We can afford deluxe, but choose not to. The first reason is that I've only taken shortish trips to WDW, and our focus is always on the parks. If I'm in the parks from rope drop to closing, I feel like it's a waste of a deluxe stay to only use the resort to sleep. Especially with the values being renovated to queen beds, we can sleep there as easily as anywhere else.
Last trip, we did a split stay between Pop (because my kids wanted the in-your-face Disney theming) and the Swan. Pop's queen beds were comfortable, the resort was quiet, and the first bus out got us to AK in time to be at the head of the EMH FoP RD line. I have to admit I loved the ease of travel to DHS and the IG that we got from our stay at the Swan (and my kids appreciated the pools there - they love a nice waterslide). But if I can get the benefit of a crescent lake resort at Sheraton/Westin prices, I'd rather do that than pony up for a deluxe.
The other big reason is that Disney is "my" thing, rather than a family vacation. DH does not care for Disney - or any theme park really. I take the kids with me while DH goes elsewhere (sometimes we split up the kids between us). Therefore, going to Disney is an extra, and not part of our scheduled vacations. So, in my situation, it's sort of a respect thing for me to be a bit frugal rather than going all out. We splurge on things we all do together.