Recommendations for 1 night late-arrival accomodations?

[tinroad66]

We'll be arriving at MCO around 11:30pm and will need accomodations for that one night (we'll be checking into the Dolphin on the following day).

Any suggestions for a reasonable/clean room close to the airport?

Thanks

 

[mickeystoontown]

Hi there, You may want to check out the Kissimmee, Florida official website. The site is www.floridakiss.com. For years, we stayed in Kissimmee. You will need to look for accomodations which say Maingate East or Maingate West. They are just a 5 minute drive from Walt Disney World-World Drive. The accomodations are pretty nice and are fairly cheap. If you find one you are thinking about booking, let me know the name and I'll let you know if it is in a good location. Hope this helps, Lisa

 

[ducklite]

Do you need something with an airport shuttle?

Anne

 

[Hawk]

Why don't you stay one night at one of the allstar resorts? They can't be much more than an offsite hotel/motel (provided you have AP or AAA) and you will be onsite. Just a suggestion.

Tim/Hawk

 

[bab31]

I agree, stay value if you can get a decent rate. I cant see where staying off grounds will be much less expensive.

 

[LOVETHATMOUSE]

We are in the same predicement as you are. We are arriving 11:00 pm Friday night. We are checking into SSR Saturday and don't want to waste our points on a checkin so late. We made a tentative ressie at POP for 118.00. Being that we would probably get there very late, we decided to suck it up and stay at the Hyatt Regency for about $70 more. We can get off the plane, walk up to our room, get a good nights rest, up in the am, breakfast, rent our car and be on our way by 9:00am. I am waiting out for a good rate through Hotwire, but do have a ressie now. All I have to do is cancel directly with Hyatt 24 hours before checkin (Thursday 4 pm) and I won't get charged a dime. If Hotwire doesn't come through, then we will pay the more $$ for it. Too convenient to pass up when traveling with a child.

 

[TimNJ]

I think you should stay off-site. We always do on our trips. Go to Expedia or travelocity and you can find rooms for $30 or $40 per night. Our motto is that we can put up with most anything for 8 hours or so.

Once we stayed at the All Star Music the night before checking into the Wilderness Lodge. But it took a long time to check in and a long time to find the room, drag our stuff there etc. It's so much easier for us to stay off site ( but as close to the parks as possible) and then get up the next day and check into your resort. A little more magical too.

2 weeks ago we flew in on JetBlue, arrived at 10:30, got our rental car and stayed 1 night at the Lk Buena Vista Comfort Inn. It was $50. The next morning we checked into the Boardwalk at 7am, stored our luggage and was in MK by 8am!

 

[SB in KY]

We used to always wind up on a late night arrival so we could have a full day at WDW on the first day of vacation. What we have found that worked best for us was NOT driving out to WDW and checking into a moderate or value megaresort at midnight or after and trying to get everything to the room with sleepy kids, etc. We have booked a room on Priceline in the MCO area for years now. It works grest. You can get off the plane, call the hotel shuttle from the courtesy phone while one parent grabs the luggage. They pick you up quickly and the kids are in bed asleep before we could have gotten through the rental car line at the airport. Then the next AM one of us would hop the hotel shuttle back to the airport and pick up the rental car and return to the hotel and we could head for WDW happy and rested.

Prices vary on Priceline depending on the time you will be there but generally for a bid of around $45 to 50 you can get a 3* hotel room in the MCO area. I would suggest bidding at the 2.5 or 3* levels only since all of the hotels in those categories have complimentary shuttle service 24/7. If you bid 2* many do not run shuttles after 10PM. The 3* hotels that show up via Priceline are the Holiday Inn Select, Sheraton Suites, Crowne Plaza, Marriott, Renaissance and sometimes even the Hyatt which is right inside the airport so you can just grab your bags and take the elevator upstairs.

Priceline rates will be far less than conventional bookings and you can stay at a very nice hotel for less than the price of a Days Inn or LaQuinta. All of the 3* hotels in the MCO zone are within a 5 minute drive of the airport.

If you don't mind spending a little more I would suggest the Embassy Suites by the airport. They also have complimentary shuttle service and throw in a full breakfast for the family, and the suite arrangement was always a good one for us.

 

[Mom+4]

We had this same predicament a few years ago. I was able to do a Priceline bid on a room at the airport (we got the airport Marriott) for $35. In addition, we were able to do the same thing on the return since we had an early morning flight. We got in to MCO at around midnight, took the airport shuttle to the hotel, took the shuttle back in the morning to pick up the rental car, and did the same in reverse on the return. I figure we saved about $250 altogether between 2 nights at Disney and a day on the rental car.

 

[ElizabethB]

We always arrive late at MCO (11:30 p.m. or later). Although it's not the cheapest option, nothing beats staying at the Hyatt -- get your luggage, up the escalator, check in and you're in the room 5 minutes later -- wonderful with tired kids. We used to try to drive to WDW and check in late but we hate the late night drive to WDW (central Florida is really, really dark at night!) and we'd be so tired the next a.m. that we wouldn't get an early start anyway. The Hyatt is very nice -- beds are comfortable, rooms very clean, McCoy's is good for a late night snack, etc. In August, we had a very early departure from MCO, so we ended up spending our first and last nights at the Hyatt -- well worth the price. If you can get a Priceline bargain, so much the better. They also have AAA rates and senior rates. The AAA rates often include breakfast. Even at rack rate, it's not much more than a moderate and much cheaper than a deluxe for the night.

 

[tinroad66]

A lot of great suggestions... Thanks all.

I was able to book a room at the Crowne Plaza using the Govt. Employee discount for $89.
(DW recently got a job working for the state... I never realized how many hotels offered govt. discounts!)...

I think I will use that ressie as my safety net, and try using Priceline to see if I can get lucky with a better rate.

 

[SB in KY]

I think you were smart to make a back up reservation...that way if Priceline doesn't turn up anything you still have a good place to stay with reliable shuttle service. A lot of airlines book their flight crews at the Crowne Plaza so the shuttle service is really fast there (and at the Holiday Inn Select for the same reason).

I would suggest trying a 3* bid on Priceline for the MCO zone at $40 and increase by a few dollars each day until you hit something. Good luck.