Anyone go from WDW resort to a house rental?

[mefordis]

I am pricing out my Aug 2018 vacation and holy moly I cannot believe how pricey resorts have gotten. I am looking into possibly renting a house for our family of 4. I would save $4000 ! How can that be right??

Anyone go from resort to renting a house and not look back? Anyone try it and regret not staying on property?

Note: we would be renting 2 resort rooms so that makes a resort considerably more expensive.

 

[sponica]

I am pricing out my Aug 2018 vacation and holy moly I cannot believe how pricey resorts have gotten. I am looking into possibly renting a house for our family of 4. I would save $4000 ! How can that be right??

Anyone go from resort to renting a house and not look back? Anyone try it and regret not staying on property?

Note: we would be renting 2 resort rooms so that makes a resort considerably more expensive.

Would you be renting a car either way? I stayed in a house offsite once for a huge family trip, which was kind of a pain because it meant the driver decided when we were done for the day...granted this was way before the days of Uber and smartphones. (i imagine it would be a different experience for me if i was in charge of the timeline)

 

[Frances Carter]

I am pricing out my Aug 2018 vacation and holy moly I cannot believe how pricey resorts have gotten. I am looking into possibly renting a house for our family of 4. I would save $4000 ! How can that be right??

Anyone go from resort to renting a house and not look back? Anyone try it and regret not staying on property?

Note: we would be renting 2 resort rooms so that makes a resort considerably more expensive.

We almost always stay at Windsor hills resort. It is very close to ESPN wide world of sports. We love it, not only for the price, but also for the amount of space! We are AP holders, so parking is free for us when we visit the parks. From our rental home, we can be parked and headed to to parks in 15-20 minutes. That can sometimes be faster than resort transportation.
We like to visit WDW often and the savings we get by staying off property allows us to do that. Also, we enjoy having home cooked meals over eating out every meal. This too can save a considerable amount of money.
We do stay on property from time to time but usually only for a couple of days then we spend the rest of our trip off property.

 

[rwdavis2]

We did it once and thought it was fine. Stayed in a townhouse in Windsor Hills rented from All Star Vacation Homes (no affiliation). Huge selection. The savings in dollars made up for the loss of EMH and theming at the time. Now that WDW is going to allow offsite hotels 60 day FP+ access there's not much downside.

 

[ArwenMarie]

We stay at the Marriott timeshares when we stay offsite. We just pay the cash rate through Marriott. We like the kitchen and all of the bedrooms and all that, and the housekeeping has always been perfect. Their cancellation policy is also awesome, I think 48 hours? Something like that.

 

[BigredNole]

We have not rented a house, but we do stay offsite. It is usually a 50-90% discount off Disney Value resort rates. We get 2BR deluxe resort accommodations, full kitchen, 2 full baths, grills outdoors. Even if you have to rent a car it is cheaper. Upgrade one pass to an AP because the benefits are saved for free parking and free MM. You can even Uber back and forth for cheap rates.

To give you a perspective, we stayed in 1BR at WBC for 7 nights ($560) and 2BR at Orange Lake Resort for 7-nights ($750). The price for 6-nights at Pop Century for the same 2nd half of June was $1,200. For $100 more, we had 2-5x the space, full kitchens, and far better than Disney meals, and an additional 8-nights down there. Plus the resorts have entertainment all day long. For equivalent accommodations on Disney property, the cost would have been over $8,000.

 

[mefordis]

Would you be renting a car either way? I stayed in a house offsite once for a huge family trip, which was kind of a pain because it meant the driver decided when we were done for the day...granted this was way before the days of Uber and smartphones. (i imagine it would be a different experience for me if i was in charge of the timeline)

We would rent a car either way. Whoever sleeps in (my husband) would just take an Uber. The house is 5 mins away, so they say.

 

[lauracitawita]

We always stayed at a WDW resort until about 2 years ago. My daughter is now a teenager and we usually bring a friend with her. One room with four people and one bathroom....not fun.

I was so worried about staying offsite. My daughter was totally against it.

We have stayed offsite 5 times now and have 2 more planned. The extra space is so nice. Everyone gets their own room and we have always had 2 or 3 bathrooms.

We rent a car now which is also great. Every time we get in the car after a long day at the park, I say, "we would probably still be standing in line to get on a bus!" It's so nice to not be freezing on a crowded bus...probably standing...just to get back to a resort room and have to wind down on the bed instead of comfy couches after getting our snacks from the kitchen!

I do love some of the WDW resorts and we always had a great time, but the money savings and space is just too good to pass up now. I don't feel like we leave the Disney bubble.

I am a total convert.

Have fun whatever you choose!

 

[mefordis]

We have not rented a house, but we do stay offsite. It is usually a 50-90% discount off Disney Value resort rates. We get 2BR deluxe resort accommodations, full kitchen, 2 full baths, grills outdoors. Even if you have to rent a car it is cheaper. Upgrade one pass to an AP because the benefits are saved for free parking and free MM. You can even Uber back and forth for cheap rates.

To give you a perspective, we stayed in 1BR at WBC for 7 nights ($560) and 2BR at Orange Lake Resort for 7-nights ($750). The price for 6-nights at Pop Century for the same 2nd half of June was $1,200. For $100 more, we had 2-5x the space, full kitchens, and far better than Disney meals, and an additional 8-nights down there. Plus the resorts have entertainment all day long. For equivalent accommodations on Disney property, the cost would have been over $8,000.

I haven't thought about WBC! Is it easy to get an uber back and forth at all hours (open to close)? Thanks!

 

[BigredNole]

Not sure about Uber, but have heard it is pretty good there. I have also heard you run into that extra pricing stuff often because people see 25,689 people in line at closing to go to Pop Century. They go to the phone to book Uber and get that demand pricing.

 

[ELSA711]

We stayed WBC the past year and while we had some personal issues with the resort itself we will most definitely be looking at other options for our future trips vs staying onsite.
I loved it! Love the space etc. We drive so no issues there.

 

[mefordis]

We stayed WBC the past year and while we had some personal issues with the resort itself we will most definitely be looking at other options for our future trips vs staying onsite.
I loved it! Love the space etc. We drive so no issues there.

If you don't mind elaborating, what issues did you have at WBC? Which other resorts will you look into? I like that it is behind the disney gates.

 

[robinb]

Yes! I rented a 4-bedroom house a few years ago for our family of 3 and it was FANTASTIC! It was my favorite off-site stay because there was plenty of room, a full kitchen and laundry, a comfortable area to watch TV and our own PRIVATE pool. It was nice to come home and take a dip anytime I wanted to. The house was in Formosa Gardens which was only about a 10 minute drive to the Purple Gates. We rented it over Christmas and even at the busiest time of year I barely missed being onsite. Yes ... driving to the MK and waiting to get on the ferry was a PITB. Yes ... I missed being able to stay at the MK until 3:00 am during EMH. But, the amount of money I saved and the extra room was well worth it!

 

[robinb]

I have also stayed in a 2-bedroom condo at Windsor Hills (through Windsor Hills For Less) and a 1-bedroom villa at the Wyndham Cypress Point resort thought SkyAuction.

 

[MalkaR]

I rented a 3 bedroom 3 bathroom condo with splash pool at Windsor Hills last winter and we loved it. I chose one that was Disney decorated. We especially loved the community pool. We rented a car and had no issues, didn't hit traffic or anything on our way to and from the parks. Look for the one you want on vrbo but then book directly through the owner to avoid the fees.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

We rented a house for our April 2017 trip.
It was 14 people total.
My sister and I shared a king bed.
I'd much rather have my own bed.
We stayed on the edge of Davenport and Clermont and had stayed many many times in Davenport at the hotels/motels right at I-4/rt. 27 and I'd say I enjoyed that more than the house.
We had to purchase a bunch of items for the house which was irritating and we had to basically clean the house from top to bottom before we left in order to get the security deposit back.
Also the garage door broke the first time we attempted to open it so we had to park on the street which was specifically against the rules but the owner couldn't get it fixed while we were there so we had to.
It was nice that we could all gather together in one spot to talk but ov erall I'd much rather stay in a Disney resort or even a hotel offsite. ]

 

[ELSA711]

If you don't mind elaborating, what issues did you have at WBC? Which other resorts will you look into? I like that it is behind the disney gates.

We stayed at WBC this past June. We did not love that there were no life guards or pool maintenance people around.
There were a few situations with explosive toddlers not wearing diapers and/or vomiting in pool with little to no concern from the parents. There never seemed to be anyone around to even report it to.
I just felt there was a lot of chaos around the pool without supervision. My little one was run over hard by a group of kids racing around to grab some tubes for the lazy river.

I don't know, all in all it made me love staying off site. Kitchen, Laundry, lots and lots of space but the place itself left a lot to be desired based on all the onsite hotels we frequent.
I guess I'm a snob that way

We had some cleanliness issues and cockroaches in our 'apartment' as well.

 

[mindeola]

We have only ever stayed on property. BUT... we have a trip booked for March with my whole family and we have rented a six bedroom house. The house looks beautiful and I know the Non-Disney lovers will enjoy being out of the bubble. It is costing about $348 per family for the entire week. My niece will be in the college program so this will allow us to visit her three times instead of once. We will have three cars and 2 of us have AP's for free parking.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Don't forget about $20/day for parking at the theme parks, unless someone in the vehicle has an annual pass.

 

[BigredNole]

We stayed at WBC this past June. We did not love that there were no life guards or pool maintenance people around.
There were a few situations with explosive toddlers not wearing diapers and/or vomiting in pool with little to no concern from the parents.

You had to have been there when we were there (around June 18th). Vomit boy (that's what I called him) didn't even know how to swim and the family just puts him in there. He goes under, swallows tons of water, and starts up his food. The family didn't do anything other than encourage him to continue tossing everything up in the pool. They were also the ones that put their other non-potty trained kid in the pool to take the "L" out of it.

It was definitely a family group that doesn't fit the mold of normal guests. Took a free 2-night stay if they go to a sales pitch and getting stuck in it all day. We only saw them the one night and people left as they saw them coming up from anywhere.