Is there a catch w/ Hotel Kingdom and Cypress Pointe?

[kbkids]

We have been to Disney more times than I can count and have always stayed on-site. We're going in February and have reservations at Caribbean Beach but out of curiousity, I started checking off-site since we aren't taking advantage of any of the Extra Hours like we usually do. I found a two BR at Cypress Pointe Grande Villas for $10 less a night than we are paying for Caribbean Beach? Is there a catch I'm missing? Any time share presentations I'm going to have to endure - not willing to at all. And I read somewhere about not being able to request non-smoking. Is this an issue? I absolutely can't stand the smell of stale smoke - yes, it really would ruin my vacation.

 

[DisneyFanGuy]

There is no catch. None. No presentation if you book through Hotel Kingdom. I stayed at Carribean beach last year for 130 bucks a night. This past year I stayed at CP in a huge, clean, two bedroom for less than 90 dollars per night. It's two blocks from the Hotel Plaza Blvd entrance. It's big, clean, and much nicer than The Carribean Beach. It doesn't have the food court though, you have to pay for housecleaning, and you don't get the extra magic hours. We never used them anyway. My family has been playing with dates for next year, and we WILL be going back to Cypress Pointe. We couldn't believe how nice it was for the money.

 

[kbkids]

Housecleaning isn't an issue with me. I will miss the food court, as I hate to cook on vacation, but I can deal with it as it will just mostly be breakfast I'm having to make. Lunches and dinners will probably be in the parks anyway. We have always taken advantage of the extra magic hours before, but this trip we decided to sleep in and spend some time being lazy. Other than having to pay for parking, I couldn't find a reason to definitely stay on-site again. We have a car, so we don't have to use Disney transportation.

Caribbean Beach is one of our favorite resorts, and the kids are a little disappointed about not staying there, but when I showed them the pictures of what we could be staying in, they cheered up again.

We'll be going in February, so the pools aren't going to be an issue. We're from Florida, and I can't fathom getting into a swimming pool in February. The kids love the pools at Disney's resorts, so that's another reason we always stay on-site, but again, since it wouldn't be used on this trip . . . . I think we're definitely leaning towards venturing off-site on this trip.

 

[meta]

Hi. Actually I learned about Hotel Kingdom from the people at Cypress Pointe. When I called them to check availability, I commented that the price they gave was so much higher than I saw from people renting on their own. They were the ones to tell me about Hotel Kingdom and even gave me the phone number. They said they're a booking agent for them. Just the fact alone that Cypress Pointe reservations recommended Hootel Kingdom makes me feel confident.

By the way, we are going in Feb also. Arriving Feb 17th.

 

[kbkids]

Hi. Actually I learned about Hotel Kingdom from the people at Cypress Pointe. When I called them to check availability, I commented that the price they gave was so much higher than I saw from people renting on their own. They were the ones to tell me about Hotel Kingdom and even gave me the phone number. They said they're a booking agent for them. Just the fact alone that Cypress Pointe reservations recommended Hootel Kingdom makes me feel confident.

By the way, we are going in Feb also. Arriving Feb 17th.

Wow! That's interesting. We'll be arriving Feb 2nd

 

[ReallyFunMom]

The only catch is a $20 fee if you have to change or cancel. It's listed somewhere on the HK site. Occassionally some other site will offer a special or have old pricing (use to be an even better deal at 68/night!) but I like HK since I've used them 5 or 6 times at CP and CPGVs w/o any problems. What's amazing is that they don't bother to charge more around holiday times (peak season) but you do need to book early before they run out of their alotment of rooms. I also think HK gets less rooms after the remodeling and improved ranking in the timeshare exchanges. With the back entrance we drive onsite as efficiently as when we do stay onsite. Use the money saved to eat at some nice restaurants onsite or off. We really like driving and can get some of the Disney atmosphere by driving to the resorts. We explain to the guard at POFQ we've been there in the past and "the boy in the backseat wants some beingets" and they let us in, no problem. So, you can do those sort of things even as an offsite guest. This is a good map, locate where CP is on this Disney resort area map and you can use it to get around. There is no security guard station on Vista anymore so we use that route to merge us past the MK entrance when driving to GF or Poly for breakfast. We don't have to wait to tell a guard we have an ADR and have him wave us thru.

There are hardly any lights and mostly woods and new construction on 535 so we find getting onsite that way much quicker than going by all the DTD traffic and lights.

http://home.hiwaay.net/~jlspence/propmap.pdf

 

[ReallyFunMom]

Housecleaning isn't an issue with me. I will miss the food court, as I hate to cook on vacation, but I can deal with it as it will just mostly be breakfast I'm having to make. Lunches and dinners will probably be in the parks anyway. We have always taken advantage of the extra magic hours before, but this trip we decided to sleep in and spend some time being lazy. Other than having to pay for parking, I couldn't find a reason to definitely stay on-site again. We have a car, so we don't have to use Disney transportation.

I don't cook either but its nice to have a full sized frig for drinks and things. Winn Dixie is very close so I get some donuts, milk, OJ, beer and micro popcorn. There is a Manhatten Bagel shop in the plaza next to CP. You could walk if you wanted but I drive over for coffee for me and bagels for the family and I'm back in 5 minutes. I find breakfast in the condo easier than dealing with a food court.

http://www.orlando-lakebuenavista.com/map/lbvnorth/hwy535map1.htm

This map shows just some of the dining places nearby and its Palm Parkway that leads you onsite. At the SE corner of Vinings way where the bagel place is there is also Giodanios pizza (sp) and Steak and Shake. I haven't made it to either but we've brought bac Mac Grill and Uno's to the condo back when the kids seemed too tired for sitting in a restaurant.