Your first trip to Dland. How exciting! Well I am a sucker for the full Disney immersion experience and all the little benefits of staying at a Disney hotel (i.e., early entry every day or one year they offered a free extra fastpass), so when we can afford it we stay at on-site. But when funds are tighter, CCI is our go to place as it is a v good motel (quiet, clean, close enough to walk but has a frequent shuttle too, nice staff, breakfast included). You are planning so far in advance at this point it is hard to make a choice as you do not know now what kinds of summer hotel pricing Disney will offer in 2013 or what kind of special perks they are going to offer hotel guests. Without that it's hard to know if the extra cost of staying on-site is worth it to you or even exactly how much more it will cost. You could just wait until spring to book, or if you want to do it now you could make reservations at both and hold onto those dual reservations through the spring until you can find out what the on-site summer hotel promos will be. Then you can just cancel the reservation you don't want at that time. (Of course be aware of the cancellation policies attached to your reservations so that you make a decision in enough time to avoid penalty.) I usually book my on-site vacation through AAA and have found that if I make a reservation for an on-site hotel and the price drops subsequently, I can call and get the lower price applied to our reservations. CCI I have just booked direct. Either way, you will be in good lodgings and will have a great trip.