Help deciding between 2 hotels at Disneyworld

[Canada204]

Hi. Going to Disneyworld first week of Dec 2015 and need help deciding between 2 hotels at Disney World Resort. One is All Star Sports and the other is Best Western Lake Buena vista resort near downtown Disney (on site but not a Disney property). Right now I can get them for the same price.

Pros of the All Star I’d say are the airport transport, the Disney atmosphere, the magic bands, EMH (but probably wouldn’t use these anyway), shuttle service (not sure if it is better or worse than shuttles for the Downtown Disney area hotels), bigger pool. Cons of the All Star for me are big hotel (very spread out), probably way more people and busier, not walking distance to anything, small rooms.

The things I like about the Best Western are – smaller hotel (less people), bigger rooms, walking distance to Downtown Disney and walking distance to restaurants in crossroads of Lake Buena vista area, ability to take cab from airport and do a grocery run, free shuttle (than may not be as good as Disney hotels – does anyone know?). Cons would be smaller pool, no Disney experience or extras (EMH magic bands). We don’t have a car so parking fees etc are not a concern. We also want to spend 2 days at Universal so cab from Best Western may be slightly cheaper than from All Star?

We plan on taking some break days where we go back to the hotel or eat outside parks, so BW seems like a better fit for us. Just worried about the shuttles. I know so many people say you HAVE to stay at a Disney hotel to get the true experience, but is that really true? My kids are 9 and 11. Not sure if the weather will be nice enough to justify a better pool. Just wondering if BW is nice enough for our needs. Thoughts?

 

[addiln]

I always think that you are better off staying on property when you can. It makes everything just so much easier from the time you arrive till the time you leave. I tend not to worry about room size since I am really not in the room enough to really care about that. We wake up and go to the parks or pool. We really don't use the EMH as much as I would like but it is still a nice option to have. Also the transportation to and from the parks is done very well. They seem to have plenty of buses running at all times so you have to worry about waiting too long for a bus.

 

[Disnsyncey]

I would say, MOST of the time, all hotel shuttles from off property will be very limited and you will be constrained to their schedule (even the FS schedule is a bit difficult!) so that is a con for me.....

You can always do a grocery run in a cab from Sports too, would be cheaper than from the hotel, or have you thought of having groceries delivered?

I'm not certain about the transportation for Universal, but I think mears does a shuttle type thing between the 2 resort areas, anybody know?

 

[Mama Lo]

Another perk for staying on site you didn't mention is being able to make fastpass picks 60 days out instead of 30. Sounds like this is your first time going, WDW is REALLY big, it's not that easy to take breaks in the middle of the day relying on hotel shuttles.

If you go with the All Stars ask on that thread for tips on room request tips to make hopefully get you in the best location to reduce your walking.

If you did decide to stay off property maybe your should consider renting a car for the trips that you plan to make. If you are flying in to MCO you can probably pay less to rent a car for a week then all the cabs would cost. Just looked at carrentals.com and for 12/5 - 12/12 you can get a car for $150.

Maybe consider staying on property for the disney portion and then moving off site for the Universal portion.

One last thing, check out Orbitz they often have a 15% off code that may save you a bit. For that same week as above the All Star Sports the rate is $88 per night. If you go that route don't include your kids on the initial reservation since orbitz will charge you extra for them (but Disney doesn't charge for kids in rooms) As soon as you reserve you call Orbitz add them in, get the Disney reservation number to put in the MDE app and you are all set.

Good luck and have an awesome trip!!!