Standard room at deluxe, or better room at moderate?

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Standard room at deluxe, or better room at moderate?

The title pretty much says it all - for a 5 night stay, what would be your preferred option and why? A standard room at a deluxe resort or a better room at a moderate resort?

If you need an example, lets say the deluxe resort is Animal Kingdom Lodge (standard room) and the moderate resort is the Caribbean Beach Resort with a pirate standard view. There's a considerable difference in price between the two - I'm trying to work out whether the cost is justified. Caribbean offers a nice view rather than just the parking area or rooftop and it's cheaper, which is cool. So what does the deluxe standard room offer in comparison?

Any thoughts?,
Helen

Lizzy_B's picture
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I would say better in moderate, just because I would have a hard time going standard in deluxe, when there might not be much of a difference in the room, and theming at the moderates is good to great. As an aside, when are you going? I ask because we just had a nite at CBR where they offered the Pirate room as an upgrade. We didn't take it; and when we got there, they had upgraded us for free. So if it's a not so busy time, I could see that happening to you, too.

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This is a topic very dear to my heart. We've been finding more and more that the convenience of the moderates is really nice. When we went for our last trip we stayed in Coronado Springs and we actually found it more relaxing than the Beach Club, because everything was so easy. We just parked outside and didn't have to deal with valet or walking a quarter-mile to the car. So part of me says "go with the moderate."

A second note that applies to your specific example is that I think an AKL room without the savanna view is a bit risky. Sometimes you still get a decent (or even a good) view, but I feel like the view at AKL can be so important. At Beach Club, I don't care much about the room location, but at AKL it's important.

That being said the reason I pause is because I absolutely LOVE the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It's so "magical" in ways that Caribbean Beach or CSR aren't. We go pretty often so staying at CSR makes a lot of sense for us because convenience is really important, but if we only went once per year I would probably choose AKL just because it's so much more "magical."

My final note though is that I say never stretch the budget too far. If you spend more than you're comfortable with on your trip you're always going to have a miserable time because it has to live up to unmeetable expectations. So I'd say it's always better to have a Moderate Resort budget that you're comfortable with than a Deluxe Resort budget that makes you feel stressed. The trip's supposed to be relaxing so don't introduce unnecessary stress. You'll have a great time either way, so only spend the extra money if it doesn't make you uneasy.

Hope that helps a little bit. It will also depend to some degree on exact options so if you run some more options out there I'm sure you'll get lots of opinions.

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I'm determined to try all the deluxe and moderates at least once over the years, but so far, I tend to like the moderates better, mostly froma cost perspective. The deluxe (in our case, the Beach Club) certainly had alot of benefits - close to Epcot, and a GREAT pool but room-wise, I would have been just as happy at the CBR. It's really hard for me to justify the additional expense of the deluxe, unless it's a special occasion or I can offset the added cost with something else, like free dining.

But in the end, I'd much rather take the money saved by staying at a moderate and use it on other things (don't leave me alone at World of Disney!). We spend so little time in the room, it doesn't really matter much as long as it's clean and quiet. Since we always have a car, location is not as critical either.

The CBR was really quite and such a beautiful setting when we were there. But now, after reading Brad's comments, I want to try AKL next for the Deluxe! Maybe for the big 5-0 celebration!

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Thanks for the detailed responses! Interesting points...

We're staying from the Monday 16th of May to the Saturday the 21st. I've had a look at touringplans.com and they're predicting crowd levels between 2 and 5 (out of 10), so hopefully it won't be completely frantic!

The budget's not too much of a worry - if the money goes on a special room then it just won't go somewhere else! I would like the 'magical' experience though - I was really taken with AKL's lobby and also that of the Wilderness Lodge.

I'm currently build a spreadsheet with the different resorts and their amenities to try and narrow down the options Smile

Where ever we stay, I'm really hoping for a towel animal!

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Those are two of my favorites as well. I will say that in both cases the rooms are pretty small, so that's another consideration. They're typically cheaper than most other deluxe resorts, but their rooms are quite small.

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Well, we've decided to go with a savannah room at AKL. Hubby really wants to stay with the animals and I'm not going to object to that! wink

Thanks for all your input!

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Helen, I think you made the right choice. We had a savanna view room two trips back, and we still consider our favorite resort and vacation, it was simpy fantastic just sitting on our balcony looking out on all the animals, don't forget to check out the animals at night where they loan you night vision goggles to to further enhance your experience.

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Night vision goggles, seriously? How much fun is that!?! I think we'd better get that booked in as soon as possible mickey

Lizzy_B's picture
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I think it sounds terrific! Can't wait to hear all about your experience!

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Brad's picture
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Great choice!

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Booked! So exciting...I woke up much to early, started thinking about it and haven't been able to go back to sleep.

I might go back to the website and enter in our flight details so the magic express can pick us up on time...

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helen wrote:
Booked! So exciting...I woke up much to early, started thinking about it and haven't been able to go back to sleep.

I might go back to the website and enter in our flight details so the magic express can pick us up on time...

clapping clapping clapping clapping

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Ok in most situations I would probably say go with the moderate..but if your choice is really between AKL & a moderate then I'd choose AKL because that is my favorite resort!

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mickey Bella