Inexpensive accommodations for a party of 6?

[djblu883]

lol no worries...You just asked for the MOST economical and that is it....and camping is my thing and know its not for everyone...heck I love it so much I'm doing it full time for work in a brand new travel trailer!...I'm 5 hours from home and happy as can be...it's just me so I'm not cramped up with a bunch of others....will be a challenge when I go again to the Fort in Oct. after being so spolied by myself in here lol...Good luck with your choices....maybe buying DVC points???? you might check that thread as well....they do have Villas that might work....

 

[faindrops27]

Heather, we didnt go to Disney all those days. We did Universal too. With one day off. But, that day we went to downtown Disney. So, we were pretty much busy, the duration of the vacay. I am a commando tourer. So, at the parks all day. I do not get bored. I love it!

I looked up prices if your family of 5. I dont know the ages of your children. But, if you did go and stayed at POR. 10 days with free dining. It came out to 2856. With a 7 day park hopper. Pretty good deal to me. How much were you going to spend in total for this trip, offsite??

Of course a good argument is a lil hotel room, is nothing compared to a 4 bedroom townhome. But, I however, rather the convenience, of staying onsite. I am hardly in the room. Other than to get showered, and sleep. I love staying onsite. It is just something about it. I .

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Yes, it sure was alot, and has convinced me to stay on Disney property always. I am an avid planner also. But, when crunching numbers, staying offsite versus staying onsite. Just did not add up well for our family. The initial reason I stayed at Windsor hills is because it was brand new, and 1375 seemed like a very reasonable price. Let me get this right. For 13 days.. You had a rental van, and stayed at windsor hills, in the 3 bedroom townhome? For 2500, including all of your onsite, and offsite food, and disney tickets? Where did your family of 5 fly from? We flew from Long Island NY. 2500 is not bad at all. I dont know how you did that. Here is how our trip numbers looked.

For 13 days. Our townhome alone cost us 1375.
Airfare was 1100.
The van was a great price at 478.
We ate 4 TS which ran around 660, including tip.
Another 500 for CS.
Snacks for 13 days. I did not add. I dont have a reciept for them all.
Dinners, at olive garden, pizza hut, red lobster, steak and shake, and this expensive italian place. Ran roughly 640 with tip.
I think i spent around 150, on supplies for the house, some breakfast foods, 2 dinners which I cooked.
Then the tickets. Which if I remember correctly were around 1000.
Sometimes we let the kids eat breakfast at mcds, if we running late leaving for the parks in the morning. so another 50.
Oh, parking. I did not add that either.
I was actually low in my equation. I think this adds up to more than 5000
Which really nails the nail in the head. To stay onsite. At least for me.

The next trip with just me, and the boys. I think is costing me around 1500, with the free dining for nine nights.Airfare 430, SW. I will use the bus for transport. I cannot wait. I am pretty sold on staying onsite. From now on. I love it!! And again, if following the example of what we paid to stay at Windsor Hills. It is a no brainer. To stay onsite. But, again. That is JMHO

Not trying to argue but most of your comparison of your 2 trips really have nothing to do with weather you stayed onsite or not. With your 2nd trip you're saving almost $700 just in airfare. Also you didn't have to rent a van. My neighbor has 3 kids and goes to WDW at least 2x/yr and does fine with a Taurus. I can usually get one for about $150/week. You wanted a van because you probably packed like you were staying in a hotel room for 13 days (inconvenient/no access to a W/D.) We rented a car the last time we stayed onsite (7 trips ago) anyway since, even though we love WDW, we didn't want to feel trapped there and like to do non-Disney things in Orlando too.
The cost of your park tickets have nothing to do with staying onsite.
Neither do your costs for TS, CS, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, etc.= $1800. You have to eat no matter where you sleep. You can eat cheap or expensive both on and offsite.
The fact that you spent $50 at McDonald's because you were running late in the morning doesn't have anything to do with staying in WH. It only takes about 30 secs. to pour a bowl of cereal or toast a bagel and about 3 mins. to boil water for oatmeal. What would you have done differently onsite? WH is only about 3 miles to WDW so by the time you're almost there, your resort bus would be just arriving. Of course you will save a lot w/ free dining but not everyone can go then and it wasn't available at the time of your 1st trip either so that is a no brainer. Be realistic, can you really only go while they are offering free DDP?

As for 13 consecutive park days, dh would probably fling himself off a bridge 1st. Our 10 day, no exp. w/water parks,etc. last us about 4 trips to FL. Parking for us is about $40-50 per vacation which I'd gladly pay in exchange for more space. I'd also rather pay to park than be crammed on a bus with someone's sweaty armpit in my face, but that's just me. Some prefer the buses over driving. To each his own.
With a rental home you get your own private pool steps outside your living room and can make a pitcher of iced tea rather than paying $3 for drink every time you want a sip. For us it's really easy to pack trash bags, dishwasher tablets, sugar packets, microwave popcorn and small house items so we don't have to buy it all there. Also easy to pack a collapsible cooler to bring frozen bottled water and box juices to the parks so we always have cold drinks handy. We never cook and can pack very light (1 suitcase & 2 carry ons for 4 of us for the week) since we have a washer/dryer and it's no big deal to throw a load in and go hop in the pool. No worry some stranger will toss your clothes out when they want to use it. For some, doing laundry is not a vacation but I really don't mind it. Plus I don't have so much to wash when we get home too.
Looking at everything, we stay off site not for financial reasons, we just like to have space (esp. privacy for dh and I or we'd both be flinging off a bridge after a week!) having 2 or 3 bathrooms helps with getting ready and kids have their own bedroom with TV and dvd so dh and I can relax and watch a grown up movie.
Like they say, different strokes for different folks. Just don't blame your expensive trip on the fact that your were offsite. JMHO....

 

[faindrops27]

Rua- Umm, let us slow down abit here. I was not giving any comparison. I was answering another poster. Stating. What transpired with me, me, not you. Me, and my vacation. So what is your point?

You, and the way you choose to vacation works for you, wonderful. You can pack effeciently, great. You choose to take a cooler and frozen waters into the park. Good for you. Your friend gets a taurus. I'm glad for her. Your 10 day tickets. You get 4 trips out of them. Super. Guess what? The way you vacation, is the way you vacation. Likewise.. So, what is the point?

This is a discussion board. So, please don't tell me what not to say.
All, I have to say to this, as. I don't need anymore demerits.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I know it was your vacation and I'm not telling you what not to say. Where did that come from?

I'm just stating that you said your offsite vacation was over $5000 and your onsite is only $1500. You made it sound like the reason for this discrepancy is that you stayed offsite.

Definately, I think that it costs more in the long run to stay offsite.

2500 is not bad at all. I dont know how you did that.

I was merely telling you how some off-siters do it. My version was just longer than HeatherC's.

Which really nails the nail in the head. To stay onsite. At least for me.
And again, if following the example of what we paid to stay at Windsor Hills. It is a no brainer. To stay onsite. JMHO

My point is that your expensive trip would have been expensive on or off site. 13 days of WDW is a lot, but you blamed your costs on Windsor Hills and vowed to never do it again.

I don't need anymore demerits.

I don't know what this is but don't blame me for your issues.

Have a great day.

 

[HeatherC]

Faindrops 27 - Thanks for replying! My kids are actually 10 9 and 6. So...according to Disney one is now an adult which bumps up the cost even a little more now.

We also have to now pretty much go during school vacations since the school work is just too much to makeup at other times. (Miss those May, Oct. and Nov. trips). Of course, this means that rates are usually higher and there is never free dining available for our time frames. That would be awesome if it was because I love to eat in different restaurants!

We usually do about 4 days at the parks each trip with other days spent shopping, hanging out at the pool, exploring. We also love SeaWorld. That type of thing. Because we've gone so many times the kids actually prefer a more relaxed trip. I, on the other hand, can do the parks a lot more than them or dh. They just don't let me!!! LOL!

We used to rent a minivan when we had car seats and strollers. But the last couple times we were fine with a full size. For June I am paying about $230 for 10 days. Not too bad really.

I guess my entire June trip will cost about $1500 max. Like I mentioned, I'm splitting the townhouse and car with my mom and we got awesome airfare. This amount also includes a couple TS meals at Ohana's, CP and Rainforest Cafe and lots of meals outside the park. (We like to splurge on vacation and I like to NOT cook then.)

I'm lucky now because the kids don't really care about the souvenirs as much anymore.

I guess my kids are spoiled because they all have their own rooms at home and to share even two hotel rooms is not a fun time for us. They keep each other up and the bickering drives dh and I insane. I truly love having multiple bedrooms and that's why I love Orlando. The resorts all over Orlando are great for so many different types of family travel.

Another reason is that we just love having a kitchen. I love hanging in my jammies on the days we aren't going to the parks and having my coffee RIGHT when I wake up without having to go to the food court or a restaurant. I think because we hurry every morning at home to get ready and out the door we all love to just take our time and lounge with our breakfasts when we are on vacation.

I think if we only had two kids we would be more inclined to stay onsite from time to time. But that 3rd one we joke puts us over the edge. I think we have just found what works for us.

And because I do love Orlando so much, I can afford to go more often which is really great to me. (We were just there for 12 days over Feb. vacation and that trip cost us about $2000.

As far as tickets, we have always bought 10 day hoppers that don't expire. That gets us a couple trips and we still have 6 days of water parks that we will finally start to use in June.

I think what works for one family wouldn't work for another. Everyone has to kind of figure out their "best" case scenario both financially and mentally.

Happy traveling to all!!

HeatherC

 

[faindrops27]

Faindrops 27 - Thanks for replying! My kids are actually 10 9 and 6. So...according to Disney one is now an adult which bumps up the cost even a little more now.

We also have to now pretty much go during school vacations since the school work is just too much to makeup at other times. (Miss those May, Oct. and Nov. trips). Of course, this means that rates are usually higher and there is never free dining available for our time frames. That would be awesome if it was because I love to eat in different restaurants!

We usually do about 4 days at the parks each trip with other days spent shopping, hanging out at the pool, exploring. We also love SeaWorld. That type of thing. Because we've gone so many times the kids actually prefer a more relaxed trip. I, on the other hand, can do the parks a lot more than them or dh. They just don't let me!!! LOL!

We used to rent a minivan when we had car seats and strollers. But the last couple times we were fine with a full size. For June I am paying about $230 for 10 days. Not too bad really.

I guess my entire June trip will cost about $1500 max. Like I mentioned, I'm splitting the townhouse and car with my mom and we got awesome airfare. This amount also includes a couple TS meals at Ohana's, CP and Rainforest Cafe and lots of meals outside the park. (We like to splurge on vacation and I like to NOT cook then.)

I'm lucky now because the kids don't really care about the souvenirs as much anymore.

I guess my kids are spoiled because they all have their own rooms at home and to share even two hotel rooms is not a fun time for us. They keep each other up and the bickering drives dh and I insane. I truly love having multiple bedrooms and that's why I love Orlando. The resorts all over Orlando are great for so many different types of family travel.

Another reason is that we just love having a kitchen. I love hanging in my jammies on the days we aren't going to the parks and having my coffee RIGHT when I wake up without having to go to the food court or a restaurant. I think because we hurry every morning at home to get ready and out the door we all love to just take our time and lounge with our breakfasts when we are on vacation.

I think if we only had two kids we would be more inclined to stay onsite from time to time. But that 3rd one we joke puts us over the edge. I think we have just found what works for us.

And because I do love Orlando so much, I can afford to go more often which is really great to me. (We were just there for 12 days over Feb. vacation and that trip cost us about $2000.

As far as tickets, we have always bought 10 day hoppers that don't expire. That gets us a couple trips and we still have 6 days of water parks that we will finally start to use in June.

I think what works for one family wouldn't work for another. Everyone has to kind of figure out their "best" case scenario both financially and mentally.

Happy traveling to all!!

HeatherC

Wow Heather, I never really looked at going to Orlando, as a slow paced vacation. I am always going, going, going. When I am there. Trying to stuff everything in at once. But, your take and the prices you paid sounds great! I wish that could work out for my family. The way it does yours. Lounging by the pool. When we went to Windsor Hills. We only got to use the little house pool once. Never even saw the recreational pool. We were all so pooped, coming in late. We would usually go to sleep as soon as we hit the door. To just get up and start all over again. Maybe, I should try to relax, and take it all in. The only vacation, where I have ever felt relaxed, is on a cruise. I love it!! Especially with a balcony, just sitting out there watching the world go by. That is so serene and nice. Maybe, I will try to slow down this trip. Thanks Heather, for giving me another side of looking at things. Happy, and safe vacations to you as well!!

 

[trennr]

I'm an offsiter...but i always drive and have my own Car. Sooo In the long run I save a bundle staying offsite.

You can get a 3 BR home with your own private pool for less than a moderate resort.