Can anyone help an offsite newbie?

[laceyinwonderland]

We are thinking of getting AP's this go round. We've always stayed onsite and loved it, but I know every stay cant be onsite if we are going several times a year. I see people all over the boards talk of getting awesome deals offsite. I don't know where to start. Ive checked out the hotels in the Orlando area on Groupon and Living Social but is that the best way to find deals? Can anyone give me any tips or pointers? For the people who rent homes and condos, do you have to rent Sat to Sat? We will be looking for a few week long rentals, but we will also need some long weekend stays as well. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!!

 

[Ckania]

We have rented from globalresorthomes.com. Their prices are located at the individual houses' website and if you call and ask about specials, they have always found us a discount. We rented a townhouse in Windsor Palms three times now and you don't have to rent Saturday-Saturday and can do any amount of days you want. It's really close to Disney and has a lot of restaurants nearby as well as a Target and Publix.

 

[Upatnoon]

We are thinking of getting AP's this go round. We've always stayed onsite and loved it, but I know every stay cant be onsite if we are going several times a year. I see people all over the boards talk of getting awesome deals offsite. I don't know where to start. Ive checked out the hotels in the Orlando area on Groupon and Living Social but is that the best way to find deals? Can anyone give me any tips or pointers? For the people who rent homes and condos, do you have to rent Sat to Sat? We will be looking for a few week long rentals, but we will also need some long weekend stays as well. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!!

To me the best deals in Orlando are renting timeshares. There are lots of great properties and you get much more space and comfort than a tiny hotel room. You also get full kitchens that can also help you cut costs.

For a Disney visit, Wyndham Bonnet Creek is a great place to start since the location is surrounded by Disney. There is whole thread about that place on here.

There are many places to rent timeshares, but the easiest place to start is on ebay. You can see what's available and how much they are going for.

 

[powellrj]

I have never found any good deal with living social and groupon for travel, lately for hotels, I have found the best deals going directly to the hotels. If you are looking for a condo or house, I use homeaway and vrbo. Use any discounts you can, AAA, AARP, employer, those kind of things.

 

[Ametista]

We always book through Homeaway and TripAdvisor. We can always find a 3 or 4 bedroom townhome or home for less than a hotel (unless you are talking really cheap hotel). Plus, having a kitchen means we save a fortune on food.

 

[Dave1234]

Check out one of the villa rental sites that allow owners to rent out their properties near Disney. Good examples are windsorhillsprivaterentals .com and emeraldislandprivaterentals .com
Dave

 

[highlander4]

I normally check out bookit .com after Christmas or new years everything gets cheaper.

 

[laceyinwonderland]

You guys are awesome!! Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply! This was just the info I was looking for! Cant wait to check out these websites!

 

[sersee05]

I rented a home managed by global...but found it on homeaway...much cheaper than going through global. Global seems to be a good management company. Place I rented....spotless.

 

[rwdavis2]

We have liked All Star Vacation Homes.

 

[JimMIA]

The first two responses sum it up -- rent either homes, townhouses, or timeshares from the owners. That "from the owner" part is the key with timeshares -- don't call the resort, use one of the brokerage services who match up timeshare owners with people who want to rent.

For onsite using the same strategy, go to the DIS DVC Rent/Trade board for DVC rentals. (You have to be logged into the DIS to see that forum.) You will also see David's Vacation Rentals there -- which is a brokerage service with an excellent reputation.

 

[jeff968]

We started with the Timeshare rental back in 2001 and could never do anything but a timeshare now. We've stayed at many of them. If you stay with a name brand like Marriott and Hilton you can rest assured that you'll have a high quality experience. As others have mentioned, we have saved tons of money by doing breakfast, lunch, snacks, and drinks out of our unit. First stop on our trip after we check in is the Publix grocery store. I have found deals on eBay as well but check out the marketplace section of tug.com. You don't need to be a member of tug to look at the marketplace. I usually pay around $700 - $1200 per week for a timeshare rental at a name brand TS depending on whether I'm getting a 1 or 2 bedroom unit. Good luck.