Choosing a Less Expensive Hotel for First Night

[Julia M]

Because we fly in from CA, and we always arrive in the evening (the earliest flight we can take lands at 6pm, then we have to get luggage, drive, etc), I booked us at the PO for the first night. Then, to avoid moving right away, we are staying a second night, and then moving to the Poly.

The price difference between the rooms is $151, so we save over $300. Now dh is starting to grumble, thinking we whould just stay the Poly the whole time. He's afraid it will be a hassle to change.

I fugure we can just pack up, put the luggage in the acr, drive over to the Poly and park, check in and off to the parks. We'll just choose to go to EPCOT or MK that day.

Has anybody transfered like this?

I don't mean to sound cheap, but I feel like th expenses on this trip are getting OUT OF CONTROL!!! (Dh also wants to upgrade to concierge!) I just think $300 is $300....it will pay for our meals the first two days, if not more.

ANy thoughts?

Julia

 

[erinz]

We're thinking of doing the same thing. We usually take a flight that lands in Orlando at 12:30 AM. The plan is to find a hotel near the airport, and then the next day go check in at the CR. Our room is $350 a night, so saving that much money would be a huge help.

But, like your DH, I'm sort of unsure about it. The day we would check into the CR is the day that the only thing we were planning on doing was go to MVMCP. Which would most likely mean that we would have no where to relax during the day while we were waiting to go over to the MK.

So, I don't know. The other thing I was thinking ,is that we fly out on Sat. I fugure there would be much more room availability if we checked in on a Sunday rather than late, late Sat. night...

Oh well, we'll see.

Good luck on your decision!

 

[golfgal]

We are considering doing the same thing-arriving later in the evening, staying at a hotel near the airport, then getting to AKL early on the 30th. One thing is that right now, the flight prices seem to be better if we fly on the 29th and, that would give us 6 full days at the parks vs 5 1/2. We will rent a car for our trip, so I would pack on small carry-on size bag for that evening with pj's and an outfit for everyone for the next day-take that to the room and leave everything else in the car. It would give us an extra bag on the way home to carry our purchases, too.

 

[eeyore0062]

We used to do that. The best place we stayed for a reasonable price was the Ramada Inn Westgate on 192 and Boggy Creek. The rooms were a good size, the lobby was nice, and they had a lounge that served food, so when we got in we were able to eat without having to leave and go elsewhere. The next morning we got up really early and checked into our Disney Resort.

 

[TigrLvsPooh]

We do that all the time. We'll usually do Pop Century if we're getting in late and then transfer the next morning. It saves money and none of us really care where we sleep the first night.

 

[my3kids]

We arrived in Orlando about 5 pm. Checked into a hotel outside the gates, got something to eat and went to bed. Got up early, went to the Disney resort to check in around 6 am or so for enjoying early entry. We actually got into our room then which was more than we ever hoped for! Worked out great and saved a lot of money.

 

[keddy]

1

 

[susy]

I would not move to save the $300, but that's just me.

 

[Disfreek]

We are thinking of doing the exact same thing for our December trip. Staying at an allstars & then checking in to the Poly (upgrading to Concierge--if we save 250 , then the upgrade to concierge wouldn't be that much for 6 nights instead of 7 nights)

Our flight gets in at 9:15PM.

 

[DisneyWisher]

We did this in Sept. We had 4 nights planned for Poly and CR(2 at each but later decided to just stay at Poly, DD loved the pool). I was able to get a day off before my vacation was to start so we decided to go a a day early. I booked Pop for that day. We loved it. Got up early the next day and checked-in at Poly for GVC. The move was no big deal. If you can stay Conceirge try it. We loved it.
In November we did a reverse. We were meeting my niece and her family up there but decided to go a day early (hmmm, I seem to go a day early alot). For our main stay we were booked at ASMo. Great nephew's b-day and he loves Buzz. For the day early I booked CR, no tower rooms were available so we stayed in the North Wings (never do that again). Enjoyed staying at CR because we stayed at MK til 1am. Switching to ASMo was no problem. Packed up the car, drove over, and our room was ready right away. The problem I had with CR wings is that some teenagers kept racing up and down the hallway. When staying at a value I don't mind this but when you are paying for a deluxe the last thing you want is alot of noise. Oh well the good with the bad.

Enjoy your stay,
Shirley

 

[leighe]

We usually stay somewhere less expensive the first night and then move. We always let Disney move us and it's no hassle at all! I think it's a great way to save a little money and get to experience more than one Disney resort. Have a good time!

 

[PamNC]

but we stayed off-site real cheap the first night. At the Best Western on I-drive. Actually got a discount from the boards, I think $39 a night. It wasn't a pain the next day. We simply got up early and headed for the Contemporary.

PamNC

 

[madalex]

We did this one trip. We stayed at one of the non-Disney hotels in the Downtown Disney area. It was no big deal to check in for the one night and get up early the next morning to head to the YC. One thing we did to make this easier was that we put a change of clothes for the whole family (4 of us) in one bag, so we only had to take one bag into the first night hotel (rather than all three of the bags we had brought with us). This saved us a couple hundred dollars and was well worth the very minor inconvenience of having to check in to a second hotel.

 

[old lost boy]

We have do this several times. Disney moves your luggage for you which makes life easy. If I had unlimited funds I wouldn't do it but it certainly seems worth $150 to me.

 

[dizplanner]

We did this once, but it was because I could not get the AP rate at Poly for the first two days, but Wilderness Lodge had AP rates. So we stayed two days at WL and then 6 days at Poly. The only mistake we made was letting Disney move our bags and then going to AK and doing Kali Rapids before leaving the park. We were soaked and when we got back to Poly (we had checked in that morning, but had to call for room number - we knew which building) and called, it turned out they had changed the room and needed to get us new cards, but still in the same building. So they were supposed to get our luggage and meet us at the building where we were waiting. We waited and waited, shivering in the air conditioning. Finally someone arrived with the cards, but no luggage. Turns out our luggage was still sitting at WL (and this was after 5pm, so they had had plenty of time to transport it). After a long wait, our luggage finally arrived and everyone was able to change. (We had the kids take showers and get under the covers until their dry clothes arrived.) Fortunately we were able to reschedule our PS at Ohanas that evening as we missed our orginal time.

So we should have just put our luggage in our rental car, or at minimum, not done something where we needed our luggage in a timely fashion.

But still, even with the problem, I would still do a split like that if I liked both resorts and was saving money.