For those of you that stay deluxe - what do you do for a living?

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We bought DVC in 2007 and again in 2011 when it was the height of the recession and people were selling thier ownership cheap. I rent half of our points and travel with the rest. Rental pays for MF’s and part of our vacation expenses. Pretty much going for free sans food and airfare.
 
I live in Vancouver, Canada. I think we make more for similar jobs. I'm management in a construction company that installs civil services. Pay is about 100k. We do one 10 day trip a year to disneyworld. Deluxe.
 
I worked in the business office for our local school district and took an early retirement due to a disability and my husband is a banker. We own DVC bought over 15 years ago. It took us awhile to buy since we always needed something else, but glad we were finally able to. Before DVC we stayed in Pop, AS all three, and all the moderates, also stayed at Contemporary, WL, AK, BC and Boardwalk. Never at the Poly or GF since at the time felt too much for us. I guess for us it comes down to budget. Have always done it and tried to stick to it. As our kids have gotten older and have left home on their own surprise we have more money. So I guess it also depends on where you are in life. We have recently entered our sixties have more money and less responsibility since no kids(sports, college, etc). Close to retirement for my husband then we may have to scale back again. Have had great stays at Pop as well as Beach Club. Vacation is a vacation no matter where you stay.
 
My husband is in IT and I am a project Manager that works in Trade Compliance. We make a decent living. We usually stay deluxe but also don't travel to Disney every year. I also never pay rack rate for a deluxe hotel and always save anyway I can. When we vacation we like to have certain luxuries. We take other trips besides Disney as well. We live in an expensive part of the country so Disney prices aren't that out of the ordinary for us.
 


I worked and "deprived" my children by not giving them regular Disney trips since I obviously prefer my granddaughter;).
 
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We see this 2 ways.... We go to Disney almost every year lately, but we don't always stay deluxe.

1. We live in an unbelievably low cost of living area (and only 45 minutes from a major city). My husband is a plant manager for a manufacturing company, and I recently 'retired' from working for 15 years as a business manager for a truck dealership when my husband was promoted last year. I am now a stay at home mom to our 9 year old daughter. My husband's job also has many perks. Health insurance is 100% paid for, and his company also owns rental houses, which we live in one for next to nothing. We're blessed. I know.

2. We go to Ocean City, MD almost every year in the summer, however we don't stay right on the beach anymore. Some of the nicer hotels are 400 and 500 bucks a night. I don't pay that much staying in Disney, even at a deluxe. Our trip to the Beach Club next month is almost $200 less than that a night. And what do you get?? The beach. That's it. To us, Disney has so much more to offer.
 
Both DW and I work and make decent $$, solid middle class. We go to WDW regularly and are Florida residents, so we normally get the Silver AP and we do the monthly payment plan. We will buy discounted GCs throughout the year to save $ and to spread out the cost. When booking, we always look at all 3 levels of resorts to find the best price for each, price them and then decide. I can tell you that our deluxe stays have drendled, because we just do not find that they are worth the more $$$ then the Mods unless we come across a great special.
 


When my DH was active duty, we stayed at the GF for $179 a night. We also stayed at Shades of Green for less than $100 a night. Beach Club we got for $109 a night. Military rates allowed us to travel so many places while he was serving our country.

Now, we are in our early 50's, but value vacation time. We go on vacations at least 5 times a year.

That being said, I am so over Disney resorts. They are overpriced for what they offer. My last trip made that clear; I'll stay at the Swan or Dolphin for nicer amenities than the GF offers now (it has changed SO MUCH from how it was back in the day) for less. I'm not paying a grand a night for a Disney resort. They're just not worth it! We go to a much nicer quality adult only beach resort in Mexico with 24 hour room service, all inclusive, top shelf liquor, amazing food (grilled lobster and filet at lunch), for $4,000 for a week air included.
 
Why is staying deluxe such a big thing on these boards? A lot of vacations are more expensive then a trip to Disneyworld?
 
Why is staying deluxe such a big thing on these boards? A lot of vacations are more expensive then a trip to Disneyworld?

We spend about $8,500-$9,000 for about 10 days for a family of 4 and that is with renting points. Sure there are a lot of vacations that are more than that. Few families can afford it. I have probably asked about 75 people under oath what vacations they take. I cannot recall exactly but I have a hard time remembering one that would spend that much on vacation a year. I have found that people stay with relatives, camp, maybe rent a cottage, do a staycation or take a few weekend trips within driving distance. Many cannot afford much of any vacation.
 
I’m a stay at home mom—teacher by profession. I tutor part time occasionally since having kids. Dh is a land use planner.

We bought dvc in 2007. Disney is actually very affordable for us in comparison to other vacations. We have three kids—travel as a family of five is expensive! But at Disney, we can get a one bedroom on points, Air is fairly reasonable and we purchase APs every third year. Get two years out of an AP, take a year off with non park stays at dvc and then start the cycle again. This is a fairly new approach—APs are very pricey now. I cook in the villa breakfast and one other meal.

We don’t have fancy cars, or eat out or buy fancy clothes. Disney is where our fun money goes. I’d rather take a trip than buy Starbucks or clothes or eat out. That seems to be a common refrain here.
 
My husband is a pilot and I am a full time realtor. The only way it is possible for us to stay Deluxe is with the 40% off military discount. If it weren't for that we would be at Pop or a Moderate. Our last minute stay next month is at CSR for $130 with the military rate.
 
Hi, OP. Your profile says you're 23 and you say you're getting married next spring. Congrats! You're a cute couple.

Decisions you make now are extremely important to being financially stable in your 30s and beyond. Keep your credit score high, keep and stick to a budget, try to put at least a little bit into savings every paycheck, do not take on high-interest debt, like CCs. All the stuff that's no real secret. What I've noticed is that people who are wealthy (by bank account standards) do not necessary live like they are wealthy by outward appearances, and some of that is reflected in these comments.

While you're young and before you have kids, get as much education or training as possible in whatever career you've chosen. And it doesn't hurt to have a career with a lot of growth potential over the next several years.

FTR, I'm a senior director at an association in Washington, DC. My wife is a project manager at a very respected policy-focused institution. Living in a place with lots of jobs and high wages, doesn't hurt, if you can manage the cost of living.

See you at the Beach Club in 2027! :-)
Such a great post! Prioritise your financial health while you are young. Pay off that mortgage. I think the game changer for dh and I was that we “slayed” the mortgage in our early thirties. Every penny went to that beast. Then we bought bigger and did it again. Now we are older—45 and 53, and there is money for other things. We are still conservative in our every day life.

ETA: If you do buy dvc, consider resale the bulk of our points were purchased that way at very low cost during the last economic downturn.
 
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Why is staying deluxe such a big thing on these boards? A lot of vacations are more expensive then a trip to Disneyworld?
Actually, that's a good point. A comparable "deluxe" vacation will cost pretty much the same.

For a family of five, back in the mid-late 90s, we spent about $7000 each on our 4 Disney vacations (family of 5 - GF or BC; 5 or 6 nights). We spent about 9000 for 10 days in SF/LA (including Universal one day and DL another). We spent 10,000 for 7 nights in Hawaii. We spent about 9000 for Boston and a cruise to Bermuda 7 days).

Each of those vacations were wonderful in their own way - and Hawaii for certainly more expensive (every excursion seemed to cost 100 each - like a park ticket but not all day entertainment).
 
When I stayed deluxe as a teen it was because my BFF's family had DVC. When my DH and I married we stayed at the moderate level then bought into DVC at BLT on our second wedding anniversary trip. We had a few great trips then sold it after we had our first child. At the time we bought it we both worked and had very low living expenses. That all changed with kids lol!

Since then we had a free upgrade to SSR from Sports once and that was our last deluxe. My family stayed at the cabins once on a military deal then the All Stars - All Star Music turned out to be my favorite hotel! We will probably be staying off-site next time and I'm excited to try it.
 
Actually, that's a good point. A comparable "deluxe" vacation will cost pretty much the same.

For a family of five, back in the mid-late 90s, we spent about $7000 each on our 4 Disney vacations (family of 5 - GF or BC; 5 or 6 nights). We spent about 9000 for 10 days in SF/LA (including Universal one day and DL another). We spent 10,000 for 7 nights in Hawaii. We spent about 9000 for Boston and a cruise to Bermuda 7 days).

Each of those vacations were wonderful in their own way - and Hawaii for certainly more expensive (every excursion seemed to cost 100 each - like a park ticket but not all day entertainment).
If I asked my coworkers where they would go with 7-10k I can guarantee you Disney World would not come up. Most of my friends travel a lot Europe, Asia Hawaii etc. I can't see them spending that much on a trip to Disney World and certainly not every year. Our vacation of choice usually involves a cruise and not always on DCL. Not cheap either, but we do see new destinations. We'll be cruising out of Quebec this Fall. I do have WDW trip planned with my youngest child. We are staying deluxe since my oldest and my dh aren't interested in WDW it brings the cost of a trip down considerably.
 
We are staying Deluxe for the first time ever this year! It's a bucket list thing for us and we decided to tack on 2 days in Disney to a beach vacation we were already planning. We used the Magical Holidays discount, but the price is way above what we normally pay to stay at the value or moderates. It will probably be our only Deluxe stay ever, but it's something we both agreed we would like to experience. As far as what we do for a living, I am an office manager and my husband manages the produce department of a grocery store. The stay is a splurge for us, and we decided not to go anywhere for our anniversary this summer, so we could save the money and stay at the Yacht Club.
 
Why is staying deluxe such a big thing on these boards? A lot of vacations are more expensive then a trip to Disneyworld?
I think you’re underestimating the vast amount of people from all walks of life who go to WDW. More people stay offsite than on-site as values are even too expensive for the majority. Average household income is barely $60,000 in this country, not to mention others who come from countries even worse off than ours, so paying $500+++ on one night at a hotel is a lot for most people.
 
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