Home Rental vs. Hotel, Please Help me decide!

[sweetpeakaris]

This will be our 3rd trip to Orlando. In 2002 we stayed offsite at Country Inn and Suites LBV, and 2004 we stayed at Carribean Beach Resort inside Disney. We are a family of six, we have 4 kids. When we stayed at Country Inn the suites were small and only had 2 beds, but at the time the price was awesome at only $79 a night, a great hotel, just too small for us. Our stay at Carribean Beach was ok, a total waste of money and because of our family size we had to pay for 2 connecting rooms which was about $300/night. The rooms were not worth the money at all, but we did have more space. So, we are planning a trip for the end of March 2005, or April sometime, and I am trying to decide between renting a home or doing a hotel again. I have found a great Home Rental site that shows you the actual pictures of the home you will be renting, it's a 4br/2bath and it would be $140/night, looks awesome from the pics. If we get a hotel room, I must have a room with a kids suite and a kitchenette, i must have a full size fridge, I would need a room we would not be crowded in. So can you guys please help me decide? I also need recommendation for a good hotel that meet my needs. I have not found a hotel in my price range, I am not rich and can't afford to pay $300/night again. So would renting a home be best for us?

Thanks in Advance ,
Tara

 

[jtryan]

Hi Tara,

You should check out Hotelkingdom.com rates for Cypress Pointe and Cypress Pointe Grandvillas. They have 2 and 3 bedroom units. I was also considering a home rental but found I can get a 2 bedroom condo at Cypress Pointe for 75/night during our February stay. The Grandvillas are newer and the cost is higher but I believe the original units are in the process of being refurbished. Good luck in your decision and have a great vacation.

Roxanne

 

[sweetpeakaris]

Thanks for the info, I will check into those!

Tara

 

[tw1nsmom]

We rented a vacation home in 2002 and loved it! Having the space to spread out and the private pool at the end of the day was great. We plan on renting any time we're traveling with more than just our immediate family (we are only a family of four).

 

[kilee]

We've done all sorts of accomodations when traveling to WDW. In the last 2 years we've done rental homes, std rooms and suites at places ranging from Day's Inn to the Dolphin.

Overall my favorite place was the pool home we rented last year. On that particular trip there were 12 of us in total. We rented 2 homes so we all had plenty of space. I stayed in the 5 bedroom home we rented. This place was absolutely gorgeous. We had 5 full bedrooms w/ 2 master suites. A extra large swimming pool. As well as 3 full baths, garage, eat in kitchen and dining room. Nicely furnished living room w/ books and movies as well. The house really made me not want to go back to my own. We were in Hampton Lakes, it was about a 15 minute drive to the parks but it was a straight shot and not a bad drive at all. Now the other house we had was in Emerald Isle and was a 3 bedroom, this one was only about 3-4 minutes to the parks. It was probably about 1/2 the square footage of the other house though. They ended up running the same price which was $900 for 8 nights.
We are planning another family trip for 2006 only this time our group will be 18-19 and we're going to be looking for 3 houses in the same development. It is the only way everyone wants to go.

 

[torismom]

Tara,

I have sent you an email.

 

[sweetpeakaris]

Thanks for the info Kilee! So, i think i will go ahead and rent the home, i think it's a better choice than a hotel for us.

 

[spiceycat]

how about a timeshare?

you can bid for one -
www.skyauction.com

click on usa/canada - then click on florida (to the right) - then click on hotels only (again to the right)

now the best deals appear about 90 to 2 days before you leave.

these resorts are part of RCI.

if you don't want an auction

www.condodirect.com
these resorts are part of II (International Interval) - you might get a better deal at 60 days before you leave - sometimes - other times at the 61 day mark alot of the resorts disappear.

 

[disneysteve]

Rent the house!!!!!! It will be your best vacation ever. We've rented houses multiple times and loved every minute of it. There is no hotel on or offsite that comes close to comparing to the amenities of a house. We have done condos and timeshares and those are very nice, but still not as nice as a private house.

 

[jeffreyml]

Go with the rental home. We are a family of 5 and WDW has made it harder for us to stay onsite by only allowing 4 people to a room. We started to rent houses and we'll never go back. It's so much more convienent to have the extra room, your own private pool and a kithcen, fridge to store plenty of food to save money. One sight you might want to check out is www.VRBO.com there are hundreds of homes in the WDW area and all of these are listed by the owner. You deal directly with the owner and sometimes save substantially over one of the rental companies.Here is alink to locations of some of the subdivisions were the homes are.http://www.1stfororlando.com/Location-map.htm


I would say Oak Island and Formosa Gardens are some of the Biggest and most Beautiful homes you can rent and they range from 4 bedroom to 8 bedrooms. Oak Island, Formosa Gardens, Indian Ridge and Indian Ridge Oak are only 5 min. to the WDW gates and theres plenty of shopping areas on 192.

 

[leebee]

Definitely go with a rental home, pool home if possible. We have stayed with closesttodisney.com (requested a 2br condo, ended up with a 3br pool home for the same price due to availability!) and have done a private rental thru vrbo.com Both times we were more than satisfied, and will never stay onsite at Disney again! For our 12/8-12/15/04 trip, we stayed in a 3br, 2ba condo at Windsor Palms for $530 for the week, tax included! Disney sure can't beat that...stayed at POFQ last June and after the 1st night of sharing a double bed with a 9 year old, I was LONGING for an offsite villa...even though I had a great AP rate for POFQ ($74/nt plus tax), it was a waste for money compared to the private homes/villas available offsite!

 

[disneysteve]

closesttodisney.comQUOTE]
I recommend them as well, but one word of caution. As leebee mentioned, availability is sometimes an issue. They do not book you into a specific location. You get what is available when you arrive. Given the choice, I'd rather book directly with the owner so I can see photos in advance of the actual property I'll be staying in. I also like to be able to correspond with the owner to get details about what is and is not included in the unit so I know what we need to bring.

 

[TNKBELL]

Hi Tara!! Have you considered renting DVC points? There is a rent/trade board on this forum. I'm not sure what the point value is when you go, but we stayed in a 2bdrm at OKW and it was absolutely beautiful and HUGE!! Also it's right on property a definite plus! Just another alternative, but a house sounds real fun too!! Good Luck!!

 

[yecats]

Truthfully, I really don't understand why some families want to cram into one small room when they are on vacation (just MHO, no flaming). I would either rent the home (esp. since you've seen pictures) or use Hotelkingdom or Skyauction to rent a large condo (3 bedrooms). The extra space is what is going to allow everyone to spread out and relax (not crammed in together). However, if you change your mind and decide that it would be best to stay on Disney property then I would tell you to look into the trailer homes in Fort Wilderness. During the summer, they usually release codes in the spring for the trailer homes for $140-$160 per night. Go to www.allearsnet.com/acc/g_ftw.htm and see the inside of the trailers. There is a full kitchen, living room (with double bed for 2 people), one bathroom and then one bedroom with double bed and bunk beds for younger children. If you plan on spending most of your time on Disney property, you may find this convenient to go to and from using Disney bus system. However, depending on ages of children and sleeping arrangments this may not be the best answer (best bet may be the condo or rental home).

 

[disneysteve]

However, if you change your mind and decide that it would be best to stay on Disney property then I would tell you to look into the trailer homes in Fort Wilderness. During the summer, they usually release codes in the spring for the trailer homes for $140-$160 per night. Go to www.allearsnet.com/acc/g_ftw.htm and see the inside of the trailers.

I just looked at those pictures. Those cabins are beautiful!! I had no idea they existed. I stayed in a Ft. Wilderness trailer about 20 years ago but they were nothing like this. If we ever want to splurge, I would definitely consider staying there for that price. Thanks for the link. Realistically, we'll probably stick to offsite since it is so much cheaper but for someone who really wants to be onsite this looks like a great way to go.

 

[Disneyrsh]

We've driven down and stayed at rental houses on three occasions. We liked the houses each time but I have to stress the INCREDIBLE importance of where the house is located at.

If you pick a house in the Rolling Hills area, or any place that says it's behind or near Grand China (now defunct), that's where you really want to be. There's a great Publix very close, and you can literally pop over 192 and be in Disney's back yard in about two seconds.

The ones that say that they're close to the Walmart-ew, I hated that area and the traffic is terrible near there. Avoid international drive, too. Really busy.

I liked vacationhomes.com, you can literally do a sort for Rolling Hills (wow, I hope I got that right), and there's another subdivision right next door that's great, too, Windsor Palms, I believe.

The other thing I would stongly suggest is to rent from an owner who has a management company, that way you get the house you see, you don't get warehoused into a sterile place picked at random. Make sure you ask! We stayed at Simba's Secret and at Sweet Dreams. Simba's Secret was incredibly close, Sweet Dreams was over in Clermont, not a bad drive but you should pay less for houses over there because they're further away.

And I don't own any of the houses, not a travel agent, just a fool for disney!
Good luck!

 

[Keokagal]

We rented from vacationhomes.com in 2000. Paid for a 3 bedroom, got a 4 bedroom. Was splitting w another family, so 6 of us. It was around 62 a nite divided. It was spotless, well appointed, beautiful pool. Made my house look shabby! We stayed there several days then onsite for a week. I love it both ways. I do feel less Magic offsite. But much more comfortable. Have a great vacation.

 

[HappyLawyer]

my vote is for a home or villa i will never stay in a otel again

 

[vernon]

With a family of that size your options are pretty limitted on site. You're pretty much left with two rooms (expensive), a 2 bedroom DVC resort (even renting points from a member is going to be close to $300 a night) or the excellent cabins at Fort Wilderness. IMHO the cabins are the only real option given your budget constraints. Everyone I know that's stayed there has really loved the location, but I know the idea of staying in what is basically a trailer doesn't work for everyone.

The off site options are a lot more diverse. There are suite hotels, but I agree with you, these mostly are a little tight for a family of 6. There are timeshare units, these have the benefits of offering some hotel style "community pools" giving the kids the chance to buddy up with other kids on vacation and many ofthese run shuttle busses to the parks. The downside of the timeshare units can be that you're still quite close to other families on vacation (if other people's noise is an issue) and they are generally a lot smaller than a private vacation home.

Finally you have the vacation home route, this is very popular with European visitors because they 1) come for a longer time and 2) come with more stuff. I think this is probably your best option, a home with a private pool gives you loads of space for the whole family, all your luggage and means you can really spread out. The downside is you will almost certainly need to have a car as there will be no other means to get around and the travel times can be a little longer, depending on location. I would agree with Disneyrsh that location can be VITALLY important. Many villa owners and companies will tell you their villas are just minutes away from Disney, but get a bit vague when you try to tie them down to exactly how many minutes that is. If you can get a commitment from them, many of the times you get are only possible if you drive at 2.00 am, with no traffic and exceed the speed limit LOL. Again I agree the area around Splendid China is probably the closest in journey times to WDW. I used to own a vacation home in Indian Ridge Oaks and the journey times to the Disney parks range from about 10 minutes to AK going up to about 20-25 to MK (most of that is getting into the parking lot LOL).