Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Thanks for the compliment Spirit. I am not dissing the DLP hotels (well ok, many have subpar Disney experience by international standards) while the others are improving theirs. And fkurucz, you are right in that Disney in the main is a luxury product. Maybe not hyperluxury, but it is not an everyday things. Most of my career motivations when I was younger was around the desire to take frequent Disney vacations. While in the UK, Disney is a once in a lifetime/every 10 years experience for many.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo The problem I have is Disney have been trying to market more and more to Joe 6 pack with rubbish cheap souvenirs in every store, cut backs on cleaning, maintenance and entertainment, and the dining plan dumbing down menus. So that has lessened the experience and made me want to think about taking my family and money elsewhere.
Originally Posted By dshyates The modern Disney product is Joe Six-pack quality at "DisneyLux" prices. I don't believe Disney is aluxury offering anymore. They really have lowered the quality to that point. I would pay the prices they are charging for the product they were offing 15 years ago. The product they are offering now is really the difference between nice embroidery polo shirts compared to cheap screen print Ts. I complain about "how expensive" WDW is, but that really isn't what I mean. I will gladly pay those prices and higher at non-Disney offering and have been quite pleased with my experiences. Then I pay less at Disney and still complain its too expensive. That is because I no longer feel I get my monies worth at Disney anymore. I have, for the past 5 years, been looking at and traveling to more non-Disney attractions and have been quite pleased at the cost comparisons. Disney doesn't seem to be a good value to me anymore. The last time I stayed at the Poly we payed $340/Night for stained, lumpy matteresses, towels you could see through and moldy wallpaper. We will NEVER, EVER stay on prop again. Period. NBot when The Ritz-Carlton comes in $168/night less. In my opinion most people snort so much Pixie Dust they must be hallucinating.
Originally Posted By fkurucz <<The problem I have is Disney have been trying to market more and more to Joe 6 pack with rubbish cheap souvenirs in every store, cut backs on cleaning, maintenance and entertainment, and the dining plan dumbing down menus. So that has lessened the experience and made me want to think about taking my family and money elsewhere.>> And I agree with you that it has been a mistake to do this. For one thing, right now Joe and Jane 6 Pack are struggling to keep their cupboards and the gas tanks in their trucks full. They are unlikely to visit WDW anytime soon. I keep hearing the word "staycation" being used these days. That is to say, a stay at home vacation.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 I need to find a mole at DRC badly because I would love to see exactly what load levels are for July and beyond! ;-)
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<The last time I stayed at the Poly we payed $340/Night for stained, lumpy matteresses, towels you could see through and moldy wallpaper.>> I hope this was pre-renovation because the new rooms are awfully nice. That said, I've never paid $340 for a standard hotel room ANYWHERE and I am well-traveled by American standards. I wouldn't pay that for the Poly now either. I think the most I paid there, with concierge on a discount, was about $250 a night. I thought it was worth that and that was pre-renovation.
Originally Posted By dshyates I have heard it has been renovated, but given the offerings I paid a ton for I won't be staying with Disney again. They have forced me to find other options and I did. A company will lose customers with their brand of upgrading. Let it rot til people start walking away, then fix and everyone is surprised that people are walking. Well I paid a ton, and I don't give a massive crap how nice they made it AFTER they took MY money. I won't go back, because they let me pay big bucks for crap while advertising it as "Deluxe". It may be now, but that certainly wasn't my experience as a Disney customer. Now if they would refund my previous money and some sort of brain erasure device, I may be gullible enough to risk it again. And congrats Spirit for being the savvy shopper. But with my past experiences what reason would I have to prowl the internets for "secret" discount codes and what not. Look, I don't even want to back as a customer, because of they way I was treated on-prop. Much less make the effort to dig up discounts. Who the $%#& do they think they are. Oh yeah. Right. They're DISNEY.
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 We stayed at the Poly 2 years ago, it was great, clean, the towels were thick enough, and that was before they put in the flat screen tvs.
Originally Posted By NikkiLOVESMickey I've never stayed at the Poly, though I've always wanted to do so. If I can get a ridiculously good passholder rate in February, maybe my dream will come true .
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 The price at the Poly is ridiculous(if all you're going to do is sleep in it), but the grounds, the atmosphere, the Monorail, the view!!! I wish I could live there year round.
Originally Posted By NikkiLOVESMickey ^^^That's the one thing that keeps me from staying at a deluxe resort. It's hard for me to justify paying that much money for a room when we spend, at most, 3 hours a day in there (besides sleeping, of course). We're planning on staying at POR for the first time in a few years in February, provided the economy doesn't throw us for a loop.
Originally Posted By bobbelee9 POR is beautiful too. I've stayed in the Bayous and Mansions. One of the Mansions has a butterfly garden. Hope you will get to go, and enjoy. Food court is really good too. Lots of choices.
Originally Posted By NikkiLOVESMickey POR is by far our favorite. I love love LOVE the boat ride to DTD, and the grounds are just beautiful. POR is where we usually stay during our trips, but two years ago we decided to give Pop a try because the family wanted to check it out. This year we did Pop again because we wanted to be frugal. As soon as I get my economic stimulus check from the IRS, I'm booking our stay at POR for February.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<And congrats Spirit for being the savvy shopper. But with my past experiences what reason would I have to prowl the internets for "secret" discount codes and what not. Look, I don't even want to back as a customer, because of they way I was treated on-prop. Much less make the effort to dig up discounts. Who the $%#& do they think they are. Oh yeah. Right. They're DISNEY.>> Dshyates, all I can say is I wish you'd take this entire post and ship it off to WDW. This is what the powers need to hear. From someone they've lost and why they've lost him. They haven't lost me yet. But I also didn't have your experience either.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<That's the one thing that keeps me from staying at a deluxe resort. It's hard for me to justify paying that much money for a room when we spend, at most, 3 hours a day in there (besides sleeping, of course).>> For me, staying at deluxe only makes sense if you're going to enjoy the whole resort experience. Days by the pool, nights in the parks, dining at the resort restaurants etc ... If all you're doing is looking for a place to sleep, I'd never stay at more than a moderate resort ... and then only at a heavy discount. I am amazed by people that pay Disney $300-400-500 a night for rooms and might sleep six hours, never come back during the day except to change clothes perhaps, never use the pools or other facilities ... that's just wack to me. (or I want their money!)
Originally Posted By Witches of Morva ORDDU: Then, again, some men don't seem to want a witch staying in their room any longer than six hours at a time. I suppose I should know...
Originally Posted By brerroadrunner I agree with you Spirit about the resort thing. We have stayed at a few deluxe and have really enjoyed it. When you are able to go often, deluxe resorts are great because you do spend more time there. Most of the time the value is there. I feel the folks who visit often do not get a break from Disney. You have to fight to get an AP discount rate. They are the ones who explore the entire Disney properties and drop their dollars. AP holders do get discounts, but nothing to shout about. I feel I have been a loyal patron of Disney for the last 13 years and should be afforded some better rates, discounts, etc. I bet we do see some in the next year with the economy going the way it has!
Originally Posted By dshyates "I feel the folks who visit often do not get a break from Disney." No one gets a break from Disney. At one time Disney was in such demand that they got used to it. They offer discounts but they don't advertise them. You have to scour the internets for "special discount codes". Disney treats their customers with disdain and contempt. And I for one HOPE it really bites them in the ass. Disney's rep has shifted from an expensive high quality offing to least effort offerings and financially rape the customer.
Originally Posted By utahjosh I was about to plan a trip with my newlywed wife and a couple of friends to WDW this year around New Year's time. I'm finding it's way too expensive for us. We can do Disneyland for FAR FAR less, it's hard to justify spending $3,000 for a week's vacation.
