How to Choose, Deluxe or Value Resort?

[Tigger Trainer]

My wife and I are planning a trip to the WDW resort the last two weeks in Aug. We would arrive in the afternoon on Monday and be there until the Sat of the following week. We are looking into staying at POP Century or Art of Animation, but my wife also likes the four deluxe MK resorts. What resort would you choose? Do you think the deluxe resorts are worth the price for the length of stay we have? Any thoughts on this would be helpful. Thanks!

 

[KCheatle]

I struggle with this all the time!!! My personal stance, having stayed at a Value (Pop), Moderate (CS), and Deluxe (Contemp and WL), I know I appreciate the amenities of the deluxe even if it means a shorter trip. The reason I go to WDW is to escape the stress of my day-to-day life. For me, the only places that truly felt like a stress-free zone were the contemp and WL, and between those two the WL was better because it is a smaller environment and has significantly less noise than the Contemp. I also thought it was really important to be able to access MK easily, which is something only WL and the monorail-hotels could truly provide. And in that category WL won again for me becuase the boat ride was way easier and less crowded than the mono.

 

[sgtmgd]

I struggle with this all the time!!! My personal stance, having stayed at a Value (Pop), Moderate (CS), and Deluxe (Contemp and WL), I know I appreciate the amenities of the deluxe even if it means a shorter trip. The reason I go to WDW is to escape the stress of my day-to-day life. For me, the only places that truly felt like a stress-free zone were the contemp and WL, and between those two the WL was better because it is a smaller environment and has significantly less noise than the Contemp. I also thought it was really important to be able to access MK easily, which is something only WL and the monorail-hotels could truly provide. And in that category WL won again for me becuase the boat ride was way easier and less crowded than the mono.

KC...try the Boardwalk your next trip...it wont dissapoint...get a waterview room w/ balcony....your stress will wash away

 

[mickey2008.1]

For a couple without kids on vacation, definitely a deluxe if not a moderate. It's night and day between a value and deluxe. Service, restaurants, pools, bars, transportation, views, deluxes have it all and are well worth it. Like captainkid said, only you can decide what is best.

 

[KCheatle]

KC...try the Boardwalk your next trip...it wont dissapoint...get a waterview room w/ balcony....your stress will wash away

How would you compare the Beach Club to the Boardwalk? I've never considered The Boardwalk, but I have thought about the Beach Club. Is there much difference?

 

[aw14]

We consistently stay at Moderates. CBR, CSR and now POFQ. I would like to stay at a deluxe, but I always come back to the same argument about the price and spending that $ on something else while on grounds. I have stayed at ASM before, and to me there has been no comparison from even value to moderate.

 

[networkpro]

Its location, location, location. As you go down the onsite tiers, the more of your time you'll spend commuting, same with offsite.

To be honest I have never stayed at a value or moderate since I began going to the world in 1972. Poly, Contemporary, and since they've built it the Grand Floridian and Yacht Club.


I'm about to stay at Shades of Green for two weeks for less than I've paid for one night at GF in the Sago Key building so it'll be a new experience (and yes I'm retired military).

 

[sgtmgd]

How would you compare the Beach Club to the Boardwalk? I've never considered The Boardwalk, but I have thought about the Beach Club. Is there much difference?

KC, Ive stayed at all 3 Yachtclub, Beach Club, and Boardwalk..All 3 sit in very close proximity Yacht and Beach are connected, Boardwalk right across the bay..IMO you cant go wrong at either of them...but for me...a waterview room over the boarwalk with balcony has an amazing view at night and early morning..the sights, sounds, smells...just "do it" for me. I like the themeing in all 3 resorts but lean..I grew up on the beach so I wouldnt stay at the beachclub again...NOTHING wrong with it...its just too familiar if that makes sense...although the Cape May breakfast buffet in the beach Club is top notch

 

[lilclerk]

.I grew up on the beach so I wouldnt stay at the beachclub again...NOTHING wrong with it...its just too familiar if that makes sense...although the Cape May breakfast buffet in the beach Club is top notch

I had the same feeling about the Beach Club. Nothing wrong with it, it was beautiful and Stormalong Bay is amazing, but it felt too much like being at home. I wouldn't pay that much to stay there again. I do visit just about every trip, though, for Cape May Cafe or Beaches & Cream.

 

[sgtmgd]

I had the same feeling about the Beach Club. Nothing wrong with it, it was beautiful and Stormalong Bay is amazing, but it felt too much like being at home. I wouldn't pay that much to stay there again. I do visit just about every trip, though, for Cape May Cafe or Beaches & Cream.

Beaches and Cream..is great..

 

[NeedMoreMickey]

Its location, location, location. As you go down the onsite tiers, the more of your time you'll spend commuting, same with offsite.

To be honest I have never stayed at a value or moderate since I began going to the world in 1972. Poly, Contemporary, and since they've built it the Grand Floridian and Yacht Club.


I'm about to stay at Shades of Green for two weeks for less than I've paid for one night at GF in the Sago Key building so it'll be a new experience (and yes I'm retired military).

I've stayed at Shades of Green a few times and it was very nice. The only thing we found challeging was the transportation, the buses don't seem to run as often as the Disney resorts, our timing was always a little off and we missed the bus. Often we walked over to GF or Poly and caught a bus or the mono there.

 

[thomas998]

Really depends on how much you want to spend, not how much you can spend. If you haven't ever stay in a deluxe then I might suggest you stay in them for part of the trip. I wouldn't do the whole trip there, maybe the last few days, that way you can experience it and decide if in the future it is worth it to you. I would hate to say stay there from the start on such a long stay and you realize later that you don't really think it is worth the extra money, I would also not say stay there first because if you do then the value later would be a pretty big difference and it might impact your trip... but if you indulge the last few days you will probably enjoy it even more.

That said I would say go for the Contemp. it is the classic and is very nice especially after they refurbed it a while back. I think they are still in the process of doing one of the others and I would not recommend you stay in any that are being refurbed, we made that mistake once and the construction noise was not pleasant.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

From your list I've stayed at Pop, WL, Contempo, & Poly. Pop if you don't want to spend a fortune. Of those listed I'd go with WL because the bang for the buck was much better there. The Contemporary & Polynesian are stupid-overpriced. They aren't worth it even with a discount. Personally, if I had to vote, I'd say none of the above. Our overall favorite is the Yacht Club. Relaxing atmosphere, great location, and Stormalong Bay during hot weather months cannot be beat. Heck, we skipped parks to soak up the resort at Yacht Club!

 

[tracyandalex]

I voted for Poly, but WL is a close second for me. Poly gets the edge because of the monorail. We prefer deluxes, but if we go during a more expensive season we stay at a moderate. For us there is a big difference between the mods and deluxes.

 

[Dad 2 M & M]

We can't see the room as anything other than a bed, restroom, and shower! While I understand we are in the minority here, we just prefer to spend the money elsewhere. We usually look and the difference in price between a Value package and a Mod(not Deluxe) package, and spend half of the difference of extras such as breakfast at CRT, a Sleigh ride at the Wilderness lodge, MVMCP, souvenirs, etc... While there is clearly a difference between the resorts, we love to have the flexibility to spend the cash elsewhere.
AND, we have never ran into one of those horror story sports team/international tour groups mentioned in this forum from time to time…

 

[Mickey2minnie1]

Deluxe gives you ambiance for couples, restaurants, and location. Poly gets my vote. Excellent in all areas.

 

[Innkeeper's Club]

How would you compare the Beach Club to the Boardwalk? I've never considered The Boardwalk, but I have thought about the Beach Club. Is there much difference?

Just wanted to add a few things. The majority of the Boardwalk Inn rooms come with a balcony and I think there is 4 or 5 that don't have one. So it's a very good chance you will end up with one. At the Beach Club some of their rooms have a full balcony or smaller standing only ones and in some cases non at all. So over there getting one is harder.

When it comes to Quick Service locations I personally think the Beach Club Marketplace is a joke and on sites like Allearsnet it gets a lot of negative reviews. Plus it's located inside the only Beach Club store and makes for a crazy atmosphere when it's busy. Plus there are no tables to sit down that I have seen. As for the Boardwalk even though they don't have a Contempo Cafe set up they still have more total Quick Service locations along the Boardwalk. Those locations would be the Boardwalk Bakery, Boardwalk Pizza Window, Boardwalk To Go, Tasty Sensations, Seashore Sweets, Belle Vue Lounge, (located inside the lobby by the Inn elevators) Boardwalk Joes and Leaping Horse Libations which is located by the Luna Park pool.

As for smells maybe it's just me but I noticed the Beach Club lobby by Cape May has a fish smell coming from the restaurant.

Finally even though it's got a nice design I don't see the hype in Stormalong Bay. It's too spread out and their main pool slide is located along the pathy way towards Epcot. So you need to physically leave SAB to get on it. Personally that never made sense to me in it's design. Now even though others might not like the Luna Park pool at the Boardwalk for it's Clown slide, I think it's a great pool area and is a lot more calm of a location.

 

[dreamfinder]

What will you end up using the room for? That is the huge question that needs to be decided first. Plenty of people use the hotel room to sleep and shower. That is it. So falling into that category pushes you to the value class. Why pay for amenities you will never use? Other people want to be able to go back to the resort mid day, wander around, enjoy a quiet corner, get room service for breakfast, etc. That pushes you to a deluxe class. People that don't like the volume of values (be it crowd noise or the exaggerated decorations) or don't need/want to pay for the deluxe amenities, end up in moderates. Look at what you need in your resort. Then once you have narrowed down the class, look at the resorts within that class.

 

[SMS55]

I guess it all depends on what you want out of your trip. When we go, our trips are relatively short and we spend most if not all our time in the parks. A room to us is to shower and sleep. We stay value. We look at it also as a way to save for our next Disney. We live in Florida so Disney is only 3.5 hours. So we can go for long weekends. If you plan to spend time at the resort, use the facilities then it might be worth staying deluxe. If it's too much money you can split it. Spend part of your trip deluxe and part of it at the value resort. Many of our forum members do this.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

My wife and I are planning a trip to the WDW resort the last two weeks in Aug. We would arrive in the afternoon on Monday and be there until the Sat of the following week. We are looking into staying at POP Century or Art of Animation, but my wife also likes the four deluxe MK resorts. What resort would you choose? Do you think the deluxe resorts are worth the price for the length of stay we have? Any thoughts on this would be helpful. Thanks!

We can't see the room as anything other than a bed, restroom, and shower! While I understand we are in the minority here, we just prefer to spend the money elsewhere. We usually look and the difference in price between a Value package and a Mod(not Deluxe) package, and spend half of the difference of extras such as breakfast at CRT, a Sleigh ride at the Wilderness lodge, MVMCP, souvenirs, etc... While there is clearly a difference between the resorts, we love to have the flexibility to spend the cash elsewhere.
AND, we have never ran into one of those horror story sports team/international tour groups mentioned in this forum from time to time…

This is pretty much exactly how I feel. I always try to talk myself into staying at a deluxe next trip, but I can never pull the trigger. Why? Even at one of the cheaper deluxes like Wilderness Lodge or Animal Kingdom Lodge, you're looking at about $150 per night difference. Per night! I think about whether I would rather stay in a nicer hotel or if I would rather take that $150 (much more if you're talking about a place like the Poly) and spend it on souvenirs, table service meals, tours, the Kitchen Sink at Beaches & Cream, etc. Every time, I figure I would rather live like a king inside the parks and eat well, do nice things and not worry about pinching pennies, rather than drop all that money on what is just a room to me. Plus, Pop has the best bus service, IMO. I think they've screwed up the transportation at every deluxe where there's either internal stops or you're sharing buses with another $300 per night resort. There's 847 rooms at the Poly and 2880 rooms at Pop Century, but the total amount of money brought in by all the rooms in each resort is probably about the same or maybe even more at the Poly... why then is the Poly sharing buses with the Contemporary and the Grand Floridian?!? OK, sorry... [/rant]

If you can afford the money for a deluxe without really thinking about it, then go for it. If you normally stay in nice hotels when you vacation outside of WDW, then you probably wouldn't be happy at a value in WDW. If you normally look for the cheapest hotel on a vacation in the "real world" before you look for the nicest, then definitely go for a value.

 

[Innkeeper's Club]

There's 847 rooms at the Poly and 2880 rooms at Pop Century, but the total amount of money brought in by all the rooms in each resort is probably about the same or maybe even more at the Poly... why then is the Poly sharing buses with the Contemporary and the Grand Floridian?!? OK, sorry... [/rant]

With the exception of the AKL/AKLV all the other Deluxe Resorts share Bus service with several resorts. For example the Boardwalk shares with the Swan & Dolphin when going to the Magic Kingdom.

Plus the Boardwalk/Yacht Club/Beach Club/Swan/Dolphin all share the same bus when going to Animal Kingdom/Blizzard Beach and Downtown Disney/Typhoon Lagoon.