Upgrade from Value to Moderate???

[cutigerlady]

For my family, we spend a good bit of time at the resorts and the extra amenities make a difference to us. My husband likes that someone comes around the pool to place his drink order. We like having more options of where to eat at the resort than the food court. We like that we can get to the parks without having to take a bus all of the time. My family loves the Epcot area resorts for close access to two parks. We are lucky that we can travel in off peak times thanks to my kids school schedules, so we can get a better deal. We also have stayed at the Swan/Dolphin many times for the amenities of the deluxe and moderate pricing. We are not huge eaters, so free dining is never a good deal for us.

For trips that are just my husband and I, we often stay moderate. Our favorites are CSR and POR.

 

[buzznina]

As you can see from our signature we have been lucky to have taken many WDW trips and stayed at the 3 levels of resorts. We also no longer spend all our time at the parks and like to enjoy the resort we are staying at and it's amenities. When it's time to plan our trip, it has been VERY hard to find the worth in staying deluxe nowadays. Even when there are good discounts, because guess what, there will be a pretty good discount at the Mods as well.

 

[Mom2Kids2003]

We are going in September and to upgrade from Caribbean Beach to AKL was only $360 for a 5 night stay (for the whole stay not per night to upgrade). We went ahead and did it because we are only doing a 2-day park ticket and wanted a resort with more areas to sit and relax and more things to look at and enjoy at the resort. For us it was worth it. I would not upgrade if it would've been a whole lot more thought.

 

[21stamps]

We have stayed Value (Pop and All Stars) and Moderates (CBR, FQ, and POR). Have dined at and toured many deluxe resorts but never stayed there due to budget. Here is my question...IMO, going from Value to Moderate is a big jump in terms of a much nicer resort, lush landscaping, just a more relaxed overall feel...for just about 110-125 more a night. I can justify that....especially considering moderates have regular DP during Free Dining and Values only the QS. It is a great value (about 200 more for a moderate for our entire 8 night trip if you factor in Dining). However, there is a much greater diff in price from.moderate to deluxe ...and the resorts are not THAT much better than moderates.. Yes, location is a big plus for many deluxe, but at almost double to triple the cost of a moderate a night, I just can't justify the difference. Wondered how others may see this issue. Thoughts??? Thanks!!!

For me here are the reasons for the deluxe in order of importance-
1. LOCATION
2. TRANSPORATION OPTIONS
3. VIEW
4. POOL
5. Inside Rooms

Pool really shouldn't be #4, more like tied with 'view'.
That being said, the only Deluxe resorts that I will ever do are Monorail or Epcot area resorts. I think kiddo would love AKL, but the distance disqualifies it for me. I stayed at OKW and enjoyed it, but too big of a property to stay with my child. My child is young now, so having a theme park view and watching the electrical water pageant is a big deal at this age, once older we will move to BWI.

 

[Noah S.]

A great option is renting dvc points if you want to stay deluxe. You can often find prices that are much more affordable than Disney's published rates for the deluxe rooms