April 2005 - Finally!!

[tabz22]

<--- me excited (but not quite so green!)

My partner and I are going on our first trip to WDW, arriving on the 19th of April! I can't wait!

I have a few questions that I hope you can help with.

As we are converting aussie dollars to US dollars, this trip is really going to break the bank, so we're trying to save as much on accomodation as possible.

2 places we are looking at are Magic Castle Inn & Suites (their website says that it was newly renovated June 2004), and Knights Inn Maingate (basically because we can walk the 1 mile to WDW if we feel the need)
Has anyone stayed in either of these places? Am I on the right track or are we in for dirt and grim?

Also, I was wondering what the shuttle schedules were like, and if there is any way I can find out - will the hotels email them to me if I ask? Are they available online? Are they privatly run or is there a company in Orlando that runs them? Lots of questions but just one more.

My copy of the Unoffical Guide 2005 arrived from Amazon today, and I was reading the chapter about offsite accomodation, and they have a chart in there that has the hotel name then the time to the parks, and the times are all over the place. I can't find anywhere that tells me what the times mean so I'm totally confused - can anyone shed any light??

Thanks for any imput, as you can see i'm one little confused Aussie girl that can't wait to meet Mickey!!

 

[PhotobearSam]

When they say a mile from WDW...They don't mean the park entrance, they mean the edge of the property. It could be up to 3 miles to catch a WDW bus or worse...

Check out www.golynx.com if you really need info on public transportation.

We have stayed at Magic Castle Inn and Suites in the past and are staying there for 2 days before we check into the condo on this trip...

It really needed some renovations and I will take pics in December and get back to you. The cost is $28.99 a night plus taxes for DH and myself. I don't know about shuttles as we always have a car.

To save money, may I suggest getting a condo from Skyauction.com and making your own meals...This has saved us a bunch. We pay about $40 a night (about $280 a week taxes included) and have a lovely 2 bedroom/2 bath full kitchen as well as washer/dryer and we save more money staying there than at Magic Castle.

Making breakfast everyday and supper on some days saves a pile of money...

I hope this helped...


P.S. Welcome to the DIS!!! You have found the best site on the web...

 

[SB in KY]

I don't want to sound like a curmudgeon here....but you really don't want to stay at either of those places (very, yucky!!). Staying off site without a car is a real hassle.

Don't know how many nights you plan to stay, but if a rental car is not in the budget you might REALLY want to consider a value resort on WDW property....because then you have free bus service to everywhere on site included (and if you get lucky they can be as low as $49 to 55/night)

Condos are great if you have your own transportation...but many do not have free shuttle service to the parks, and the ones that do are not very frequent. You can save a lot of $$ cooking your own meals, but only if you have a car to get to a grocery store.

Walking from any hotel to one of the theme parks would be somewhere between dangerous and insane...if you stay at a hotel on Hotel Plaza Blvd in downtown disney you could walk to DTD and catch a bus (but they don't run very early over there)

I would play with the numbers, but for 2 people by the time you figure cost of transportation to and from the airport, hotel costs etc...you might come out better paying a little more for a hotel to stay on site, or pay a little less for a hotel and renting a car.

Either way, if you are spending all the $$ to come from Australia you don't want to ruin the trip with a nasty hotel and crummy transportation.

 

[PhotobearSam]

Not to disagree...but I have stayed at the Magic Castle Inn and Suites and it was clean and since then they have refurbed all their rooms... Some people are on a tight budget and I was when I stayed there.

We rented a room with a King bed, pull out sofa and a fridge/microwave and it was quite clean.

It had gone down in the last couple of years and that is why they refurbed all the rooms. They also had a good free breakfast of cereal, baggels, toast, fruit and donuts..Not bad for $28.99 a night as long as you have a car.

I agree on staying on-site if you can afford it but if not, this is an option.

Also I agree that walking to the parks is suicidal...Not a good idea... But the golynx.com is local transportation...It's an option.

 

[Local_Girl]

well, here's my .02...

If you only plan to sleep in the rooms, spend very little time there, and don't expect any resort luxuries, those resorts may work for you. Many who have relied on offsite shuttles have complained about them...saying especially that the schedules were inconvenient. I agree with the others that there is no way you would want to try to walk to the parks...WDW is almost 50 square miles, so a hotel could be 1 mile away from the perimeter of the property and still be several miles away from the entrance to a park! I really think you should weigh the cost of staying offsite with a rental car vs. staying onsite in a value resort and using the more reliable Disney transportation and see which works best for you. Your best bet would probably be to try and cut costs in other areas, like food and souvenirs. The budget board has some great ideas for that...

Good luck!

 

[tabz22]

Thanks everyone for your advice.

Believe me, if it was in the budget we would be staying onsite, I can't think of anything more wonderful! But the only prices I can find for when we will be there is $89 per night, and compared to $28.99 we're looking at, there is no comparision really. We are looking into having a car for the second week we are there, but as we will both be under 25 when we get there it is going to be quite expensive with all the surcharges and stuff for being underage.

PhotobearSam - I would love to see pics of Magic Castle Inn when you get back in December!

 

[RC Fan]

Hi tabz22!

Some hotels will either fax or e-mail you a copy of their shuttle schedule. Since you are not renting a car, the shuttle schedule can easily make or break your vacation. The hard part is finding a hotel with a good shuttle schedule. If you happen to find one, please let me know, as I am in the same boat.