Low-budget hotel for two car-less 25 year olds?!

[atudz]

Is your friend flying into MCO or Sanford? I don't know if Magical Express goes to Sanford.

She is flying into MCO.

 

[DanInMN]

Without a car I think the best plan is to stay at a Value, as you are discussing.

Consider the cost of a ride from the airport to a hotel, vs MDE for free. Plus easy free Disney bus transportation from your on-site hotel to every Disney location.

You will pay more for food, but even that can be managed. Eating at a Value resort food court is not that expensive, especially compared to NYC and London prices! Avoid all table service restaurants and you will be okay.

 

[ExpatDisneyLover]

I agree - I'd stay onsite if possible. Transportation is the biggest issue here as I see it - plus the Disney perks are nice and worth it as I see it.

After that I would look at hotels along the lynx 50 bus line - probably Seaworld area if it were me. I have stayed in that area for several months when considering a move to Orlando - the lynx service is reliable, cheap and that area would also connect you to the i- ride trolley. Plus I just like the area. Two hotels I have stayed at are Extended Stay America and Deluxe Westwood blvd - both near each other - a 10 minute walk to Seaworld and 20 minutes by bus to WDW.

 

[Surfinpiratee]

With the transportation...
When I was looking to stay off site, a lot of those shuttles only take you to one park, and that one park only. There was one resort that only dropped off ay Epcot, and most only dropped off at Magic kingdom. So youd have to take Disney busses anyway to get to a different park!

 

[Bete]

You are headed in the right direction with staying at a Disney value. The time you save by not staying off site is worth money, too. You get extra magic hour and fastpass plus.

Having a car makes off site easier, but I think it will also be safer being onsite. Taxi and car rentals are not free. Shuttles take an incredible amount of time and have limited times.

You can share meals to save monies, if needed. Some meals like the chicken and rib combo meal at Cosmic Rays in MK is enough for two.

Bring breakfast bars, nuts and so forth in your luggage to save that way.

 

[gdrj]

Just repeating what others said with 1 addition.

1- If you stay offsite, definitely rent a car.

2- If you stay on site or off site. I would log on to cheaptickets.com and register to get their e-mails. (I think they are owned by hotels,or orbitz or expedia). Last week they had a 20% off promo and my rate was the same as the Disney less 20%! On Monday I got an e-mail from them they had a first come first serve promo of 30% off (First 100 people). I booked that and cancelled my original. I am paying $50 less per night for a moderate than on the Disney Website (including the current Disney 30% sale). The Disney rate (April) was $173. My rate was $121 !!! T

You do pay the full amount when booked but it is refundable (up to 30 days prior approx.)

 

[atudz]

Thanks again for all of the responses. Yes, I know about that additional 20%-off Orbitz deal. The rate for 4 nights for Pop Century is $465 inc. tax using that deal. The promo is still valid for a while, and the codes are HAPPY20 and TAKE20 if anyone is interested. We’ve ended up going for that option!

Although it is a great deal for a Disney hotel, it wasn’t really what we were shooting for. In short, we hadn’t planned for this trip in advance, and had therefore put aside zero in savings when we decided to book and go (last week!). For that reason, we really did want to spend as little as possible on a hotel, so less of an up front outlay, and have the next 6 weeks to save our paychecks for “fun" money so we can enjoy our trip with as many taxis/meals/souvenirs/cocktails as we like when the time comes! (I should also add that neither of us operate using credit cards so it was real expenditure at point of purchase, haha!).

Most of the responses are geared toward “total spend,” which wasn't really a determining factor for us. I probably should have mentioned that at the start.

Even though we buckled this time and went for the Disney option, hopefully the creative responses above will be super useful to anyone in our situation in the future!

 

[Brian Noble]

To be honest, I think this is the right choice.

You can keep the food options reasonable by choosing restaurants carefully. For example, I've always found 50s Prime Time to be very reasonable---the fried chicken for $18 is practically a steal for WDW---and you can eat in the bar if you want to avoid the shenanigans in the main dining room. You can also find some surprisingly good CS meals in e.g. Sunshine Seasons that can save you a little more cash for that second margarita at La Cava, and so on. Some of the new lounge-like places (Tutto Gusto, Brown Derby's new lounge) have small plates that you can probably make a decent meal out of for not a ton of cash.

 

[tina.tina]

I saw on a trip report where 2 adults ordered children's portions of the fried chicken at Prime Time. I thought WDW restaurants wouldn't allow that?

 

[robinb]

I saw on a trip report where 2 adults ordered children's portions of the fried chicken at Prime Time. I thought WDW restaurants wouldn't allow that?

Yes, most WDW table service restaurants allow it. I do it for my teenaged daughter but I don't think I would have the chutzpah to do it as an adult.

 

[MissVeronica]

Since you're staying on-site I think the easiest way to save money is through food. Have Garden Grocer or another service deliver food to your room for breakfast and snacks throughout the day. Drinks are expensive at WDW and like you I'd rather save my money for a nice glass of wine.

Have something like bottled water, soda, bagels, cream cheese, wine and other snacks delivered to your room. You can bring the water and soda and snacks into the park and save quite a bit and have the bagels and cream cheese for breakfast in your room (I'm assuming values have mini fridges). The wine can be a post Disney treat at night.

 

[ncc1701]

OP one suggestion for meals is to do TS at lunch. You get a good sized meal at a lower price point. Then do a CS for dinner. If you go to DTD sharing a side salad and a pizza or entree at Wolfgang Puck Xpress may be enough for the 2 of you.
As PP said look into ordering breakfast food and booze from Garden Grocer or an other service to save some money.