Review Said to say but Disney's resorts are too high for me

[Disneydreamer5]

Well I have only been to DW once with my family back in 05. 07 trip with free dinning and staying at CBR was canceled 2 weeks before we were scheduled to leave as DH was injured on the job.
Anywho, I have been waiting for the 09 rates to come out so I could book and pre easter trip and low and behold. it is so exspensive.
I mean I knew it wasn't going to be cheap but Jez.
$5,500 without meals, tranportation, and staying in 2 adjoining rooms in the value resorts?
Its just craziness as far as I am concern.
With all that said I have decided that if and when we go back to Orlando we will be staying off-site. I dont even know if I will go to Disney as I am just so upset at how exspensive it has gotten.
I am trying to find a nice hotel, clean, pool, close to parks.US/IOA as well as Disney.
Some place that will give us a free breakfast, hot or cold doesn't matter but coffee would be great.
I have 8 total in our party so if we could find a villa or suite that would fit all of us together that would be the ideal situation but I am not opposed to 2 adjoining rooms with a great rate.
I really would rather not get any flames for what I said about Dinsey being exspesive please. I already know the whole thing of if I was going to have a large family, and Disney is in the business to make money and so on so please can I just get advice for my question.
Thanks all

 

[maxiesmom]

Try the Staybridge Suites, Lake Buena Vista. We have stayed there 3 times, and it is a very nice resort. They have 2 bedroom 2 bathroom units with a full kitchen for under $200 a night. Usually around $150 or so if you qualify for AAA or a similar discount. They are set up 2 double beds in one bedroom, with its own bathroom, a fold out in the family room, and a king bed in the other bedroom with its own bathroom. Plus they have a free continental breakfast, so you save money that way too. And we were a family of 8.

How many nights are you planning on staying in Orlando? The value rooms are only $135 a night, so you must be planning a long stay. Even considering my bad math, that is only just over $3000 for 2 weeks.

 

[princess&her4princes]

Well I have only been to DW once with my family back in 05. 07 trip with free dinning and staying at CBR was canceled 2 weeks before we were scheduled to leave as DH was injured on the job.
Anywho, I have been waiting for the 09 rates to come out so I could book and pre easter trip and low and behold. it is so exspensive.
I mean I knew it wasn't going to be cheap but Jez.
$5,500 without meals, tranportation, and staying in 2 adjoining rooms in the value resorts?
Its just craziness as far as I am concern.
With all that said I have decided that if and when we go back to Orlando we will be staying off-site. I dont even know if I will go to Disney as I am just so upset at how exspensive it has gotten.
I am trying to find a nice hotel, clean, pool, close to parks.US/IOA as well as Disney.
Some place that will give us a free breakfast, hot or cold doesn't matter but coffee would be great.
I have 8 total in our party so if we could find a villa or suite that would fit all of us together that would be the ideal situation but I am not opposed to 2 adjoining rooms with a great rate.
I really would rather not get any flames for what I said about Dinsey being exspesive please. I already know the whole thing of if I was going to have a large family, and Disney is in the business to make money and so on so please can I just get advice for my question.
Thanks all

Check out off season rates, I don't know if Easter is the only time you can go but it's worth going off the beaten path so to speak. We're a family of 5, so I appreciate how expensive things are. I couldn't believe how well we made out last year....we stayed at ASMo and for one room, free dining, tickets, airfare and incidentals we spent less than $2600! It was great!! This year we're staying at Pop and with everything (this time we're paying for mealplan) our trip is costing us about $3K and we're going off season early December to see all the magic for the hoildays. So, my suggestion is, shop the off peak times, you be very pleasantly surprised!! Good luck!!

 

[BABY_EINSTEIN'S_MOM]

I totally understand. We are a family of 5, and unless one family member can sleep in a crib that leave ASMu family suites or the cramped up POR rooms. Try Windsor Hills or the other surrounding communities. I have many offers from condo owners for around 1,000 for 14 nights in June. I am still trying to decide between all my choices!

 

[earthfaries]

Hi. I understand where you're coming from. It's a lot more for large families. We have stayed onsite and after staying off site a couple of years ago we were hooked. Not because of the price, but because of the space! We love getting a condo where we have a washer and dryer, kitchen, living room with huge tv, multiple bedrooms and bathrooms...it's great!

I suggest looking on www.skyauction.com last year they had some closeout deals for $200.00 for a whole week in a resort of your choice, depending on availability.

Also, we stayed in a 3 bdrm townhouse at Hapimag Lake Berkley, about 10 miles from WDW this past Jan. It was huge and would sleep all 8 comfortably. It's rated number one, possibly two now, on tripadvisor out of all places to stay in Kissimmee! It is about $130.00 a night, with buy 6 nights get one free I believe. I highly recommed it. If you want to see pics you can check out my trip report, the link is below. Beautiful place.

Hope this helps ~ in Orlando you have so many options, many of which include free transportation and breakfast, you can't beat it. Check www.tripadvisor.com for reviews and pics.

One other great place is Comfort Suites Maingate EAST , make sure you stay at the East one. The breakfast even includes mickey waffles and it's about a mile and a half from WDW You get a suite there for 80-100 a night.

 

[NY_MOM]

I agree with looking into value season as far as times to visit and save. We have visited (4 adults and 1 child) in September 06/07 during free dining and have stayed on site in a moderate, 2 rooms and including tickets for 4 days for under 2000. Include air fare for another 800 for all roundtrip. It seemed really reasonable. This time in December staying offsite HGV Sea World, trip will still be around the same under 3500 for all. Absolutely look into value seasons or free dining time, it really helps.

 

[Poohbug]

Rent a house. If you have a group this is a great value. Many have pools with slides, 3-4 bedrooms, laundry, full kitchen, etc. Only downside is you have to drive to parks.

 

[dougsmom98]

I would look into a pool home or a townhouse. You will LOVE the space. For 8 people I would go for a four bedroom, but you could do a 3 bedroom place if you don't mind using a pull out couch. Here are some examples of what you could get.
http://www.vrbo.com/24427
http://www.vrbo.com/200016
http://www.vrbo.com/84884

Check out www.vrbo.com to see what is out there. You can also check out www.windsorhillsrent.com for Windsor Hills which is probably one of the most popular off site resort on these boards.

 

[loriandmatt]

i agree with poohbug and dougsmom98.....for a group of your size you could easliy rent a vacation home that is very very nice for just as much or less and a few cheap hotel rooms and WAY cheaper than two rooms at a WDW value resort.

i swore by onsite stays, didn't think any off site location could be as nice and have as much magic in my vacation. i was forced into a situation where onsite room was just NOT an option for our last trip and with much trepidation went with renting a townhome with a private pool. it was fantastic! Will i stay onsite again...sure, if the price is right and my group size is small enough to fit in one room comfortably....but would i blink twice about staying off site...heck no.

you can save some $$ as well by picking up some light breakfast/snack items. some who rent homes get way into cooking meals and packing food for the parks....that is a great option if you are into it. not my gig.

 

[Disneydreamer5]

"How many nights are you planning on staying in Orlando? The value rooms are only $135 a night, so you must be planning a long stay. Even considering my bad math, that is only just over $3000 for 2 weeks"
Actually your math is fine,lol. Due to the fact that we don't get to go on vacation very often we were looking to go away for 2 weeks, or 10 days as we are driving NJ.
When I said 5,500 that also included park pass's and water parks for 10 days as well. I know we are getting a lot for the money but just the value rooms are 2,500 by themselves and I went on US website and we get better accombination( I can't spell,lol) and tickect for like a thousand less.
Thank you for all your help and ideas I will be checking them all out tonight once the kids give up the computer.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I also recommend going in the off season. Also to save $$ we get the 10 day tix, water park option, no exp. It's a lot of $$ to put out in the beginning (we use our tax refund) but it works out to about $22/day per person. We only do about 3-4 big parks per trip (avg 7 nt stay) and usually 1 water park visit so 1 ticket lasts for several trips.

We've stayed in Windsor Palms and Rolling Hills. Both neighborhoods are in Kissimme and a very short drive to WDW. Other close areas to look for are Formosa Gardens, Emerald Island, Indian Creek and Windsor Hills.

Check out mousesavers.com for rental car discount codes and coupons.
good luck!

 

[Sunshine36616]

Another suggestion for off-season. I went in December (before Christmas) and my one room at a Value Resort was only $79. That's very comparable to off site rates.

 

[Kaler131]

Check out Windsor Hills. We haven't stayed there, but I have only heard great things about it! We are considering staying there sometime.

There are threads on here (somewhere) about Windsor Hills. Maybe do a search and see if they come up. There is a lot of great info about WH on them.

 

[dgaston]

And Cypress Pointe thru hotelkingdom.com. This isn't far from DTD and is really a nice resort.

 

[mandi5379]

"I would look into a pool home or a townhouse. You will LOVE the space. For 8 people I would go for a four bedroom, but you could do a 3 bedroom place if you don't mind using a pull out couch."

I agree. We have rented from owners on vrbo.com at least 5 times. Much more for much less money that WDW resorts.

That being said, we just returned from our first on-site vacation. On-site was a totally different vacation for us. We rented DVC points and stayed in a 1BR at OKW for the price of a value resort. However we still paid more for those 4 nights than we usually spend to rent a pool home.

Definately take a look on vrbo.

 

[redsfan08]

check out redweek.com for great deals on rental timeshares. You can get a 2bedroom at a Marriott which will sleep up to 8 within a few miles of WDW.

You typically get a full kitchen and a lot more room than 2 hotel rooms and a better price too.

We did it this way a couple years ago and it was great.

Good Luck !

 

[terri01p]

Hello I stumbled upon your thread and it's not just you, WDW is expensive, we have been saving for over a year now just to go in 2009.

I just wanted to throw this out there : Have you thought of staying in a cabin? Tropical Palms resort and campground has some beautiful cabins, that are fully furnished and it's right by WDW and the cabins are really nice as well as the campground, the pool is 24 hours, we have stayed there in our travel trailer and have always enjoyed it, and it is very nice.

Take a look at their website it might be an option for you....www.tropicalpalms.com

 

[MiaSRN62]

I mean I knew it wasn't going to be cheap but Jez.
$5,500 without meals, tranportation, and staying in 2 adjoining rooms in the value resorts?
Its just craziness as far as I am concern.

Disneydreamer....
While I recognize wdw is not the cheapest place to stay, may I ask what you are including in that $5K+ price tag for 2 rooms at Values ?

This doesn't add up to me.
It's all fine that several people have posted offsite suggestions...you most likely can stay cheaper offsite....but can u explain or outline exactly how you got this price for 2 value rooms ($5,500) ??? I stay onsite often and NEVER paid this even for deluxe resorts ? Did u price out a package with meals and tickets or something ? How many people ? How long are you staying may I ask ? Are u including air fare ? Car rental ? Often you can get rooms onsite cheaper by just booking the room only. Packages don't always equate to savings. Most trips I price out everything ala carte.

I tried to go on disney.com site to check rates for values for March/April, but the reservations system is down. So I'm really curious & perplexed and respectfully would like to ask what you're pricing out for $5K ? Thanks.


Sure you can get offsite cheaper, but you don't really need a rental car onsite.....nor do you pay $12/day for parking....and you get all the onsite perks. That's all part of the price of staying onsite and sure it's not for everyone, but it needs to be recognized that it is something over what offsite offers.

 

[Disneydreamer5]

This doesn't add up to me.
It's all fine that several people have posted offsite suggestions...you most likely can stay cheaper offsite....but can u explain or outline exactly how you got this price for 2 value rooms ($5,500) ??? I stay onsite often and NEVER paid this even for deluxe resorts ? Did u price out a package with meals and tickets or something ? How many people ? How long are you staying may I ask ? Are u including air fare ? Car rental ? Often you can get rooms onsite cheaper by just booking the room only. Packages don't always equate to savings. Most trips I price out everything ala carte.


I would be more then happy to show you the price I got, where we would be staying, how many of us there are and what the bottom line is.
Please see below.

Check InApril 03, 2009 Check OutApril 11, 2009 Staying for8 nights, 9 days Adults2 Children2 Room All Star Music -TypeStandard Room Tickets9-Day Magic Your Way Ticket w/Hopping & Water Park Fun & More *PackageMagic Your Way Package


Total; $2,647.84 Insurance $133.90(we had to cancel last year 2 weeks before we were scheduled to leave as DH crushed his arm in a forklift so yes we would def have to get the insurence)--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grand Total (includes tax) $2,781.74Deposit (USD) $200.00

There are 8 of us. Myself, DH,4 DD'S 18,16,14,&11 AND DS 15 Plus Friend 19
$5563.48 Grand total
We would be driving down from Jersey, DH can not take vacation in the summer, Nov or Dec. DD 18 is in first year of college and can't miss any school and that is when her spring break is. Could we shorten the trip to make it cheaper ofcourse but if I am driving with 8 people all the way to anywhere that takes 16-24 hours to get to I want to do everything.
I could cut water parks and save 300, I could take away park hoppers and save there too but then we aren't really doing what we would really want to be doing so what would be the point and we are still spending a large amount of money, ya know.

Hope it make some sence for you now. Believe me if you can figure out a cheaper way to go then I would be delighted!

 

[Hasil72]

Disneydreamer5, what about...

8 10-day Adult passes-hopper/waterpark/more from Undercover Tourist $2751.60
3 BR condo or TH in Windsor Hills @ roughly $125/nt $1000
You'll already have a car but parking/gas in WDW (not the drive down) $200
Buy snacks and on the go/quick meal items at Target (wish I had a grocery store like that in my Target) or Walmart.

Everyone will have their own space to spread out a little and it's not really that much farther than driving from All Star. Plus the town homes have the plunge pools. Not very big but enough to cool off.

Good luck!