Getting to Disney without going broke!

[fairdealer5]

We are staying at the Silver Lake Resort. Supposedly it is one of the top rated resorts in Florida. However, they do not have a free shuttle to Disney. They charge $9 per person. We are getting a car rental. However, it is expensive to park. So it seems we are in a no win situation. We were thinking about maybe taking a shuttle from another hotel and paying a smaller amount or parking for free somewhere close to Disney and walking. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks

 

[califred]

I think parking is 8/day. If you move to a new park during the day you only pay once for the parking.

 

[lilsonicfan]

I don't think you can park anywhere close to Disney that would be w/in walking distance. It's not really a walkable area in any case. Do you have to pay to park at your hotel? If so you will probably end up paying two parking fees, which would probably still be less than the shuttle cost.

I'm not sure about other hotel shuttles though... usually they are only for hotel guests, and I"m not sure if you can even pay to use them as a non-hotel guest.

 

[Disney Debbie]

I don't think you can do better then $8/day for parking. That's for all parks. If you can't swing the $8/day then you really don't need to be going to WDW! I don't mean that to be ugly - just honest.

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

Are you talking about $9 to park at Silver Lake or are you talking about the fee to park at Disney? or a combination thereof?

Either way I would just take that amount of money and add it to my daily cost for the accomodation. So if you were paying $100 for the room then call it $109 per day for your stay (assuming you mean Silver Lake charges)...that way you are making informed decisions based on the true cost of your accomodation. In fact you need to add the daily cost of your vehicle to your room cost as well if you wouldn't choose to have the car if the Silver Lake shuttle were free. That means the rental charge AND the gas. You might find it would be cheaper for you to go with no car and a Disney hotel or an onsite but non-Disney hotel. Or to get a taxi from Silver Lake for the group.

PS...I have no idea where or what Silver Lake is so I'm not claiming they have a daily parking charge.

I also have to add that it is a bit surprising to see some of the comments directed towards this post on the budget board...

 

[DebbieDVC]

How many days will you be going to Disney? If you purchase an annual pass for just one of your party, parking is free (at least it used to be). If you are staying 7-10 days(and going to the parks), this may be a cost effective option for you.

 

[MrsPete]

We are staying at the Silver Lake Resort. Supposedly it is one of the top rated resorts in Florida. However, they do not have a free shuttle to Disney. They charge $9 per person. We are getting a car rental. However, it is expensive to park. So it seems we are in a no win situation. We were thinking about maybe taking a shuttle from another hotel and paying a smaller amount or parking for free somewhere close to Disney and walking. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks

Are you committed to staying at this Silver Lake place? A quick google search shows some serious complaints about this place: individuals who've reviewed it seem to agree that it's old and run-down, the building is 3-stories and has no elevator (may or may not matter to you), and one person complains that he had no shower curtain. On the other hand, people are saying that they paid only $45-50 per night to stay there (is there a time share program involved?), and for that price you don't expect to stay in The Grand Floridian or The Polynesian. The pictures of the pool look nice and don't seem to fit with the reviews of the place. I don't mind staying in an older place; I just like to know ahead of time what type of place I'm visiting.

Back to the parking . . . You cannot avoid paying to park at Disney. Walking is 100% impossible; depending upon which park you're visiting, it'd be literally miles on busy roads. You could have breakfast and park in a resort; however, they give you a timed ticket and they'd probably tow your car. The bottom line: Budget $8 for each day you plan to visit the parks; save your receipts so you can move from lot to lot without paying again.

The only way to avoid paying parking is to stay onsite in a Disney hotel. The least expensive options are the All-Star resorts and the new Pop Century resort. In off-season people sometimes get these rooms for as little as $59/night, and during the summer they go for around $100/night. You get free transportation -- really good quality transportation -- staying onsite.

 

[mommytobug]

Have you considered renting points from DVC member..it is significantly less than renting directly and you will stay on site. We have rented beore and are renting again................hope this helps..............renting a car is expensice also......we will never do it again...........

 

[lizziepooh]

One thing to think about is that the shuttle service for some offsite hotels is very infrequent. You might want to check their schedule to see how often they run. My cousins stayed offsite once where the hotel shuttle service only ran twice in the morning 7am and 10am .

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

$9/person for a shuttle to Disney is an outrageous amount of money! If this is the same Silver Lake Resort in Kissimmee that I Googled, it bills itself as being 2 miles from Disney's main gate! $9 to go 2 miles????

Parking is $8 per day at the Disney Parks. It's good all day for all the parks, so you can leave one park to go to another and not have to pay again. That's certainly a better deal than the Silver Lake's shuttle.

You cannot park anywhere near WDW for free and walk to the parks. The area is much bigger and more spread out than you can imagine. There are very few walkways along the roads, making it not only a long walk but also a dangerous one.

The only other possible solution would be to take a Lynx bus to the Ticket & Transportation Center and then Disney transportation to your final destination. Lynx is central Florida's public transportation. I don't know if they have a stop near the Silver Lake resort or if there's a route from the re to the TTC. Here's a link to the Lynx Website . You can check routes and schedules there.

 

[Maleficent2]

if they do one person does not matter who it is can buy an annual pass. If it works out in savings since you are staying offsite it may not.


just thinking outload

Mal

 

[EthansMom]

if they do one person does not matter who it is can buy an annual pass. If it works out in savings since you are staying offsite it may not.


just thinking outload

Mal

Yes, Annual Passholders do get free parking. However, since fairdealer5 doesn't want to spend $8 a day to park at WDW, he/she is probably not going to be interested in spending a couple hundred more to get free parking.

My advice to fairdealer5 is to spend the $8 on parking and consider it WELL worth the money. Not only can you not walk to WDW, you don't even have to walk from the parking lot! WDW has little trams to drive you from the parking lot to the park.

There are other places you can save a few bucks: purchase your park tix from a reputable reseller like Ticketmania (sign up for the Mousesavers newsletter to the a good discount), stay out of the stores at the park so you don't spend money on souvenirs, and share entrees at meals (or order a kids meal for adults at counter service restaurants). See -- I just saved you $8 a day so you can afford to park!

 

[hockey mom]

Silver Lake is a great place to stay. My sister was there last April and they loved it. We were at OLCC and spent a few nights with them. Very clean, no parking fees, nice grounds and very close to Disney but not close enough to walk.

My only other suggestion would be to ask how you paid for Silver lake because you can get it through Skyauction for as low as $260 for the week. If that is lower than you are paying the parking fees can come out of the savings.

 

[crisi]

Just a word of warning....

If you "shop around for an answer" long enough someone will tell you to either park at DTD and take buses or park at one of the resorts and take the resort buses. Don't do it. Disney DOES tow - and your fees will be a LOT higher than parking fees.. Those parking lots are for guests of the resorts or patrons of DTD.

 

[maxaroni]

Not a help to OP but if you stay on-site and drive to the parks, is the parking free at the parks? or are you saying that you don't pay to park at your resort?

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

Parking is free for onsite guests. And none of the WDW resorts charges guests to park in their lots.

 

[maxaroni]

Parking is free for onsite guests. And none of the WDW resorts charges guests to park in their lots.

Parking is free in the parks for resort guests? What do you need to show the attendant?

 

[Coach Rick]

Parking is free in the parks for resort guests? What do you need to show the attendant?

You get a pass to put in your front windshield on check in.

 

[MrsPete]

Parking is free in the parks for resort guests? What do you need to show the attendant?

All Disney resorts are gated. When you pull into the resort for the first time, the attendant will check your name on a list. They give you a hang-tag for your rear-view mirror that lists your name and your check-out date. With that tag, you can drive in and out of all Disney parking lots (for free) until your check-out date.

 

[DisneyGirl2005]

You said the shuttle from the resort is $9 per person, but you did not say how many people were in your group. If it is more than two people, I would think the best bet would be to rent a car. With a car you have the freedom to go wherever you might need to go. For example, if you are on a budget, you might want to go to the grocery store for breakfast items, snacks, etc. , would you be able to do this with the resort shuttle? Also it you don't want to eat in the parks you have the ability to go to a less expensive restaurant outside of Disney. Someone said earlier in the thread the off site resort shuttles can be very limited so you might want to take that into account. I am pretty sure you can find some good deals on rental cars. I am sorry I can't help in that area, we always drive down from Georgia. Good luck!