Resort/Hotel Outside of WDW

[LuvDisney3]

My DF is planning to head to WDW for the first time. She is interested in staying at a reasonably priced hotel or a resort that is outside of WDW, but that offers shuttle service to WDW. Does anyone have any recommendations on these accommodations? I do not have any expertise in this area....TYIA

 

[Sue M]

We stayed at The Marriott Courtyard on Palm Pkwy for our first WDW trip. While the hotel was nice, and I was able to get a great rate with Ent. Book, any off site shuttle service is not the best. And they(The Courtyard) had better then usual shuttle service.

There seems to be varying quality of shuttles- ranging to minimal pickups, to more pick ups, depending on the hotel. The Marriott had more pick ups then many, but still..not as convienent as staying on site, with WDW busses running every 20 min.

The off site shuttles are on a sched, there may be 2 or 3 departing in the morning, then starting at 5pm(ish) a few returning to hotel in the evening. Not always at convienent times, you may have to miss the fireworks, or evening show.

And the drop off & pick up are in a further parking lot then the WDW busses.
You just wait in the middle of a parking lot by a space number for your bus.

We decided after that, we'd stay on site for future trips. So much better.

I would recommend that she look into one of the value resorts to save some money.

 

[dancin Disney style]

It really depends on what you mean by reasonable price....

The hotels on Palm Pkwy can be as low as $59/night at the Clarion. They all seem to have a decent rep.

If you look on a site called lastminutetravel.com you can find the DTD Hilton for around $80/night and the Hilton BC for around $100/night. The thing with this site is that you don't get the name of the hotel until you book it BUT...they do show you the pictures of the hotels so all you have to do is compare. The DTD Hilton pics are all the exact same pics that the Hilton site shows and the Hilton BC pics are only the room pics but it is really distinct....they have these lime green and brown throws over the end of the beds.

Both resorts have a shuttle but the DTD location will allow for a short walk over to get the Disney buses. The catch though is that you have to take a bus to a resort and then get a park bus. A minor pain but it will allow you to have an alternate to using the hotel shuttle.

 

[TheBig2na]

Best thing to do is check tripadvisor.com when you find a few in the price range they like. You should be able to get a sense for it by the reviews. I used to have a great place, the Econolodge Maingate on US 192, but then it changed owners a few times and is a mess.

 

[Cdn Gal]

Bonnet Creek- it is beside CBR and it has free shuttles to DW!

 

[mtmbyck]

Check to see if the Dolphin or Swan have deals for their dates. These aren't Disney owned but offer the bus service and are walking distance to 2 parks and they are gorgeous!

I would not rely on shuttles personally. They will run spastically and depending on the age of the kids, sometimes you just need to take a break. Almost every hotel off property is a min $30 cab fare.

A rental car would be better if staying off property. There are some great deals and then they could even look at renting a Florida home (complete with their own heated pool). Try VRBO.com to compare some prices. If they can handle a 90 minute presentation at a timeshare resort, they would get an amazing rate at Floridays, Sheraton Vistana Villages and many others. The Florida tourism site shows these. These accommodations will have 1 or 2 bedrooms, full kitchen and washer and dryer! We paid $450 3 years ago and got a 2 bedroom at Floridays, 2 Disney tickets, 2 Planet Hollywood meals and 2 tickets to the movies. Well worth the price!

 

[Sue M]

Forgot to add, check out Mousesavers.com they often have codes for special rates for DTD hotels, and some off site. right now they have a special deal for the DTD Doubletree.
While DTD hotels have their own bus service, not Disney Transportation, their shuttles are better then the off site shuttles, running every 30 min.