Windsor Hills or Value Resort Onsite?????

[absmom2]

Please help us decide!! We were planning to stay at CBR. Then we decided instead of two rooms at CBR, we would rent points and stay in a 2 bdrm at BC. Now due to a cut in DH hours, we are being forced to scale our trip way back which leads me to the title of this post. Our airfare is nonrefundable and paid in full and the kids know we were planning this trip, so not going is not an option. The one area we can save on is the lodging. We have only been to WDW once in the last 15 years and we stayed at POR. This time we are taking the in-laws with us so there will be 7 of us (4A/3C (8,5,5).

For those of you who have stayed value or offsite, please give me your opinions. Transportation will not be an issue as we will have a car regardless of where we stay. My kids will spend some time at the pool so if you have any insight into that at both, I'd appreciate it as well.

Which would you choose & why?? You all helped us tremendously when we were trying to decide which moderate to try so I know you'll do the same now. Thanks in advance~

 

[SLP MOM]

We visited WDW last May. We stayed at Windsor Hills and we adored it. The 3 BR 2 Bath condo was perfect for the 6 of us. We used the back roads to get to WDW via Sherberth Road. Our commute time from our front door to the parks were as follows; AK-10 min, MK-25 min, EP-15 min. We would never do Disney any other way after this wonderful experience. We felt so at home in our condo and having the kitchen saved lots of money.
We have also stayed at CBR and I wouldn't stay there again, given the choice of an off property condo. CBR was nice, but for a family the condo was a stellar option. Best of luck to you!

Nancy

 

[absmom2]

Thank you for that info. I am a little concerned that we will feel a little cramped staying onsite and love the option of being able to fix our own meals if the kids are worn out at the end of a day.

Can you tell me anything about the pool at Windsor Hills? My girls who are 5 won't be that concerned but for my 8 yr DS, a pool is a priority for him.

Thanks Again!

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

If you have a car then stay off site and you will save big $$$ on food.

 

[yasuern]

Windsor Hills - if you need to sta off site this is the palce to stay very close to all that is WDW - also many restuarants, shops etc on rt192 a minute from WH


Here is a site for rentals (only sat-sat though)
if you scroll down you will see a link to the restaurant and pool info for WH

http://www.vacationcentralflorida.com/

Hope it helps


Sue

 

[boakl]

I have stayed in both WH and at the Values, and without hesitation, I recommend you stay at WH instead of a value.

We just got back from WH on Monday, and we loved it! Plenty of room to move around, not having to stare at the same four walls all the time, a private pool just outside the back door, a hot tub to lounge in after long days... the list of positives goes on and on. We went with friends who had never stayed off site before and now they are converts.

We never did use the WH community pool, as we were more than happy to just use the one at the house, so no advice there

It took us about 5 minutes going down 192 to get to the Disney property, and from there, no more than 5 minutes to the parking lots of the different parks. The MK did require more work, as we had to ride the monorail/ferryboat, but we considered it part of the experience. There were plenty of grocery stores and other shopping within 2-3 minutes of the house.

Book the Windsor Hills place --- your vacation will be much more relaxing!

 

[PrincessBelle39]

I haven't stayed in a value but would highly recommend WH. You wont just save money on the lodging but on food and laundry aswell. Just remember you will have to pay parking at WDW. But its so close and the resort is beautiful. Its not a disney themed pool but its a really nice pool. We were hard pressed getting our girls 3 and 5 and their cousins 7,8 and 11 out of it. The 11 year old loved the waterslide. Height restrictions prevented my girls going on it. We have a week onsite this time but are going back following our cruise in September. I'm so excited. I love the idea of staying their again.

 

[matosfam]

Hi there!
I don't mean to hijack the thread or anything, but we are considering WH over a Value Resort as well and saw the PP mention a height restriction for the slide at WH... Can anyone confirm the required height?
Thanks!

 

[PrincessBelle39]

I can't remember what the restriction was but my dd5 was tall enough to ride Tower of Terror which has a 40" restrictrion but she wasn't tall enough for the waterslide. So all I know is that it was over that. To be honest, she didn't miss it. She loved the pool and the water fountains that come out of the ground.

 

[tami82]

We were originally booked to stay at Contemporary Resort onsite but after seeing a great princess themed condo we had decided to stay at Windsor Hills. Much much cheaper, we are all our own bedrooms, girls have a princess room & bathroom, prviate splash pool which will definitely come in handy best of all it is right there off the living room so kids can swim whenever they like. The thought of the 5 of us in one room was not getting me too excited about our trip in August. When i had come across the website for our condo i knew i just had to stay there. Best of all even though we arent staying onsite at Disney, we will still have the Disney theming which will keep us in the spirit. I would say go with WH.

 

[tammy1210]

I can't offer advice, but I will tell you that we're in the same boat - we stayed at CBR two years ago, and loved it, but we've decided that we can stay longer if we stayed off site - so after showing the kids the pictures of WH, and talking with others on here, we booked it - I was apprehensive at first, because I don't won't to lose the "magic" of it all, but we're really excited now and I think it's going to be great!

 

[absmom2]

matsofmom, if I am not mistaken, I believe the height restriction is 48". I know when researching this resort, my son would be just tall enough but my other two would not....no big deal for us, they don't like the slide anyway.

I agree with you, tammy1210, that I don't want to lose the magic feel of it either. I can tell you last time we stayed onsite it was at POR and we had the absolute farthest room from anything with a parking lot view....no magical feeling there and we were on-site! Luckily, we had a car and got to park close to the room and just drove to the parks each day.

I also agree that 7 of us between two rooms will be a little cramped which is how I came to consider WH. Sounds unanimous at this point....keep the opinions coming!! I really appreciate it everyone!

 

[matosfam]

Thanks for the height info!

Great thread! I am starting to get really excited about the thought of Windsor Hills!

 

[sweetpeakaris]

Windsor Hills is the way to go!!

After staying onsite twice, I will never pay extra for 2 rooms due to our family size. Staying at WH you have the option of at least having Breakfast at home and other meals, will save you a lot of cash. Disney hotels rooms are just too small for me. I love having a full kitchen and the extra space.

 

[fottafamily05]

Please help us decide!! We were planning to stay at CBR. Then we decided instead of two rooms at CBR, we would rent points and stay in a 2 bdrm at BC. Now due to a cut in DH hours, we are being forced to scale our trip way back which leads me to the title of this post. Our airfare is nonrefundable and paid in full and the kids know we were planning this trip, so not going is not an option. The one area we can save on is the lodging. We have only been to WDW once in the last 15 years and we stayed at POR. This time we are taking the in-laws with us so there will be 7 of us (4A/3C (8,5,5).

For those of you who have stayed value or offsite, please give me your opinions. Transportation will not be an issue as we will have a car regardless of where we stay. My kids will spend some time at the pool so if you have any insight into that at both, I'd appreciate it as well.

Which would you choose & why?? You all helped us tremendously when we were trying to decide which moderate to try so I know you'll do the same now. Thanks in advance~

I used to own a home in WH so if you have any questions at all please PM me, I would be happy to help you out.

 

[FayeW]

We just returned from our first stay at Windsor Hills in December. We always stay offsite so I can't compare it to the Values, but I can tell you we absolutely loved our condo! We have previously stayed in the Lake Buena Vista area, but the drive to Windsor Hills was very quick and easy. We would actually go back to Windsor Hills just to enjoy the resort (and not do any parks!)

We always have breakfast at the condo, and this trip I think we had 3-4 lunches and 4 dinners as well (we were there for 9 nights). We didn't cook anything fancy, just some fried chicken/rice from the Publix deli, frozen Stauffer's family size pasta w/ garlic bread, and ordered in pizza. For lunches I bought some cold cuts and made subs on hamburger buns. I also made Pillsbury cookies (took some cookies and pringles in the backpack with water and juice boxes for snacks in the parks).

With your budget now reduced you can bring a few things from home (screw top plastic container with laundry detergent, dishwasher tabs, etc). Some of those things are really expensive at the sundry shop or if you have to buy a whole container for just a few uses.

Hope you enjoy your trip and have a great time at Windsor Hills

 

[roxannex]

We've never stayed at the value resorts, but we stayed at Windsor Hills during our last trip and really liked it.

I do like the convenience of no driving on site, but aside from that, staying off site was much better with a kid. Plus, we really don't like a lot of the food at Disney (aide from all the yummy junk food) and prefer to eat at off site restaurants...also much cheaper.

I think we've decided to stay at Ginn Reunion for our upcoming trip because we really want a great pool area. The Windsor Hills communal pool was nice, but nothing special and although I liked the idea of the splash pool we had at WH, we didn't really use it much.

 

[absmom2]

Thank you all for your thoughts. I believe this is the route we will go this year. Now the problem is trying to figure out just what unit to rent. If anyone has opinions on that, please send them our way.

Thank you all!

 

[mugsmax]

I haven't stayed there, but know people who have and they loved it!

 

[djm99]

IMO it still depends strongly on the difference of cost. If the cost is pretty much the same - yeah hands down I'd stay on site. Staying off site one has to take a few extras into consideration. For one you MUST rent a car (2 in your case) or rent a minivan. You wouldn't HAVE to do this onsite. You have to consider gas, groceries, Disney parking cost, travel time, time cooking, etc. This makes for some complicated departure mornings. I think the words cooking and vacation should not be in the same sentence personally, but grandparents are bound to cook at least mornings. I 'hate' seeing a kitchen while on vacation. IMO, staying onsite gives families more 'room' to do as they wish more. In my off-site experiences I spend a lot of time appeasing others because of the transportation situation. When someone is tired they could simply just return to their room - a luxury that is much more complicated when you are sharing/using a rental car. Although I haven't stayed in Windsor Hills, I stayed in a beautiful 6-bedroom house across the way in Windsor Palms - I still much rather stay onsite - YES in a value.