Affordable accomodations for large families?

[Lisa P.]

...$95 charge... thread on Timeshare Users Group about it. I think even exchangers (if you can get it) are charged it.

Actually, only exchangers who trade in via II are charged this oddball fee. It must be paid to the resort prior to check-in. II sends the notice on their confirmation letter with DVC contact info so that it can be prepaid and the confirmation formalized.

If you rent directly from an owner, the owner obtains a (free) guest confirmation for you. As a guest of an owner, the exchange surcharge is not imposed.

 

[DisneyKidds]

If you rent DVC points from a DVC member to stay at a DVC resort the only thing you will (should) pay is the number of points rented X the agreed upon price per point. For example, if you rent 65 points at $10 a point to stay at BCV/BWV/VWL/OKW all you will pay is $650, and you will pay it directly to the DVC member who will make a reservation for you. You will not have to pay any fee when you check in.

 

[tw1nsmom]

I want to emphasize what others have written and say that renting a house is a great way to go. I too love staying on-site, but this past October it wasn't an option financially. My mother and her friend came with us, bringing our group to 6. We rented a home through Floridaleisure and loved it. We all had our own room, a private screened in pool and full kitchen. As someone else said, it was nicer than the house we live in. Staying on-site is great, but if I ever stay off-site again it will be in a rented house.

 

[Duckbarn]

Renting a cabin at Tropical Palms Resort near WDW is an economical option for large families. We stayed there a couple of years ago in the fall, for about $70 per night. You can do you own cooking and save $$. The kids really enjoyed the kiddy pool.
There are 8 in our family, I know that options are limited for big families. I'm hoping to stay at Fort Wilderness next fall. Here's the web site for Tropical Palms. http://www.tropicalpalms.com/

 

[Gumball]

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[Belle5]

Duckbarn,
We are about to be a family of 8 soon, too. I wasn't sure if you knew that the cabins in FW only sleep 6. I know you may have an RV or all 8 of you aren't l going but I thought I'd throw that information out there for you.

 

[Duckbarn]

Thanks Belle5, yes I know that the cabins only hold 6. My oldest son (21) will not be going. So there will be 7 of us. The other kids ages are(9,7,7,4,4). We don't have a RV so, I may have to forget about one of the kids when making cabin reservations. They don't take up much room so I don't think we will be crowded. I really want my kids to experience Fort Wilderness and my wife won't tent camp.

 

[mom2twinz3]

Thanks to everyone for all the great suggestions. I think we are going to give HIFS a try. It is offsite, but it looks like they make up for that with lots of fun and action. With the discount rate I got, I can stay there cheaper than I can on site, plus the free breakfast buffet makes it even more economical than it would seem just taking the rates alone into consideration.

Has anyone here stayed at HIFS before and did you like it?

Thanks so much,

Mary

 

[MELSMICE]

Originally posted by mom2twinz3

Has anyone here stayed at HIFS before and did you like it?

Mary - I am a big pro on-site Disney fanatic, however, we did stay at the HIFS in Dec. 2001 & thoroughly enjoyed it. If I stay off-site again that would be the one & only place I would stay.

My family loved the pool (my kids loved that you could get Dippin Dots at the pool snack bar), we got breakfast every morning. We enjoyed the lunch deal quite a few times. We all love Pizza Hut pizza!

The "suites" are not huge, but it is so nice to have a separate bedroom for mom & dad, along with a small kitchenette that includes a micro & fridge. I think you will enjoy it.

P.S. I'm a mom of twins also (DD 13 & DD twins 10!)

 

[mom2smjn]

We are also a family of six and we have gone several times...once we stayed on site at All Star Movies with 2 connecting rooms(we had a coupon code for $49 a night each)
This past year though we stayed off site at Comfort Suites Maingate East and we LOVED it. Free breakfast was a huge $$$ saver and it was a really nice place. Quiet..but close to a ton of things(Old town and shopping and food)
Go here to check it out: Comfort Suites Maingate East



Really nice and clean, rooms sleep six with a mini fridge, micro, coffeepot in room. Literally 3 minutes from TTC at MK.

We went through Expedia and got the room for $379 for the week.

 

[SeattleMark]

I would certainly second those who favor renting a house. This isn't someone just letting you use their house. This is buig business in Orlando especially. The houses are built to be rented in most cases.

We use VillaDirect.com and have been very happy with their service. We rent a brand new 4 BR house, beautifully furnished with everything you can imagine (big screen TV, screened private pool, video games, lavish furnishings, etc) for $130/night! I'll never stay at a hotel in Orlando again. If you look on their site, we rent the Sunshine Bay Villa. It's literally 3 minutes from Disney, right near a grocery store, etc. They have larger ones and less expensive ones too. I'm sure you could get a 5 or 6 bedroom house for less than you'll pay for a hotel (and it's free doughnuts).

We can stay here much cheaper than if we were eating at restaurants every night!

Check it out!

Mark

 

[heart4dis]

I'm going in Dec. 03 (family of 6). We're staying at HIFS for 109/night. Not sure of rates at time you plan to go. Check hifamilysuites.com
I posted a thread similar to this and got some websites to try. Most people suggested timeshares, apartments and houses. I really liked the HIFS Kidsuite option the best for our crew. We'll still have a small refrigerator and microwave, but the breakfasts are included and kids eat free.

 

[mom2twinz3]

Originally posted by MELSMICE

My family loved the pool (my kids loved that you could get Dippin Dots at the pool snack bar), we got breakfast every morning. We enjoyed the lunch deal quite a few times. We all love Pizza Hut pizza!

The "suites" are not huge, but it is so nice to have a separate bedroom for mom & dad, along with a small kitchenette that includes a micro & fridge. I think you will enjoy it.

P.S. I'm a mom of twins also (DD 13 & DD twins 10!)

Hi Melsmice,

Nice to see another twins mom! Thanks for taking the time to reply on HIFS.

I had a couple of questions for you. What is the lunch deal with Pizza Hut? And since I see you stayed there in early Dec, how was the weather at that time of year? I see you mention the pool, so I am assuming you were still able to swim?

Thanks so much,

Mary

 

[mom2twinz3]

Originally posted by heart4dis
I'm going in Dec. 03 (family of 6). We're staying at HIFS for 109/night. Not sure of rates at time you plan to go. Check hifamilysuites.com
I posted a thread similar to this and got some websites to try. Most people suggested timeshares, apartments and houses. I really liked the HIFS Kidsuite option the best for our crew. We'll still have a small refrigerator and microwave, but the breakfasts are included and kids eat free.

We're going 12/03, too! And I got a rate of 109/night at HIFS thru Dreams Unlimited. I'm with you, that this hotel sounds more appealing than a timeshare. I also took the breafast buffet under consideration, this will save us a bundle.

We'll keep lunch meat, cheese, cold drinks and fruits in the fridge, along with other dry snacks, and I plan on getting meal vouchers from Connections when they come out with the ones that expire later in the year. That's why I like planning in advance because it gives me plenty of time to work out meal options and not have to cook.

Mary

 

[crazymomof4]

There are 6 of us too so we again opted for an offsite house as we did in '94. Then there were only 5 of us then but we had a great experience. Because the rent is so cheap we stayed 2 weeks. In between the hectic days in the parks we spent lazy days recovering and refueling by the pool. Eating in on those days saved $$ even if we got take out. This year we had the great advantage of chosing a home via the internet. I found that rental rates are much cheaper if you go on sites that are "for rent by owner" rather than trough an agency. The links provided by doindisneyagain and lilsonicfan are good ones. You will find that the homes closest to WDW have higher rates (makes sense). The home we will have in Sept '03 is 15 mins from WDW, 4 bdrm, 2 bath, w/ pool overlooking a lake. The rent is $525/week (including the 12% tax). Beware when you start researching.....the volume of homes in the Disney area will make your head spin! That's what keeps the prices down....good old competition. One important tip: If you rent directly from the owner (many are from the UK) make sure you check their legitimacy. You don't want to mail off $$ and then find you were scammed. I am sure this happens very infrequently but I asked the owner to provide the name, physical address and phone # of the managment company that oversees the house for the owner. I called them to verify everything before sending a deposit.

 

[keystone minnie]

I used Dreams unlimited as well for a two room suite (room for 8) $79/night; children eat free with a paying adult (dinner and breakfast) and 2 adults get free breakfast buffet/day. There is a kitchenette where we plan to do the cereal and milk thing for breakfast and canned soup and sandwiches for many dinners. AND they don't charge per person! And KFC is right next door (another cheap meal that everyone loves)

It's worth looking into!

Thank God for large families and small families and all familes in between!

 

[Lilly's Dad]

log on to lastminutetravel.com ; click on limited time offers ; scroll to Orlando ....and let me know what you think.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

I agree that for a large family -offsite, especially renting homes usually made specifically for renting for this purpose- would be the cheapest route.
I do want to reiterate the warning that crazymomof4 gave though- don't just go willy-nilly online and think that all online companies are legit. On our first trip we paid for one of thoes rental 3br homes with pool on the lake/etc etc etc etc through hotels.com (paid in advance- no refunds $129 a night for 9 nights) and ended up getting there to get a phone call from the home owner saying they had overbooked his home (AGAIN- not the first time apparently!) and we ended up staying in a rundown townhouse (to me that's like an apt- and it was 2-story which is not good with a barely 2yr old and no gates) that only had 2br, no vcr, etc (it was really bad. I won't get into details though- just know it was bad and hotels.com is not standing behind their "best places for the best prices" guarantee either- at all- so we paid that much for that place we ended up in- period).

So don't trust any company online. Really check them out through others here that might have used them, better business bureau, etc. Don't end up letting a "great deal" turn into a "staying in a slum-house" type vacation.


Oh and btw- DVC in my opinion is the way to go if you want to go DELUXE accomodations (actually better than the deluxe resorts onsite) in a cheaper way.But it by no means is cheaper than the CHEAPEST way to stay onsite. It's only cheaper if you compare it to moderates or deluxes 2 or more rooms. It's not cheaper than value resorts for 2 rooms. I realize they are no way comparable in amenities/etc- but when someone is going for "cheapest"- that doesn't mean cheapest to go deluxe. KWIM?

 

[Shadow8]

The link that was given here earlier is NOT for the
Holday Inn Family Suites ..it's for......

Holiday Inn Maingate East
5678 Irlo Bronson Hwy
Kissimmee, FL 34746

https://www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com/himge/index.htm

This is offered for $69 but make sure you realize it's not
the HIFS!!

 

[Shadow8]

BibbidyBobbidyBoo can you tell us which company you booked the vacation house
with? I'm sure there are a lot of legitimate vacation home companies online and
I'd love to avoid the one you dealt with.

Crazymom... who did you book the house with?

I'm looking for a 4 or 5 bedroom home in March and the rate you
got look great!!

Thanks