Comparing two offsite locations

[Immadismom]

We will be visiting during the last week of June for a training conference DH is attending. The conference is hosted at the JW Marriott Grande Lakes. His company will pay for our room there. We are a family of 5. So, we will either need to pay for an extra room there for 6 nights, or we can get a suite at the Doubletree Disney springs fully paid for by his company, with no extra room needed.

I am planning on purchasing 3 day passes to go to MK, Epcot & Hollywood Studios.

Trying to weigh the pros & cons of each hotel. We will have a rental car, and it seems that both hotels offer park shuttles. It seems the benefits of EMH and 60 day FPs will sway us to the Doubletree. But my concern is for the days we don’t do the parks. JW Marriott appears to have a phenomenal pool area that we could spend 1 or 2 days at. Is that worth the cost of 6 nights for the extra room?

I have also posted this question in the Orlando Area Hotels board. But everyone here has been so helpful when we went last year, I wanted to get input from the budget minded folks also!

 

[ClapYourHands]

We will be visiting during the last week of June for a training conference DH is attending. The conference is hosted at the JW Marriott Grande Lakes. His company will pay for our room there. We are a family of 5. So, we will either need to pay for an extra room there for 6 nights, or we can get a suite at the Doubletree Disney springs fully paid for by his company, with no extra room needed.

I am planning on purchasing 3 day passes to go to MK, Epcot & Hollywood Studios.

Trying to weigh the pros & cons of each hotel. We will have a rental car, and it seems that both hotels offer park shuttles. It seems the benefits of EMH and 60 day FPs will sway us to the Doubletree. But my concern is for the days we don’t do the parks. JW Marriott appears to have a phenomenal pool area that we could spend 1 or 2 days at. Is that worth the cost of 6 nights for the extra room?

I have also posted this question in the Orlando Area Hotels board. But everyone here has been so helpful when we went last year, I wanted to get input from the budget minded folks also!

I'd do the suite at Doubletree, and spend more time at Disney. Have you priced the tickets yet? The cost comes down per day with each additional day. I just popped over to the Undercover Tourist website, and it looks like you can do a 5 or 6 day ticket for about $100 more per ticket than a 3 day ticket. Even if you got tickets with the extra days for all your days there for everyone (would DH need tickets for every day if he's at the conference?), that only comes out to around $500 dollars. I assume you'd pay more than than for 6 nights at the Marriott.

The Doubletree pool isn't as fancy, and might not be enough for two pool days, but it should be fine for daily downtime swims.

Also, the Disney Springs hotels offer reliable scheduled shuttle service. While I'm sure the Marriott has shuttles, they will not be as frequent and convenient.

 

[Immadismom]

I'd do the suite at Doubletree, and spend more time at Disney. Have you priced the tickets yet? The cost comes down per day with each additional day. I just popped over to the Undercover Tourist website, and it looks like you can do a 5 or 6 day ticket for about $100 more per ticket than a 3 day ticket. Even if you got tickets with the extra days for all your days there for everyone (would DH need tickets for every day if he's at the conference?), that only comes out to around $500 dollars. I assume you'd pay more than than for 6 nights at the Marriott.

The Doubletree pool isn't as fancy, and might not be enough for two pool days, but it should be fine for daily downtime swims.

Also, the Disney Springs hotels offer reliable scheduled shuttle service. While I'm sure the Marriott has shuttles, they will not be as frequent and convenient.

We’re waiting to see what the ticket discount is from the conference. Their discounts will not be released until 6 months pre-conference, which is still 2 weeks away. Based on last years prices, we will definitely purchase through their discount. I will discuss adding extra days with DH. But, we were there last year in June, and DH isn’t a huge Disney fan as it is, so I doubt I can convince him to do more than 3 days. Lol! We did 1 1/2 days last year, and he was done. DS is also begging for a SeaWorld day, which isn’t out of the question yet. Our kids are teens, 15 - 18, so none of them are disappointed if we don’t fit it all in. I’m just trying to stay as low-budget as possible, because we’re also doing a big beach trip for Spring Break. This trip is a “bonus” because of the training conference...not one we had planned on taking this year.

 

[ClapYourHands]

We’re waiting to see what the ticket discount is from the conference. Their discounts will not be released until 6 months pre-conference, which is still 2 weeks away. Based on last years prices, we will definitely purchase through their discount. I will discuss adding extra days with DH. But, we were there last year in June, and DH isn’t a huge Disney fan as it is, so I doubt I can convince him to do more than 3 days. Lol! We did 1 1/2 days last year, and he was done. DS is also begging for a SeaWorld day, which isn’t out of the question yet. Our kids are teens, 15 - 18, so none of them are disappointed if we don’t fit it all in. I’m just trying to stay as low-budget as possible, because we’re also doing a big beach trip for Spring Break. This trip is a “bonus” because of the training conference...not one we had planned on taking this year.

If you think you might do Sea World, then even more reason not to spend the extra money on 6 nights at another hotel, and put it towards those tickets. Double Tree is in Disney Springs, which doesn't have a TON of things to do, but your teens might enjoy wandering through the stores and maybe having a meal or two there. It might make up for the Double Tree having an ordinary pool.

You might also look to see if the discounted conference tickets come with an "extra." We had convention tickets for our last trip, and the extra could be a round of mini golf or a day at one of the Disney waterparks. That would definitely make a great hotel pool less necessary. And with teens, I'd trust them to take the shuttle back to the Double Tree if they wanted to stay later or explore another park on their own.

I hear you on DH and Disney. My DH hates Disney. He went on a trip in 2016 because friends of ours came over from the UK and met us there. 2 Days at MK, 1 Day at AK, and half a day at Epcot - he doesn't understand why I would want to go back because we've "done" Disney, even though we never even set foot in the 4th park that trip! In November, I took our older kids solo, and I'm planning a princess trip for this coming fall with just DD. If DH is at a conference, how much will he be with you all? Any chance you can go to the parks while he is busy with work and meet up afterwards to spare him park time?

 

[Immadismom]

If you think you might do Sea World, then even more reason not to spend the extra money on 6 nights at another hotel, and put it towards those tickets. Double Tree is in Disney Springs, which doesn't have a TON of things to do, but your teens might enjoy wandering through the stores and maybe having a meal or two there. It might make up for the Double Tree having an ordinary pool.

You might also look to see if the discounted conference tickets come with an "extra." We had convention tickets for our last trip, and the extra could be a round of mini golf or a day at one of the Disney waterparks. That would definitely make a great hotel pool less necessary. And with teens, I'd trust them to take the shuttle back to the Double Tree if they wanted to stay later or explore another park on their own.

I hear you on DH and Disney. My DH hates Disney. He went on a trip in 2016 because friends of ours came over from the UK and met us there. 2 Days at MK, 1 Day at AK, and half a day at Epcot - he doesn't understand why I would want to go back because we've "done" Disney, even though we never even set foot in the 4th park that trip! In November, I took our older kids solo, and I'm planning a princess trip for this coming fall with just DD. If DH is at a conference, how much will he be with you all? Any chance you can go to the parks while he is busy with work and meet up afterwards to spare him park time?

Good tip on the extra, I’ll be sure to look for that! DH May only get a one or two day pass for himself. Beyond not being toointo Disney, he HATES the heat. He toughed it out last year, which will make him much less inclined to do extra park time this year.

So much to think about. But I’m heavily leaning toward the Doubletree at Disney Springs.

 

[Shughart]

I say go with the Doubletree!