Where do you stay for 1 night pre-DVC trip?

[disneyfan2kids]

Going 2nd week of June to OKW 1Br Can't WAIT! First time in 1Br.

Worked out that airfare was super expensive, but I saved HUNDREDS by flying in on the Friday night prior to our trip (DVC stay starts on Sat.)

So where would/do you all stay for one (short) night before your DVC trip? Value to save money? Off-site to save more? POR to stay "close" to OKW (saving cab fare)? Stay AT OKW in a studio (not currently available on points or DVC cash discount - but i could book through CRO if I wanted.)

Looking for what others do and why?

FYI - we'll get to resort at about 8pm. Probably swim that night or hit DTD. Get up early and catch cab to OKW to check-in. There's me, DH, and 2 DS's (6 & 2) So I don't want to do anything that will be too hard to lug around 2 kids AND luggage.) I'd like to send my luggage directly to OKW if that's even possible, and just pack an overnight bag for that first night.

Ideas??

 

[surfer_ed]

Stay at All Stars or Pop, they will move your luggage for you.

 

[chalee94]

if you're at all interested in going to the universal parks, you could stay at one of their hotels to get the "fastpass"-like/front-of-the-line benefit at those parks before moving over to wdw.

otherwise, it's entirely up to what suits you. i would look for a cheap place to crash. (or else indulge in a stay at the GF or monorail resort if i got a code or discount- might be better to schedule a splurge at the END of the stay, though...) i believe disney will transfer your luggage between disney resorts if you reserve a "split-stay."

 

[Disneyhappy]

We always have a car so we stay off site and save a little money since we are only using the room to sleep that night. We usually stay Marriott. I am toying with the idea of trying Priceline. Not so much to save money but to see how it works and what type of hotel I get for the fun of it. (Yes, sometimes I have too much time on my hands when I should be doing more productive things!) I don't think I would bid on anything below 3 stars just to play it safe. If you want to be immersed in everything Disney, stay at a value or moderate.

 

[Starr W.]

We always have a car so we stay off site and save a little money since we are only using the room to sleep that night. We usually stay Marriott. I am toying with the idea of trying Priceline. Not so much to save money but to see how it works and what type of hotel I get for the fun of it. (Yes, sometimes I have too much time on my hands when I should be doing more productive things!) I don't think I would bid on anything below 3 stars just to play it safe. If you want to be immersed in everything Disney, stay at a value or moderate.

I used Priceline for a trip to Washington DC, put in 4 star and paid $100 a night for Hyatt Metro Center. I started at about 80 and worked it up until I got an acceptance.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We like to stay at Pop for single night stays before DVC.

Bobbi

 

[DisFlan]

We're trying Shades of Green for the first time on our first night for this next trip. They now allow Vets with less than 20 years to stay during the slower months - Sept. and Jan. You have to bring a copy of your DD 214 as proof of service - I had to dig my DH's out of the old files. If you qualify, it's a pretty good deal ($119 total). It's a nice resort and close to the MK. Then we'll hop over to BWV the next morning.

If it works out well, we'll likely be doing it again. We aren't big on Pop - nothing wrong with it, it just isn't our first choice. And it'll be nice to be close to the MK for the first night. We usually do MK on our first night, meet family, grab a bite at Peco Bill's and watch the fireworks. That's when we really know we're back in the lap of Disney.

DisFlan

 

[JaxDisneyFans]

We're trying Shades of Green for the first time on our first night for this next trip.

We have done Shades of Green. It's a nice hotel and great location for MK. We did miss a WDW theme, but you can't beat the price.

 

[DisFlan]

We have done Shades of Green. It's a nice hotel and great location for MK. We did miss a WDW theme, but you can't beat the price.

With the Poly monorail right across the street, we figured we could tolerate less theme-ing for one night. And it's a whale of a lot cheaper than a monorail resort. We just need somewhere to stay that night, and SOG will do very nicely.

DisFlan

 

[iluveeyore]

First of all, don't get a cab if staying on-site - they will transfer your luggage for you and you can take a bus to any park or DTD and transfer to the OKW bus to go to check-in.
We always stay at a value (usually Pop) or wherever I can get a discount with our AP. It's nice to stay on-site, because we always just get them to transfer our luggage while we take off for the parks and go check-in at our new resort whenever we're ready. Or you can check-in first by transferring on the buses. If you stay off-site, you have to factor in the cab fare to see if you're really getting a deal. My Dsis and I went to US with the kids a few years back for March Break and took a cab to DTD - cost us $30 one way! I'm sure it's even more now with gas prices. So if you can stay off-site for $80 but can stay at WDW for $110 or less, I would stay at WDW and get your vacation started!
And enjoy OKW - it's our favourite resort, and I'll be in a one bedroom from June 1-6 We're driving this time, so we don't have to rent a car, but we always go and get groceries for the full kitchen for about $100/week - saves so much on dining, plus we really enjoy the mid-day break at the room for lunch together and sitting on the huge patio enjoying the view, or a nice dinner at the dining room table. I never buy anything that takes long to make, so I don't feel like I'm spending my vacation cooking - doesn't take any longer than waiting in the restaurant, and the service is great!
Have a great trip!

 

[sportsmom3279]

We are in the exact same situation. We are from PA also and are going to the Boardwalk Villas from June 14-21. I found it was cheaper to fly in Friday night also. We are staying at the Pop Century friday night and having our luggage transferred to the Boardwalk on Saturday. I think that is the easiest way to go since we have a Grand Gathering of 18 people and no rental car. This way we can also use the Magical Express to the Pop Century. Have a great time, it is coming up quickly.

 

[starbox]

We just stay wherever travelzoo has on special, or bid and priceline a hotel in the Disney area. I'm a 4-stars or better sort of girl.

 

[Marshay]

We always have a car so we stay off site and save a little money since we are only using the room to sleep that night. We usually stay Marriott. I am toying with the idea of trying Priceline. Not so much to save money but to see how it works and what type of hotel I get for the fun of it. (Yes, sometimes I have too much time on my hands when I should be doing more productive things!) I don't think I would bid on anything below 3 stars just to play it safe. If you want to be immersed in everything Disney, stay at a value or moderate.

I've done Priceline in Orlando for the past 3 or 4 years ---either for the night before we check into DVC or when we want to go to Universal/Sea World ... and one time just to save money. We always rent a car, just the way we prefer it.

I've gotten as cheap as $28 and $32 for La Quinta, Best Western and Comfort Inn on Irlo Bronson Highway during Jan - Feb.

I got $80 for DTD Hilton during Easter.

I got $45 for DTD Best Western Lake Buena Vista Resort in Sept.

And this time I got Radisson Worldgate Resort for $45 for May (although I've heard really bad things about this one, even though it is 3*).

You must like a certain sense of adventure to use Priceline (or similar) since you don't know what you are getting. However, I've always felt that it saved me money and have been satisfied. I'm not in the room long -- usually only about 12 hours total -- 8 of which I'm sleeping, so why not save $$.

 

[daisyduck123]

At AKV!

We were booked to stay at POP before checking in for a week at BCV this summer. A night at POP came to $157.00. Last week, we decided to transfer points from another DISer & we got a night at AKV for cheaper than POP.
A value studio at AKV was 11 points & we transferred in points at $11.00 per point..so the night at AKV is only costing us $121.00!!

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

If you would like to hang out and enjoy the resort, and you get there at a reasonable hour so that you can be enjoying the resort fairly early, then I say go for Port Orleans. The boat ride to DTD is fantastic! The boats and the surry bikes are fun, and strolling the resort is peaceful and romantic.

However, if you will get there and fall in bed, then I wouldn't worry about it and go to one of the value resorts ON-Property. You may just want to go with a value anyway because that is the most stimulating for little kids.

Either way, have your luggage transferred the next morning unless you are driving and then just leave it in the trunk of the car!

 

[disneyfan2kids]

... for those that have done this:

Say we choose to stay a Value (which I think has only "limited" Bell Svcs), Can we arrive Fri. night and just ask them to hold our luggage until Sat. morning and then ask them to transfer it Sat. Morning? Or can we ask them to transfer to OKW Fri. night even?

We are planning on just packing overnight bags for that night, so I'd hate to see them go through the trouble of lugging our bags to our value room so they can literally just sit there until morning, so they can pick them up and lug them BACK to the front again.

Thoughts?

(And yes... we're takin ME, not driving. So we'll just hop a bus to OKW and I guess that Bell Svcs will drive our luggage to OKW?)

 

[pilferk]

Stay at All Stars or Pop, they will move your luggage for you.

That's what I was going to suggest.

At least stay on property...any of the hotels will transfer your luggage for you, so you won't need a cab to get between your first hotel, and OKW. Just use Disney transportation.

 

[kapeman]

If you would like to hang out and enjoy the resort, and you get there at a reasonable hour so that you can be enjoying the resort fairly early, then I say go for Port Orleans. The boat ride to DTD is fantastic! The boats and the surry bikes are fun, and strolling the resort is peaceful and romantic.

That is exactly what we are doing for our Dec. trip, staying at POR the Sat night before we check in at OKW.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

Has anyone tried staying at the airport hotel and then taking ME in the morning? Just thinking out loud here... What would you do if you didn't have a car?

 

[snackyx]

We've done this many times and since we always rent a car when at OKW (were there two weeks ago...had car rental of $159/week all taxes included) we use the following routine: for a Sat-Sat stay we fly in Friday night, arrive at the airport, stay at the Crown Plaza Airport Hotel (about $100) and take the free hotel shuttle to the hotel. Get up Saturday morning a WALK DIRECTLY NEXT DOOR TO THE HOTEL to Thrifty Rent-a-Car and pick up the rental. Rental cars are much cheaper if you rent them for one week--no more--extra day charges are outrageous! Pick the car up Sat morning and return it one week later. Crown Plaza Airport is great because they all have the comfortable beds that many hotels have upgraded to (Westin startyed it with the "Heavenly Bed"). The car rental agency being directly next door to the hotel saves you from taking the hotel shuttle back to the airport Saturday morning to pick up a car (assuming it has cars at the airport and you don't have to take another shuttle). This works great when the airfare savings are substancial when coming in Fri night rather than Sat, and it does give you an "extra" day on vacation, or at least you can try to convince yourself of it. Enjoy!