We don't necessarily spend a lot of time at the resorts, but the resorts matter to us, BUT I would still go on vacation if I couldn't have my chosen resort.
I usually have a preference then my backups thought out in order of preference. There are always five of us, sometimes more, so that affects my choices some. If I'm going on a trip and am not worried about cost I'd always stay at a monorail resort. For Christmas we love to do the cabins ... we decorate outside ... get a golf cart and decorate it, etc. However this year there will be 7 of us versus 5 and too cabins are more than we want to spend ... so we move on down the list. My husband challenged me to go on summer vacation for under a certain amount of money ... so original plan was the beach ... but then we got a super cheap room at CBR ... so we are off to Disney lol. I'd never consider there before but it was the only way I was going to get to see Pandora before Christmas. But for Christmas I have more of a budget ... so back to one of my preferred places.
I'm rambling .... but I think resorts matter to most people but they still probably wouldn't keep them from going on vacation.