We have to stay offsite...

[5mins2disney]

Personally I wanted to stay on site last year...and my wife convinced me to rent a townhome at Windsor Hills, and now we love it so much we'd never go back to a resort hotel. So much so in fact that we bought a place there when we were rentors for the 2nd year in a row! LOL Onsite is too small, cramped, expensive, and you're so locked in to eating out every single meal. We met a couple in Epcot-Mexico who had booked a suite in the Yacht Club so their kids would go to sleep at night, and for 8 nights they had spent $800 per night youch!! That covers the cost of 3 trips for us!! And we have a much better place, our own private pool, resort pool, kitchen, free internet, on and on.

To save money we get up in the morning, eat breakfast at home, carry snacks and small coolers with us into the parks for the kids in the strollers, then usually splurge on one meal out, like a character dining experience or something similar. Sometimes we'll go back home too and let the kids swim and order a pizza delivery from Giordano's!! Many places will include the strollers and coolers for you in their rental unit so you don't have to carry them on the plane with you, and even things like video games for the kids, a big hit! Be sure to ask about options like these.

As far as a car goes...my suggestion is priceline. We just booked a premium car there for 8 days in Sept 06 and I bid $20 per day and it was accepted!

There are a few very nice offsite options, such as Windsor Hills, Windsor Palms, Emerald Island, and others (not aware of all the others).

 

[spiceycat]

are you a member of AAA - they get discount to all WDW resorts. So the values could still be a possible.

do you know anyone at work who has a timeshares and trades with RCI or Interval International. they both give discounts for rentals and I have had friends use my id and make their own reservations with their own credit card. at check in no problems.

 

[mom2-four]

We are AAA members, and I have looked at their prices and they are decent. Another thing I forgot to add is that we are Hilton honors members, so that was another consideration as well.

I am looking at the Embassy Suites on Jamaican and International Blvd, and it looks very nice from the pictures. It has 2 double beds, plus a pull out couch. We have stayed in them in the past, and I was very pleased with everything.

So, we're considering that or a rental home. It's almost the same price, and with the hotel room I can get it cheaper than the house. But, I also think that we might be happier in a home.

If we choose to go the home route, how far in advanced do reservations need to be made?

 

[rie'smom]

We are AAA members, and I have looked at their prices and they are decent. Another thing I forgot to add is that we are Hilton honors members, so that was another consideration as well.

I am looking at the Embassy Suites on Jamaican and International Blvd, and it looks very nice from the pictures. It has 2 double beds, plus a pull out couch. We have stayed in them in the past, and I was very pleased with everything.

So, we're considering that or a rental home. It's almost the same price, and with the hotel room I can get it cheaper than the house. But, I also think that we might be happier in a home.

If we choose to go the home route, how far in advanced do reservations need to be made?

We rented a pool home in Emerald Island last May. It was very,very nice. It had 4 bedrooms(we only used 2) but liked the extra room. The guy we rented from was British and super nice. If you'd like any info,PM me. It also took about 5 minutes to be on Disney property. I was shown a shortcut by some helpful Dissers. Depending upon when you plan to travel,I'd reserve ASAP because the dates fill quickly.

 

[Diabolicdesire]

I have stayed offsite at Fantasy World Club Villas and thought it was great. Very clean. We had 2 bed, 2 bath townhouse with full kitchen, washer and dryer ( I think it had a couch bed, too). There's no housekeeping while your there but it was ok cause we didn't make a big mess since we spent most of our time at the parks. Was not too far from the parks. Best part was we booked in advance and only payed 75.00 a night. This year we are going in Dec and the prices were higher months ago when we were looking to book so we will be staying at Holiday Villas. It's a 3/2 and I think were paying about 100.00 a night. I just hope it is as nice.

 

[Kath2003]

I would stay in a home. It will give you that little bit extra room so people won't get so grouchy with being crammed in to one room for the entire time, and allow you to put the younger children to bed earlier etc. We've stayed at Sunset Lakes several times and love it there - we would never stay in a hotel room again!

 

[MiaSRN62]

We met a couple in Epcot-Mexico who had booked a suite in the Yacht Club so their kids would go to sleep at night, and for 8 nights they had spent $800 per night youch!!

wow....that's a shame....they could have gotten 2 connecting rooms at a less expensive resort (this is what we did for years when our kids were little) or rented points from a DVC Member and gotten a 2 bedroom/2 bath villa with full kitchen/jacuzzi for like $300-$400/night if they wanted to be inside disney (even less if offseason). $800/night is an awful lot just so their kids would sleep !

 

[PA DISNEYLOVER]

We stayed at Cypress Pointe in June and loved it. The volcano pool was great, my kids loved the slide. it was close to Disney ( right outside of Downtown Disney) and we enjoyed staying off site more then we thought we would.

I believe you can rent from Hotelkingdom.com for pretty cheap.

 

[5mins2disney]

Depends on when / where you want to go...but they do book up fast and early...especially the nicer ones. We're booked solid through next May/June already...and into July / Aug already. The early bird definitely gets the worm!

 

[spiceycat]

We are AAA members, and I have looked at their prices and they are decent. Another thing I forgot to add is that we are Hilton honors members, so that was another consideration as well.

then you might look at Hilton Grand Vacation Club - there are two one on ID and one across the street from SW.

there a 1-bedroom has a king bed and queen sleeper sofa - in a two bedroom the second has queen bed and queen sleeper sofa or 2 queen beds, the first bedroom is the same as 1-bedroom.

the HGVC are very nice!!!

here is a link
http://www.hiltongrandvacations.com/sea-world-florida-vacations.php

 

[reelmom]

We just got back from staying at the Seralago Hotel. We had a 2 room suite(sleeps 8) for 79.00 a night. It is pretty close to Disney, less than 10 minutes away. I had read some bad reviews on other sites after I booked the room and was scared when we got down there. But it was nice and clean. I would love to stay on-site, but everytime I think of how much money the rooms are for a large family, I would rather have affordable than fancy. Just think of all the money you could save for spending at the parks.