How do people afford Deluxe?

[JIMINYCR]

Unfortunately they already have a standing appointment at my front door. But I'll write up a really detailed report of my deluxe resort stay.....sound good?

Nope... I snuck up and placed these on your door. So dont be surprised if they pass you by and come to my house....

 

[Figments Friend]

February 8th-16th 2015, Contemporary Resort. $1303 per night rack rate, $1172 with Winter discount. I tried the same dates in March in case there was a conference or something affecting prices, but those rates were even higher.

Like I said, resorts for millionaires only. If you can afford more than twice the cost of an annual pass for a single night in a hotel, you must be seriously wealthy.

Part of the reason you may be seeing those high rates is the two time periods you were looking at.
MId-February is *winter break* for many schools in the Northeastern US.
March is the start of the ludicrous *Spring Break* season.
Both are notorious times of the year for business in WDW, and hotel pricing is greatly inflated to capitalize on it.
Thousands descend on the Property from out of state during those times of the year, many coming from the Northeast especially.


As to the original thread topic, * How Do People Afford Deluxe Resorts*....
The answer is a simple two-letter word :

CREDIT CARDS.

Yep.
Anyone, regardless of income level, can *afford* anything these days with plastic.
Just charge it up to a credit card ....and then spend the rest of the year ( or their lives ) trying to pay it off.
I*m not saying everyone does this, but it is reality for many people.
It is scary how many are okay with being so in over their head in debt.

 

[BrerJon]

Part of the reason you may be seeing those high rates is the two time periods you were looking at.

I did many, many searches for different times of the year, and never could find anything cheaper than that. I even tried booking for 2016 but it wouldn't let me get that far.

I can't believe every regular priced room is sold out for the entire year. I only tried the Disney website, however. I wonder if they have just decided not to sell regular rooms on there, and leave them to direct sales, convention bookings, and third party sites only, which could explain why nothing's ever available on the main site?

I just searched Expedia and lo and behold there are rooms for around $400-$500 a night at the Contemporary, on dates when the Disney website gives the cheapest available being a $1300 suite, so there's definitely something fishy going on with the online inventory.

 

[disney4life2008]

The real answer lies with why people stay at deluxe resorts which you can read on many threads here. One of the biggest I have read is that people stay at the deluxe to be away from us low class folk, sick kids running around, etc. Another which is laughable to me is to stay at a deluxe to be on the monorail but travel times seem no different than the buses and you still have to take the bus to the other parks. With that said, i do want to stay at akl for one night

 

[hsisthebest]

Please take this the right way, I don't mean to come across as rude or a jealous 'have-not', but I'm curious, what is it about Deluxe hotels that you feel is worth an extra $200-300 per night over a Downtown Disney hotel, or a Moderate?

I have stayed in Deluxe resorts before (GF, AKL and WL) when they were a lot cheaper (and using discounts) as well as Moderates, Values, and several off property and Downtown Disney area, so I know what they're like, but for my tastes I don't see what you get that's much better for the money, so I'm interested to see where others find the value now that prices are so much higher.

Some of what makes them worth more is location. We stayed at a 2 bedroom beach club villa on a pin discount in sept., for about $480. We traveled with 4 small chidren (2 in diapers/pullups) and a grandma, being able to walk to Epcot and short boat ride to HS was easily worth $50 a day to us. Ad in the the fancier balconies, granite counter tops, whirlpool tubs, pool, food, and atmosphere and the price is a little more justified. We only go to disney every other year or less now, so we like to go all out. Would we like to spend less money, yes, but we would rather compromise elsewhere (food, driving, etc.) and stay onsite at a deluxe.

 

[BrerJon]

Some of what makes them worth more is location. We stayed at a 2 bedroom beach club villa on a pin discount in sept., for about $480. We traveled with 4 small chidren (2 in diapers/pullups) and a grandma, being able to walk to Epcot and short boat ride to HS was easily worth $50 a day to us. Ad in the the fancier balconies, granite counter tops, whirlpool tubs, pool, food, and atmosphere and the price is a little more justified. We only go to disney every other year or less now, so we like to go all out. Would we like to spend less money, yes, but we would rather compromise elsewhere (food, driving, etc.) and stay onsite at a deluxe.

Don't worry, I get the appeal of Deluxe at slightly higher than average prices - $480 seems quite reasonable for a 2 bedroom villa - but if that had been $700 I'd struggle to see it, and my main post was about single rooms costing three times that price being the only thing available, and Disney somehow thinking that $1300 a night is an acceptable price for a room in a hotel that's not much more than Holiday Inn level in room quality.

 

[slappy magoo]

So this whole thread was started by a hilarious misunderstanding?

 

[aw14]

The real answer lies with why people stay at deluxe resorts which you can read on many threads here. One of the biggest I have read is that people stay at the deluxe to be away from us low class folk, sick kids running around, etc. Another which is laughable to me is to stay at a deluxe to be on the monorail but travel times seem no different than the buses and you still have to take the bus to the other parks. With that said, i do want to stay at akl for one night

I couldn't disagree more. We had our first stay at a deluxe (CR) in July. The convenience of the monorail was enormous. We are a MK family, and being able to walk to the MK when needed due to any transportation delay was a huge plus. It was 9 minutes from the lobby of the resort.

In terms of "low class folks", I have never heard that, nor do I think that plays into peoples decisions. There are sick kids in all resorts, and that has little to do with "class". Children of wealthy parents get sick too

 

[Donald Razorduck]

February 8th-16th 2015, Contemporary Resort. $1303 per night rack rate, $1172 with Winter discount. I tried the same dates in March in case there was a conference or something affecting prices, but those rates were even higher.




Like I said, resorts for millionaires only. If you can afford more than twice the cost of an annual pass for a single night in a hotel, you must be seriously wealthy.

To put this in perspective, we used David's to book a Studio at Wilderness for the 8th, 9th, and 10th of Feb,then we have two nights at Animal Kingdom in a studio. The cost was just over 1,000 bucks total for 5 nights right before the President's Day week.

The prices are insane through Disney. For the money Disney wants, I can take my kids overseas for the week. Heck, I could take them to Dubai and stay at insanely nice places and hit whats over there so far for less than what Disney wants via rack rates.

 

[tmm7899]

Personally, I love staying at the Deluxe resorts. Usually we stay at the Contemporary because of the convince of the monorail and being able to walk to MK. This past trip we stayed club level at the AKL. It was amazing, we will always stay club level now just not at AKL, probably one of the Epcot resorts as I got out voted on the GF.

As for how its afforded. Well we don't go to Disney every year. Although, my vote is alway to go but I get out voted and we have to go other places too. I book it as early as I can and pay it off over a few months.

 

[TXDisney]

We just did deluxe in September. Really my 1st time ever staying deluxe. We did when we got married at Disney in January at the Gf but was so busy with wedding stuff, we didn't really get to enjoy the actual hotel. We did the Boardwalk in September, come to realize we would have fathered have done the Beach or a yacht Club, but we still had an awesome stay. It was pricey, but arguably worth it. Depending on how often you go to Disney is on if I'd drop that money every time I go. We have been a bunch lately, and we can't afford deluxe every time. But my parents and aunt and uncle both have timeshares down there, so we get the chance to use those whenever they want to go. I mean the price difference from a deluxe disney stay to staying at my parents timeshare is HUGE. Between tickets for both disney (5 days) and universal (2 days), flight and rental car it costs us $2000. Which 7 nights at disney with park tickets at a deluxe disney resort and not really able to up and go to universal if you wanted would cost more like $4000 for us. So double the price. Now their are the perks like disney transportation in case you want to have a few drinks at Epcot and such. Easier to and from the airport, etc. We do both bc we live disney so much, but their definitely is a price difference. But honestly if a timeshare or something like that isn't a possibility for you, I'd still drop the extra money on a resort you really want to go to. Not sacrifice something for a lil less money. I'd just bookmark the trip a few months later and save that extra money if u was the one booking. Bc they really only make you pay for 1 night stay to hold the reservation. So you have time to save if you want.

 

[Squirlz]

We're pretty fortunate, well me mostly. My Wife developed a business before we met and in the 6 years we've been working together it has really taken off. We don't have kids and we want to make the most of our time together. We enjoy traveling and we like to do it first class. Before she met me she never stayed anywhere nice.

She manages our finances very well and I make all the travel plans, taking advantage of discounts, points, miles, rewards et al. This time of year has some of the best Low Season deals for places we like. It's also a slower time for our business so we can take time off without falling as far behind. Last month we spent 2 weeks at a Jamaica all inclusive. Got their best suite for under $400 a night. It also helped that we were really nice to everybody there last year. We were bumped up from 1BR Butler Suite to Honeymoon Haven Butler Suite. It's a suite that lists at over $1100 other times of the year.

In 4 weeks we'll be in a BWI Deluxe Club Suite. Got about 35% off; under $5K for 7 nights and 8 day hoppers. Disney Chase charge with 0% for six months. We were bumped from Standard Room to Standard Club last January and really enjoyed the Club perks. We can partially justify the extra expense because of the food savings. No need to go out for breakfast!

We love cars too and have a couple pretty extravagant vehicles. We have our priorities! We don't fly first class though. Can't justify that much more money. And who wants to get on a plane first only to have all the other passengers shuffle by?

 

[Obi]

as mentioned earlier some people, like myself, will rent dvc points to save on the price of deluxe. Then save throughout the year to pay for it.

I have heard of others that would pay for deluxe when free dining is offered because in their minds it evens out if they stayed in a moderate but paid for meals. I don't know how well that works since I haven't done the math on that.

 

[Skibum1970]

I couldn't disagree more. We had our first stay at a deluxe (CR) in July. The convenience of the monorail was enormous. We are a MK family, and being able to walk to the MK when needed due to any transportation delay was a huge plus. It was 9 minutes from the lobby of the resort.

In terms of "low class folks", I have never heard that, nor do I think that plays into peoples decisions. There are sick kids in all resorts, and that has little to do with "class". Children of wealthy parents get sick too

We love being able to walk to the Magic Kingdom from the Contemporary or take the boats from Wilderness Lodge. Similarly, people can walk from Boardwalk and Yacht and Beach Club deluxe resorts to EPCOT. For me, the theming of the Wilderness Lodge is why we go there. PORS has good theming or areas to walk and Coronado looks very nice as well (haven't stayed there). Still, just can't beat the theming of the WL or other deluxes.

I would also state that deluxes are favored because they have interior hallways and different levels of restaurants.

Still, if budget said that the only way to go was to stay at a Value, I would listen. No way I'm paying $1,000/night for any hotel.

 

[HyppyChick]

We've stayed in all levels and we always stay on property. I prefer Deluxe but tolerate Moderate resorts. I don't feel like there's anything special in the values so I avoid those. Yes, I am a resort snob and I am very spoiled.

We pay cash. I scrimp and save and use coupons and put every dime I can into our trip savings. We haven't been on any kind of vacation since we went to WDW in 2009 due to emergencies and hospital trips and pregnancy. We're going to the Poly this spring. I was playing with the numbers online when I got one of the mystical coupon codes in the mail. The savings from that paid for our dining plan.

You can stay anywhere you want as long as YOU see the value in it. If you're a park warrior and it's doubtful you'll spend much time in your room, then a deluxe doesn't serve your needs. But if you want.. no if you NEED to feel the ambiance of the resort then you'll pay to get it.

 

[I_heart_Tigger]

I am not rich and I didn't save for years. I am staying at Beach club next week on free dining so paying rack rate for the room. I am staying at the villas which was priced lower than non-dvc rooms and sharing with my sister, niece and a friend. Two of us will be sleeping on a pull out. Total cost of my trip for one week including meals and flights from Nova Scotia is about $1400 (CAD) which is around $1250.

As for why I am choosing to stay there over All-Star Music which would obviously be a cheaper option...well, my sister has never stayed in a deluxe. We enjoy strolling around the pavilions so the location is perfect for us. We plan on going back to the resort mid afternoon for a pool break for my niece so we wanted a good pool as well as for lunch so we wanted some decent dining options.

Beach Club fit the bill for our wants. You can do Disney cheap if you want to and that is fine, I've done that before. I see the value of being able to walk back to my resort midday and watching my niece enjoy the best pool she's ever been in. I choose to pay that rate which I don't find terrible even based on my salary which is certainly not fantastic.

To give you a better idea of my share of the trip. We decided to go and booked the trip in June. I put $50 USD down on the Disney trip and got a good deal on my flights. Then paid about $210 a month for 4 months and my trip was paid off in full.

 

[epcotisbest]

I could drive a Honda, enjoy great gas milage, low insurance and high reliability. I choose to drive a fairly expensive sports car instead. They both get me from point A to point B. I enjoy the ride.
Values and deluxe both have beds that get me to sleep. I enjoy the deluxe surroundings and atmosphere like I enjoy 0-60 in around four seconds. Not really practical or logical, but neither am I.

 

[BuddyThomas]

Part of the reason you may be seeing those high rates is the two time periods you were looking at.
MId-February is *winter break* for many schools in the Northeastern US.
March is the start of the ludicrous *Spring Break* season.
Both are notorious times of the year for business in WDW, and hotel pricing is greatly inflated to capitalize on it.
Thousands descend on the Property from out of state during those times of the year, many coming from the Northeast especially.


As to the original thread topic, * How Do People Afford Deluxe Resorts*....
The answer is a simple two-letter word :

CREDIT CARDS.

Yep.
Anyone, regardless of income level, can *afford* anything these days with plastic.
Just charge it up to a credit card ....and then spend the rest of the year ( or their lives ) trying to pay it off.
I*m not saying everyone does this, but it is reality for many people.
It is scary how many are okay with being so in over their head in debt.

Credit cards are definitely part of it.

You know the phrase "get 'em while they're young"?

When I showed up at college the very first day as a practically impoverished Freshman on total financial aid, loans, etc, there was table after table after table in the main hall of credit card companies offering instant applications plus a tee shirt or a ball or whatever for applying.

I was a 20 year old idiot. I had no money. I applied for like 10 cards thinking I might possibly get approved for one. I got approved for all 10.

So, my younger self was a serious selfish jerk to my older self. He got to go on all sorts of fabulous vacations and now older self is paying for it to the point that older self lives paycheck to paycheck on what most would consiser a good salary. Plus the student loans that older self will be paying for until he drops dead don't help either.

Oh yes. Younger self, you seriously sucked. However, I understand that you had a fabulous time creating all this debt for me. If only you took more pictures.

 

[Lord_Vader]

I'll echo others statements.

We always pay cash, always, always, always...

We make our reservations as soon as we decide on dates and watch for Passholder discounts then have Disney Travel adjust. Typically we can save 30%-35% of Deluxe rooms so a little more palatable.

We also use the Disney Vacation Savings ($20 back for every $1000 deposited and used) for short term payments. We save traditionally or purchase Disney gift cards where we can either get them for 5%-10% off face value or get cash-back/4x points (Kroger) which result in substantial savings in other places. We have received the DVS gift cards very quickly when used and adds up fast, last summer was $80.

We drive to WDW from Central Arkansas, 14-15 hours but typically saves us $1000 or more compared to airfare.

There is no way to make a Deluxe inexpensive, however there are ways to minimize your expenses if you choose to splurge and add another possible highlight to your vacation.

 

[durangojim]

I don't have the time or inclination to read through this whole thread but my 2 cents are that we almost always get some kind of discount when we stay at a deluxe. We are not the type of people to only use the hotel for sleeping and a shower, we like to lounge by the pools, sit on the balcony, etc. Last week we spent a week at the YC. We went to Stormalong bay almost every day. We walked to EPCOT and enjoyed the food and wine festival almost every day, we watched Illuminations from our balcony about half of the nights. My point is, for us it was worth the money we spent. Nor do I feel rich, I worry about my bills and mortgage, college fund, etc. but we also choose to spend our money on Disney vacations and have no problem buying things from Walmart or Costco.