Deluxe Resorts - The First Taste Is Free Kid, But The Next Is Gonna Cost Ya

[rob0519]

Our first stay on property was in 1996 at the Contemporary due to it's proximity to the MK. We have a special needs son in wheelchair, so it just seemed to make sense. The downside is, once you've been fortunate enough to afford a deluxe, it's all downhill from there. We've stayed at the Caribbean Beach Club, one of the values (don't remember which one) and Saratoga Springs and it's just not the same. With the jump in prices and crowds over the last few years, we've stayed away saving up for another stay at a deluxe.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

...based on discussions from a previous thread...

I’m gonna stand pat and watch

 

[KBLovedDisney]

A lot more expendable income. If I had it, I would move up. But for now, All Stars for me!

 

[slappy magoo]

...based on discussions from a previous thread...

I’m gonna stand pat and watch

Welp, as you know, my theory was that at least 20% of people who choose deluxe did so initially after visiting one, maybe staying at a mod/value/campsite/offsite, and that visit, for whatever reason, sucked them back in.
As of this writing I'm significantly off.

EDIT: I know this comes across as "when it comes to polls, you can interpret the numbers to mean anything you want." But also, I'm not a pollster, so I'll chalk it up to blissful ignorance

I unintentionally skewed the polls by including "I always stay at Deluxe resorts" when the question is essentially based on what made people move on/up to Deluxe resorts. If you ignore that question, then "Went to resort for dining/shopping" currently represents nearly 24% of the vote which falls in line with my theory...

But of course, you can't really ignore "I always stay at Deluxe resorts" because had I not included it, those who chose that answer might have chosen a different answer, one that's as close in their opinion as possible to what persuaded them to choose a Deluxe, which drops my preferred answer right back down.

 

[YankeeMouse]

We were upgraded to Concierge at AKL after a few stays there. It was great, and we paid for a standard view room. Got the Arusha savanna view and the concierge privileges. Guess what? Paid to do it the next time. 'Once I get out, they pull me back in."

 

[surfsupdon]

Disney knew what they were doing. We stayed Caribbean Beach exclusively thru the 90s. Then in 2000 they offered us Yacht for Caribbean's Price. We took it and have stayed and paid Deluxe (mostly YC/BC/BWI) most trips. Have tried other Deluxes, but they stink!

 

[lawdogNOLA]

My first stay at a deluxe? 1974, we stayed for 1 night at the Contemporary. I remember my brother and I thought it was cool to be able to change TV channels from the bed. The rest of our stay was at 2 different hotels in the Hotel Plaza area. After that, we did the Fairway Villas, and then multiple stays at the original Tree House Villas, which my Mom got hooked on and absolutely loved. The biggest family regret was never staying at the Poly, although somehow we always ended spending an awful lot of time at the Poly every single trip (we still miss the lobby waterfall!).

Then along came marriage, and then family. We've bopped back and forth across the moderates and values, always at the Caribbean, and All Star Movies and Pop. This trip we were going back to the Caribbean, when non-tropical storm Alberto made its appearance with a projected landfall on the Florida panhandle right when we'd be driving through the panhandle. So, at the last minute, Friday, we set up to arrive 1 day early, Monday, and decided to splurge by going to the Beach Club for that first night. The result was that my wife enjoyed it so much, we didn't even leave the Beach Club that first day, 5/28/18. She just got into Stormalong Bay and stayed until it was time for dinner at Cape May.

The next day it was back to the Caribbean for us, a resort our family has loved since first going to in the 90s. Now, we've been through the Beach Club before, and loved it, so it was expected territory, and, of course, superior to the Caribbean. BUT, I have to say that the room refurbishments at the CBR result in a room-to-room comparison that is surprisingly close.
Queen beds? Both.
Lighted vanity mirrors? Both.
Large new Samsung TVs? Both, same size.
Coffee Makers? Both (not a drinker, so I didn't compare the contents).
Hair dryers? Both.
Mini-Fridges? Both.
Large vanities with dual sinks? Both.
Lots of easily accessible electric outlets with USB chargers? Both.

The Beach Club takes the win because of room design: with the bath and vanity area between the hall and sleeping area, it was quieter than the Caribbean. Also, BC had a nice, though little, balcony you could go out on. Plus the room was bigger, and the daybed at the BC was an actual sofa you could sit on, far more practical than the ledge with a cushion for the daybed at the CBR. So, clear win for the BC in room-to-room comparison, but the result didn't make me feel depressed about being at the CBR; I was actually impressed with how well the CBR held up against a deluxe. My wife? She ended up also having a great time at the pool at the CBR. As great as Stormalong Bay is, the pool at the CBR was still a lot of fun.

Don't get me wrong, we all preferred the Beach Club over the Caribbean, for room, pool and dining. However, the vanity at the CBR could be closed off, and there were Coke Freestyle machines available 24/7 at the CBR, which wasn't the case at the BC. So, if we had the money, we'd book deluxe all the time. But Disney's moderate CBR held up surprisingly well against a deluxe.

 

[LUVofDIS]

So far we have stayed at The Dolphin, Swan, Contemporary, Pop, All-Star and Art of Animation. Our choice is simple, ROV. We usually spend 2 to 3 weeks a year at WDW plus do a couple other vacations every year. We don't care too much about the resort, we only need a place to sleep an or shower.

Our first stay was at the Contemporary in 94. We stayed here because of family that asked us to go with them were staying here. We loved it and thought we would always stay here.

Our next trip we looked at the Contemporary but than found an awesome deal for the Dolphin. After staying in the Dolphin we loved the beds and the nicer rooms. Now as long as we find deals we stay at the Dolphin or Swan. When we can't, we stay at Pop or Animation.

This year, for our September trip, we reserved a room at Pop, a few weeks later we wanted to add a night because it ended up being a few hundred cheaper to flyout the night before. Our room choice at Pop was sold out so we got a room at All-Star Movies.

We have tried renting DVC points the last few years, but have yet to have any success. We will keep on trying so that we can stay at AKL, BC and or YC.

So after all this it just comes down to ROV, if we pay more the room has to offer us more. So far the beds and the savings for the Dolphin and Swan are the best value.

 

[daisyduckie]

I bounce around all of the resort categories, depending on what I am doing that stay. If I am going to be heavy in the parks I will stay value. My next few stays I'm planing on staying at deluxe resorts, for ease of getting to Epcot at the Magic Kingdom.

 

[Leigh51]

I was at Disney World when it opened,at Epcot when it opened.I have never stayed on property because I either lived there or my parents did.From the first time I saw the Contemporary I wanted to be there.40 year wait.But it will be sweet.

 

[harryk]

During a trip in the early 70's stayed outside the MK and while on the Monorail saw the GF under construction and thought that it would be nice to try. A few years later my wife and I decided to return to WDW and we booked the GF and purchased their Grand Plan. That did it for us. We now always stay at a Delux Resort and found that the Vacation Club fulfils our requirements.

 

[eliza61nyc]

We sort of had a "alternative" route to the Deluxes. Our first two trips with the kids, we stayed at the cabins at Ft. Wilderness. Perfect match for the boys, we loved it. By the third visit we kinda knew that we wanted to return every year, but one problem was my hubby hates places that have rooms that open directly to the outside. As much as I wanted to try the values, especially since they seemed perfect for family's with little kids, he wasn't going for it. Also at the time the values had smaller beds and he was pooh sized.
So without every actually staying at a true deluxe we purchased a DVC membership. So while I've always wanted to try a moderate once we purchased in we've stayed on points and financially it didn't make since to switch out.

 

[durangojim]

We used to switch a lot. As our income has increased over the past 10 years we’ve stayed more and more at deluxes and now probably exclusively for the past couple of years. If we’re taking my parents with us and paying for them we’ll stay at POFQ.

 

[worldfanatic]

From 1991 to 2006, I always stayed at Values or Moderates and was perfectly happy with them.
I did really enjoy touring the Deluxes and was pretty fascinated with the upgraded restaurants, pools & grounds, but I just wasn't willing to spend the extra money.
Eventually, the thing that really pushed me over the edge was my big-time desire for a balcony on Disney property.
Sounds crazy, but waking up, pouring a cup of coffee, and having my own little corner of Disney World as the day begins sounded so appealing. Having a beer out there before going out for the evening also seemed heavenly.

So we finally gave in & bought into DVC in 2007.
We've absolutely loved the Deluxe Villa Resorts, and I continue to spend inordinate amounts of time on those fantastic balconies.

 

[surfsupdon]

From 1991 to 2006, I always stayed at Values or Moderates and was perfectly happy with them.
I did really enjoy touring the Deluxes and was pretty fascinated with the upgraded restaurants, pools & grounds, but I just wasn't willing to spend the extra money.
Eventually, the thing that really pushed me over the edge was my big-time desire for a balcony on Disney property.
Sounds crazy, but waking up, pouring a cup of coffee, and having my own little corner of Disney World as the day begins sounded so appealing. Having a beer out there before going out for the evening also seemed heavenly.

So we finally gave in & bought into DVC in 2007.
We've absolutely loved the Deluxe Villa Resorts, and I continue to spend inordinate amounts of time on those fantastic balconies.

Yes!! I’m a balcony snob too. They mean so much to me at breakfast time eating on the balcony, and also in the evening hours. We use our balcony a lot!

 

[Pinoke76]

We gradually increased through the resorts as our disposable income increased.
Having said that, we are unlikely to return to Grand Floridian again as the experience didn't justify the increase for us.
We preferred the villas at OKW and think that'll be our choice for the next 10 years

The early trips when All Stars were all we could afford were as good as any of our deluxe stays - we made the most of what we had. I'd even say All Stars were preferred over Coronado Springs for our family.

 

[Minthorne]

Balcony/Patio

 

[plutothedoggo]

We try and stay at AKL every time we go to Disney World as it's our favorite experience by far at Disney. Of course the pricing really drives where we actually end up staying which is usually a value resort, which we're fine with and own it.

 

[Nottamus]

Our first trip was moderate Coronado Springs, which I really liked! The wife's dream resort was AKL, so we visited and were both blown away!
our second trip 7 months later was to a Value, Pop Century, and while i enjoyed the vacation, I missed Coronado's theming. So we visited AKL again that trip, and while there I planned next trip through bounceback offer and we ended up with a week in AKL concierge level, Arusha view room, and we both loved it!

Next 2 trips were also to AKL Jambo, and we liked it so much we ended up with a DVC purchase there.

I still like Coronado because it was my 'first' there, but no need to stay anywhere else than AKL. its 'home' now.

 

[Tinkerbella16]

Our first ever deluxe resort stay was in September 2016 and we paid $200/night at Beach Club. Need I say more? lol The following year, same week we paid $226/night at Beach Club. The price was completely worth it! We usually stay at moderates, and we ended up paying less for a deluxe resort than a moderate the last 2 trips.