Staying an extra day

[AmandaNied]

Hello!

I posted this on the transportation board as well, but haven't got much response.


We are considering staying another day. We are staying at POR and will be staying off-site for our extra day. We won't be doing Disney that day- just some outlet mall shopping and some rest before we head home.

What would be the best...rent a car for the whole trip? rent a car for that last day (where? and can we drop it off at the airport or do we need to drop it off at the place of origin?)

decisions, decisions!!

 

[Psychodisney]

You could do a one day rental that you pick up at DTD or at the Car care center or Dolphin.

 

[AmandaNied]

You could do a one day rental that you pick up at DTD or at the Car care center or Dolphin.

Will they let us drop it off at the airport? obviously we need to get back there, somehow

 

[hsmamato2]

you could rent at one of the DTD hotel desks and return to airport, but if you're doing this for a 'rest'....I recommend just staying at POR one more night,and using ME to get back to airport the next day,I've done this a few times,and it never ends up being restful AT ALL to leave your hotel,and go thru all the hassle of cars,driving,suitcases,just for an overnight.
If I was doing an extra day I'd stay one more night without moving,and just hang ut on Disney property,explore resorts,etc...now that's relaxing!
If you really want to shop,it can be done,but it's not relaxing.

 

[JennSaint]

I agree with the above poster. Just stay the extra night at POR and use Magical express back to the airport. Such a hastle to pack, pick up car etc. I don't think the savings will be that much. Stay at the resort or take the boat to DD if you really want to shop.

 

[AmandaNied]

I'm thinking that might be the best option (staying at POR). I looked into rental cars for the day ($80+) and if I really get the urge to shop at the outlets- i could use a taxi for cheaper.

Now off to call Disney to see if I can extend my stay

 

[rvchat]

i too agree with just stahying at por and relaxing. then go from there to airport.

it's nice to just do nothing there. oh so nice.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

We have done this sort of thing several times. One idea we tried last time - if you just want to hang at the resort - is to stay at the Hyatt hotel at the airport, then you don't need any transportation - although that hotel is not super cheap - once you figure the cost of rental car - it's not a bad plce. onthe day of departure - you are RIGHT at the airport. so simple. There are lots of shops there, a pool, and quite afew places to eat. If you join restaurant.com you can sometimes get 'gift certificates' for the dining at the Hyatt.

You could also choose something like a towncar service for a one way transfer.

Personally, for us, when I've looked at the cost of renting for one day, I've not found any good deals, plus it seemed like it would be a hassle to pick the car up. Although a week long rental costs more, it saves time over using ME. You can also stop a grocery store and save money that way. Grocery runs can be a big time suck, but you can also eat a meal or two offsite. The best bet is to make your stop onthe way to/from the airport - if youa re going to make sucha run (rahter that checking in at teh hotel and then heading to the grocery store). If you are staying at POr, you are not far fromt he outlet mall. On the other side of the outlet mall is a Publix. The road winds around a bit, but it's not far. There are also a fair number of chain restaurants over that way.

I don't find tranferring hotels to be that bad, but I pack accordingly. On the one night stay - you don't really ever 'unpack' much of anything. I keep all our hiarbrushes and stuff in a giant ziploc bag onthe counter. I put one day of clothes/bathing suits, etc into ONE bag. You only open up that one bag. I use one large plastic shopping bag or trash bag as a 'hamper.' or we put our dirty clothes right into the suitcase. So when we pack up, I basically only have to pack up a few toiletries, and rmember the cell phone chargers. It also helps if that one day you minimize how much stuff you take out. Like we might skip using the camera that day, and stick to one pair of shoes.

Likewise, if you want to doa budget day, you could stay at a value resort. Disney will transfer your bags for free, but it takes until around 4pm to get your bags - so you can't use them while they are in transit.

 

[AmandaNied]

We are planning on staying Feb 27th-March 5th; and possibly extending the stay so our trip home would be the 6th. I called at it looks like we could stay at POR for an additional $219.

Or..I could get a taxi to a motel near the Florida Mall, and have a free shuttle to the airport. We'd get the room for free (on points) but have that whole pack-up thing on Friday night.

Well, decisions, decisions. I wish my husband would have come up with this idea when we booked

 

[ldvcshop]

We've done it all. Sometimes to save $, sometimes for fun, sometimes because we couldn't stay in the same hotel and had to move just for an extra day.

When you pack up, you must be out by checkout anywhere from 9-11 and you can't usually check in until 4pm or even 5pm when it's busy. You can go to your next destination, but no room, just the pool. If you were planning on going to the parks you can store your luggage with the departing hotel and come back for it later when you're going to C/I to the next hotel.

All in all it is a hassle and a time waster to switch hotels, but nevertheless, we continue to do crazy things just for another night of fun. One thing we started doing was taking the last available flight out instead so that we could go to a park in the morning and early afternoon, then leave for the airport. this way we got in some more fun, but didn't pay just to sleep. One downside, however, is that last out flights can get delayed on your layover, so we bring laptops or gaming devices to keep the kids busy.

There is a fabulous really large outlet mall very near to Downtown Disney just on the other side of the freeway and a smaller one nearer to Walmart.

We like the convenience of a weekly car so that we can hop out to cheaper food for dinner, etc. go grocery shopping for snacks and grab and go breakfast foods rather than waste time in hotel food lines, and for the convenience of hopping around to 3 or more locations in a day. Mornings - a theme park, afternoons- at a water park and evenings - Downtown Disney or back to a theme park. A weekly rental can be high or low, make the reservation and then keep watching for rate sales. The earlier you get your rental is usually better. For one way rentals, as well. Some companies are significantly better rates on one way rentals. I always check Costco and AAA.

Have a great time!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Lots of times, I've booked our main resort stay before our airfare. When I price the air, it often comes out substantially less to fly a day early, or stay and extra day- so we get an extra night for 'free' - or at least less than we would have paid in airfare.

Yes, you do lose a little time packing and checking-in, (most places have auto-check out, so you on'y need to go to the front desk if there's a mistake on the bill). Mentally though I don't mind losing an hour if I'm gaining an extra 12-24hours of vacation.

As I said, if you pack accordingly for that one night, changing resorts is no big deal. Last time we wnet to orldnao, we actually changed resorts three times!

 

[JennSaint]

Not sure if you have AAA but they have a rate of $180.83 including taxes for March 5 for POR

 

[JennSaint]

Just checked the disneyworld.com site and if you click on the 30% off special offer that night is available for $171.00 with including taxes.

 

[AmandaNied]

Just checked the disneyworld.com site and if you click on the 30% off special offer that night is available for $171.00 with including taxes.

Thanks! When I called Disney they didn't mention any 'specials' or discounts...tricky tricky

 

[JennSaint]

Your welcome! Unless you call with a special code/pin they don't usually offer up any discounts. But that one you can book directly on their site. Then when you check in see if they can tie the two ressies together so you don't have to switch rooms.