Large Family - best place to stay?

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

Hi all! I am new to this and trying to plan (if we can afford it - eesh!) our first trip to WDW with our 4 year old triplets! After a little research, it doesn't seem to make sense to stay at WDW property in a little room when there are very nice villas/2-bedroom suites off site for really good deals. Anyone have any suggestions? We're trying to keep it at $200 a night for 5 nights...goodness this adds us fast...just airfare and hotel are going to cost $2,000 alone! How do you all do it?! Thanks in advace! **oh..the Sheriton looked nice...

Karen

 

[Melissa2480]

You may want to check out the ORLANDO HOTELS AND ATTRACTIONS forum. There is great information on there about off site hotels. We are actually staying in a 3 bedroom townhome at Windsor Hills Resort for way less than $200.00 a night and its only 5 mins from the World. There are ways to make Disney affordable.

Good Luck!

 

[TravelinGal]

A house! A house! Rent a House! (can you tell we've been quite happy with house rentals? )

This year we are staying at The Diamond on the Island and our price (for Sept/Oct) is around 146 a night INCLUDING pool heat, spa (hot tub) heat and ALL taxes.
The owner is very friendly and easy to work with. Tell him Robin in Colorado sent you. (I don't get anything, but it's always nice for the owners to know how you heard about their home)

Emerald Island (the residential housing community) is about 2 to 3 miles from WDW. EASY EASY to get to and from. We had no problems going home midday for our little one to nap and then going back to the parks when he woke up.

 

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

Thanks! Now tell me..do you think you still save $$ in the long run staying off site than at WDW property? I was thinking for sure we would...but then we can't get the meal plan and now have to rent a car and pay for parking at the parks. What do you all think? thanks...

Karen

 

[jenrein]

The dining plan can save some people alot of money- but it depends on your family. The plan gives you alot of food. I mean, I like to eat and I was like wow this is a lot of food. You can get a counter service, table sit-down, and a snack for each person everyday. So the price is great on the food that you get. But then you are taking time out to sit and have lunch at a counter service- although they sound fast, it takes time still. Then the dinner reservations- that takes a big chunk of time out as well. I loved the plan and would do it again because it worked for us. We needed those breaks and liked the food. With triplets- you may want to do more of a cooler packed lunch or even lunch back at the hotel...if its convenient to go back and forth.

 

[TravelinGal]

Thanks! Now tell me..do you think you still save $$ in the long run staying off site than at WDW property? I was thinking for sure we would...but then we can't get the meal plan and now have to rent a car and pay for parking at the parks. What do you all think? thanks...

Karen

We don't stay off site to save money. We stay off site to have more space.
DH and I were OK in a single hotel room but once we had a child it became too crowded way too fast for us.
We're quite 'Pooh sized' and DH and I don't fit well in a double or queen bed so if we have a room with 2 beds, we end up not being able to sleep together. We can find a home with a king bed easily enough.
The big seller for us now that we have a child is that he has a place to nap and we have a place to relax but not have to sit in silence and in the dark while he take his nap. We have an entire house - including a private pool that we can enjoy during that time. It's also very nice at the end of the day to have a hot tub just a few steps from your room. (even if it's to just soak tired legs and feet if it's too hot to get your whole body in)
Also, in the child category, we like to travel with at least one other person so we have someone who can help with ride baby swaps. That way nobody ever has to ride alone. Since it obviously wouldn't be an immediate family member (since were a family of 3) the 4th person would need their own hotel room. So, in a sense, it IS about saving money. LOL

I know of a family that booked a cheapo campsite at FW to get the meal plan but stayed off site in a rental home. Really diehard fans of the DDP, I guess. I guess they did also get the benefit of 'free' parking at the parks and EMH. (free in quotes because they, in my mind, paid for it in advance with the package they bought)

Regarding parking - remember to keep your receipt - it's good for the entire day - so if you leave and come back you don't have to pay a second time. I believe it's even good for park hopping, but I could be wrong.

Regarding food - you can easily eat breakfast and lunch at home (eat bfast - go to park - go home to rest with lunch before kids lay down) and save a lot of money. It could be easy convenience foods like frozen dinners etc. Or many homes have crock pots so if you wanted to hit the parks all day and come home for dinner it would be done already when you got home.
When we stay onsite I like the DDP because it allows us to eat at places we wouldn't normally eat if we didn't have it. We would not eat a table service every single day if we didn't have it - so does it save us money? Hard to say. Probably not, but I'm much happier with the food choices when we have DDP. That's a completely personal decision. What's good for one family isn't good for another.

 

[angeleigh]

As mentioned above - if the purpose of getting an off property hotel is to get more room then certainly makes sense, but if it is purely financial reasons you may want to compare on site also - We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside last year and will be again this year - 5 in a room is fine, and free dining. It will be a tiny bit more than $200/ night but will include all meals, no need to rent a car, no paying for parking, free transports from Airport to resort , etc. etc.

The room is small for 5 (we have 2 adults , 3 children and an infant)but the resort is nice with extra little pools scattered around the property as well as the big theme pool and we found the bus to be more convenient than driving and usually took that even though we had car (this year we will skip car completely as a waste). For about the same price you can get adjoining rooms at Pop Century also.....

Have a great trip whatever way you decide to go

 

[DisnyMama]

DoubleTree Suites in DownTown Disney would be an excellent option for you and well under $200 a night plus most deals you get free continental breakfast and big discounts on meals in their restaurant. The entire hotel is all at -least two room suites with "2" tv's, internet access, fridge, microwave, coffe maker. The smallest has 2 double beds in one room and a sofa that pulls out to a queen sleeper with a table and chairs and a lounge chair. They have larger suites also.

There is also Caribe Royale which has suites and a whole resort atmosphere with pools and such.

Go check out Mousesavers.com and check the section for WDW offsite resorts. You will find some great info.

 

[happypooh]

Could you stay at one of the family suites at All star music? (I think it is there...if not it is at one of the all star places..)..also look into renting DVC...not sure exactly how much that is but it may be an option....two rooms at a value resort that connect would be less than $200 for just the accomodation...if you can get it during free dining then that would be good...then you wouldn't have to pay for food or transportation which is huge...plus no need to bring car seats...

 

[HappyDznyCamper]

Some other things to think about if you stay offsite....You will need to rent a car, as you mentioned, but you will also need carseat/boosters for the kids.
Getting back to your room for a nap during the day will take more time. By the time you start adding up the little things, including gas for the rental, you may find that staying onsite is not a bad idea. If you can afford it(factor in what you won't have to pay for the rental/gas/boosterseats) the cabins at FW are nice with a bedroom, full kitchen, living area with a murphy bed and best off all a nice deck for the kids to play on without bothering those in adjoing rooms.

 

[HeatherC]

If you want to have a fun, relaxing trip....stay offsite. Really. Disney Resorts are very nice. But 5 people in one hotel room for an extended period is not fun...especially when 3 of them are 4 year olds.

Here are some places to check out that you will be able to do for under $200 a night and that are a very easy commute to the parks. Some of them are closer to some parks than Disney resorts.

Plus...you will have multiple bedrooms, bathrooms, kitchen for preparing snacks or meals and washer/dryer so you can pack less. You can put the kids to bed and relax in the living room or jacuzzi tub...or even splash pool!!!

As far as a car rental....with 3 kids I'd still rent a car even if we were onsite. Why would someone want to wait for a bus if the kids are tired and cranky. It's worth the car rental fee and $10 a day parking for that freedom and peace of mind.

www.orangelake.com
www.marriott.com - Grande Vista, Horizons, Cypress Harbour Resorts
www.sheraton.com - Vistana Villages, Vistana Resort
www.hotelkindom.com - Cypress Pointe Grande Villas and Cypress Pointe Resort
www.windsorhillsrents.com - Windsor Hills Resort
www.windsorpalms.com - Windsor Palms Resort
www.hilton.com - Hilton Grand Vacation Club...they have 2 locations.

Also...depending on when you are going check out the "home and away" and "ready set go" auctions on SkyAuction. You can sometimes get a 2 or 3 bedroom condo for under $300 a week with all taxes.

I hope you have a wonderful time!!!

HeatherC

 

[*KeepMovingForward*]

Off site is more bang for your buck as far as accomodations go IMO. We like being off property for the space! I can deal with not being "in" the magic if I have more room to move. In the past we have rented a home from All Star Vacation Homes. Now we have DVC and an OP timeshare (OP timeshare is so much larger than DVC). But anyhoo...you could also try the suites at the AS resorts, they seem larger than a regular room (for sure), but not huge by any stretch. A lot of folks rent out their timeshares and homes-sometimes if you contact the resort directly you can arrange a rental unit (we have rented our own unit out this way when we weren't going to use it). Some list their weeks for rental on Ebay too-I don't have experience with that, but you could at least get an idea of what is out there by perusing listings.

 

[JMCDAD]

You can also perhaps drive instead of fly and save some $$$ there not only on the flight but on the car rental

 

[mom2mek]

As much as we would love to stay on-site, we would only find it more convenient than an offsite villa if we were on the monorail line and all of those hotels are out of our budget, especially if we got 2 rooms connecting or a suite of some kind. (I wouldn't want to be in 1 small hotel room w/ 3 small children for a week - we need more room than that)!

We have three small children as well and love, love, love, having the villa at this age. We have stayed in Formosa Gardens which is only 2 miles from Disney and very close to grocery stores, drug stores, etc. It's great to have the space to spread out, not having to sit in the dark or tiptoe around sleeping children at night. Plus, we stayed in a home (and are again this trip) that had great Disney themed rooms for the kids, so we felt like they got a little bit more of a taste of Disney since we weren't onsite. One of the rooms had this great bed in the shape of a carraige and one in the shape of a castle. Loved having a full kitchen, washer and dryer, game room, private pool, hot tub, etc.

Our car rental wasn't so bad, and the price of the house more than made up for it. We saved money by almost always having breakfast at the house and having plenty of room for storing snacks to bring to the park, and on a couple occasions when we were early to get back from the parks, we were able to make a few dinners (quick things like spaghetti) and not eat in the parks for every meal. It really helped our budget!

We rented a minivan and it came with built in booster seats, so we only had to bring one car seat for the littlest one (who wasn't quite big enough for the built in ones).

We hope someday when the kids are older and their schedule is pretty close to ours, that staying onsite will be fine, but for right now, the house works out great. It's especially wonderful if you have a couple of families too (we usually go with my parents and my sister & her family). Best of luck!

 

[Jill in Chicago]

Check out vrbo.com. The deals are so great! We have a home, with our own pool, for less than $100.00 a night. I know folks love being onsite, and if I had to do the driving I would stay onsite, but DH does not mind driving at all. It is so nice to have your own space.

 

[Ariel8676]

I think you need to figure out ..if you do stay off-site...how much per night the room,villa,house etc. would be and how much a rental car is going to be per day and see if it is much cheaper than staying on site.
I love that i don't need a car while staying onsite..i mean they pick you up at the aiport, drop you back off when you are leaving and cart you around anywhere you want to go while you are there..lol
Have you looked into the All Star suites ( at All star music i believe)..that may be a good option for you. What time of year are you going? How old are your children ?
Good Luck and let us know what you decide to do.

 

[Annette_VA]

Check out http://www.dreamsvillas.com/

They're owned by the Dreams Unlimited Travel guys, who are very involved with these boards. The owners have talked about them in the Dis Unplugged podcast and they sound fabulous.

 

[HeatherC]

Even though Disney will pick you up and drop you back off at the airport and have buses to take you to and from the parks, you will still have periods of time that you WILL have to wait.

If you have little children who are tired and cranky and want to be "home", that is not fun. If you have a car, you hop in and go on your time frame...not a buses. Plus, it is so easy to drive around the Disney area with so many signs to lead the way. Even staying onsite, I'd still rent a car.

In addition, some Disney resorts share buses so you could have to go to another resort first before you get taken where you needed.

You can rent a car for about $200 a week.... add a couple days parking of $10 and you will still save more than staying onsite in one room. Especially since you can get a full house or villa for under $100 a night with all taxes.

Having the luxury to spread out on vacation....now that's magical!!

Heather

 

[Mommytink]

I second the Doubletree Suites in DTD. We always stay there and will again in 2 weeks. We have 4 and one more on the way and it is plenty of room! The kids can actually run around in there. It is very clean and quiet. You get a microwave and refrig. and 2 t.v.s There are bi-fold doors that close of the bedroom so if the kids are sleeping they do not get disturbed. You can also catch the bus for free to the parks to save $. I highly recommend it.

 

[ChrisAlli]

Some other things to think about if you stay offsite....You will need to rent a car, as you mentioned, but you will also need carseat/boosters for the kids.
Getting back to your room for a nap during the day will take more time. By the time you start adding up the little things, including gas for the rental, you may find that staying onsite is not a bad idea. If you can afford it(factor in what you won't have to pay for the rental/gas/boosterseats) the cabins at FW are nice with a bedroom, full kitchen, living area with a murphy bed and best off all a nice deck for the kids to play on without bothering those in adjoing rooms.

I second the cabins and you can get a decent price on a rental car if you look or use gadrengrocer and have grocery delivered to your cabin. Full kitchen saves a lot of time and money.