? For thoses who drive to WDW.

[Maureenmouse]

Do you stay offsite the first night and or last night to save money. We're thinking of doing this and are looking for suggestions from others who drive to WDW.

 

[msmayor]

We have driven down four times, and never stayed offsite the first night. We take two days/one night to get down from Jersey, and once I'm in Orlando I don't want to move. We take an hour or so upon arrival to unpack and organize, and then go right back out and start the fun. Even if we're out late, we know we can either get up early and hit the parks right away, or sleep in a bit and not worry about checking out/checking in someplace else.

In my mind, the 'extra' money spent for an on-site room that one night is more than worth it.

 

[LaLa]

We did this two years ago. We got the kids a checkout from school after 11:00 (so it doesn't count as another absence), drove as far as Ocala, got up the next morning and drove the other hour or so and were there first thing in the morning with a full day ahead of us for our first "paid" day. This year we were planning on doing the same thing. But we decided to go one step further and we just added on another night at POR at the last minute and left a day earlier. We drove straight through this time. If I had to pick which way I prefer to do it, I'd have to pick this year because we added an extra day's stay complete with park hoppers.

When we stopped in Ocala, I just packed a separate overnight bag for us all so I wouldn't have to unload anything when we checked in. That worked out pretty well. Not much hassle and we were all well rested and ready to start our day at the Mouse House.

 

[LaLa]

BTW, the time we stopped in Ocala was at a MUCH cheaper hotel than POR.
We definitely saved money, but just for future reference: Don't stay at the Days Inn there. I don't know if there is more than one there, but the one we stayed at (picked by Expedia) was horrific. I've never stayed in a dirtier hotel room.

 

[HANDYMOM]

We did this two years ago. We got the kids a checkout from school after 11:00 (so it doesn't count as another absence), drove as far as Ocala, got up the next morning and drove the other hour or so and were there first thing in the morning with a full day ahead of us for our first "paid" day.

When we stopped in Ocala, I just packed a separate overnight bag for us all so I wouldn't have to unload anything when we checked in. That worked out pretty well. Not much hassle and we were all well rested and ready to start our day at the Mouse House.

We do the same thing with our boys travelling from Central Alabama. We just sleep, get up early, hit a drive thru for breakfast and check in around 7:30am. Works like a dream and costs less than half of a night at POR.

Going home we just treat our drive like a full workday....we have breakfast at the resort, cruise around the gift shop and then drive home, stopping for lunch and snacks. We're usually home by 5 pm

 

[1princessX2princes]

We drove from Atlanta and got to Downtown Disney at about 11 pm and stayed at the doubletree (got a good deal with mousesavers that included breakfast). The room was a suite which was nice for the 5 of us. Got up early the next am, ate, and checked in at CBR. Guess we could have stayed on property, but by the time we agreed that we drive the whole way the first night, it was going to be way to expensive to add the extra night to CBR. I thought it worked out fine. (I know it was only an 7 hour trip but we have a 5, 3, and 21 month old ---makes the driving much slower)

 

[disneyfreakjackie]

We drove twice from Jersey, May 2000 and April 2002 with our four daughters!! (In 2000 my sister also joined us!!) NEVER again! The price of the flight is well worth it ... even with six of us flying!!

My DH works shift work so we planned our vacation to leave on the night after his last PM shift. That way he would sleep all day (because he worked 12 hours over night) and start the drive at about 8:00 PM on a Friday evening. We drove all night/morning until we reached SC or GA. We got a hotel room for one night and started our drive again the next morning and arrived in WDW some time in the afternoon, checked into our WDW resort and headed for MK. It worked out great ... GOING!! Coming home is PURE TORTURE!!! Even I started whining!!

 

[mantaz]

We usually get up about 3-4 in the morning and drive down. We get to WDW about noon the same day so we check in to the hotel. The last few trips we have taken the camper and leave the day before around 3-4 in the afternoon. On those trips we stay somewhere the night before and then check in at the campground the next day. This next trip in Dec we are stayin at the AKL. We have a 17 month old so, I can't wait to see how she does on the drive down this time.

Angela

 

[WOODY13]

The last time we went we flew down and got in pretty late so we stayed at ASMU that night and moved to POR the next day for the rest of the trip.We got a good price on ASMU and I know what to expect at Disney. Who knows what your going to get with some of those quote "less expensive" hotels off site.

 

[ducklite]

We drove down a few rimes and stayed at WDW, and never stayed offsite the first or last night, it's just not worth the packing and repacking.

Anne

 

[KYCruiseCrazy]

Do you stay offsite the first night and or last night to save money. We're thinking of doing this and are looking for suggestions from others who drive to WDW.

we drive down from louisville ky every year(12-13 hrs straight through drive) and always get an extra night onsight. we could save money but all of the unpacking repacking then unpacking in 24 hrs ouch!!!!!! LOL if you stay off sight you will have to wait til 1-3 pm til you can get your room and cant sleep in if you want to. just what we do.

 

[corinascot]

This year we drove from Ohio and stayed with family and went from their house to WDW. Last year we drove from Ohio to Kingsland, GA and stayed at the Country Inn and Suites and drove to WDW early the next morning. That worked very well. It's 2-3 hours away. We checked in early at POR, went to the parks, called POR from MGM and were given our room number, and just went to our room when we left the park.

 

[mickeyfan2]

No we usually arrive early afternoon and check into our on-site hotel. We get up the last morning, load the car and start out early.

 

[wwaleye]

We always have a car and have always stayed on property. With the discounts that always seem to pop up from Disney, we always felt it was about the same cost on property as off. $64 for the value resort is about as close to anything you will find. Yes, some of the off property hotels are "cheap" but not places I would want to stay for an extended time. The advantages of staying on property such as free parking (add that to the hotel room cost), transportation system, extra hours, close proximity to attractions (some within walking), the atmosphere, the extra cost (if there was any) was worth it. We like the convenience of haviing our own vehicle, but also use the transportation system.

 

[Bob NC]

We always drive from NC. It takes us 9 hours door to door. I do not mind the drive at all, I like driving all at once in a straight shot. We usually leave on a Friday afternoon around 2 or 3.

We usually Priceline a room in Orlando for the Friday nite and check into our WDW hotel early Saturday morning and hit the parks. We pack one small carry-on size bag for this one nite. We don't care that our room won't be ready until later in the day, though sometimes we have gotten our room at 7 in the morning.

We have had very good luck with Priceline, though you do have to do some research. Twice we got the Sheraton Safari, right outside the gates of DTD for $29/room, (We had 4 rooms at that price as other family went also.) We also got the Hilton at DTD for $60, this too was 4 rooms. One time we stayed at the Hard Rock and went to Universal/IOA the first two days and we Pricelined a room at the Wyndham International Drive for $30.

We don't see any inconvenience in doing this. On vacation I don't mind spending money, but in this case I just can't see paying Deluxe or Moderate WDW Resort rates when we are arriving at 11:00 pm or midnite.

 

[PamNC]

We usually drive vs. flying because it's only 9 hours for us. We don't usually stay off-site the first night because we leave so early in the a.m. We usually leave around 4:30 and arrive around 1:30, depending on traffic. However, once we couldn't leave until later in the day and since we wouldn't be arriving until around 6:00 p.m., we decided to stay off-site to save a little money the first night. We figured why pay for a deluxe resort when all we'll be doing is eating dinner and going to bed. So, we stayed at the Best Western on I-drive. At the time, the DIS had a nice special going on. Something like $39.99 a night.

If I can get there by say 3:00 - I would prefer just checking into my Disney resort. But, it's not a bad idea.

PamNC

 

[Teresa Pitman]

We're driving down, leaving from Ontario on Nov. 24th and will arrive in Orlando on the 26th. We have a hotel booked off-site for that night, and then will be at POR starting on the 27th. It saves us money (you can get an off-site hotel much cheaper) and then we can get a full park day the next day.

We all have overnight bags that we use for hotels on the way down, so it isn't a big deal to have one night in Orlando - we don't even bring our big suitcases into the hotel, just our overnight bags.

Teresa

 

[PA DISNEYLOVER]

We drove down twice from Philly this year. In January I got a Days Inn off of Price Line and we stayed there and drove over to SOG the next morning. In June we just stayed the 1st night at SOG. It was easier to go right to the hotel and get checked in. When we stayed in Orlando we were all in such a hurry to get checked in and to the parks that I felt like we missed a few extra hours that could have been spent in Disney.

 

[skiwee1]

We drive quite a bit. It is a 14 hour trip but we break it up over 3 days. We time it so that we arrive at WDW around noon. That way we don't have to waste time on a cheaper hotel. If we were to come in late I would still book the Disney hotel we would be staying at the rest of the trip. We aren't talking about huge amounts of saved money but we are talking about a lot of wasted time. That to me if much more important then a couple hundred bucks.

 

[kmkja1]

We drive straight through from Ohio. We drive through the night and get to WDW in the morning. Check in then hit the parks.