Family of six port orlands

[englishteacha]

We've always stayed offsite and rented a car. It's way cheaper than onsite since we have to travel during the most expensive times of year due to the school schedule. You can find a nice condo with 2+ bedrooms for under $100 a night.

 

[jim00172]

Thanks to all for the options, I think it might be two rooms at all star if we can get them for under $200. We tried a house off site once not at a resort area and it just didn't seem the same. So we are scared to try anything else but if not we will try one of the resort type areas. Who knows we may love it.

 

[3pletprincesses]

even if they let you book, your 13 yo would probably not fit in the day bed IMO. His feet would probably be hanging off the bottom. We've booked POR as a family of 6, dh, myself, 6 yo triplets and 3 months old baby and it was tight squeeze. the girls would get ready on the bed so that dad and I could move around and help them LOL

 

[khaoskat]

Seriously, if you play your cards right, you can get a DVC rental for a 2 bedroom (sleeps 8) for like $300 a night.

I would highly look at that, or maybe even look at off property at one of the few hotels that offer the benefits of being on property (ie EMH) but lower prices.

 

[khaoskat]

Seriously, if you play your cards right, you can get a DVC rental for a 2 bedroom (sleeps 8) for like $300 a night.

I would highly look at that, or maybe even look at off property at one of the few hotels that offer the benefits of being on property (ie EMH) but lower prices.

 

[set1208]

We leave in two weeks for our vacation and we area staying in a 5 bed private home in Windsor Palms with our own pool. It's our first time staying off property and I looked for a house that had Disney themed rooms for my little kids to add to the experience. We are also a family of six and we are trying to keep costs down.

Our budget had changed after we originally booked our onsite package so we switched things around. I am so excited about our new plans. We will be there for 8 days. One day will be MNSSHP, another day at HS, one or two days at sea world (we have passes), a day at Legoland, the rest either at the beach or at our pool. We booked Ohana for a late breakfast on our departure day to get some character time in without doing $550 in park tickets. We get all this variety for less than what a week in the AoA suite would have cost us.

I hope that you have an awesome trip!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Seriously, if you play your cards right, you can get a DVC rental for a 2 bedroom (sleeps 8) for like $300 a night.

I would highly look at that, or maybe even look at off property at one of the few hotels that offer the benefits of being on property (ie EMH) but lower prices.

No, you won't get DVC for under $300 a night. The cheapest point DVC that is easily gotten is OKW for 29 points per night (Sun thru Thur) Jan, Sept and early Dec. If you pay $12 a point, it is still $348 a night.

 

[aubriee]

Yes those are options just wish there were low cost options, comparable to moderate rates, all star rates would be great but just not feasiabl.

If you are not set on staying in an onsite hotel there are much cheaper options. Wyndham Bonnet Creek is still within the Disney gates (right next door to Carribbean Beach resort). I just returned this past Sunday night and stayed in a one bedroom condo there. I normally stay in a moderate but was solo this trip and wanted to cut costs. I considered staying in a Value, but when I ran the numbers staying in a one bedroom condo at Bonnet Creek was cheaper. I paid just $74.00 per night. We are going back to Bonnet Creek Dec 6th-16th and are paying just $60.00 per night for a one bedroom, but was offered a two bedroom for just $70.00 per night. A two bedroom would sleep eight people (two in the master bedroom king size bed, four in the two queen size beds in the second bedroom, and two on the sofa bed). In your case everyone could have their own bed and plenty of room to spread out with the living room and fully equipped kitchen. Plus you would have a washer/dryer (so could pack fewer clothes), a balcony, and two bathrooms (needed with teenagers) with a jacuzzi tub in the master bath and be at a deluxe resort with six pools, pool slides, multiple hot tubs, two lazy rivers, free mini golf course, a kids water play area, several game rooms, planned kids activities, etc, all within just a few minutes of any of the parks. Since Bonnet Creek is within the Disney gates, you'd never have to leave Disney property if you didn't want to and it's located closer to the parks than some of the onsite hotels. Depending on your room location you may have a view of Downtown Disney, Spaceship Earth at Epcot, Tower of Terror at DS, or even a distant view of the castle at MK if you are high enough. Again depending on your condo location you may have a view of Wishes or Illuminations from your balcony. A two bedroom condo at Bonnet Creek is inside the Disney gates and is about 1200 sq feet, whereas a Value room is 260 sq feet and a moderate room is 314 sq feet. Plus the 1200 sq feet BC condo is cheaper than the either the 260 sq feet Value room or 314 sq feet Moderate room. We fell in love with Bonnet Creek when we stayed there last May and can't imagine staying anywhere else now.

 

[happymommy]

We used to always stay on site, then a few times at the Swan and Dolphin (with points so it was always free). Then we tried off site (got a great deal with Interval International getaway at a Marriott condo, since we own at Marriott Ko Olina we have II membership and it is awesome) and now we are so much happier with more space, a washer/dryer, and a kitchen as well as spending much less. Now I can't imagine going back to paying over $300 a night just to share a bedroom! Yes, I miss the convenience of on site, but can't justify the cost anymore.

I am partial to Marriott condos, but there are a lot of nice condo resorts (so you'd still have the services of a nice pool, activities, maybe a restaurant or two but still have the space). I agree that for some, renting a vacation home is great, but others miss the resort amenities.

You can look at redweek for rentals too - I've rented there (as well as gotten getaways, which are sometimes $300 for a week but they're hit or miss and fully prepaid, and you have to have II membership for those but also my inlaws have RCI and get similar deals there too).

I wouldn't solely rely on shuttles personally, but rather would have a car for freedom.

Good luck in finding something. I agree, with a larger family, a Disney (or most) vacations get expensive. Plane tickets, meals, etc... for even a family of 4 it's double what we used to spend just on the two of us. For us now, the Disney tickets are the biggest expense of a Disney vacation. And plane fare I guess!

 

[Schmeck]

We leave in two weeks for our vacation and we area staying in a 5 bed private home in Windsor Palms with our own pool. It's our first time staying off property and I looked for a house that had Disney themed rooms for my little kids to add to the experience. We are also a family of six and we are trying to keep costs down.

Our budget had changed after we originally booked our onsite package so we switched things around. I am so excited about our new plans. We will be there for 8 days. One day will be MNSSHP, another day at HS, one or two days at sea world (we have passes), a day at Legoland, the rest either at the beach or at our pool. We booked Ohana for a late breakfast on our departure day to get some character time in without doing $550 in park tickets. We get all this variety for less than what a week in the AoA suite would have cost us.

I hope that you have an awesome trip!

Beach??? Isn't the beach a few hours away? By the look of your schedule, you're not really having a vacation at Disney, you're having a vacation in Florida, which is fine, but not really a money-saver for a WDW trip, KWIM? You've substituted 8 days at WDW (which would save money park ticket-wise) for single days, etc. How much does the one day at HS, the hard ticket for MNSSHP, and the entrance to Legoland cost compared to a regular MYW ticket?

 

[set1208]

Beach??? Isn't the beach a few hours away? By the look of your schedule, you're not really having a vacation at Disney, you're having a vacation in Florida, which is fine, but not really a money-saver for a WDW trip, KWIM? You've substituted 8 days at WDW (which would save money park ticket-wise) for single days, etc. How much does the one day at HS, the hard ticket for MNSSHP, and the entrance to Legoland cost compared to a regular MYW ticket?

Our new plan is less than the $6000+ we would have paid to squish into an AoA suite and share a pool with hundreds of people and our dates weren't going to qualify us for any discounts, including the free dining, and we would have been restricted as far as transportation if we were to stay on site without a rental car. We have two disney park days, a character breakfast at ohana, time for downtown disney. For us, that's plenty of disney time.

The legoland tix with water park were buy one adult, get a child free so my three little ones were free (308.10)
HS for six of us was $556
MNSSHP, which is 8 hours in the park when we go in at 4:00, $380

I had my heart set on a full-on disney immersed week but for my DH, this variety is going to be a lot more fun and still give me enough disney time.

Yes the beach is two hours away. For us, it's not that far. We take day trips like that at least once a month at home to go visit family and friends.

My point was that renting a house and car vastly opens up the possibility of saving some money for the OP and helps them spread out a bit, since they have a large family. They can save by preparing food in their kitchen and with a child with special needs, space is, I'm guessing, quite important as is his diet. The rush rush pace of doing the parks every day must be too over stimulating for him and I'm sure they would welcome some down time.

Sometimes I need to step back and see if there might be an alternate way of doing things that would be equally enjoyable yet save some money.

 

[Schmeck]

Our new plan is less than the $6000+ we would have paid to squish into an AoA suite and share a pool with hundreds of people and our dates weren't going to qualify us for any discounts, including the free dining, and we would have been restricted as far as transportation if we were to stay on site without a rental car. We have two disney park days, a character breakfast at ohana, time for downtown disney. For us, that's plenty of disney time.

The legoland tix with water park were buy one adult, get a child free so my three little ones were free (308.10)
HS for six of us was $556
MNSSHP, which is 8 hours in the park when we go in at 4:00, $380

I had my heart set on a full-on disney immersed week but for my DH, this variety is going to be a lot more fun and still give me enough disney time.

Yes the beach is two hours away. For us, it's not that far. We take day trips like that at least once a month at home to go visit family and friends.

My point was that renting a house and car vastly opens up the possibility of saving some money for the OP and helps them spread out a bit, since they have a large family. They can save by preparing food in their kitchen and with a child with special needs, space is, I'm guessing, quite important as is his diet. The rush rush pace of doing the parks every day must be too over stimulating for him and I'm sure they would welcome some down time.

Sometimes I need to step back and see if there might be an alternate way of doing things that would be equally enjoyable yet save some money.

But my point was that it wasn't a Disney trip by doing it this way, more of a Florida trip, which doesn't compare money-wise. WDW is always going to cost more than doing the other parks/attractions in the area and not doing Disney. You are spending over $800 for 2 days in the parks (no EPCOT, no AK) and it gets dramatically cheaper to go to the parks in an extended stay. So, to advise someone looking to do WDW cheaply to actually not go to WDW doesn't make sense to me. You can't compare apples to oranges.