My heart will always be with Disney but dh wants..

[kid@heart2]

to do this next year:

WDW
Busch Gardens
Universal
Drive to Datonya Beach..do some coastline driving maybe to NASA (not sure about that)

so..question is..have any of you stayed partially on site? partially off site? we are looking for the most convenient, most economical way to do this trip. I'D LOVE to stay at the WDW resorts again (we've stayed there 3 times so far) but I am looking to see what would you do???

Thanks so much!!

 

[Nahanni]

Our last 2 trips were solely WDW so we decided to do something different. The Seaworld website has a buy 3 nights get 2 nights free offer until 5/31 with travel until Dec 31/10 (I don't know if they run this promo every year but I did see reference to it in 2009 as well) that includes 14 day ticket to Seaworld, Busch Gardens and Aquatica.

We are paying US$750 for 7 nts and 3 14-day park tickets (current online 3-park ticket price is $110pp reg is $150pp) so the hotel is $60 night inclusive of tax and breakfast.

 

[GrtWtNorth]

We stayed at the Sheraton Vistana resort when we visited Universal and Busch Gardens in 2005. This time-share / villas resort is located adjacent to downtown disney, and very easy to access I-4 and shopping without fighting International Drive traffic. We still went on Disney property for shopping and dining at DTD and various resorts. No complaints about convenience.

The Gaylord Palms hotel is along I-4, but closer to Pop Century than to Downtown Disney. Dreams Unlimited (the sponsor of DisBoards) tends to publish deals from this resort.

Since 2005, we've stayed at a couple other Disney resorts, including Pop and POFQ. And Disney has had very good deals for Value resorts. I'm trying to convince my wife that we should stay on Disney property when we return to visit Legoland, Sea World, BGT and Universal. She's not on side -- she thinks that staying in a Disney hotel and not visiting a Disney park would be sacrilegious.

 

[GrtWtNorth]

.

 

[Tower]

Doing a Carnival Cruise out of Cape Canaveral in Dec and, though we're flying into Orlando, there will be no (zero/NADA) Disney visits pre/post cruise. We'll be doing a day at Kennedy Space Center and then cruise out next day.

For next year, we'll be driving for the first time in several years. Then we'll do the Busch Gardens/Clearwater Beach bit, but then we'll either travel to the new Holiday Inn at DTD (where I have points for free stays), or we'll stay on-site somewhere if we can get free dining. We figure with the $$ we save, we'll better afford other things like a Disney Cruise for 2012!

 

[Tower]

oops, double post, sorry

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

Since our first trip in 2003, we've always made a point of visiting Universal as well as WDW on our trips to Orlando. We also head to the coast (Daytona Beach, Cocoa Beach, Cape Canaveral or St. Augustine) if time permits. For the majority of our trips, we've always stayed on-site at Disney as we get a great deal on a room with our annual passes. While we'd love to stay on-site at Universal, unfortunately any discounts we've found for their hotels can't match the discount we get for our resort hotel at Disney, so we stay at Disney the entire time and just drive over to Universal.

 

[holidaygirl]

We always stay onsite and just vist other places. Bush Gardens is only 1 1/2hrs away, not a big deal. I do have to agree with your wife, we stayed at the BLT this year and only went to Universal..... kinda feels like we didn't have a holiday..... need that disney fix.

 

[2meezers]

Have you looked into renting a house/condo offsite? We do this and find it is extremely economical....more money to spend at the parks!!!! This year we are getting a 4bdrm with own pool/spa, loaded house...works out about $120/night.

 

[mom4463]

Have you looked into renting a house/condo offsite? We do this and find it is extremely economical....more money to spend at the parks!!!! This year we are getting a 4bdrm with own pool/spa, loaded house...works out about $120/night.

This is what we would like to do for our next trip. My dh would also really like to do Seaworld, Universal and Busch Gardens. Now me and my dd's would really just like to do stay at a WDW resort, but we are thinking if we try a house or condo we would save money and be able to stay for at least 10 days. Any suggestions for house or condos?

 

[M&Mmum]

We always combine a week at Disney with a week or two at the beach. We stay at Disney for one week and then head to the beach and rent a condo there. We've stayed on both coasts and at beaches in N an S Carolina. The beach week is a nice way to unwind and you get the best of both worlds. I have always used VRBO to book condos and have not had a bad experience yet.

 

[2meezers]

This is what we would like to do for our next trip. My dh would also really like to do Seaworld, Universal and Busch Gardens. Now me and my dd's would really just like to do stay at a WDW resort, but we are thinking if we try a house or condo we would save money and be able to stay for at least 10 days. Any suggestions for house or condos?

This will bethe 2nd time we have done this. July '08 we rented a 4bdrm house in Windsor Hills with the grandparents. Was a great spot since we primarily wanted to do Disney but also just have tim eto relax around the pool and house.

This year we are looking at Tuscan Hills a 4 bdrm with another family so we will be splitting so it basically works out to about $70.00/family/night. This year we are doing Disney and Universal and maybe even a day at Seaworld.

We start our searches on VRBO.com and homeaway.com and look primarily in the Orlando/Kissimmee area and are able to enter dates, # of bdrms, etc to narrow your searches down.

I know it is not for everyone, but for us it works great and we love the convenience and comfort of a house to have....pool, BBQ, washer/dryer and usually so much more like games rooms, and everyone being able to havetheir own space.

Good luck!!

 

[irisesareblue]

but I've NEVER stayed on-site First time we stayed at Howard Johnson's in Kissimmee, second time we stayed at the Marriott Village Lake Buena Vista and the last time in January, DSD and I stayed at the Regal Sun Resort. Our next trip is planned for June and we are renting a villa in Davenport, then in August we have plans to stay at the Royale Parc Suites in Kissimmee..... often we get a good deal on priceline as well and that helps us keep prices down too.

To be honest, I don't think we could afford to go to Disney as much as we do if we stayed on-site. That being said, I do recognize that the "deals" folks get onsite can be a great value, considering the level of quality in the accommodations. But, I can stay 2 or 3 nights off-site for the price of 1 night onsite. And I have an annual pass, so my parking is free.

The one thing I truly LOVE LOVE LOVE about Disney is that it doesn't matter if you stay at the local Super 8 or the Grand Floridian, once you're in the parks, you get treated with the same level of courtesy and respect.

 

[sympatico]

If you're going to Universal and stay at one of their hotels for those nights then you get free access to their Express Pass, otherwise if you want to use it you have to pay unlike Disney's that's free to all.