Advice on non-DVC lodging options

[amyngary]

11 months go, I booked BLT for 11/21-11/27. However, airfare has been crazy high for our family of five, so I was planning to cancel our trip completely.... Then the fare war last week saved the day. I got amazing airfare on Frontier, but the dates didn't match - we are now going from 11/24-12/2. I figured surely SSR or OKW would be free for the remaining nights.... Ooops - I have a gap in the middle of my trip - 2 nights, 11/27-11/29 with no place to stay. There are places free one of the nights, but unless I can find a DVC option for both nights, I'm thinking we will go off property.

I'd love advice since it's been a decade since we've stayed off property. I'd rather avoid a car rental since that adds expense and hassle to pick it up and return it in the middle of our trip.

I need something for 11/27-11/29 that I could cancel up to a couple days in advance. Ideally, we'd use at least one of those days as a park-free day with downtime at a nice pool, etc., but that's not a requirement. At this point, I just want something cheap with a flexible cancellation policy. I really want the waitlist to come through mainly for logistical reasons (I'm also checking manually daily for other DVC properties, but this late I'm not very hopeful).

Advice?

 

[Deb & Bill]

How about the DTD hotels? Maybe Mousesavers has some discounts you could use.

 

[chalee94]

for villas, I'd look into Sheraton Vistana Resort:

http://www.allears.net/acc/faq_svistana.htm

(not sure about the cancel policy.)

there are a number of decent to nice marriotts (or courtyard/Fairfield branded) in the wdw area.

but I never recommend using shuttles to get to the parks - either take an off day or rent a car IMO.

 

[ldo]

ifyou don't want a car, then you are really limited to DTD/Dolphin/Swan hotels. Most should have liberal canx policies. It's not hard to get a car--you can pick up at WDW Car Car center or at Dolphin hotel (Alamo/National) or at Hilton DTD (Avis). That opens up a lot of near/but off-site options. We are also a family of 5 and stay off-site sometimes. If we have a car, we like the Sea World area--easy back road and prices are a bit lower. We have stayed at Residence Inn, FF Inn, Srpinghill suites, Marriott Harbour Lakes. There are some hotels in Marriott village that might have a shuttle to the parks, but you still have to taxi over to take your luggage to/from. You will have to take a taxi to/from DTD hotels also, as WDw buses do not allow luggage.
Marriott Springhill suites SW is $140 for your dates. BV Suites, Hilton, Dbl tree suites (all in DTD area) are around $200+/-. Personally, with DTD hotels around $200+, I might consider Port Orleans Riverside (Alligator Bayou), which has rooms that can sleep 5, with 2Q and a murphy bed for about $200. We stayed there with 3 kids and it was fine for a couple days. Fun atmosphere and good quick dining. It's nice to rent bikes and the main pool is very nice. Rooms only should be 5 day canx policy.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

So a cab is acceptable? Because if you don't have a car I don't know how you'll get to and from your off site location for check-in/check out.

Otherwise a Disney resort would be an option if available and then they will handle moving luggage.

 

[amyngary]

Thanks all for the great and thoughtful advice. I happened to snag the final two nights at OKW using points, so I no longer need to stay offsite. I still can't believe I happened to login at the right time to see these nights come available - I couldn't find anything for the Friday after Thanksgiving until today I was actually thinking maybe I would pay cash ($500+) for the one night and use points for the 2nd one just to avoid leaving property and dealing with cab fare or a rental car. Luckily someone cancelled something just in time before I wasted that money!