We've made the decision to stay off property.......

[Dianelouise]

Someone I work with has two houses 3 miles from Disney and they are offering it to me for $600 for the week. We were thinking of staying at the Royal Pacific but the house won out. The house is a single home (no townhouse, etc...), 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, pool, etc... We are a family of 5 so staying 7 nights in a hotel room is iffy...... We work on each others nerves after awhile (kiddos are 16, 13 and 8). We do it several times a year when we go away for long weekends but that is only 2-3 nights, not 7. Besides with staying in the hotel I'd have to eat out at least twice per day (my family are ALL big eaters) and this way we can do some cooking there.

My ONLY concern is not have the Express Pass. I know you can purchase it but what are the crowds like the first week of May. We've been to Disney twice now during this week and NEVER had to many problems.

Thanks,

Diane

 

[Nie0214]

Even without the express pass, I would guess that 7 days is plenty of time to get everything done.

 

[damo]

First week in May should be nice!

 

[acarter73]

Does your coworker know how far from the house to Universal? Just curious as we are looking into renting a house for the same reasons you mention (family of 5, able to spread out, cook, etc.). TIA!

 

[Dianelouise]

They say it takes 10-15 minutes, depending on traffic, to get to US. They actually have two houses, right beside each other, that they rent out. Anyway, it is exactely 3 miles from Disney World, right off of 192 (I think that is the route number he said). With the 3 kiddos, 7 nights in a hotel room is dicey at best. This is 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, pull out queen sleeper couch, 4 TV's. It just makes more sense even though I'd really like to stay at Royal Pacific.

Diane

 

[Darcy03231]

I stayed in Clermont last summer which was about 15 miles from Disney going toward Tampa. I found it took us about 25-30 min to get to US/IOA and about 15 min to get to WDW so the estimate of 10-15 min sounds about right. We stayed in a rental home and loved it! We were there for 16 days and spent 6-7 of them between US/IOA and were able to see/do everything at least once and our favorites more than once. We were there during peak time and didn't feel the need to buy the express passes. We just followed the advice on these boards, got there for park opening and then left when the lines got too long (around 1-2 pm). We'd go back at night when it was a bit cooler and found the lines weren't as bad as they were mid-day.