Dirt cheap hotel?

[Allieloopy]

Hello,
We have been to Disneyworld once in 2007 and had a great time at POP.
We want to go again in Feb. 2009 to celebrate our adoption of our 7 year old. She has never been to Disney and our older kids still can't stop talking about it. It was literally a dream come true for them.

Our only problem is money this time. Hubby is getting cut down to part time and I have been also. While we are looking for new jobs we don't want to put our Disney plans on hold for long. Cheapest rates seem to be in Feb and we don't mind taking the kids out of school.

Is there are cheap hotel or motel that we can fit 5 people in that has a shuttle to Disneyworld? I will miss the magic but it will be worth it to get our new daughter to Disneyworld.

We are expecting to stay two weeks and plane tickets will cost a bit. If we stay on site we would have to get two rooms at a value resort or a suite at ASM and it is pretty expensive. Like I said if we were both still working full time it would be doable but oh well.

I think that renting a car would drive up the cost of staying offsite so we would love to use a shuttle. We have no problem with eating off site and could probably have stuff delivered to our room like we did last time and stored in coolers.

Do any experts out there have an idea of a cheap place that is not a " roach motel"?

 

[jerseygirl81]

Congrats on the adoption of your daughter, it sounds like you are all very fortunate to have each other. I would recommend not going around presidents day or week in Feb. because that week will be more crowded and the rates will probably be higher for rooms and airfare. I have heard of people getting great rates on priceline and I've also read about about condos and homes for about $100 which could be equal to two cheap hotel rooms, since that may be an option for you with 5 people and you would have a kitchen to make some meals. If you use a towncar service from the airport, some of them will make a quick grocery stop so you could save some money on eating out even if its just breakfast stuff and stuff to make sandwiches and water bottles. You can also use a grocery delivery services. I'm sure someone else here can help you better who has done this, I've only read about it. Linda

 

[Allieloopy]

Thanks Jersey,
I checked and Presidents day next year is the 16th. so hopefully we will get out before the rush. Our biggest concern is driving. We both hate to drive in unfamilar places so the Disney shuttles were perfect for us (except having to stand all the time,grrr).
Hoping we can get there next year!

I love my pasted together family. Somehow the puzzle pieces all fit right even though we are all from different puzzles!

 

[lovehoney]

Priceline might be risky. They only guarantee a room for 2. You can try Hotwire but they will only guarantee room for 4. I've added a 3rd kid with no problem - but I'm not sure if all hotels will. Your best bet if you want to use Hotwire is go to betterbidding.com or other sites and do your research on if the hotels sleep 5 and has a shuttle.


I like to splurge for Disney value resorts because my DH and I end up fighting all the time when driving. I'm a horrible back seat driver. I understand wanting a shuttle.

 

[PoohHappens]

Congrats on your adoption. Our DS 6 is adopted and for us it is so magical every time we take him to disney. We feel so privileged to have the honor of being his parents and taking him to WDW. We have our home visit scheduled Wednesday this week to finish our foster liscence here. We are very excited. As to your question. We are staying at Royal Plaza in DTD over thanksgiving with a Mousesavers rate of $89 plus had an upgrade to tower and free breakfast for adults and kids eat free. There is an $8 resort fee also. I would be happy to let you know how that went when we get back. We will have a car but we are planning on trying out the shuttle. The rooms fit 5, 2 doubles and a pull out. Not dirt cheap but certainly less than 2 rooms. However you will not have ME so you would have the cost of to and from airport. We did try a dirt cheap hotel for one night before our trip last year and I will say it was cheap with dirt included. We had to make 3 calls for a shower curtain and it was certainly needed because I wasn't taking a bath in that tub.

 

[Be1021]

Did you ever think about renting points from a DVC member? That can could out very reasonable and you can fit 5 in an AKV studio or in any of the 1 bedrooms. Then you can still use Magical Express and disney transportation and the dining plan if you wisk. Look on the DVC rent trade board.

 

[MomofKatie]

I love Hotwire!! We have gotten some quite nice places in the past few years for around $35-40/night, close to WDW. This past May, we stayed at the Extended Stay Deluxe LBV for $32/night. It is a mini-suite hotel- 2 double beds and a sleeper sofa in each large room, AND a full kitchen! I believe there was a shuttle to WDW property, but we just drove. I am directionally challenged , and I found my way around with no problems. The hotel is very close to DTD and the Crossroads shopping center.

You can look on Hotwire's website for your dates- just isolate your search for the Lake Buena Vista and Kissimmee areas and several good, close-to-WDW places will come up.

 

[shelemm]

One year ago I got the Best Western Lakeside through Priceline for $35 a night. Very nice place. All motel rooms on Priceline will have two large beds for four people plus you can request a cot from the hotel directly, but they will charge you.

There are websites to help you bid on Priceline. One is called biddingfortravel.com Find out the number of stars for the Best Western Lakeside, then request that category level on Priceline. Anyway, I much prefer saving the money to staying on site, but I always have a car. I imagine the shuttle service is the tricky part.

 

[Allieloopy]

Wow, thanks for all the great advice. I have to admit that Priceline and Hotwire scare me. I am afraid I will get a hotel that doesn't let me have 5 or that it won't have a shuttle.

I did some checking and we could save a lot of money by shaving the last few days off of our trip. It runs into Presidents day weekend and a lot of the hotels are raising their rates for those days.
I guess I will get a list together with the prices and pros and cons. Sigh.
Oh well, planning is half the fun right?

Oh for the days of Disney Magic Express and DDP. I suggested we sell one of the kids but DH didn't like it too well. We worked to hard to to get the ones we have!

Anyone in the market for some hamsters?

 

[lawgs]

Wow, thanks for all the great advice. I have to admit that Priceline and Hotwire scare me. I am afraid I will get a hotel that doesn't let me have 5 or that it won't have a shuttle.

I did some checking and we could save a lot of money by shaving the last few days off of our trip. It runs into Presidents day weekend and a lot of the hotels are raising their rates for those days.
I guess I will get a list together with the prices and pros and cons. Sigh.
Oh well, planning is half the fun right?

Oh for the days of Disney Magic Express and DDP. I suggested we sell one of the kids but DH didn't like it too well. We worked to hard to to get the ones we have!

Anyone in the market for some hamsters?

have you given any thought to skyauction.com

they have auctions there for "timeshare" units


right now they have the


Skyauction’s Vacation Blowout Clearance Sale is Back!
7 Night Stay at the Resort of Your Choice
Valid thru November 30, 2009


for 199 plus 20 processing fee ( go to skyauction.com and search for "blowout" , they also have other auctions for timeshare resorts but this one seems to be the one most talked about )

with it you get a certificate to search for a timeshare unit

you can check availability now, before you buy a certificate

others on this board may have advice on how it has worked for them

 

[CarolA]

All motel rooms on Priceline will have two large beds for four people plus you can request a cot from the hotel directly, but they will charge you.

.

This statement is incorrect!

Priceline guarantees ONE bed which will sleep two! There is no gurantee that you will get two large beds for four people or that the hotel can or will supply a cot.

Normally in Orlando it's not a problem to get the two bedded room, but it is not guranteed and is often a problem in other places! I have read on other message boards of families being charged basically a walk up costly rate for a hotel room when they showed up "assuming" they could just waltz in with two extra kids. Not in Orlando, but......

 

[Eveningsong]

Check out Bookit.com they have some gets prices for hotels and/or packages.

Two hotels I would suggest would be Comfort Inn Lake Buena Vista (free Disney shuttles and free continental breakfast). Runs around $50.00/$60.00 a night. Part of the Choice Hotel Chain. Very close to Disney.

The Palms Hotel and Villas. Again offers a free Continental Breakfast and has free Disney Shuttles. This hotel is in Kissimmee but looks very nice. I believe Bookit listed the 1 bedroom suite at $79.00 per night.

The air/hotel packages seemed to be very good pricing.

 

[MomofKatie]

This statement is incorrect!

Priceline guarantees ONE bed which will sleep two! There is no gurantee that you will get two large beds for four people or that the hotel can or will supply a cot.

Normally in Orlando it's not a problem to get the two bedded room, but it is not guranteed and is often a problem in other places! I have read on other message boards of families being charged basically a walk up costly rate for a hotel room when they showed up "assuming" they could just waltz in with two extra kids. Not in Orlando, but......

This is one of the main reasons I like to go through Hotwire. You can specify up to 4 people on the site, and the hotels that are shown in the results are guaranteed for that many. Most places will accomodate a 5th guest with a rollaway bed or sleeper sofa in the room.

 

[Sweedee]

This is one of the main reasons I like to go through Hotwire. You can specify up to 4 people on the site, and the hotels that are shown in the results are guaranteed for that many. Most places will accomodate a 5th guest with a rollaway bed or sleeper sofa in the room.

Just a thought...we are traveling one night this week, and we will be staying at a Red Roof Inn. We will have 5 people in our party, and we will be charged 15.00 a night for the rollaway bed.

 

[Allieloopy]

Well, I did some preliminary crunching. I hope this helps others. By the way, the biddingfortravel.com site was a goldmine of information. Put that together with Tripadvisor and you have all you need!

If it was just me and my husband I would gamble more but with 3 kids I need some sureness (Is that a word, I can't think of the real one!)

I reduced our nights to 12. We really didnt feel like we had enough time the first visit and if this is going to be our last for a while we want to do a lot!

At the ASM suite incl basic tickets it would be 3517.64

Two rooms at a Disney value w/ basic ticks is 2978.24

A 3 star mystery hotel for two rooms is 1575.75
plus tickets at 1224.77 equals 2795.52
plus car rental average 350 to 400.
A total of 3195.52

We are only doing 10 day base tickets because we really don't want to waste tickets on travel days. We used park hoppers last time and felt too scattered. And no water parks. Maybe when they are older and don't need so much hand holding. Plus it was cold last time we went. Only did the pool twice in 9 days.

We priced for two rooms because we really feel for 12 days we NEED two bathrooms and the sites don't take ressies for over 4 people.
Plus we like to be there at park open and leave midday for a break.
Most shuttles don't do this from my research.

So it really isn't that much more expensive to stay at a value at Disney! Unless I am missing something.
Am I just talking myself into staying at Disney? Probably but it makes sense!

So it looks like the job hunt is on even if we have to take temp jobs for now. It will be worth it because my older kids are still talking about the last trip. I was in tears when my hubbys hours got cut. I didn't think a vacation would affect me that much. Maybe Disney has some kind of mind control that makes us crave it?

 

[Allieloopy]

Oh, I wanted to add, if it weren't for the awesome help I got from everybody I would still be stressing out about how to figure this out. Now I have a figure to shoot for. Perhaps stopping my Diet Pepsi habit will help towards my goal!

 

[grammynelliebelle]

A few weeks ago there was info on Emerald Island community and I believe one poster said they now have a shuttle (to MK I think) you could probably get a nice 3 bedroom condo with a full kitchen and laundry facilities for a good price. Maybe you could call the community clubhouse and get verification of the shuttle. If you are interested after speaking to them try VRBO and speak directly to an owner. The community pool is very nice and it really is close to the parks. Congrats on the adoption of your daughter! Best of everything. Grammy

 

[riaesq]

As you get closer to your trip, you may want to consider buying one or two Annual Passes- depending on what kind of AP discounts are available, it might give you some savings. Not sure if you can book more than one room per AP, that's why you might need two. You'd have to work the numbers to see if this made sense or not.

 

[PoohHappens]

You can book 2 rooms with one AP, or at least you could in the past. I think the 2 room option at a value is a great one and maybe you will get lucky and there will be a discount offered during the time you want to travel. You also could book a room only with AAA and buy your tickets through undercover tourist. It would save a few bucks. Best of luck to you and I hope your family enjoys your trip.

 

[davinakb]

Lots of people have already mentioned the value of the AP, free parking, etc. (if you will do a lot of table service, check out Tables in Wonderland aka Disney dining experience). Or getting tickets via undercovertourist. Also check out AllEars and Mousesavers, as they have been running deals with some of the suite/timeshare hotels that will give you more space.

Looking at your numbers, and the fact you may rent a car anyway, have you considered Private villa/condo? We now find these the cheapest for longer stays. Try communities like Windsor Hills, Windsor Palms, Emerald Island. Go to VRBO or windsorhillsrent.com for leads and you might be able to negotiate for a 2BR/2BA place for 12 nights for less than you think. Many homeowners are willing to deal.

I've stayed at these places and they can be very nice, all the trimmings, plenty of room. You don't get daily maid, but you get space; full kitchen and cooking breakfast "at home" saves money; laundry, internet and more. FWIW.