Cheapest way to add an extra night?

[nilseks]

We are going to Disney 2/23 to 3/2. We fly Southwest on points and I can make changes for free, so I am contemplating changing our departure to 2/22 because it's less points than what I originally 'paid'.

Obviously this means we would need an extra night of hotel and rental car. When I called Vacation Strategy to see about adding an extra night, it was $500--which is crazy because our original 7 night reservations was only $1500 (but yeah, I get it). Obviously, not adding an extra night there.

When I look up rental cars, going over a week seems to add a pretty hefty extra cost too. Not sure if this is standard? Sooo...wondering the cheapest way to go about this? Do we fly in Saturday night, hope to get a cheap room in the Hyatt inside MCO, and pick up a rental car Sunday morning? Or would it be cheaper to add on on extra day of rental car and drive a bit closer to Disney and find a cheap hotel for one night? It's so hard to gauge what will be least expensive since we are 5 months out and I don't know how rental car rates and hotel rooms may go up or down. It's the tail end of President's week AND the weekend of the Princess half marathon--not sure how crowded it will be or how that will impact things either. Am I better off waiting, or booking now? What to do, what to do???

 

[Lynne G]

Unless you want another day in Orlando, I'd fly in the night before, enjoy the Hyatt or other shuttle to airport hotel, and get the rental and make a very early check in at Disney the next day.

Check the Transportation board, there are ways to get the Hyatt via Hotwire. The Hyatt also takes AAA and gov't/military rates. If that cost is too high, check the other local airport hotels. Maybe one would even include a free breakfast.

Also, keep checking rental rates. They go up and down. Fiind codes and try different combinations. I have not found 8 days versus 7 that much of a difference. Most of the time, the days past a week are just a day by day charge, so an extra $30 or so, depending on what rental provider you are using. Also check Hotwire and other online discounters to see if you can get a better rental rate.

Have a great trip whatever you decide.

 

[sympatico]

Is it possible for your extra night to book one of the Disney value hotels, take the ME from the airport to your hotel and then have one of you return on ME to the airport the next day to pick up your rental car and then start your stay at Bonnet Creek.

 

[Upatnoon]

We are going to Disney 2/23 to 3/2. We fly Southwest on points and I can make changes for free, so I am contemplating changing our departure to 2/22 because it's less points than what I originally 'paid'.

Obviously this means we would need an extra night of hotel and rental car. When I called Vacation Strategy to see about adding an extra night, it was $500--which is crazy because our original 7 night reservations was only $1500 (but yeah, I get it). Obviously, not adding an extra night there.

When I look up rental cars, going over a week seems to add a pretty hefty extra cost too. Not sure if this is standard? Sooo...wondering the cheapest way to go about this? Do we fly in Saturday night, hope to get a cheap room in the Hyatt inside MCO, and pick up a rental car Sunday morning? Or would it be cheaper to add on on extra day of rental car and drive a bit closer to Disney and find a cheap hotel for one night? It's so hard to gauge what will be least expensive since we are 5 months out and I don't know how rental car rates and hotel rooms may go up or down. It's the tail end of President's week AND the weekend of the Princess half marathon--not sure how crowded it will be or how that will impact things either. Am I better off waiting, or booking now? What to do, what to do???

You might consider 1 night at the Wyndham Grande hotel, which is part of the bonnet creek complex and would make moving to your timeshare easy. You would still need to pay for the extra rental car day of course.

 

[jmasgat]

Is it possible for your extra night to book one of the Disney value hotels, take the ME from the airport to your hotel and then have one of you return on ME to the airport the next day to pick up your rental car and then start your stay at Bonnet Creek.

I would have suggested a variant of this, except that Saturday night at a value is ~$190+tax! (I've looked since I'm going for Princess). The variant being--depending on who you are renting from, you could arrange to pick up the car in LBV instead of the airport. If Alamo/National, there is Car care center or Swan/Dolphin. Avis, Dollar, Budget have locations at hotels in DTD.

It's still too early for any good rental car deals for then. I've been checking regularly for that weekend.

Unless you plan to fly in on Saturday morning and get a whole day out of it, the savings of making the flight change may get eaten up by the extra cost of the hotel and car.

 

[happymommy]

Is it possible for your extra night to book one of the Disney value hotels, take the ME from the airport to your hotel and then have one of you return on ME to the airport the next day to pick up your rental car and then start your stay at Bonnet Creek.

I think this would take a lot of your time to do that.

I'd look into just staying at an airport hotel (they provide shuttles, just make sure before you commit). The Hyatt is usually more, since you're paying for the convenience (although it may be worth it, or you may find a good rate). Then just get up early to get your rental car.

One thing to keep in mind, though: what TIME are you supposed to pick up your rental car and drop it off? If you were going over the one week anyway by picking it up early the next morning, I'd just get it the night before and stay wherever you can find a good place. That way, you can get out early and get a start on your vacation!

 

[nilseks]

Thanks so much for all the input! Love the ideas. I had not thought of Wyndham Grand and that's another good option too. I'm just going to have to wait until closer to our trip to decide--because that's when I'll have a better idea about pricing--but at least I've got some good options.

I'm not so worried about the extra night eating up costs. That's okay, within reason. If we come in on Sunday we won't arrive until 4, so I feel like this really does give us an extra day to enjoy Orlando and it will be worth it. Just need to find a way to do it where the cost is reasonable.