Hotels for Dopey challenge

[pryzeless]

My husband signed up for the Dopey challenge and myself and our 3 kids were coming to watch. We have 2 rooms at AoA booked but are looking for other options. Any suggestion for non - Disney hotels that run race transport or would we need a separate car? This is not ideal but we are trying to find something more affordable.

 

[ZellyB]

I'm not aware of any off-site hotels that provide race transportation, but maybe there are some and I'm not aware of them.

I've stayed off site for race weekends, but we always had a car. You could use Uber/Lyft, but that can be tricky also on race days due to road closures and they can't always get you where you want to be by the path their GPS would normally take them. We tried to use them one time to get to the Contemporary as we wanted to spectate before a morning ADR at the Wave and it took us an HOUR to get there because the poor guy couldn't get through on any roads he thought would get him there. He did finally get us there after he detoured off property and through some back roads and got in through some back employee entrance. We gave him a BIG tip. He had worked so hard for us.

 

[GreatLakes]

I also don't know of any hotels offsite that do race transport. Swan/Dolphin are onsite but not Disney and they are the only ones I know of.

I might stay offsite if I was doing one race but for Dopey there is no way. Any cost savings would be offset but the added need to get myself to 4 races.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

My husband signed up for the Dopey challenge and myself and our 3 kids were coming to watch. We have 2 rooms at AoA booked but are looking for other options. Any suggestion for non - Disney hotels that run race transport or would we need a separate car? This is not ideal but we are trying to find something more affordable.

I was at the Bonnet Creek Wyndham one year, thanks to a friend. No shuttle from there, so they had to drop me and the traffic jam was huge and I wound up walking straight through the staging area and out onto the course. If I had studied the map more, I'd have realized that they could have dropped me at the main road and I could have walked up the maintenance road to the corrals.
That said, I'm planning on a Disney resort and will take the Disney shuttle bus as I did for my first HM. As for staying offsite: the last time I did that was appx 17 years ago, and the decision was to stay onsite thereafter. It just isn't worth any savings in $$ for the nightly rate, plus I enjoy parking my car when I get there and taking Disney transportation until time to leave.

 

[jmasgat]

There are lots of places to stay offsite that would be cheaper, with as much/more space and most likely let you afford a car--which you would definitely need. Even the Hilton Bonnet Creek only offers race transportation for the half and full. I have stayed at Sheraton Vistana Resort--it was totally fine. You could get a 2BR unit for ~$200/nt. Check out Mousesavers--they have preferred hotel rates for lots of places. I have driven to DIsney races from onsite and offsite--it can be done just as well as taking a bus.

Question is: do you want the "Disney experience"? If that's a factor, then stay onsite and keep an eye out for specials for that time of year that would "typically" come in October. Who knows what they will do these days.

 

[pryzeless]

Thank you for all your advice. This will be our first Disney race so it will be all new to us. I am not loving the idea of staying offsite as I will likely have to get myself and the 3 kids to and from the parks when he is not with us. We reserved the two rooms as he plans on being up early for the races and does not want to disturb the rest of us. (and be disturbed when he goes to bed early) We are also DVC members but there is zero availability then. I will keep my fingers crossed for more options as we get closer but I am not holding my breath.

 

[DopeyBadger]

If I had studied the map more, I'd have realized that they could have dropped me at the main road and I could have walked up the maintenance road to the corrals.

And just to add to this @pryzeless, DO NOT attempt to do this anymore as this was 17 years ago for @Mr_Incr3dible. There used to be a time pre-Boston April 2013 where maybe this would have flied. People used to cross the Disney Vacation Club Way by Old Key West to get to the corrals. Corrals are below in the five dots as shown on this Google Maps map, and people used to cross the road at the dot to the East across Bonnet Creek.



But these days you MUST go through security in the EPCOT parking lot before heading to the corrals on EPCOT Center Drive. If you're caught trying to avoid security you will be barred from the race. It's a security risk.

Just didn't want there to be any confusion on that.

 

[camaker]

But these days you MUST go through security in the EPCOT parking lot before heading to the corrals on EPCOT Center Drive. If you're caught trying to avoid security you will be barred from the race. It's a security risk.

Just didn't want there to be any confusion on that.

Just to reinforce the caution from @DopeyBadger, French Quarter is one of my favorite places to stay for the races and they leave messages on the in-house phone system warning that if you try to walk directly to the corrals without going through the security flow at Epcot you’ll be disqualified and not allowed to run.

 

[Mr_Incr3dible]

And just to add to this @pryzeless, DO NOT attempt to do this anymore as this was 17 years ago for @Mr_Incr3dible. There used to be a time pre-Boston April 2013 where maybe this would have flied. People used to cross the Disney Vacation Club Way by Old Key West to get to the corrals. Corrals are below in the five dots as shown on this Google Maps map, and people used to cross the road at the dot to the East across Bonnet Creek.

View attachment 595254

But these days you MUST go through security in the EPCOT parking lot before heading to the corrals on EPCOT Center Drive. If you're caught trying to avoid security you will be barred from the race. It's a security risk.

Just didn't want there to be any confusion on that.

Thanks for that update. Mr Pedantic (me) notes that it has been only ten years since my last visit, but no doubt some of my info is stale.
I plan to stay at one of the resorts and I will count on the shuttle bus to drop me wherever I need to be.

 

[Livelovedance]

Thank you for all your advice. This will be our first Disney race so it will be all new to us. I am not loving the idea of staying offsite as I will likely have to get myself and the 3 kids to and from the parks when he is not with us. We reserved the two rooms as he plans on being up early for the races and does not want to disturb the rest of us. (and be disturbed when he goes to bed early) We are also DVC members but there is zero availability then. I will keep my fingers crossed for more options as we get closer but I am not holding my breath.

I’ve always stayed onsite for Princess weekend and used the on-site transportation. Of course nothing’s perfect, but it made transportation a nonissue. My question is, if the offsite hotel doesn’t have a shuttle and your husband takes the car (I know you mentioned sleeping in different rooms to not disturb anyone, which is incredibly thoughtful), how would you get to the races to watch him? I feel your pain on the DVC availability; I’ve been trying to change resorts and there’s nothing available anywhere!