offsite hotel to stay in the nite before res. begins

[mikewdw]

my wife and i drive down each trip and usually stay in ocala. this time we want to stay the night before our res. starts in orlando. this allows us to be at the resort at 7am to get checked in, get our tickets, look around the resort, and still make the opening of a park. which hotels in orlando have a cheap but decent room? whatever we save on that nite will give us more to spend at wdw. thanks,
mikewdw

 

[Mickey4Me]

We've stayed at Howard Johnson's the night before and they seem to have the best rates. Nice, clean rooms too. You could also check www.hotwire.com or www.priceline.com. I have a business trip scheduled to Orlando in a couple of weeks and plan on staying over 2 days extra. Hotwire had a $27 night rate for a 3 star property listed and a $79 rate for a 4.5 star property. Pretty good for March.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

Sometimes the DD resorts offer cheap rooms, depending on your dates. You could move quickly the next morning.
http://www.mousesavers.com/dtdisneyhotels.html

 

[JulesMom]

We have stayed at Comfort Inn Lake Buena Vista several times. Usually for about $35/night.

 

[jfranklyn]

We do the same thing each time we drive down. We use priceline for that first night. This past time we payed $45 for the Wyndham on International Drive. It was beautiful - and there were lost of quick restaurants around. It was a nice place to spend that first night. I would definately recommend priceline in a situation like that.

 

[Gillian]

you can learn more about priceline at www.binddingfortravel.com BUT, it's a place to read & learn, rather than to ask general priceline questions. Read the orlando board & the hotel FAQ.

There was a discussion about the country inn on the orlando hotels board here on the DIS, but I don't see it now. There are lots of other hotel reviews though:

http://disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=15