Hotel Conundrum....WWYD?

[cjlong88]

We are landing at MCO around 11pm on a Thursday and departing around 7am on a Sunday for a long weekend trip in February.

Right now I have reserved a Hilton hotel with points right next WDW, but now I’m actually considering staying right next to the airport to avoid a longer commute to/from MCO on our departure and arrival days AND we can cut Thursday night and Sunday morning off of our car rental.

Another option is to spend our arrival night at the MCO hotel, wake up the next morning, pick up the car rental, then go to HS. Then stay at a hotel close to WDW Friday night, wake up the next morning and head to AK, then drop off the car rental and stay at the MCO hotel Saturday night.

We will literally bring a backpack with a weekend’s worth of clothes and our toiletries so changing between hotels isn’t an issue.

What would you do?

I’ve stayed at both Hotels on WDW trips before. I’m just having a tough time deciding which will save me time (and maybe some money).

Option #1: Hotel by WDW
Option #2: Hotel by MCO
Option #3: MCO on arrival/departure days and WDW during the middle day.

 

[JordanClark9]

I would personally go with option #2. I just couldn't be bothered with the extra hassle of switching between hotels. If money is the issue then option 3. You don't want to be making the airport journey there/back on your park days.

 

[fancymouse]

Can you not just take an Uber? A lot of resorts have a parking fee, so I would personally not rent a car for such a short amount of time. I also wouldn’t want to stay near the airport. It would just make it feel less like a vacation, but I guess that’s subjective. The drive to Disney isn’t that long from the airport, so honestly I wouldn’t even consider that a factor in deciding where to stay based on a “shorter commute”, but in the end if money is the sole focus then just take the cheapest option. If experience is a factor I would personally opt to be close the Disney!

 

[Deb & Bill]

Can you not just take an Uber? A lot of resorts have a parking fee, so I would personally not rent a car for such a short amount of time. I also wouldn’t want to stay near the airport. It would just make it feel less like a vacation, but I guess that’s subjective. The drive to Disney isn’t that long from the airport, so honestly I wouldn’t even consider that a factor in deciding where to stay based on a “shorter commute”, but in the end if money is the sole focus then just take the cheapest option. If experience is a factor I would personally opt to be close the Disney!

If they take Uber, they will need to stop at the hotel first to drop off the backpacks since they won't want to bother with them at the theme park.

 

[fancymouse]

If they take Uber, they will need to stop at the hotel first to drop off the backpacks since they won't want to bother with them at the theme park.

Maybe I’m reading this incorrectly, but they are getting in late at night on Thursday and leaving early in the morning on Sunday. They are only going to the parks Friday and Saturday. What I was trying to understand is how OP was saving money renting a car. Without numbers it’s hard to tell how much money there is in saving between the hotels etc. Seems to me it would be easiest and save the most time to Uber to the hotel closest to WDW upon arrival and Uber to MCO on departure. I can’t imagine a car rental for several days will be cheaper than Uber (I’m also assuming the hotel has some sort of shuttle to the parks). I’m sure a hotel next to the airport is cheaper than one next to WDW, but then they will waste more time switching hotels, renting the car (OP planned on renting), or even just driving in and out of property (if OP stayed at the airport the whole time). Seems the real decision is what’s most important to OP: Time, money, convenience, experience?

 

[disneyfan150]

Just throwing this out there. . .
If it were me, I would stay at the hotel by WDW on Thursday and Friday nights. I would be close to the parks when I woke up on my park days. Then on Saturday night, I would stay at the MCO Hyatt. At the moment, the rates are very affordable and it is oh so easy getting to security early in the morning.

 

[WorldOfPooh]

We are landing at MCO around 11pm on a Thursday and departing around 7am on a Sunday for a long weekend trip in February.

Right now I have reserved a Hilton hotel with points right next WDW, but now I’m actually considering staying right next to the airport to avoid a longer commute to/from MCO on our departure and arrival days AND we can cut Thursday night and Sunday morning off of our car rental.

Another option is to spend our arrival night at the MCO hotel, wake up the next morning, pick up the car rental, then go to HS. Then stay at a hotel close to WDW Friday night, wake up the next morning and head to AK, then drop off the car rental and stay at the MCO hotel Saturday night.

We will literally bring a backpack with a weekend’s worth of clothes and our toiletries so changing between hotels isn’t an issue.

What would you do?

I’ve stayed at both Hotels on WDW trips before. I’m just having a tough time deciding which will save me time (and maybe some money).

Option #1: Hotel by WDW
Option #2: Hotel by MCO
Option #3: MCO on arrival/departure days and WDW during the middle day.

Since your a millenial.
Here's some advice. Save your Hilton points for hotels that are in Eurpoe/Asia.
You will be able to stay in the best hotels over there for the same amount of points you will be wasting on hotels in the US

 

[kylenne]

(I’m also assuming the hotel has some sort of shuttle to the parks)

Offsite shuttles were pretty hit or miss in terms of reliability even in non covid times. Some of them basically operate like SuperShuttle did picking up from different hotels, some had quirky operating hours, some only dropped off at certain parks, etc. When I stayed at the Sheraton Vistana you had to call and reserve your slot and the pickup/drop off times were limited. I have to imagine covid procedures and cutbacks have made them worse. I know some have had success with them but there's a good reason people always encourage folks staying offsite to have their own transportation (or use rideshare).

 

[WorldOfPooh]

Maybe I’m reading this incorrectly, but they are getting in late at night on Thursday and leaving early in the morning on Sunday. They are only going to the parks Friday and Saturday. What I was trying to understand is how OP was saving money renting a car. Without numbers it’s hard to tell how much money there is in saving between the hotels etc. Seems to me it would be easiest and save the most time to Uber to the hotel closest to WDW upon arrival and Uber to MCO on departure. I can’t imagine a car rental for several days will be cheaper than Uber (I’m also assuming the hotel has some sort of shuttle to the parks). I’m sure a hotel next to the airport is cheaper than one next to WDW, but then they will waste more time switching hotels, renting the car (OP planned on renting), or even just driving in and out of property (if OP stayed at the airport the whole time). Seems the real decision is what’s most important to OP: Time, money, convenience, experience?

We are landing at MCO around 11pm on a Thursday and departing around 7am on a Sunday for a long weekend trip in February.

Right now I have reserved a Hilton hotel with points right next WDW, but now I’m actually considering staying right next to the airport to avoid a longer commute to/from MCO on our departure and arrival days AND we can cut Thursday night and Sunday morning off of our car rental.

Another option is to spend our arrival night at the MCO hotel, wake up the next morning, pick up the car rental, then go to HS. Then stay at a hotel close to WDW Friday night, wake up the next morning and head to AK, then drop off the car rental and stay at the MCO hotel Saturday night.

We will literally bring a backpack with a weekend’s worth of clothes and our toiletries so changing between hotels isn’t an issue.

What would you do?

I’ve stayed at both Hotels on WDW trips before. I’m just having a tough time deciding which will save me time (and maybe some money).

Option #1: Hotel by WDW
Option #2: Hotel by MCO
Option #3: MCO on arrival/departure days and WDW during the middle day.

If you want to save money:
1. Stay by airport on first night because only the Magical Express runs all night.
2. Use hotel shuttle to go back to airport early in the morning and take the $2 Lynx Bus (Express Lynx #111) from the Terminal A Bus area. (make sure to ask for the free transfer) When the 111 gets to Sea World get off and take the #50 Lynx bus to either Lake Buena/Vista Disney Springs or WDW transportation center. (There's also a $4.50 all day pass and a $16 week pass)

I would recommend staying at either the Rosen Lake Buena Vista, Homewood Suites Lake Buena Vista or the Marriot Lake Buena Vista as these have no resort fees and have their own bus that goes to Disney (3 times in the morning) as well. And they all have a Lynx bus stop right outside the hotel that runs 5 am to midnight.

3. Saturday night take Lynx Bus back to the airport and then hotel airport shuttle to your hotel.

 

[WorldOfPooh]

Offsite shuttles were pretty hit or miss in terms of reliability even in non covid times. Some of them basically operate like SuperShuttle did picking up from different hotels, some had quirky operating hours, some only dropped off at certain parks, etc. When I stayed at the Sheraton Vistana you had to call and reserve your slot and the pickup/drop off times were limited. I have to imagine covid procedures and cutbacks have made them worse. I know some have had success with them but there's a good reason people always encourage folks staying offsite to have their own transportation (or use rideshare).

Lynx bus is actually very punctual. More so then Disney busses or hotel shuttles.

Hotel disney shuttles are still running (except for Embassy Suites I drive it cost $14 now and the Universal area hotels alot of them have discontinued the shuttle to Dinsey during COVID times) but Lynx bus is much faster since it doesn't stop at every single hotel.

 

[fancymouse]

Offsite shuttles were pretty hit or miss in terms of reliability even in non covid times. Some of them basically operate like SuperShuttle did picking up from different hotels, some had quirky operating hours, some only dropped off at certain parks, etc. When I stayed at the Sheraton Vistana you had to call and reserve your slot and the pickup/drop off times were limited. I have to imagine covid procedures and cutbacks have made them worse. I know some have had success with them but there's a good reason people always encourage folks staying offsite to have their own transportation (or use rideshare).

True. I’m a huge fan of Disney resorts for their transportation, but again the original post was just a little unclear as to what was most important. If it’s money, free transportation (like park shuttles) are an option, but then you are giving up convenience. If I were to stay offsite I would definitely at least leave the option open to take an Uber in case the shuttle wasn’t convenient or something, but I wouldn’t rent a car in the situation mentioned above. By the time you factor in the cost of rental in addition to parking fees at the parks I find it hard to believe a rental would be cheaper than Uber/Lyft (but it’s been a while since I rented and maybe there are good deals with Covid ). To me there’s also the added hassle of dealing with the rental process and for such a short trip I wouldn’t bother, but that’s just me!

 

[cjlong88]

We will be 100% renting a car. We want to control our own destiny on this trip.

I guess here are the big pros/cons swimming in my tiny, weird head:

MCO Hotel PROS: can pick up the rental car a day later and drop it off the night before (saves a bit of money -- not "make or break" but would still be awesome), can get to the hotel faster upon arrival to catch more zzz's and can sleep a little longer waking up and heading to the airport for departure. Saves me a bit of money and gives me a bit more sleep during our arrival/departure days. Woohoo!

MCO Hotel CONS: longer commute to rope drop (even longer if we choose to take roads that avoid tolls), wouldn't want to head back that far to rest at the hotel. Booooo!

WDW Hotel PROS: easy to pop back for a quick nap before park hopping, much quicker drive to rope drop, you're closer to WDW and therefore still/kinda/sorta/maybe within that giant magic bubble. Oh yeah!

WDW Hotel CONS: we potentially won't arrive at the hotel until well past midnight (depends on the car rental process), need to plan extra time to drive to MCO and drop the car off. UGH!


And now that I have written all of this out, I didn't even really begin to consider how staying near MCO will affect rope drop and opportunities to rest in the middle of the day.

 

[WorldOfPooh]

We will be 100% renting a car. We want to control our own destiny on this trip.

I guess here are the big pros/cons swimming in my tiny, weird head:

MCO Hotel PROS: can pick up the rental car a day later and drop it off the night before (saves a bit of money -- not "make or break" but would still be awesome), can get to the hotel faster upon arrival to catch more zzz's and can sleep a little longer waking up and heading to the airport for departure. Saves me a bit of money and gives me a bit more sleep during our arrival/departure days. Woohoo!

MCO Hotel CONS: longer commute to rope drop (even longer if we choose to take roads that avoid tolls), wouldn't want to head back that far to rest at the hotel. Booooo!

WDW Hotel PROS: easy to pop back for a quick nap before park hopping, much quicker drive to rope drop, you're closer to WDW and therefore still/kinda/sorta/maybe within that giant magic bubble. Oh yeah!

WDW Hotel CONS: we potentially won't arrive at the hotel until well past midnight (depends on the car rental process), need to plan extra time to drive to MCO and drop the car off. UGH!


And now that I have written all of this out, I didn't even really begin to consider how staying near MCO will affect rope drop and opportunities to rest in the middle of the day.

Why don't you just stay at the Value All Stars. That way you have the 24 hour Magical Express and won't need to rent a car at all.

And if you want to be really cheap on the last night take the Magical Express to the airport and sleep in the airport for free or take the Magical Express late Saturday night/AM Sunday and go to your airport hotel.

 

[fancymouse]

We will be 100% renting a car. We want to control our own destiny on this trip.

I guess here are the big pros/cons swimming in my tiny, weird head:

MCO Hotel PROS: can pick up the rental car a day later and drop it off the night before (saves a bit of money -- not "make or break" but would still be awesome), can get to the hotel faster upon arrival to catch more zzz's and can sleep a little longer waking up and heading to the airport for departure. Saves me a bit of money and gives me a bit more sleep during our arrival/departure days. Woohoo!

MCO Hotel CONS: longer commute to rope drop (even longer if we choose to take roads that avoid tolls), wouldn't want to head back that far to rest at the hotel. Booooo!

WDW Hotel PROS: easy to pop back for a quick nap before park hopping, much quicker drive to rope drop, you're closer to WDW and therefore still/kinda/sorta/maybe within that giant magic bubble. Oh yeah!

WDW Hotel CONS: we potentially won't arrive at the hotel until well past midnight (depends on the car rental process), need to plan extra time to drive to MCO and drop the car off. UGH!


And now that I have written all of this out, I didn't even really begin to consider how staying near MCO will affect rope drop and opportunities to rest in the middle of the day.

How are you getting to your hotel on Thursday when you have no rental? Are you staying in a hotel attached to the airport? Regardless you need to consider you’ll be figuring out your rental on your first park morning. Which means you aren’t realistically saving time or sleeping longer. You are swapping going to bed later with getting up earlier. Same if you go to the hotel near WDW. Sure you’ll go to bed later, but you’ll get to wake up later. A lot of your pros and cons are simply splitting hairs when it comes to saving time or sleeping longer. You are arriving and departing during times that are not going to have traffic so your “commute” to MCO isn’t very long. Realistically you’d get maybe 20 more minutes of sleep, but you will be spending more time driving back and forth off property. Just need to decide where and how you want to spend your time

 

[WorldOfPooh]

And especially since it's such a short trip I see no value in having a rental car cause it would just subtract time from the parks. Plus unless you have AP you would have to pay $20+ parking at the parks each day.

 

[WorldOfPooh]

How are you getting to your hotel on Thursday when you have no rental?

To be fair most hotels near the airport have an airport shuttle.

 

[Dug720]

And especially since it's such a short trip I see no value in having a rental car cause it would just subtract time from the parks. Plus unless you have AP you would have to pay $20+ parking at the parks each day.

This. I don't know about Uber, but you can reserve your Lyft in advance - there is a 15 minute window where they can arrive, so if you want them by 7:30, I'd reserve for 7:15. It's not that hard to "control your own destiny" with Lyft.

 

[fancymouse]

To be fair most hotels near the airport have an airport shuttle.

That’s what I assumed, but then add that time to the morning rental process. Even less time to sleep as you’d be taking the shuttle to your hotel and then somehow getting your rental in the morning (as opposed to just getting your rental that night). But whatever. It’s not my trip

 

[WorldOfPooh]

That’s what I assumed, but then add that time to the morning rental process. Even less time to sleep as you’d be taking the shuttle to your hotel and then somehow getting your rental in the morning (as opposed to just getting your rental that night). But whatever. It’s not my trip

He's new so I think he's still learning.
But yeah on such a short trip it seems to me either Magical Express or LYNX Bus (if you want to be dirt cheap) would be alot faster than going through the whole rental car process plus cheaper cause you have to factor in all the parking costs (at the parks, hotels, etc) unless you once again want to be cheap by parking at Disney Springs but then you lose even more time and are taking the Disney Bus from Springs anyway.

 

[Dug720]

unless you once again want to be cheap by parking at Disney Springs but then you lose even more time and are taking the Disney Bus from Springs anyway.

Even more time because you'd have to go to a resort and THEN get a bus to the parks (Boardwalk or YC/BC and walked to Studios) because there are no busses from Springs to the parks.