quality hotel near Disney

brooker

Mouseketeer
Joined
May 15, 2005
Messages
410
Hi all,

I see a lot of sites with some cheap rates for hotels close to Disney. Can someone recommend one they may have used to get a cheap quality hotel that doesn't use timeshares or any other scheme? One with shuttle service provided to Disney would be nice as well.
 
I really enjoyed my recent stay at the Doubletree Club LBV. I purchased my stay through Hotwire for $44/night. The Doubletree is just outside the entrance to Downtown Disney. I found the shuttle schedule to be quite good. If you have any questions, please let me know.
 
okay staying offsite is wonderful.

but you really need a car - offsite shuttle generally go 2 to 3 times in the morning - same in the evening.

if you want a break from the parks or want to go back for lunch - forget with a shuttle.
 
Here we go again. :) I think you and I have had this debate, Spiceycat. :)

I've stayed offsite without a car and been just fine. However, we did use a combination of the hotel shuttle, the LYNX local bus, and taxis late at night.

We stayed at the HOJO Maingate East last time. It wasn't the greatest hotel in the world, but it was clean and comfortable enough. Cabs were easy to get, about $20 each way. Not something you'd want to do every single day, but a great convenience at the end of the day when we felt like staying later. I'd stay there again, no problem.

Next time, we'll be staying offsite again, at the Grosvenor, in Downtown Disney. I've heard mixed reviews but overall it seems to be a decent enough place, and again, we will not rent a car, since we really don't plan or need to do any real grocery shopping, etc, and the shuttle service is supposed to be above average there. We'll see how it actually works out.

But no, if you budget and are aware of your options, you really do not *need* to rent a car to stay offsite.
 

with a car you can get to most of the parks in around 20 to 30 minutes from most of the places along US 192 - without it an hour or two.

I think the extra 40 minutes in the park is worth the car. You don't.

this time I asked about hojo - those were the worst reviews - the rooms were not well kept. You say they were. these were people staying at hojo at the time.

plus you can rent a car in Orlando for around $109 for the week. that to me is alot less than having to wait for a bus or taking a taxis.

if you stay at Silver Lake - then you can be in AK in about 5 minutes with a car.

I will never agree that a bus transportation is better than driving your own car. Because it is not!!!

You have a problem that most people don't - you say before you don't have a driver license because you live in NY.

now if you stay at Mainstay inn - it get better reviews and has a bus service. although my friend who stayed there used it for the outlet malls -when she visited WDW she stayed at WDW.

there is no way in the world unless you are staying on WDW property that bus will beat you to the parks. (WDW can because of the MK - the buses go to the front of the resort - offsite buses do not).

WDW is very, very spread out - I love to stay offsite (and onsite) - but to really enjoy it in a MINIUMUM amount of time you need a car.

if wasting time is not a problem - then definitely go for the bus. It is free moneywise - not time wise and if you take that taxis enough - not moneywise either.
 
If you don't have a car you should consider staying in Disney or at least at one of the DTD hotels. The DTD hotels offer buses that run every 20-30 mintues. The bus service is decent.

Spiceycat is just echoing the advice of the vast majority of the board members. Offisite hotels generally have limited schedules, may stop at many other hotels before you get to Disney and in some cases the last bus may leave before the park even closes. Guests relying on hotel shuttles frequently wind up giving back some of their savings when they wind up supplementing the shuttle buses with taxis. Assume an offsite hotel costs $50. Add your airport transfers and $20/day for a taxi and you might as well stay onsite.
 
Oh, I definitely agree with you guys...a car is great if you can swing one.

My point was really that the general tone is that it's absolutely impossible to stay offsite without a car. I may not have made that clear- it intended as friendly debate. It just frustrates me when people say it *can't* be done, because I see that a lot. Can it be done conveniently? Maybe, maybe not. But it's possible, and feasible if you know what you're doing going in.

The hubby is a New Yorker and doesn't drive. I actually do know how to drive, but have impaired vision and am not comfortable driving. With all the traffic and kids in cars in the Orlando area, trust me, you don't want the almost blind chick behind the wheel! :) I chose to give my license up, but even if I wanted it back now, I think it's iffy whether I'd pass the vision check or not.

Is it the *best* way to do it? No. Does it work if you need another option, yes, it does, which is what I was trying to get across.

As to the HOJO, I'd say it's a mixed bag. Our room was fine in the sense of, smelled okay, no obvious vermin in room, no bedbugs, bathroom was clean, neighbors seemed quiet and sane. Was it nice? Nah, not so much, more like, it didn't kill us, for three days. The major plus in my mind was having the Publix down the street, as that massively cut our food budget.

Others' mileage may vary, and I get the definite impression that some of the really nasty tripadvisor reviews probably are based on truth, even if our section of the hotel was okay.

Also agreed on the extra transit may eat the savings, in our case, we went during spring break and couldn't actually get a reservation at any of the Values. At that point, the difference between the HoJo and a Moderate was still ahead, even budgeting $20 a day for the cab ride. During offpeak season, I think Lewis is correct in that it may negate the savings.
 
ladysoleil said:
Also agreed on the extra transit may eat the savings, in our case, we went during spring break and couldn't actually get a reservation at any of the Values. At that point, the difference between the HoJo and a Moderate was still ahead, even budgeting $20 a day for the cab ride. During offpeak season, I think Lewis is correct in that it may negate the savings.

You can frequently, even during Spring Break, get a DTD hotel for under $100. DTD bus service is ok.

Even rack rate at a value resort or a discounted rate at a DTD hotel is a better deal than having to rely on cabs and offsite shuttle buses.

Some people find the offsite shuttles tolerable but I don't think I've ever read anyone who think they're good or optimal. Sorry but if you're not going to rent a car you'll have a much better trip onsite or at least DTD.

People from cities like NY are used to superior mass transit. It's important to let those guest understand the Lynx bus system is nothing like the NYC transist system. You can survive a lot easier in NYC without a car than you can in WDW.
 












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