Tired of the resorts or a hotel...you might want to consider staying here......

[traderneal]

After 12 trips over 7 years, last May we stayed at the Windsor Hill condo/townhome complex, and for now and forever, we will always find a rental in this great, new complex, which is literally a five minute drive to Disney World's front gate.

We had always previously stayed at a Disney resort, usually the Contemporary just for the ability to walk to the MK. (This was great when the kids were small.) After realizing the amount of money we were spending, we decided to stay off site at a few various hotels which were nice.

However, thanks to DISBOARDS, for our last trip we took a chance and rented from an owner at Windsor Hill. I can't say enough good things. We paid $75 night for a very spacious two bedroom condo that beat any hotel I have ever stayed in. (Ok, maybe the Venetian in Vegas was a bit more lavious.).

We are going back in Novemeber, and because of the off season and slowing economy, we are staying in three bedroom townhome for $80 a night, including our own pool. You can't beat that.

Combine that price, with spending another $30 or so dollar for food in which you can keep at the condo for breakfast and a late night snack, and you will save a lot more money buy not having to buy breakfast at your hotel or the park. (I remember getting some bagels and coffee at the MK that cost me $20 alone)

Now, keep in mind, if you have never been to the DW, or it's your kids first time going, then I can definitely understand staying at a DW resort and experienceing the magic. But for those of you who go to DW on a regular basis, you might want to consider Windsor Hills.

The best website I have found for rentals is


www.windsorhillsrent.com

 

[eyckmans]

I totally agree with you. I would never want to stay in a cramped hotel for two weeks again. When I get back to a villa from the parks I feel relaxed and at home. In a hotel room I can never relax in the same way. We stay at Emerald Island which is another lovely resort close to Disney. For our Decembr trip we have a 4 bedroom house for 95$ a night with beds for 10 people.

 

[mamaglenn]

There are 8 adults and 4 children in our traveling group and we are staying at the Westgate Lakes resort in a 3 bedroom villa. I'm excited to try it out.

 

[noahdove]

I'll be anxious mamaglenn to see your review at Westgate lakes. Enjoy your magical time

 

[irky416]

I agree! We stayed in Windsor Hills in June and loved it!

 

[bourgie]

A neighbor of mine stayed at one of these (cant remember which ) but it had room for like 10 people and a pool etc for like $80 a night.

I am SO willing to try this. I have always stayed within Disney.

My question is the parking. I HATE lines (like to park) I love just getting on the bus and having it drop us off and pick us up etc.....

How is it to park at the different parks. Do you park and then get a shuttle etc?

 

[irky416]

A neighbor of mine stayed at one of these (cant remember which ) but it had room for like 10 people and a pool etc for like $80 a night.

I am SO willing to try this. I have always stayed within Disney.

My question is the parking. I HATE lines (like to park) I love just getting on the bus and having it drop us off and pick us up etc.....

How is it to park at the different parks. Do you park and then get a shuttle etc?

If you have AAA and book tickets through them, you get a AAA parking pass. We used that at all the parks except MK and it was really nice. We got to the parks early and never waited in a parking line. We got to drive way up front and we never had to wait for a shuttle to take us from the lot to the park because we were so close we just walked.

It was way faster than waiting for a bus at the hotels!

 

[bourgie]

I would certainly love to try it out. I think it would be worth the $$. I stayed at the Poly and loved it, loved the monorail etcc, but would also love to have extra $ to do other things............

 

[FayeW]

We are staying at Windsor Hills for the first time in a few weeks. We chose a 3 bdrm condo, and it came to $800.11 for 9 nights (that includes all taxes, as well as the cancellation insurance from the management company). We are spending 1.5 times as much as we usually spend, but that's because we always used skyauction in the past for a 7 day/2bdrm condo and then had to pay for 2 extra days, but we felt that the convenience of not having to split our stay between two resorts was worth a couple of hundred dollars.

Now I just have to decide if it is worth the extra $50 to check in at 11:00am instead of 4:00pm. If we save our money, we can use one of our plus features and go to Disney Quest or a Water Park, but it will be an early night because we would have to be up by about 5:30 for our flight. If we spend the extra and check in early, we could have a bit of a rest and maybe go to a park in the afternoon/evening.

 

[korg]

My wife and I own a non-Disney Vacation Club membership out of Cancun Mexico. (Amazing beautiful 5 star place) and we are members of RCI so we can trade weeks like we own a time share. The last 2 times we've gone to Disney World we stayed at two difference time share condos we traded into for a small trading and paperwork fee. (around $500 for 7 nights) Both places we stayed at were two bedroom condos with full kitchens, two full bathrooms and jacuzzi hot tubs. (And pools outside of course) And both places were only a mile from the main MK gate. We're going back to DW next month on November 15th and once again we're staying at a time share condo we traded for for a very low transfer fee. (I don't remember the names of any of these places! ;-) I LOVE having a real nice "apartment" to stay at rather then a small room with two beds where I have to eat every meal out. But I have to admit I miss having the Disney atmosphere 24 hours a day like you have when you stay on property. But for me ... since they stopped the "length of stay passes" and since I never use their busses (We always use a rental car) I don't see a lot of reason to stay on Disney property anymore.

For those wondering about the Disney Vacation Club ... I contacted them via e-mail and asked if they are part of the RCI network and asked if could I trade into a DVC resort room. They wouldn't answer my question via e-mail ... they sent me a "form letter" saying I have to call them and talk with a sales rep. ......... Obviously they want to try to SELL me a DVC membership because the question is really a very simple YES or NO question. Oh well ... they ARE after all in business to make money. ANYWAY ... I totally agree with staying off property. You lose the 24 hour Disney atmosphere but you get a MUCH MUCH nicer place to stay for much less money. (Or you can get a simple room for far LESS money.)

 

[carlbarry]

My wife and I own a non-Disney Vacation Club membership out of Cancun Mexico. (Amazing beautiful 5 star place) and we are members of RCI so we can trade weeks like we own a time share. The last 2 times we've gone to Disney World we stayed at two difference time share condos we traded into for a small trading and paperwork fee. (around $500 for 7 nights) Both places we stayed at were two bedroom condos with full kitchens, two full bathrooms and jacuzzi hot tubs. (And pools outside of course) And both places were only a mile from the main MK gate. We're going back to DW next month on November 15th and once again we're staying at a time share condo we traded for for a very low transfer fee. (I don't remember the names of any of these places! ;-) I LOVE having a real nice "apartment" to stay at rather then a small room with two beds where I have to eat every meal out. But I have to admit I miss having the Disney atmosphere 24 hours a day like you have when you stay on property. But for me ... since they stopped the "length of stay passes" and since I never use their busses (We always use a rental car) I don't see a lot of reason to stay on Disney property anymore.

For those wondering about the Disney Vacation Club ... I contacted them via e-mail and asked if they are part of the RCI network and asked if could I trade into a DVC resort room. They wouldn't answer my question via e-mail ... they sent me a "form letter" saying I have to call them and talk with a sales rep. ......... Obviously they want to try to SELL me a DVC membership because the question is really a very simple YES or NO question. Oh well ... they ARE after all in business to make money. ANYWAY ... I totally agree with staying off property. You lose the 24 hour Disney atmosphere but you get a MUCH MUCH nicer place to stay for much less money. (Or you can get a simple room for far LESS money.)

DVC trades through II, not RCI.

 

[korg]

DVC trades through II, not RCI.

Thanks for the info. I actually explained my situation and asked the question on the DVC section of this forum. After answering my question they moved, then (I think) deleted my post. I then realized the DVC section is actually sponsered by the DVC directly. Guess I shouldn't be surprised because I was saying good things about my current vacation club. That's not good for their business. (I honestly didn't realize I was stepping in their toes.)

I'd love to stay on property when I go to DW but it comes down to dollars and cents. Through an RCI trade I stay in a condo all week for less the a room at the Pop Century so if I have to do without 24 hour Disney magic to save $$$ I'll do it. At least I get to go to the same awesome parks and Downtown Disney too! All I really miss are the extra hours and free parking at the parks.

 

[carlbarry]

Thanks for the info. I actually explained my situation and asked the question on the DVC section of this forum. After answering my question they moved, then (I think) deleted my post. I then realized the DVC section is actually sponsered by the DVC directly. Guess I shouldn't be surprised because I was saying good things about my current vacation club. That's not good for their business. (I honestly didn't realize I was stepping in their toes.)

I'd love to stay on property when I go to DW but it comes down to dollars and cents. Through an RCI trade I stay in a condo all week for less the a room at the Pop Century so if I have to do without 24 hour Disney magic to save $$$ I'll do it. At least I get to go to the same awesome parks and Downtown Disney too! All I really miss are the extra hours and free parking at the parks.

If you don't want the Disney "magic" of staying within Disney, and some of the other perqs you get with DVC, then another timeshare will certainly save you money. Late last year I bought 49,000 points on ebay at a Wyndham resort (Star Island), just enough for 5 nights off season, and my cost was only $100 (plus closing, brought it up to about $500). I traded 28,000 points to RCI, and got a week at Orange Lakes in early December, in a TWO bedroom condo. Considering my MF is $276, and the trade cost $160, and I rented out the remaining points for $105, I did much better than DVC, and only have to amortize $500.
That being said, I DO want to buy into DVC! I want to stay at AKV, and the other resorts. I figure it is an indulgence I can afford. I will then use my Wyndham points for vacationing at a different location every year.

 

[korg]

If you don't want the Disney "magic" of staying within Disney, and some of the other perqs you get with DVC, then another timeshare will certainly save you money. Late last year I bought 49,000 points on ebay at a Wyndham resort (Star Island), just enough for 5 nights off season, and my cost was only $100 (plus closing, brought it up to about $500). I traded 28,000 points to RCI, and got a week at Orange Lakes in early December. Considering my MF is $276, and the trade cost $160, and I rented out the remaining points for $105, I did much better than DVC, and only have to amortize $500.
That being said, I DO want to buy into DVC! I want to stay at AKV, and the other resorts. I figure it is an indulgence I can afford. I will then use my Wyndham points for vacationing at a different location every year.

Well it really isn't that I don't "want" Disney magic 24 hours a day, it's that I already own my current vacation club paid in full. All i have to pay are RCI transfer fees when I trade to someplace other then my home resort so it's cheap staying in a nice place off property. I actually would LOVE to stay on DVC property which is why I was disapointed to find out they don't deal with RCI. It would have been great if I could have traded to be on property. So don't get me wrong I'd love to be able to consider the DVC but since I own my vacation club and plan to become a snow bird in 5 years and live in FLA during the winter months it's just not realistic for me to consider it. I'll be spending my money on a FLA winter condo soon enough.

 

[The Hendies]

As you see from our trip notes, we own at Orange Lake and normally stay there. It is an awesome place to stay, and only about a 15 minute drive from our driveway to the MK parking lot on a normal day. In 10/10 we'll have at least 6 adults, but we'll be taking 2 condos (Yep, 4 beadrooms, 4 baths, etc). If you are willing to take the chance, RCI offers last minute deals to members for around $200 a week!!!

 

[tydas]

Stayed at Windsor Hills a couple of times, dealing directly with the owners, always had a nice place...I did see that some people on Trip Advisor complained about being robbed though...

 

[korg]

As much as I love staying on Disney property (I have 5 times in the past) I just figured out the price difference of the trip I'll be going on in 39 days (I can't wait) to stay in my off property vacation club condo compaired to a moderate priced Disney hotel.

With the exact same ticket option (because there is no length of stay pass anymore) it will cost me OVER $600 LESS to stay in a two bedroom condo with a full kitchen and two full bathrooms a mile from the front gate of MK then it would cost me to stay at a Disney moderate resort room. And with my Vacation club I don't have any yearly maintenance fees to add to the cost. I was a little afraid to buy into my VC ... now I'm thrilled I did because of the savings i'm realizing.

I'd love to have an excuse to stay on property again but a few extra hours in the parks and a free bus ride from the air port aren't worth over $600. The money I'm saving is paying for my air fair! I hope Disney starts giving more worth while perks to entice me back on property! I'll honestly miss the 24 hour Disney atmosphere when I stay off property but this is my 3rd trip staying off property so I've probably saved $1,800 over the past 3 trips! For that kind of savings I guess I'll just bring a Mickey Mouse clock with me so i have some Disney atmosphere in the condo! ;-)

 

[Schmoodle]

We have a II membership and always trade and stay offsite when we go to DW. I would love to stay at a Disney resort someday, but when I can get a very nice villa for a week with two bedroooms, a full kitchen, and a pool for my $137 exchange fee, I can't see spending the money. Some of the places are really nice (Sheraton VV, Parkway Intl., Marriot's Grande Vista, Westgate), and some I didn't like so much (VV at Fantasyworld and another I can't remember the name of that was an old converted motel). Of course some of these I stayed in years ago, and it all depends on how well they are kept up. Parkway is just 1 mile outside of the parks. I am staying at Marriott's this time, and I'm on the other side of International Drive from the parks, near Sea World (which I hate), so I am a little worried about traffic getting into the parks in the AM.

 

[korg]

BTW my wife and I are staying at a place called "Barefootn' in the Keys" located in Old Town when we come to Disney next month. That's our RCI trade for this trip. Has anyone stayed there? What did you think? (Looks good on line ... 4 out of 5 stars.)

 

[katiebrake]

thanks for your information on this. i will check it out!