Need suggestions for what to do with extra trip days re: accomodations

[HayGan]

I need help figuring out what the best choice might be for a few extra nights that we just added on to our Oct. trip. Here's the background: our original plans were to leave Orlando on Saturday Oct. 20. Most of our trip would be at BLT with the final night at Four Points Sheraton (free on SPG points). Now (thanks to Southwest's latest sale) we aren't leaving Orlando until Monday night. I need to figure out where to spend the new nights (Sat & Sun) or possibly Fri/Sat/Sun. Our plans for those extra days will likely be a mix of 1 day at US/IOA, 1 addtl day at WDW and 1 day trip to Clearwater. We are out of DVC points so that isn't an option. Ideally I would like to stay somewhere like another timeshare with a kitchen but it isn't necessary. I would also like to keep the total cost of the new accomodations below $400 in total since I will have to pay for additional days of rental vehicle and food. Some of the options I have thought of are:

Stay onsite at POP (~$360 for Fri-Mon) & get refund of SPG points
Add 2 addt'l nights at Four Points Sheraton for ~$290
Find a timeshare/condo for those 3 nights.
or ????

Any ideas on a timeshare/condo that could be rented for that short timeframe or other reasonable accomodations for those 2/3 nights?

 

[java]

We stayed at the Hawthorne Suites LBV and it was fine. And for the price nice- we needed a place to sleep 6 and that fit the bill. It had a kitchen- stocked- but we didn't use it. It's right behind DTD. It was a bit dated- but the staff was friendly and polite- the rooms were clean and it was under $100 a night.

 

[brymolmom]

I would go for the 2 additional nights at the Sheraton. I think the convenience of not having to move all your stuff twice on your trip far outweighs any benefits of moving. I think the whole packing up....checking out....double checking that you have everything, etc. process is a huge pain and I prefer to do it as few times as possible on a trip. Besides - sounds like your extra days are pretty well planned out and that there won't be too much resort time on those days - so the kitchen, etc. likely wouldn't be used too much anyway.

 

[pigletto]

I would make one (possibly 2) of those days onsite at Universal.
Royal Pacific is a great hotel, and then you get front of the line access all day which is an amazing perk.
Just depends how long you want to spend at Universal. We always build a night or two in to our trips to stay onsite. Being able to walk on most rides over and over without waiting in the regular line is fabulous. The only thing that might not be good is that Halloween Horror nights are on some dates in October and that will likely drive up the onsite hotel prices.

 

[LovesTimone]

Last year DH and I got 2 great deals last year.

Hilton at DTD for 99 a night, and can not remember what parking fee was. We stay before check in, and walk over to DTD, small frig and microwave

The Holiday Inn across from Universal has suite's with a small kitchenette no stove, but full frig. We also got that for 99 a night, we check out of disney and went to US/IOA for 2 days.

I think we booked one through Hotels.com and the other Expedia

 

[HayGan]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I spent most of the night last night exploring options and I think we have decided to book a 1BR at Bonnet Creek for the 3 nights and get a refund of the points for the Four Points. Those 3 nights would cost us only about $50 more than the 2 additional nights at the Sheraton. This way we can bring over our leftover groceries from BLT. I've always thought of trying out WBC to see how we like it and this seems like the perfect time. It sounds like the kids will enjoy the water ammenities and we don't have to think about being crammed into a hotel room for 3 nights.

We thought about staying onsite at US again but I just can't justify the cost this time. We have been there several times before and the only reason we are going this trip is I won 4 1-day tickets from My Coke Rewards that we will use. We will have more time at US/IOA next year