Need Upgrade opinions for my trip!

[New2WDW]

I am looking for some opinions and information about a change to my Fall '08 trip that I am trying to convince myself to make:

Current Vacation:
9/27 thru 10/7 10 nights/11 days with FREE Dining for Me, Wife, DD11 & DD8 at All Star Movies Resort (Our Favorite)

This is by far going to be our longest stay and we have scraped everything together for this trip. We do the very basic on tickets, etc just to make it down each year for our family vacation.

Now, with some room only rates that just came out I am thinking about making a change and I need some input:

We have all wanted to stay in a Deluxe Resort and with regular prices it will probably never happen. Anyway, with the room rate discount I was thinking about 3 nights at Wilderness Lodge (since it comes out the cheapest) at around $574. The Poly would be around $600+ for 2 nights!
I would be cutting off 3 nights at ASMovies (deduct of +/- $335) and adding on 3 nights at WL (add of +/- $574) the difference would be $239 added to my overall trip.

The down side to this is that I would be losing 3 TS meals and 3 CS meals and 3 snacks from my original vacation. We could scale back and eat CS meals, share meals, etc. for the last couple of days. That would add about $200 to my vacation for meals.

My tickets would already be paid for and on my room key from the ASMovies so no problem there.

Can anyone help me think this out, offer info about WL, and maybe talk me into this?
Also, what is the transportation from resort to MK like? Boat? Bus?

Thanks, Keith

 

[disneychic71]

Years ago my husband and I, too, had dreamed of a deluxe resort stay, and we were happily able to take advantage of a price break to stay at the Poly. It was the trip of a lifetime! We also had to scrimp (we ate a lot of "meals" that we picked up at the grocery store on the way down!).
Was it worth it? YES!

The Wilderness Lodge, where we have stayed once since that first deluxe trip, is absolutely beautiful! If you plan to make those "resort days," then by all means move to WL. The lobby, beach, hot tubs and spectacular pool will keep you busy all day. The boat to the MK is also a very pleasant ride. It will be a real treat, and create a lot of memories IMHO!
BTW: meal sharing at table service restaurants is not so bad--the portions are so huge that my daughter and I can share and still have some left over! I especially recommend Tony's Town Square for meal sharing.

And don't fret over the decision too much--either way, you'll be in DW: how bad can it be??

 

[New2WDW]

Good thoughts as well!
After waking up this morning I thought about this compromise:

The idea was to stay in a Deluxe (that is why I had not looked into a Moderate - but good thought!)

My current vacation plan is to go over to WL on Saturday and walk around, etc and eat dinner at Whispering Canyon and and maybe stay and watch the electrical parade then go back to ASMovies. Sunday we would have an off day with only a dinner at the Grand Floridian at 7 pm. Then Monday we would be at MK all day and Tuesday we would check out and drive home.

My Wife and I ran the numbers on the three night stay and adding back in 6 CS meals to cover what we lost with the Free Dining and that was just too much money, plus loss of Free Dining

SO...... I liked the idea mentioned above about staying at Movies but taking in the day at WL (which would stick to above plan) and then scaling back to two nights at WL on Sunday night and Monday night. If we did this the room cost would be $383 + 4 CS meals to make up for our meals needed which = about $545. This would be minus the money I get back from two nights at ASMovies ($224) so the new total added to my vacation would be $319). Not too bad if I still wanted to add money to the vacation to gain the experience of staying at a Deluxe Resort.

Then I was also wondering can I have two reservations at two different resorts? :veryconfu Could I keep my vacation as is with tickets and free dining on my ASMovies room key and just fork out the WL room fee with discount for $383 and do an Express checkout from ASM early Tues morning and a regular checkout from WL and my family could hang out at the pool eat one last meal at the Resort and drive home.

I know I am crazy but this almost be the same amount of money as if I checked out and lost the Free Dining! :hammer:

Any thoughts! O'yeah - I would also be on a room only basis with WL and could cancel outside of 5 days and get a full refund if needed, correct? FOUND the answer to this: It is 5 days on regular room rates but 45 days on discounted rooms.

 

[AMartin777]

I just don't understand staying at the Moderates or Deluxes. We spend VERY LITTLE time at our resort because there is sooo much to do and see througout the "World". So, we always stay at the values... Pop preferably.

However, we do tour the Mods and especially Deluxes at night. We treat them like attractions all unto themselves.

Drop all the fancy stays, pick up the meals (the food is so good everywhere) and enjoy the parks, Miniature Golf, DtownD, etc. To heck with the room... it's a place to sleep and shower...

Just my O.

Whatever you decide, have fun and enjoy a great trip! :sohappy:

 

[New2WDW]

I just don't understand staying at the Moderates or Deluxes. We spend VERY LITTLE time at our resort because there is sooo much to do and see througout the "World". So, we always stay at the values... Pop preferably.

However, we do tour the Mods and especially Deluxes at night. We treat them like attractions all unto themselves.

Drop all the fancy stays, pick up the meals (the food is so good everywhere) and enjoy the parks, Miniature Golf, DtownD, etc. To heck with the room... it's a place to sleep and shower...

Just my O.

Whatever you decide, have fun and enjoy a great trip! :sohappy:

This has been our thoughts over the last few years and probably the years to come. We have always wanted to stay in a Deluxe and these thoughts went thru my head.....:hammer:........

 

[cemeb4dk]

My opinion here: You stillhave not made up your mind, and you wanted to by last night. Many people have posted pros and cons either way. It seems like you know what you want to do, but keep trying to convince yourself otherwise. Now your talking about having two reservations. You said inthe begining you had to scrape the money together for this trip. Stay in the value, you will still all be very happy and enjoy your trip as you originally planned. Go to the wilderness and do everyhting you would if you stayed there but sleep. When your done drive back to your value resort and sleep. Like I said inmy first post save th emoney for next time its a few hundred bucks less you'll have to scrape together for next year.

We are DVC members and we stay at deluxe all the time, but honestly if we where not members we would be at POP everytime without hesitation. As we did when we did a quick fly down and no DVC rooms where available. It was a greta resort, nice pool, great bus service and we where there what 8-10 hours out of a 24 hour day to sleep.

If you dwell onthis too much and keep second guessing your self, you may not enjoy your trip as much as you will always be thinking "but what if we did this" just make a choice and you and your family enjoy and make the best of it.

 

[New2WDW]

If you dwell onthis too much and keep second guessing your self, you may not enjoy your trip as much as you will always be thinking "but what if we did this" just make a choice and you and your family enjoy and make the best of it.

Yes you are right. I am going to just stick with what I already have, which is going to be a great vacation already! Thanks for all the input.

:wave:

 

[betteratmk]

Take the extra money with you and book a bounce back for next year:lol: upgrade for next year at the reduced rate:sohappy:

 

[slappy magoo]

Yes you are right. I am going to just stick with what I already have, which is going to be a great vacation already! Thanks for all the input.

:wave:

at the risk of being a total shill, maybe you should spend a little of one of your off days talking with a dvc rep. next year, instead of saving for just a trip, you can sve for a down payment, plus have some deluxe resorts you can start staying in for up to fifty years.

 

[New2WDW]

at the risk of being a total shill, maybe you should spend a little of one of your off days talking with a dvc rep. next year, instead of saving for just a trip, you can sve for a down payment, plus have some deluxe resorts you can start staying in for up to fifty years.

I know very little about DVC and I would be afraid I would get in over my head. If it were not for these Free Dining and great room rate discounts we have been getting over the years I do not think we would have made it down so many times. Also, do they have a DVC for ASMovies? :lol:

 

[lynnie5150]

Even though I hate the all stars, I would keep your plans. Its not worth the extra money and changing of rooms.