deluxe. Well, we've had some great stays (on great discounts, AP and military mostly). But some that the discount still made it so much that it wasn't worth it!

Loved Pop - going back again for 2 nights (then rented a Kidani villa but DH, DD, and me would kill each other in a room - got the one bedroom 2 bathroom so we'll all speak to each other).

 

[MainMom]

We love Pop, but have outgrown it. Fortunately we also love deluxes. Never tried a moderate. We either go cheap or go big.

 

[Lisaloo]

Not me!

 

[KTwiegs]

um yes! its just a hotel room

of course for our big anniversary in a few years my dream is for GF for our mommy and daddy only trip… but that will be a once in a lifetime thing.

 

[beck00]

We have stayed Pop, and CSR most recently. For our adults only Food & Wine trip next September, we've booked Beach Club. I'd be more than happy to return to CSR, but we're pretty excited about BC.

 

[Tom P.]

I prefer deluxe for the following reasons:

Better pools and hot tubs
Better food courts with more accessible hours, including 24 hours a day service
Better bars with local craft beers
Indoor room access (except Saratoga Springs)
Ability to walk in some parks (such as Epcot and HS from the BW/YC/BC/Swolphin resorts; MK from Contemporary)
Number of tobacco users at the value resorts- way too much smoking and dipping by the guests in the values
Number of unchaperoned kids at values

I have to disagree with you on several of those points.

Obviously, the deluxe resorts have a wide selection of good restaurants, as compared to the values which only have food courts. However, regarding your statement about "better food courts," I'd have to say that I'd put the food court at Art of Animation up against any other food court on property, in terms of food quality, variety, and value. True, it's not open 24 hours per day, but other than that, I have absolutely no complaints with it. I think it's excellent.

Also, at our recent stay at Art of Animation (in October), I have to say that I didn't notice a lot of unchaperoned kids. We took full advantage of the resort during our time there, including the pool, the arcade, the food court, and the gift shop, and while there were certainly lots of families and lots of young children, I never once encountered kids "running wild" or otherwise causing distraction or problems. Is it as calm and serene an environment as, say, the Grand Floridian? No, of course not. But it certainly wasn't full of kids who were out of control either.

Finally, I'm trying to think back, but I honestly don't remember a single case where I noticed someone using tobacco. I'm sure there were, but I never saw it. As a non-smoker, I couldn't even tell you where the designated smoking areas are. I'm sure there were people there taking advantage of them. But, again, nothing that I noticed or that made our stay less pleasant.

Oh, and also worth mentioning that if you are staying in a family suite, everything is interior corridors. No outside access. The standard rooms in the Little Mermaid wing are outside doors, though.

Now, granted, I'm speaking specifically about Art of Animation here. I think it's generally accepted that AoA is a bit of a different animal than the other value resorts. But, still, it is a value resort and I just don't see many of the issues you mention.

 

[happymommy]

I also agree with you Tom P. After staying many times at Epcot resorts, I found the food court at Pop to offer so much more for me and my DD. There are no "food courts" at deluxe resorts, but there are snack bars. They are not open 24/7. Matter of fact, I don't know if room service is 24/7 or maybe at only some places. Maybe the snack bar at GF is, not sure. BWI has nothing 24 hours a day.

I don't care for the pool at the BWI, but stay there for the location. We don't spend a ton of time at the pools, but all of them offer similar things like a pool bar. No slides at value resorts, but last time I stayed at GF there was no slide there either (it was years ago).

I was leery of exterior corridors but found it was fine at Pop. I do agree that the room stays cleaner with interior, but our room last time at BWI was so noisy! Pop was silent. Go figure.

I've never seen smoking at either deluxe or value.

Kids - no issues anywhere. Never saw unchaperoned ones at Pop.

 

[LoveOlaf]

I dream about staying at a Deluxe and resort hop and eat at many of them just to walk in and relax at them a bit but DH and I haven't been able to be talked into spending money on deluxe yet and have done CBR all 3 times because we are able to go more often staying here. Someday though I will splurge and stay at Beach Club or Poly

 

[Momto2minniemice]

We have only stayed deluxe or villa's for all our trips my husband likes to stay super nice. BUT I am planning a girls trip with me, DD 12, DD6 in Sept and we will stay in at POP. The more I think about it we really do not spend that much time at the resort. A pool is a pool and for eating I think a value is much better. Yes a deluxe has many places to eat but do you ever eat there more than one time? With kids grab and go is 10 times easier than a sit down after a long day. And I have heard the value food courts have awesome choices. Deluxe hotels share bus (which I think is crazy) where POP has a dedicated bus. Out of all the deluxe I did like WL the best but only for the bunk beds and the boat to MK. We will see how the values go, I did get a preferred room in hopes of less walking after a long day, we will see.

 

[Tom P.]

Deluxe hotels share bus (which I think is crazy) where POP has a dedicated bus.

I was surprised by that too. I guess Disney thinks people with more money to spend on a hotel are less likely to use the bus? Perhaps it just has something to do with the deluxes generally either being within walking distance to one or more resorts, or having other options readily available, like the monorail and the boats.

I also notice that the higher end the resort, the worse the arcade. I suppose kids from families with more money don't play arcade games as much?

 

[Dr Gunnie]

One year ago we had our first stay on-site at POR and really enjoyed it. We just got back from our second stay, this time we went Beach Club and we enjoyed it too... but after talking it over we decided to go back to a moderate for our third trip in 2017.

The Beach Club was great, but we didn't spend a ton of time there. We don't do the swimming pool and our meal at Captain's Grille was mediocre. We loved being so close to Epcot - our room was right above the "secret entrance" and I mapped out our walk from room to inside Epcot's gate at .24 miles.

Having said all that, it's just not worth paying over twice as much as the CBR room we got for 2017. I'm sure some time down the line we'll do a deluxe again, but for most of our trips I see us doing moderates.

 

[KSR0330]

It may sound odd, but having a window where I can open the curtains and let the sun shine in is a huge deal to me!

I would never pay rack rate for a deluxe. There are a lot of deals the you can get throughout the year that cut the price considerably!

 

[DisneyPiPhi]

If I had the money, we would always stay Deluxe. I LOVE the Disney deluxe resorts! I have only stayed in two: GF, majorly off-season in 1998 when my mom got a great deal; and WL, when I had such a good passholder rate for the 2011 Disney Marathon that it was cheaper than our previously-booked moderate and I switched last minute.

With a young daughter, she would love the theming of several deluxe resorts (AK, GF, Poly) and it would be awesome to be on a monorail or be able to walk to Epcot. I also love the nice pools (my daughter LOVES to swim and we do that a lot at Disney), the beautiful grounds, and the restaurant selection. That said, deluxe resorts just aren't affordable on our budget (I am a teacher and DH is a contractor). We stayed at POR last year and are going to Pop this year. I'd like to stay at moderates as often as possible in the future - I especially find POR to be a good "stand-in" for deluxe resorts with it's beautiful grounds and pool.

 

[sunsetbeachgal]

Our WDW vacation involves spending most of each day out and about in the parks, and for that reason Moderate or Value is fine for us.

 

[eeyoreandtink]

I have to disagree with you on several of those points.

Obviously, the deluxe resorts have a wide selection of good restaurants, as compared to the values which only have food courts. However, regarding your statement about "better food courts," I'd have to say that I'd put the food court at Art of Animation up against any other food court on property, in terms of food quality, variety, and value. True, it's not open 24 hours per day, but other than that, I have absolutely no complaints with it. I think it's excellent.

Also, at our recent stay at Art of Animation (in October), I have to say that I didn't notice a lot of unchaperoned kids. We took full advantage of the resort during our time there, including the pool, the arcade, the food court, and the gift shop, and while there were certainly lots of families and lots of young children, I never once encountered kids "running wild" or otherwise causing distraction or problems. Is it as calm and serene an environment as, say, the Grand Floridian? No, of course not. But it certainly wasn't full of kids who were out of control either.

Finally, I'm trying to think back, but I honestly don't remember a single case where I noticed someone using tobacco. I'm sure there were, but I never saw it. As a non-smoker, I couldn't even tell you where the designated smoking areas are. I'm sure there were people there taking advantage of them. But, again, nothing that I noticed or that made our stay less pleasant.

Oh, and also worth mentioning that if you are staying in a family suite, everything is interior corridors. No outside access. The standard rooms in the Little Mermaid wing are outside doors, though.

Now, granted, I'm speaking specifically about Art of Animation here. I think it's generally accepted that AoA is a bit of a different animal than the other value resorts. But, still, it is a value resort and I just don't see many of the issues you mention.

We have stayed at both AOA and AKL and would take AKL any day, hands down. I vastly prefer the food court at AKL. We were at AOA during a not too busy week in Feb. and the food court was a madhouse. We went at all kinds of different times of day and every time we had to fight our way through hordes of people yo get food, then wander around looking for a table. It just wasn't pleasant. We were in the LM section and the hike to and from the busses was a half mile, also not pleasant. I realize the response to that would be to book a suite, but by renting points I could stay at AKL for less. We felt that w everywhere we went on property was crowded, loud and rushed. Staff included.

In comparison, we stayed at AKL during peak summer season, sold out resort. Food court was never mobbed, pools always had open chairs, and it was just overall so much more relaxing than the previous trip at AOA. In my mind, even for a trip where I will be in the parks all day every day, there is no comparison. As long as I can rent points to stay deluxe for moderate prices, we will stay deluxe.

 

[ReluctantDisaholic]

Paying rack rate I would be too cheap, but with the magical deal deluxe is priced like a moderate. As long as the deal is available, I'll do deluxe.

We like the convenient transportation and bit of extra room.

 

[katt789]

ALL THE TIME!!
I've stayed at the Poly WAY back in the day when it was much cheaper, and done AKL a couple of times with good discounts, aside from that the only way I'll stay deluxe is with a CM discount. They're way too pricey and when it comes down to it a Moderate or even a value does the same job.

Deluxe's are beautiful and lovely yes, but I always think to myself "that extra money could go towards extra days in Disney, a more preferable flight, more souvenirs, a nice dinner, etc" For our upcoming trip I arrive a day earlier than everyone and was going to book 1 night at a deluxe and just couldn't do it, ended up at All Stars where we're staying for the rest of the trip. It's just too much

 

[Amy&Dan]

Yes I guess I am too cheap. Having stayed in every level of a WDW resort, I cannot say a deluxe or DVC (even the one and two bedrooms) made my trip any more magical.

We are a family that spends a lot of time at the resort. I can enjoy a Mai Tai and relax under a palm tree at Pop Century just as much as I can at the Poly.

We gave up our Park Commando status over 20 trips ago lol, and have relaxed and enjoyed every stay we've had.

I've never seen noisier kids or more smokers at values and mods and since I've been known to spend up to 14 nights at values and mods over the past decade, I'm either very lucky or that just isn't a problem.

 

[PlutoTheDog89]

We've always been moderate people. We used to stay at Coronado, but the past few years we've stayed at POFQ. We go during Christmas week - it's our favorite time to go. It's also the only time we can really go. My sister is a HS teacher who coaches three sports (with lacrosse being the biggest season) so most of the school year is out. We refuse to go in the summer - it's too hot (although this past trip felt like a Florida summer!)

Christmas is so magical. It's crazy expensive, though! My parents are getting older. They're not OLD by any means (in their 60s) but they suffer from some aches and pains. They prefer to take it easy now, so we've adapted a slower pace. Sure - it stunk moving slower this past trip. It meant spending more time at the resort and waiting for Disney transportation. We're planning on staying at Beach or Yacht Club next year.

Is it more expensive - YES. It's gonna be about $2,500 more expensive next year, but between 4 people, that's only $625. We could easily save that. That way - we can easily walk over to EPCOT for 4 hours at night, or run back if it gets a little cold. I know the boat takes a little longer to get to DHS, but it's a peaceful ride. We like the idea of being closer to the parks.

Plus - if we plan on spending more time at the resort, we want some incentive. I love that we could run to Boardwalk Bakery for breakfast, or France in EPCOT for a quick pastry. I also love that Y&B has a gym and has so much area to walk or run.