Need off site expert help please

[IndyRnRfan]

Ok, we are looking at a last minute disney trip for July. We have never stayed off site. We just started looking and holy crap, there are a ton of hotels. This we didn't really expect so picking one is a little difficult. Here is what we would like:
1) walking distance to DTD or have shuttle to parks as we will not have a car
2) would like no park or resort fee( not sure what those are but have read others mention them)
3) free breakfast would be nice but not deal breaker
4) MUST be clean or DW will flip and probably kill me, seriously!!!!
5) doesn't have to have many amenities, we will be at parks 12-16 hrs/day
6) two queen beds at least. It will be us and our son,19

We've seen Sheraton lake buena vista, seralgo hotel &suites, and a few others for good deals. We just need some assistance.

If you could list your top three off site resorts/hotels that best fit the above criteria?

Thank you for your input.

 

[SJV206]

Ok, we are looking at a last minute disney trip for July. We have never stayed off site. We just started looking and holy crap, there are a ton of hotels. This we didn't really expect so picking one is a little difficult. Here is what we would like:
1) walking distance to DTD or have shuttle to parks as we will not have a car
2) would like no park or resort fee( not sure what those are but have read others mention them)
3) free breakfast would be nice but not deal breaker
4) MUST be clean or DW will flip and probably kill me, seriously!!!!
5) doesn't have to have many amenities, we will be at parks 12-16 hrs/day
6) two queen beds at least. It will be us and our son,19



We've seen Sheraton lake buena vista, seralgo hotel &suites, and a few others for good deals. We just need some assistance.

If you could list your top three off site resorts/hotels that best fit the above criteria?

Thank you for your input.

We usually stay at the Lake Buena Vista Hilton, it is a really nice hotel and right across the street to Downtown Disney, usually will walk over at night to have some drinks and really a bonus not to have to wait for a bus or worry about times. However, no breakfast unless you are at Silver level. (Which is why we usually stay at the Hilton hotels is to get the points and status) They do have a small refrigerator, so we usually stop at the wal-mart up a few exits and stock up on power bars, fruits, etc.

Also the bus shuttle runs every 30 minutes which is really nice. The shuttle starts at Hilton and goes to 4 hotels (Hilton, Holiday Inn, Hotel B and Embassy Suites). The pick/up and drop/offs go pretty quick. The shuttle takes you to the boat or the monorail to ride over.

We have also stayed at Embassy suites (Also a Hilton Honors hotel) down the street from Lake Buena Vista Hilton, you can sometimes get free breakfast deals there. The rooms are a bit bigger with a separate living room area with pull-out couch (The pull out was not that bad to sleep on - especially for a nineteen year old!), a table that seats 4 is the standard room. Not as nice as Hilton, but do like the extra room. Out of the 4 hotels it is the furthest from downtime disney, so much further walk to downtown disney (However, we still walked it).

The hotels across the street from these four also look really nice, however have not stayed there.

WARNING we have stayed at Sheraton, which is really nice and their pool is much nicer than Hilton and Embassy, but the shuttle is very limited. If your ok to work around their schedule it's nice. However, having younger kids we appreciate the flexibility.

Good luck on finding a hotel without a resort fee, I believe most hotels near disney do. Let me know if you find one.

Let me know if you need other recommendations, we have stayed at quite a few hotels like Nickelodeon, co-co keys resorts, universal hotels, etc.

 

[IndyRnRfan]

We usually stay at the Lake Buena Vista Hilton, it is a really nice hotel and right across the street to Downtown Disney, usually will walk over at night to have some drinks and really a bonus not to have to wait for a bus or worry about times. However, no breakfast unless you are at Silver level. (Which is why we usually stay at the Hilton hotels is to get the points and status) They do have a small refrigerator, so we usually stop at the wal-mart up a few exits and stock up on power bars, fruits, etc.

Also the bus shuttle runs every 30 minutes which is really nice. The shuttle starts at Hilton and goes to 4 hotels (Hilton, Holiday Inn, Hotel B and Embassy Suites). The pick/up and drop/offs go pretty quick. The shuttle takes you to the boat or the monorail to ride over.

We have also stayed at Embassy suites (Also a Hilton Honors hotel) down the street from Lake Buena Vista Hilton, you can sometimes get free breakfast deals there. The rooms are a bit bigger with a separate living room area with pull-out couch (The pull out was not that bad to sleep on - especially for a nineteen year old!), a table that seats 4 is the standard room. Not as nice as Hilton, but do like the extra room. Out of the 4 hotels it is the furthest from downtime disney, so much further walk to downtown disney (However, we still walked it).

The hotels across the street from these four also look really nice, however have not stayed there.

WARNING we have stayed at Sheraton, which is really nice and their pool is much nicer than Hilton and Embassy, but the shuttle is very limited. If your ok to work around their schedule it's nice. However, having younger kids we appreciate the flexibility.

Good luck on finding a hotel without a resort fee, I believe most hotels near disney do. Let me know if you find one.

Let me know if you need other recommendations, we have stayed at quite a few hotels like Nickelodeon, co-co keys resorts, universal hotels, etc.

Thank you so much. I am forwarding this to my wife. This is very helpful and if we have other questions I will reply.

 

[HopperFan]

Ok, we are looking at a last minute disney trip for July. We have never stayed off site. We just started looking and holy crap, there are a ton of hotels. This we didn't really expect so picking one is a little difficult. Here is what we would like:
1) walking distance to DTD or have shuttle to parks as we will not have a car
2) would like no park or resort fee( not sure what those are but have read others mention them)
3) free breakfast would be nice but not deal breaker
4) MUST be clean or DW will flip and probably kill me, seriously!!!!
5) doesn't have to have many amenities, we will be at parks 12-16 hrs/day
6) two queen beds at least. It will be us and our son,19

We've seen Sheraton lake buena vista, seralgo hotel &suites, and a few others for good deals. We just need some assistance.
If you could list your top three off site resorts/hotels that best fit the above criteria?
Thank you for your input.

1) Walking distance to DTD would be the Downtown Disney Hotels which you can find here: http://www.downtowndisneyhotels.com/ There are often special deals you can get through this website. Also sign on at Mousesavers for their emails. There have been some good deals offered at 3 of the DTD hotels. They share a DTD hotel bus system.

Most of the DTD hotels will have resort fees and many have parking fees. Check for these are special deals that waiver them.

The Hilton is the closest and we enjoyed our stays before their Resort Fee and Parking Fee got out of hand. $22 plus $15 per day.

The Doubletree Suites is the farthest but still walkable. There are no resort fees and parking is $17 per day. It has been newly renovated and is very nice.

You will have no trouble fulfilling the rest of your requirements, weeding out those resorts with fees. My question would be "what is your nightly budget?" as that will help folks give you good suggestions that meet all your needs.

 

[Brian Noble]

My question would be "what is your nightly budget?" as that will help folks give you good suggestions that meet all your needs.

If you are unwilling/unable to rent a car, your choices are either the DTD-area resorts, or just staying onsite at WDW in one of the Moderates that has queen beds. You might find that, with any discounts Disney eventually offers for the summer season, the prices aren't all that different once you add in resort fees, transportation to/from the airport, etc.

 

[IndyRnRfan]

Thanks for all the advice. We are still running the numbers to see what our best deal will be. Haven't looked into renting a car/transport to and from resort yet.

 

[libertybelle08]

You might also consider the Disney Good Neighbor hotels. They all have some sort of shuttle service and, if you check websites, some of them even have the shuttle schedules posted. We always stay off-site with a car, but are planning to stay at the Clarion Lake Buena Vista in April and use the shuttle.

 

[jlhill4444]

We have stayed at a few offsite hotels and one condo. Our favorite is Wyndham Bonnet Creek, but there is a fee for the shuttle and that can get pricy. We also enjoyed our stay at both the Double Tree, which is a downtown Disney hotel, and we recently stayed at Holiday Inn Resort Lake Buena Vista with a good rate through MouseSavers. Holiday Inn was walkable, but it would have been about 1.5 miles. They do offer a good shuttle service that has a 30 min schedule you can use. They also charge a resort fee, but I really don't think you can get around that anymore and should just plan on that in your nightly room rate.