I think for our NEXT trip...

[mousy_in_canada]

he he.. I am already planning the next trip.. LOL
We are going to rent a villa... it seems cheaper.. the only reason we are staying at WDW is the transportation and it looks like FW transportation is getting worse! people are saying that it takes around 1.5 hours to get to AK.. yikes! I think we will end up driving everywhere if it is that way!

Do you guys have any recommendations as to where to look for a villa, or a townhouse?

 

[talicskai]

We always stay at either Sheraton's Vistana Resort or Vistana Village. The Resort is right on State Road 535 beside the huge Marriott that you see all lit up at night time. You are literally minutes from Downtown Disney. The Villages are on International Drive South right around the corner from Sea World and still very quick into WDW. You can book both through a travel agency that sells Holiday House. We love it! It gives you two full bathrooms, two bedrooms, a full kitchen, washer and dryer, screened - -in porch and beautiful pools! I never do Disney without a car because I enjoy eating at Outback, Boston Market, Cracker Barrel etc. and you need a vehicle to get to all those places. I am also a Walmart junkie so I go there at least twice during out holiday. The best part about a condo is that you can eat your breakfast in your jammies! I don't cook on holidays but we often order take-out and it saves on tips, drinks etc. We can buy a case of pop/beer/juice and keep it in our kitchen. They even have BBQ's if you so desire.
I have stayed on site but felt so trapped by the bus system it nearly drove me nuts!
Give a condo a try ~ you'll love it!

Teresa

 

[i12go2wdw]

Although they are not villas, we loved the Tropical Palms cabins. We had a cabin that slept 8, two bedrooms one with a double and one with a queen, a double pull out in the living room and a double mattress on the floor in the loft which the kids loved. It only had one bathroom and it was tiny but it had a full kitchen that was stocked better than the cabins at Fort Wilderness. Each cabin had a good sized porch that faced onto a small courtyard shared by 4 cabins. Parking was just behind one of those cabins (20 steps). There is a freeform pool that was very clean, with a snack shop on the pool deck. We even had a live band on a Saturday afternoon. There is also a kiddie pool. The best part is the cost - for the one that sleeps 8 we paid $79and the one that
sleeps 6 was $59. The drive was not more than 10-15 minutes from any park, MK was the furthest. It is located just a short walk from Old Town. Tropical Palms was very quiet and clean and we would stay there again in a heartbeat.
http://www.tropicalpalms.com/
Christine

 

[Sandyincanada]

We are staying at Cypress Pointe this time. 2 or 3 bedroom condo, 2 baths, screened balcony, full kitchen, etc. It has great reviews. We got a 2 bdrm in Feb for 72.00 through www.hotelkingdom.com

Not sure if the offsite rooms themselves are much cheaper than the budgets onsite but we prefer all the space, we visit other parks and attractions and like talicskai, we like to go the restaurants we don't have here. Bennigans is our fav.

 

[merfsko]

For our pats three trips and upcoming fourth trip, we've stayed and Sheraton's Vistana Villages- if you rent a car you're a close to everything, including Disney. The place inself is great too, has almost everything! I definately suggest it.

 

[twinz]

WE stayed in a house in September 2002. It had our own private pool (fully fenced in with patio furniture), full kitchen, two bathrooms, three bedrooms, full living room, and a garage. It was on a nice quiet street. We loved it, I would definately stay in one again. We rented it from an English family, and it was a lot cheaper for the two weeks we paid about 700 US for it. We went online and looked up on a search engine for vacation homes. Good luck.