How do people afford Deluxe?

[DisneyDaver]

It's not hoity toity (ok, yea it is); but you deserve it. You have worked hard and you have the right to flaunt it.

If I may make a suggestion, I have only every visited the Yacht Club for dinner and remember it being quite nice; quiet and peaceful and I liked being able to walk over to the board walk. BUT, if you are going to 'Up the Anti' I would suggest the Contemporary out of the two (though, I would really suggest the Poly, lol). either way, you will never want to not stay at a monorail resort. Taking breaks away from the buses is great; and I am a person who doesn't mind the buses. You also have the boat option if you want something quiet for your MK traveling. MK fireworks right out your window (depending what room you stay), the water pageant every night on the lagoon. I wasn't a fan of the Contemp's decor...it was...'boring' to me. but the over all experience was amazing.

I agree with all of this. There is something extra magical about the monorail resorts. The GF is my favorite, but I have stayed at each of the Poly and Contemporary a few times and always loved the experience.

 

[Monkee Girl]

I agree with all of this. There is something extra magical about the monorail resorts. The GF is my favorite, but I have stayed at each of the Poly and Contemporary a few times and always loved the experience.

I would love to stay at the GF sometime. But my family has no interest in it. Maybe one day i can convince them to try it just once.

 

[englanddg]

Do a night at best.

Overall, not worth it.

 

[Matt_Black]

I would love to stay at the GF sometime. But my family has no interest in it. Maybe one day i can convince them to try it just once.

Show them reruns of Thunder in Paradise, much of which was filmed at GF. Tell them, "Look at how much fun Hulk Hogan and Chris Lemmon are having! And you never know when you'll run into Jimmy 'The Mouth of the South' Hart!"

 

[Monkee Girl]

Show them reruns of Thunder in Paradise, much of which was filmed at GF. Tell them, "Look at how much fun Hulk Hogan and Chris Lemmon are having! And you never know when you'll run into Jimmy 'The Mouth of the South' Hart!"

Sadly that's not quite their thing. Maybe I can try the 'Full House' episode, lol

 

[Tinkerbella16]

I'll chime in to say I'm having this debate with myself right now... we can stay at the Poly (garden view) for about $324/night (that includes all taxes) or we can stay at Port Orleans French Quarter (garden view) for about $114/ night (including taxes). I don't make enough money to say that an extra $1,400 for a week at WDW to stay deluxe is justifiable, but for many many people who take one nice vacation every year or so they don't spare a lot of expense. If you are going through all the trouble of taking a trip to WDW, why compromise?.

This was my exact thinking and why I changed my resort from POFQ to WL for this years November trip. I work so hard and I only take 1 vacation each year. Lots of people at my job take multiple. I always stay at POFQ and have always dreamed of staying at a deluxe. So this trip is a gift to myself and I wanted to splurge and stay longer and stay at a resort I've always dreamed of staying. It won't happen every year. Next trip I'll do my usual moderate resort. I just want to experience a deluxe resort one time in my life. I am taking myself on this trip and I rarely get the chance to do that without having to worry about other people who go with me and don't want to spend X amount of dollars. So I'm going all out!

 

[aw14]

In all honesty, we only travel every 18 months or so (this upcoming trip is an anomaly). With that said, we like to get all the perks we can when we do come to WDW. We leave in 8 days for a Savanna view room at AKL. Yes, it was far more money than we originally intended to spend at POFQ, but since we wont be back for 2 years at least, it was worth the extra money.

My DW and I are fortunate. We are a family of 3 and are financially settled after many, many years of struggle. (I will be paying off loans for 2 Masters' degrees until I retire to disney).

It really does depend on the people. My boss (who earns far more than I do, only stays at values out of principle. Different strokes for different folks.

 

[Millerworld]

We have stayed at the moderates twice and last trip we stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas with a Savannah view for marginally more than the full rack rate at the moderates. We rent DVC points from Dave's DVC Rentals and the DVC Rental Store.This year we are doing a split stay at the Boardwalk Villas and Wilderness Lodge Villas. It worked out to roughly the same price as the full rack rate of the mods through Disney. I would highly recommend checking out the DVC rentals as an option.

One drawback would be if there was free dining on through Disney, you can't take advantage of it through renting points therefore the moderate resort with free dining would be considerably less than renting DVC points and paying for your meals I suppose.

I did the math and this year we are saving just over $2000 USD by renting DVC points as opposed to booking the exact same room through Disney reservations. Last year we saved even more.This route may not be for everyone, but I found it works great for us!

 

[thomas998]

I've just been checking prices, and for the week I was looking at most Deluxe start at $4000 for a week in the Polynesian, rising to over $9000 for the Contemporary, that's over $1000 per night.

Yet so many people here seem to quite casually be able to afford these and don't bat an eyelid. I see threads here with people deciding between the Grand Flo, the Contemporary or the Poly, with no concern whatsoever for price.

How on earth does anyone afford those hotels at all? Are most people who go to Disney millionaires now? I know there are a lot of rich people in the USA, but I'm amazed there are so many people for whom $1000 on a hotel room they'll barely use doesn't even bother them in the slightest.

My hats off to y'all, wish I had that kind of money so I don't mean to come across as jealous, I'm just amazed how many people here have such vast sums of disposable income.

I wouldn't stay there every if it was going to cost more than $500/night because it just isn't worth it.... But I think you're numbers are skewed to the high side. Maybe if you stay and had concierge service you could spend 1000 a night, but we've stay at the Contemporary several times and the highest nightly cost we ever saw was under $400 a night.

We aren't millionaires, we simply look for deals, don't go during the year when prices are high and are willing to do whatever it takes to get the best deal.. some years it means I get an AP even though we are only going for one trip because it can get a substantial discount on a room... other years it means knowing when we are going well in advance and checking rates on a regular basis to find the perfect storm of discounts that gives you a reasonable rate....

In the end we still probably spend more on our Disney trips than most people with our same income would, but then we don't waste money on other things that lots of other people do... it really comes down to deciding what gives you the most pleasure in life and spending your excess on that instead of other diversions.

So for some of us that stay there, we don't think it is cheap but we just prefer to spend more of our spare income on Disney than most people probably are willing to do.

 

[BrerJon]

Maybe if you stay and had concierge service you could spend 1000 a night, but we've stay at the Contemporary several times and the highest nightly cost we ever saw was under $400 a night.

Just go to the Disney official website and try to book a single night, almost always the only rooms available are one bedroom Garden Wing suites which don't go below $1000, and one bedroom Club Level rooms are around $1300 a night.

So many people seem incredulous when I mention how high rack rates are, but it's there in black and white on Disney's official site. I know not everyone pays that, but for those who don't know how to get discounts the idea that those prices are acceptable seems absurd, which is why I started this thread to find out what people felt was worth paying so much per night for.

 

[sjhym333]

Just go to the Disney official website and try to book a single night, almost always the only rooms available are one bedroom Garden Wing suites which don't go below $1000, and one bedroom Club Level rooms are around $1300 a night.

So many people seem incredulous when I mention how high rack rates are, but it's there in black and white on Disney's official site. I know not everyone pays that, but for those who don't know how to get discounts the idea that those prices are acceptable seems absurd, which is why I started this thread to find out what people felt was worth paying so much per night for.

You are correct. I just looked at the rack rates on the WDW website and the cost per night is amazingly high. I know that most people use one of the various discounts but even with my AP discount I find the rooms to be very high. For that reason we have been staying at the Royal Pacific at Universal. It is cheaper, just as nice and the service at the hotel is amazing and better then Disney. We have stayed in every Disney resort except the GF and we probably will not be Disney resort guests ever again.

 

[thomas998]

Just go to the Disney official website and try to book a single night, almost always the only rooms available are one bedroom Garden Wing suites which don't go below $1000, and one bedroom Club Level rooms are around $1300 a night.

So many people seem incredulous when I mention how high rack rates are, but it's there in black and white on Disney's official site. I know not everyone pays that, but for those who don't know how to get discounts the idea that those prices are acceptable seems absurd, which is why I started this thread to find out what people felt was worth paying so much per night for.

I'm not sure what days you are looking at or even what currency you are using... but I just pulled up 2 different room rates at the Contemporary on both Disney's site and Travelocity... I can get a room in March for as little as $357.60 for the garden tower or $468.80 for a Tower with Magic Kingdom view on Travelocity or rate one the Disney site for $447.... I can't find a normal room that even approaches 1000/night unless I start looking at suites with concierge service... I mean I can get a room with concierge service for less than 1000/night. If you are trying to find the higher rates possible so you can complain then congratulations, but I really don't see how you can claim that you can't find room under a thousand... it just isn't true.

 

[sjhym333]

I just looked at the Disney website...and the poster was talking rack rates...so I plugged in dates of March 13 to 16 and the only thing available was Contemporary Tower Park View at $705.67 a night. My search the other night for the Polynesian was about the same. I don't doubt you can get cheaper but it still is a lot of money.

We stayed at Bay Lake Towers a couple of years back and it is not our favorite Disney resort but we think the cost of staying there again makes it unlikely that we ever would again

 

[BrerJon]

I can't find a normal room that even approaches 1000/night unless I start looking at suites with concierge service...

I assure you on the dates I was looking nothing was available. I think Disney releases rooms at different times, so one month's sold out might be available the next. Or maybe they pencil in rooms to reserve for travel companies or something, I don't know.

But my point wasn't so much availability as comparability. So booking for the night of June 14th, the only thing available is a 1 bedroom garden suite, with 1 king size bed and 1 queen size sofa, for $1031.

For that same date I checked a 'Disney view' suite at the five-star Waldorf Astoria - a resort almost on property, with theme park views, complimentary bus transportation to all parks, and closer to Epcot and DHS than the Polynesian is - with 1 king and 1 sofa bed, is $459.

So what makes a suite at the Contemporary, with equivalent facilities and a lot less luxury, worth $572 more a night than a suite at the Waldorf Astoria? It's when you get into those kind of comparisons that I find Deluxe prices bewilder me.

 

[Lord_Vader]

I assure you on the dates I was looking nothing was available. I think Disney releases rooms at different times, so one month's sold out might be available the next. Or maybe they pencil in rooms to reserve for travel companies or something, I don't know.

But my point wasn't so much availability as comparability. So booking for the night of June 14th, the only thing available is a 1 bedroom garden suite, with 1 king size bed and 1 queen size sofa, for $1031.

For that same date I checked a 'Disney view' suite at the five-star Waldorf Astoria - a resort almost on property, with theme park views, complimentary bus transportation to all parks, and closer to Epcot and DHS than the Polynesian is - with 1 king and 1 sofa bed, is $459.

So what makes a suite at the Contemporary, with equivalent facilities and a lot less luxury, worth $572 more a night than a suite at the Waldorf Astoria? It's when you get into those kind of comparisons that I find Deluxe prices bewilder me.

You can literally walk to MK in less than ten minutes or jump on a monorail to EPCOT and be there in 15 minutes or so without having to get on a single bus.

 

[BrerJon]

You can literally walk to MK in less than ten minutes or jump on a monorail to EPCOT and be there in 15 minutes or so without having to get on a single bus.

I know, I just don't think that time saving is worth several hundred dollars, but I guess many people do. I'd rather just get up 20 minutes earlier and have a few hundred bucks in my pocket to spend in the parks!

 

[EvilQueen-T]

When we stay at the deluxe resorts, with the exception of my daughter's wedding, we only do it during a time when there's a discount that takes it down by 30-35%. I'm sure for some people if it's a rare occasion to go to disney or a once in a lifetime trip they may say do it whatever the cost. Everyone's income and priorities are different so how people choose to spend their money may not fit your same circumstances.

 

[Lord_Vader]

I know, I just don't think that time saving is worth several hundred dollars, but I guess many people do. I'd rather just get up 20 minutes earlier and have a few hundred bucks in my pocket to spend in the parks!

A lot of it isn't time, it is convenience and time. If you want to go rest at the pool for an hour or two during the heat of the afternoon it is.

 

[thomas998]

I assure you on the dates I was looking nothing was available. I think Disney releases rooms at different times, so one month's sold out might be available the next. Or maybe they pencil in rooms to reserve for travel companies or something, I don't know.

But my point wasn't so much availability as comparability. So booking for the night of June 14th, the only thing available is a 1 bedroom garden suite, with 1 king size bed and 1 queen size sofa, for $1031.

For that same date I checked a 'Disney view' suite at the five-star Waldorf Astoria - a resort almost on property, with theme park views, complimentary bus transportation to all parks, and closer to Epcot and DHS than the Polynesian is - with 1 king and 1 sofa bed, is $459.

So what makes a suite at the Contemporary, with equivalent facilities and a lot less luxury, worth $572 more a night than a suite at the Waldorf Astoria? It's when you get into those kind of comparisons that I find Deluxe prices bewilder me.

Okay, now that I know what date you are looking at it makes things easier so we are talking apples to apples... and I have no idea what you are doing wrong but you must be doing something wrong because I just pulled rates from Disney's site and can get a room in the Contemporary on June 14th for 420 for Garden Wing or 508 for Tower... Or using Travelocity I can find it as low as 395... or even a club level for 553... So I'm sorry to have to tell you this but you don't know what you are doing when you are using their site. I suggest you use a travel agent and you might find you are can take all your trips much cheaper than you are doing it on your own.

 

[Fizban]

We do all classes but we only stay deluxe when there is a deal like 33% off and we also stay during the not so busy times anyway.