Driving to/from, parking is very straight forward, don't let the "resort only" people scare you
We are from a very small, rural area, my husband hates city driving - and he had absolutely no problems at all with the driving to/from the parks each day. It is all so very well marked. And honestly, from what I have seen over and over on here, you can get to/from the parks faster in your own car, than relying on Disney transportation.
We rented a home in Glenbrook Resort (from a fellow Canadian, 4 bedrooms, 2 bath, $100 CDN a night), which was roughly a 15-20 minute drive to the parks, in rush hour traffic each morning. Parking also was very straight forward: I mean literally, you drive in and they show you where to park. It doesn't get any simpler than that. We rope dropped all mornings, so at EP, HS and AK we were always close enough to just walk to the gates. At MK we typically took the tram to the TTC which of course takes you into MK. We had no problem at all doing afternoon breaks (in the afternoons you will have to park far enough back that you will want to use the tram to the gates at all parks). We had 0 problems taking our stroller on the trams. You pay for your parking as you drive through the entrance gates. We always used cash, not sure if they accept debit/credit or not.
One thing you might want to do is book a throwaway room (see the thread on it). We paid $75 I believe for a campsite at Fort Wilderness in the summer, which got us 2 days of free parking (which was then a $34 value), free Magic Bands for all 6 of us (a $90 value then), and of course your 60 day Fast Pass booking, which was important for us wanting to meet A&E then. We will more than likely do the same again next time.
As for planning for not staying on site, there's really no more planning to it than if you're staying on site. Google the directions from your rental home to the parks. If you're going to do most of your eating/cooking at the home, then I highly recommend Garden Grocers. We went online about a week in advance of our stay, ordered our groceries, and they were delivered to the front door of our rental home the same evening we arrived. The produce was all EXCELLENT. The food probably costs a bit more than going to your local super, but to us, the convenience of not having to go driving to find a grocery store and not have to go grocery shopping period, was worth it.
As for eating in parks etc... went in summer, so a) the heat really saps your appetite and we found we weren't all that hungry anyways b) we mixed our days up with RD to early afternoon then done for the day or RD/afternoon break/evening. So, it worked well for eating all meals at home. We typically ate a good breakfast, packed snacks for the park (we used a backpack cooler), and then ate a light snack/lunch when we got back and then supper before we headed back into the park. One day we did eat lunch at MK since we weren't going back to the resort but instead heading over to Fort Wilderness for HDDR that night. Another night we had supper in MK (CRT).
As for things that we did on the drive:
- Use
www.hotelcoupons.com (the same coupons you get in the coupon books at the tourist stops) to find hotels. We never paid more than $65 US a night, and they were all clean, in safe areas directly off the highway, with pools and full hot (free!) continental breakfast. This saved us money on food.
- We brought an electric cooler and packed it full of drinks, snacks and stuff for picnic lunches. We stopped at rest stops along the way for lunch and made sandwhiches etc... This also saved us money. We only ate out for supper. And one night we ordered pizza and packed the left overs for lunch the next day.
- We brought a football and soccer ball and when we stopped at rest stops we all got out and played for a bit to stretch our legs. My husband and I enjoyed it as much as the kids.
Be warned: the driving is very tiring. While you do have the adrenaline of "Yay! We're going to Disney!", it takes a toll on you all the same, especially as far away as you're coming from (we drove from NB, so 3 days/28 hours). I would plan on taking your first full day in Orlando off, to allow yourselves to rest/recuperate from the drive. If you absolutely can't do the full day, then at least allow yourselves the morning to sleep in and rest, and don't enter the parks till after lunch. Jumping right into the parks full tilt after driving that far is a recipe for burn out.
We just research hotels ahead of time so we have options on the road. This will be our 5th time driving to Disney with 3 kids 10 and under and we have a good idea of where we always stop each trip on the way, so we will be booking our hotels ahead this time. You can get a good discount if you book more than 2 weeks in advance. I wouldn't recommend doing this if you haven't driven before because it's harder to judge how far you might drive before getting tired. There are hotels that don't charge a cancellation fee if you do chose to book ahead though. We drive from the Niagara area and have about an 18 hour drive we split up between 2 days. We also bring a cooler in the car so we can avoid having to stop for snacks. When we stop at rest stops for a bathroom break we let the kids run around for awhile. We find driving to the parks way easier than taking the bus! Have fun!!!!!!
