Not your normal Disney trip planning help.

[jen0610]

This will not be a normal Disney, hit the parks running trip, casue like the girls were told last night, you maybe going to Disney, but your there for the love of Dancing and competition.

The competition circuit we do is holding Nationals July 18 - July 23 at The Contemporary. This will be DD 18's last nationals with the dance studio, so her not going is not an option. But, with all of DH's medical issues starting in 2015, everything about this trip wil be BUDGET based.

With that in mind, we already know, off site will be a must. With the dates, I already priced it out and there is zero way to swing staying on site. So, point me in the direction of some nice home rentals. We are combining with at least one other family, possible 3rd family, so we are looking for a place that can sleep 9 on the low side and 16 on the high side. The only thing that the girls have asked to have is a private pool. They want to be able to take a dip in the pool at midnight, if they are dancing in the late shows.

The need for park tickets, again, we won't know until maybe 2 weeks before we go, which days will be free or partially free to go to the park. Of the girls going, 3 are MAJOR Harry Potter freaks and they have all already been to Disney, so I would take a good guess that if they get a totally free day, they would want to hit US, instead of a Disney park.

We won't be eating on site, much if at all.

I will be keeping an eye on air fare vs rental car and driving. Even with flying, rental car will be a must for in Orlando.

My biggest concern is the house rental. I want a deposit down before the end of the year.

Any and all suggestions, must appreciated.

 

[DisneyAnytime]

While I haven't used either of these for Disney, I have had great success with the websites Home Away and Vacation Rental By Owner finding condos/houses for rent in other locations. These would be a great place to start searching.

 

[Emily Gilmore]

I've always had great luck with VRBO and Homeaway. We shaved a good couple grand off our trip to Hawaii last year by renting a house and the house we ended up at was on the water and had a private beach, so it ended up being better than a hotel. Also - you will typically find that most of these places come with stocked kitchens (without food obviously) and bathrooms, so you'll be able to save money cooking at home. Good luck!

 

[keepswimming76]

There are a ton of great homes near WDW that are reasonably priced. Check out VBRO.

We did this our last trip with a large group and it worked out well. And the private pool was awesome to come home to at night!

 

[andiraye]

Check out the Orlando board. There are lots of good suggestions for off property stays.

 

[lovin'fl]

Your dance team should get a deal for on site at WDW. My DD's played softball at WWoS before and we were given the option of (I think it was) POP Century for around $95/day...great deal. That was several years ago though. This fall we were almost going to play down there again and would have had the option of getting All Star Sports for $105/night.

Also, maybe watch for deals at US. If you go there you will need the express pass then (we were just there the beginning of Aug and really needed and used our express pass). Buying US park tickets and adding the express pass is more than just booking their hotel (to get free express pass) and adding just the tickets. And sometimes US hotels offer deals for longer stays (more than 1-2 nights, since most folks just want 1 or 2 nights).

Going with a house off site might be the cheapest way to go, I don't know. You'll at least have a washer/dryer and a kitchen which can be helpful.

 

[alliecat523]

We've had great success with VRBO as well.

 

[princesstinkerbelle]

I've used Sun Country Villas before. The family who owns the properties is very nice and the houses are lovely and clean. Just be sure to ask about the pool thing, not all of them have a private pool.

 

[DisMommyTX]

We have stayed off site many times, and Windsor Hills is definitely our favorite. In July you can get a 3 bedroom 2 bath condo for about $600/wk including all taxes and cleaning fees. The 4br/4ba houses start around $1000, and 5 and 6 bedroom houses are $1300+. All of the houses have private pools and hot tubs, great for late night swims. All are privately owned and offered at different rates. I recommend searching on VRBO and Home Away to decide what you want. Then, submit a request on the windsorhillsrent . com website. This will allow individual owners to contact you directly via email. We have always gotten offers FAR below what is listed on the major websites (even for the same houses!) We have booked through lots of different owners and never had a bad experience!

 

[DisMommyTX]

Oh, and for flights we use the Southwest credit card points. I got two Southwest chase visa cards, one personal and one business, each with a 50,000 sign-up bonus and charged enough to reach the free companion pass. The cards are $69 or $99 each, and the business card has been much harder to get approved lately, but 50,000 is enough for at least 2 free roundtrip flights if you plan early. With the companion pass, our family of 4 usually gets $2000 worth of flights for about 60,000 miles + $5 each.

 

[gzmtlock]

Another vote for VRBO; used the site lots, for various locales. The thing with the Orlando area is, there are about a million listings. Really overwhelming. I'd suggest using their search engine to look in Kissimmee - this puts you close to WDW. We've stayed several times in Formosa Gardens and enjoyed each house. I've also read good things about Windsor Hills (which is much larger, has resort-type amenities; Formosa Gardens is just houses, but virtually all have their own pool). Also, you'll need to nail down your numbers before you put down your deposit. There's a pretty significant price jump between a house for 9 vs 16.

One of the reasons we first chose Formosa Gardens is because it is near a "back way" into WDW that keeps you off 192, which gets super-congested and can be a very slow way to get to the World. We could be at Animal Kingdom in 15 minutes, in "heavy" traffic. Light traffic, about 7-8 min. Another 15 to get to the Contemporary, I'd guess. If you chose there, PM me and I'll share details.

Good luck!