Offsite For Short Trips

[Disney Dad Ga]

We just got back from a great onsite trip. It's been 15 years since we have stayed offsite, but since we bought AP's on this last trip we feel offsite may be better for us to maximize our funds. We have a week trip in April scheduled at Bonnet Creek. It's just my DW and DS4, so the one bedroom at Bonnet Creek is really more than we need. I am looking forward to the extra room for the longer trip, but am also looking for some suggestions for offsite rooms for weekend trips.

On our way home, we stopped to grab a bite to eat off international drive and it seemed a bit sketchy. Do any of you fine folks have any suggestions of where we could try on some of our weekend trips for 2015? We would like to keep it as cost effective as possible but not be in a sketchy location or dirty hotel. Some of our trips may be last minute so we may be booking on the drive down. Thanks in advance!

 

[Gr8t Fan]

We've had pretty good success with Hotwire using betterbidding.com to try to narrow down the hotels.

 

[DCbride]

When we book offsite, we usually stay at a Marriott brand, mostly Springhill Suites. There are many very close to I4. We have made it parking lot of the Springhill at Sea World to parking lot at DHS in about 20 minutes.

 

[Lilliputian]

We like to save up our Hilton Honors points for when we need an offsite room. The Downtown Disney Doubletree is nice, and the Homewood Suites closest to WDW is nice, but you said you don't need that much room. Still, it's a good value for the points. I'm sure there are other good options, but we're a bigger family and haven't stayed in any hotels that just sleep 4.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

IMO, you can't go wrong with Marriott or Hilton brand hotels (Residence Inn, Embassy Suites, Spring Hill, etc.) provided the TripAdvisor reviews look good.

However, I've priced things out and it seems like a one bedroom at WBC ($100 all in inclusive of taxes and fees) is almost always cheaper in the end than a 80-90/night hotel room once you include any parking fees, resort fees, taxes, etc.

A nice advantage to places like Embassy Suites, however, is the cooked-to-order breakfast if you are not into cooking your own or going to a restaurant when staying at WBC.