Lodging Suggestions?

[MarkBarbieri]

I still haven't secured a hotel for the 17th to the 21st (the post-conference part of my upcoming trip). I'll be there by myself and I'm trying to decide where to stay. Staying on property would run me at least $100/night (given that I don't want to lug all my camping gear and camp there). I could probably stay at something marginally acceptable for half that off property.

So for someone traveling with no family, unlikely to do anything at all in his hotel other than sleep and shower, and intending the trip to be essentially a photography outing, where would you suggest I stay and why?

On property would give me the early entry hour, but i'm not sure that's worth the extra $50/day. Do you think it is?

 

[rtphokie]

I still haven't secured a hotel for the 17th to the 21st (the post-conference part of my upcoming trip). I'll be there by myself and I'm trying to decide where to stay. Staying on property would run me at least $100/night (given that I don't want to lug all my camping gear and camp there). I could probably stay at something marginally acceptable for half that off property.

So for someone traveling with no family, unlikely to do anything at all in his hotel other than sleep and shower, and intending the trip to be essentially a photography outing, where would you suggest I stay and why?

On property would give me the early entry hour, but i'm not sure that's worth the extra $50/day. Do you think it is?

If you plan on visiting the Magic Kingdom, access to WDW transportation is worth it to me. We visited last week and opted to take the rental car to the Magic Kingdom on a relatively uncrowded day. The time it took via car from going from our resort (Port Orleans French Quarter) to walking into the park was 45 minutes. It just takes a while to get routed into the parking lot, park, walk to the trams, wait for the tram, ride the tram to the TTC, wait for the monorail or ferry, and travel to the park. The day we took the bus from our resort to the MK it wasn't more than 20 minutes. There weren't significant waits for buses, monorails, ferries, trams, etc, etc in either example but using the MK parking lot just takes longer because of the extra steps.

 

[extreme8]

Last time I was there for a conference they let me extend my stay and booked it at the conference rate.
10th floor at the CR with a Magic Kindom view for $130 per night.

There's pros and cons to both situations, (rental car costs, parking, travel time, cheaper food offsite, etc) but if you could get a decent deal for a room on-site it might help with the decision.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

My conference is over at Universal, so extending the hotel wouldn't help me with Disney. I suppose that I could return my rental car early, take the Magic Express (or whatever they call it), and offset some of the hotel cost difference with rental car savings and parking savings.

I agree that getting to the MK is much easier using Disney transport, but it appears to be a wash for the other parks.

Hmmm...the rental car cost plus parking costs are probably enough to eat up the cost savings of staying offsite. I'll be able to stock up with groceries and whatnot before I turn in the rental car. It's unlikely that I'll take the time to drive anyplace else to eat during the WDW part of my trip. that'll also save me from the hassle of splitting the billing of the rental car to the company for part of the week and to myself for the rest of the week. Definitely worth some thought.

 

[Anewman]

Are you talking about next week?

If you have more notice, renting DVC points can get you a studio for around $80 a week night.

 

[Master Mason]

I would absoutely stay onsite at WDW, at DL not that big a deal, but like you said, by the time you figure in the parking, rental car, hassle, you have saved your money. I haven't stayed at any of them yet, but I would just get a room at one of the all-stars or POP since all you plan on doing is sleeping there anyway.

 

[ukcatfan]

Call Disney first b/c I called last week looking for this weekend and the cheapest they had was the CS suite for something like 300+/night. We decided to slum it at the Roadway just off property on 192 for ~35/night. It certainly is not a Disney resort, but we have stayed there a few times and never had any problems with it being dirty or anything like that. We have always had better luck with 192 hotels to the east of World Dr. compared to the ones west of it. The hotels near DTD also seem pretty decent. We have stayed in three or four different ones. There is a complex of three different hotels that share the same entrance that is diagonal from DTD at the I-4 Apopka-Vineland Rd. intersection.

Kevin

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Call Disney first b/c I called last week looking for this weekend and the cheapest they had was the CS suite for something like 300+/night. We decided to slum it at the Roadway just off property on 192 for ~35/night. It certainly is not a Disney resort, but we have stayed there a few times and never had any problems with it being dirty or anything like that. We have always had better luck with 192 hotels to the east of World Dr. compared to the ones west of it. The hotels near DTD also seem pretty decent. We have stayed in three or four different ones. There is a complex of three different hotels that share the same entrance that is diagonal from DTD at the I-4 Apopka-Vineland Rd. intersection.

Kevin

I called Disney and they had nothing cheap at all. I switched to Travelocity and had no problem getting into the All Star Sports at $99/night. It seems odd that a third party reservation site would have rooms available and Disney would not.

 

[jann1033]

we stayed at pop once and it was ok...never stayed at the all stars, but at pop the room was at least clean, kind of like a days inn maybe but imo i'd rather have the money for something else at disney since we basically are gone from the room till we are ready to crash anyway,,,

now give me a nice comfy westin/sheraton bed some place where i can sleep in & totally enjoy it rather than getting up at the crack of dawn and that 's a whole different story

we were considering going for a weekend in nov when we'll be in fl and at disney the cheap ones were all booked even fort wilderness(!!!) which i figured would translate to "busy" and didn't think of travelocity or others even having disney rooms...oh well maybe next yr....

 

[Jeanne B]

It seems odd that a third party reservation site would have rooms available and Disney would not.

I came across this last year, rooms available through Expedia but not through Disney directly.

 

[ukcatfan]

Do you know what is really funny; my kids prefer the ASMu over any of the other WDW resorts we have stayed at. That includes some deluxe ones! The look at things with different eyes than we do. Teenagers love the values b/c there are always tons of kids their age wandering about.

Kevin

 

[AndrewWG]

How about the new Regal Sun Resort? It is right across from Downtown Disney and they have been e-mailing me specials lately. I think it just opened.

http://www.regalsunresort.com/index.asp?src=eblast_9-10_homelink

Looks pretty nice.

 

[ukcatfan]

How about the new Regal Sun Resort? It is right across from Downtown Disney and they have been e-mailing me specials lately. I think it just opened.

http://www.regalsunresort.com/index.asp?src=eblast_9-10_homelink

Looks pretty nice.

It is the old Grosvenor. They changed names last month, so the deals should be pretty good while they make a name for themselves.

Kevin

 

[AndrewWG]

It is the old Grosvenor. They changed names last month, so the deals should be pretty good while they make a name for themselves.

Kevin

Aha! That is why I've been getting these e-mails and no more Grosvenor ones. Thanks for letting me know that.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I see you found a place. I was going to suggest Pop Century, but All Star Sports is a good choice, too.

It's hard to believe, seeing the current rates, that I actually was able to snag a rate of $125/night at the Dolphin for our recent stay (8 rooms), and that we were even upgraded to a Preferred Room on the 16th floor at no additional cost! I generally get the nurse's discount but this rate was even better and open to the general public last winter.

The only other thing I was going to say is that - as per the Unofficial Guide - Time and Money are directly proportional when it comes to WDW (I think I said that right). You can't save one without spending the other.

Have a fun trip! I'm jealous - we usually go that week ourselves (it's our twins' birthday), but this year we went in August to celebrate our 20th anniversary with a big group of friends and family. Are you planning to go to F&W, or MNSSHP? Can't wait to see your pictures!

 

[bostran1]

I stayed at All-Star Sports last time I was at Disney. Definately not bad. Besides, I had a great view of Expedition Everest from just outside my room:



The other good thing about early entry is getting some time to shoot in the parks with the morning light in a relatively uncrowded park.

 

[YEKCIM]

Mark,

We stayed at the All Star Movies in July and even sometimes-hard-to-please Mrs. YEKCIM thought it was very nice (and we've stayed at the CR, the CBR, and the POFQ in the past). Depending on what park(s) you are going to each day, you may want to consider driving your car, assuming you have one. We are early-risers and have found that, with the exception of MK, driving our car and parking close to the entrance usually beats Disney transportation, especially at closing time when the great hordes of tired, cranky, smelly folks descend on the buses, monorails, and what-have-you.

Ed

 

[MarkBarbieri]

Are you planning to go to F&W, or MNSSHP?

I was not planning on doing anything for the F&W. I will probably do the MNSSHP.

 

[Groucho]

I've stayed at ASMusic and Pop Century, and both were decent but I'd go with Pop over any of the ASM resorts. Pop has its own bus stop (the ASMs all share, which means that a bus may show up that's mostly already full and it can take longer to get dropped off) and Pop is apparently in a different county (?) and hence has slightly lower taxes.

Of course, staying at SSR kind of spoils you for such things, but I'd have no problem staying at Pop again, especially if it was just me and I just wanted a place to crash. The downsides are that it can be a long walk to your room, though not much different than the ASMs.

Don't forget the other advantages of staying onsite - no parking fees ($10/day I think!), the bus lets you skip the long lines to get into the parking lots, etc. Plus it's a pretty good bet that you'll get a clean, comfortable room - not always a given off-site!

I'm not much of a drinker but it also lets you do some imbibing at Downtown Disney or even Epcot with no worries about having to drive back to your room yourself!

Either way, checking mousesavers.com is not a bad idea, they're always on top of the bargains over there.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

it can be a long walk to your room

A long - but FUN walk to your room! I just love walking around Pop, especially at night. Lots of photo ops. I also love looking at the Shadow Boxes in the lobby doing the Twist and the Hustle in the food court!