How do you justify the cost?

Walt Disney World
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I was idly looking at alternative hotels for my August trip, after DFB branded CSR one of their worst hotels for 2021 (based on its terrible transportation options).

After Pop and CSR and so on, there’s a huge jump in price for the next level of accommodations. BC, YC, AKL etc, are more than double the cost. And the top end, CR etc, are triple the cost.

Do you really get that much value out of the more expensive resorts? Do you spend a lot of time there? Are they really so much nicer?

No-one’s more of a sucker for an up-charge than me, but double or triple the price? I could never justify that to myself. Or afford it, frankly.

OK, I fly Virgin Upper Class, which is double the price of Economy, but it is a vastly better product. Lounge access, priority boarding and deplaning, priority baggage, priority check-in, fast-track security, five course meal, lie-flat bed.

The room I spent one night in at YC was really no nicer than the one I had at CSR, and I think CSR is the more beautiful resort. OK, YC has Stormalong Bay and you can walk to EP and HS. But it’s more than double the cost! And — I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned this before — the room I had at the Poly was garbage.

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I was thinking the same thing. We booked CSR, but I’m hesitant due to the transportation. I looked at deluxe, but I just don’t want to make that jump. We normally stay at FQ, and I miss it very much!
Did they really call it one of the worst?!

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What about using Uber or Lyft instead of the buses and keeping CSR? I’ve stayed at AKL but it was a dvc rental that was quite affordable. I loved it but don’t know that I could ever pay the prices I’ve seen on the WDW website.

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Well, CSR and a dozen others, lol. And only, in the case of CSR, because of the transportation.

I had a lovely stay there in 2019 and I’m looking forward to staying there again next year. I’m not seriously thinking of switching.

Just budget for Ubers!

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Ubers are way cheaper than upgrading!

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That’s nice to hear that you liked it. We are bringing my dad. He has health issues that require an ECV, so we’ll have to figure out the transportation. It does look like a pretty resort.

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The sales prices are better. Historically they release the next round of hotel room sales in Jan. I’m thinking about a couple nights in a Magic Kingdom hotel and I’m waiting to see what goes on sale. The way I usually stay deluxe is sales, or DVC rental. I’ve only ever paid full price for one night at Grand Californian and I literally booked two stays to get the sale for the 2nd night because it was significant savings. It was a pain having to go get a new key (got to keep the same room) but it was worth the hundreds of dollars!

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Tastes and priorities differ from person to person. That’s why everyone needs to do their own research and choose a resort based on what matters to them. If they just need a decent room and a nice ambiance, CSR is great. But if transportation matters to them, they may want to choose another resort.

For me, I’m trying BC, AKL, and CR this next trip because I want to see if the extra cost is worth it and I finally have the budget to afford it. In the past, I’ve always been happy at moderate resorts. I suspect the walking distance to BC (and hopefully Stormalong, if we can make it in and it’s not a zoo) will make it worth it. But I’m skeptical CR will be worth it.

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I wasnt impressed with BLT or Contemporary the hotel itself (didn’t have a room there). BLT felt like any old nice new beach condo but didn’t feel Disney to me and the lobby and restaurant areas of Contemporary felt soooo dated to me and not the cute kind of dated. But the five min walk to MK worth it!

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We’ve stayed at CSR many times over the years and have never had transportation issues. Ok buses could be full during busy times, big whoop… same everywhere. If time was an issue we took a Lyft. We love staying near a quiet pool.

So far the only resort we could/would justify the up charge was for GC at DL. Just my 2-bits

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I agree with this one for sure!

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For less than $15, you can Uber anywhere at WDW. Even if you paid $30 - $45 everyday for Uber, it’s still way cheaper than the Boardwalk resorts. The rides are between 10-15 minutes. Resorts come down to budget and preferences. My WDW budget won’t allow for AKL or that lovely cabin @DumboRunner stayed in. :heart_eyes:

So @sanstitre_has_left_the_building, I am considering CSR and using Uber often for our next trip. DBro says it is a beautiful resort with spacious, modern rooms. He was there for Christmas 2019.

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This isn’t quite as convenient or economical for families with kids that don’t fit in one Uber. Makes it much or stressful. Hence why I’m willing to pay out the nose to be walking distance to the parks.

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I’ve only stayed at values and deluxes (never moderates). For me, the value in the deluxes is mostly convenience to the parks. I suspect you have never tried to travel to and from parks with 2 kids under 5 (with 1 needing an afternoon nap in the room while the other stays at the parks). You quickly realize there is value in a deluxe when you are in that situation.

Even without kids, there is still a benefit to the location of the deluxes in saved travel time. At WDW, time has a lot of value.

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Totally get it.

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That will be our group in Spril. We need 2 car seats, so a ride share would require 2 cars for 7 people. The buses worked for us at POFQ. One bus stop. We were going to stay at CBR, but transportation concerned me. When Disney offered the 35% off during our dates, we switched to YC for more space and less worry about transportation.

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Personally, I stopped paying attention to the DFB a couple of years ago and I think this is just a solid example of why I feel this way.

You always have options with transportation: Uber, Lyft, rent a car, or if you are @sanstitre_has_left_the_building you possibly could have many friends to offer a ride.

You know that CSR is a beautiful resort. I expect that like Poly, you might not be happy at CR or BLT. The rooms at CSR have many features not found at CR (usb ports). CSR in a pre-pandemic world has a better pool, more dining, more bars, a fitness center and room service. Just plain silly…

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Yes exactly, and now that Minnie Vans are gone. I’ll pay for that convenience even more. We found that anything that made our trip easier with little kids was worth it.

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Is Priceline Express an option for you?

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It is hard to justify the cost of even STAYING on WDW property. Okay, if you don’t drive, I get it. You need on-site transportation. But if you drive, staying off site can get you FAR better/bigger accommodations for a fraction of the cost. This is why we always rent a condo or house. Until this year.

But this year was odd. First, for our August trip (originally May), we had already booked a house rental. The ONLY reason we switched to staying on property at Pop was that I thought it might be possible that staying on property was going to give some kind of advantage upon re-opening. In the end, it probably didn’t. But regardless, we kept our Pop reservations. I’m not sorry to have experienced it, but if I were to do it again, I would have stuck to a house rental with 7 of us. I could have gotten a 5 or 6 bedroom house with private pool, etc., for about the 1/3 of the cost we paid staying on property.

Now, our anniversary trip was a different story. We always intended to stay on property. It was meant to be a kind of recreation of our honeymoon, but the only way we could really afford what we wanted to do was renting DVC points.

Was it worth it? Well, Boardwalk was for this trip because of the fact that 5 of the 8 parks days were spent at either HS or Epcot. Not only was the room beautiful and spacious (granted, we did a 1 bedroom, not a studio), but the location to the parks and transportation was great. And I loved taking a walk around the lake several of the mornings.

Staying on property also allowed us to fly. I know this may seem backwards, but we always drive, and staying off site means we need a car. When we decided to stay on property, flying became an option. At least for two of us. If there had been more, driving is still cheaper.

Going forward, we will most likely stay off site again and rent a house again. If my wife and I ever go alone again, we could go either way and it will really come down to justifying cost. There were homes off site that are absolutely gorgeous where we could have stayed for way cheaper…we shall see. Years away now.

I was glad to do on property. But hard to justify doing it again unless Disney gives some amazing advantage to on site guests. Even then.

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