Would you ever stay at a Universal Studios Florida hotel for your whole trip to save money but spend 90% of your trip visiting WDW instead of U.S. FL?

[Darcy03231]

You're asking about a trip 5 or more years away? Why? Are you bored?

Why does it matter how far away the trip is. If you didn't want to add anything constructive to the conversation why not move on?

WDW is a very expensive vacation and some people have to save for years to go. I also now requires tons of research to maximize your value. I think the OP is smart to start loosely planning and investigating different options early on.

My upcoming Hawaii trip has been years in the making. I'm glad the boards I frequented for advice on places to stay, eat, and things to do weren't rude.

OP - I've stayed onsite and offsite at WDW and Universal. If you're not going to Universal it's a pretty long drive to WDW. My family likes to stay in Kissimmee, usually somewhere right off of 192. Lots of great options for dining/shopping. We usually rent a private pool home through VRBO. Last place I rented was an 8 bedroom/5 bath home with a pool, jacuzzi and game room for $247/night. You have to factor in a car rental and parking, but for us it was much less expensive than staying on-property. We also save money on food (and it's better), by eating a big breakfast at the house, snacking in the parks, and either eating dinner off property or making something in the house. One of my go tos is to get a roast chicken at Walmart. We also make sure to get a home with a grill and will cook burgers, hot dogs, chicken, etc.

 

[DCLMP]

Why does it matter how far away the trip is. If you didn't want to add anything constructive to the conversation why not move on?

WDW is a very expensive vacation and some people have to save for years to go. I also now requires tons of research to maximize your value. I think the OP is smart to start loosely planning and investigating different options early on.

My upcoming Hawaii trip has been years in the making. I'm glad the boards I frequented for advice on places to stay, eat, and things to do weren't rude.

OP - I've stayed onsite and offsite at WDW and Universal. If you're not going to Universal it's a pretty long drive to WDW. My family likes to stay in Kissimmee, usually somewhere right off of 192. Lots of great options for dining/shopping. We usually rent a private pool home through VRBO. Last place I rented was an 8 bedroom/5 bath home with a pool, jacuzzi and game room for $247/night. You have to factor in a car rental and parking, but for us it was much less expensive than staying on-property. We also save money on food (and it's better), by eating a big breakfast at the house, snacking in the parks, and either eating dinner off property or making something in the house. One of my go tos is to get a roast chicken at Walmart. We also make sure to get a home with a grill and will cook burgers, hot dogs, chicken, etc.

A lot can happen in 5 years just look at the last five years. I did add something constructive I answered no to his question.

 

[sam_gordon]

With Disney "time is money". I haven't researched it, so I don't know, but I'd find it hard to believe I"m saving enough money by staying at US to justify the 1-2 hours each day in RT transportation (plus parking costs?).

As mentioned, if you don't want to pay Disney prices, there are MANY hotels at MANY price points/levels just off the grounds.

I also believe in looking at VRBO as options, especially if there's multiple people travelling. For the cost of a "nice" hotel room, you can get multiple bedrooms, a kitchen, and possibly a private pool and/or game room.

 

[WAstateDVCDaddy]

There are plenty of very nice good neighbor hotels still onsite at WDW which are very affordable - Holiday Inn, Hilton, etc, in the Disney Springs area - many of which will be priced similar to the basic Universal hotels like Endless Summer (around $100 / night). Although you won’t have as nice of a resort, you’ll have a lot of extra time back in your vacation.

Using up over an hour a day in transportation time (getting car, driving, parking, walking from parking to wherever, then reversing at the end of the day) is something I would not do. Plus, that back and forth transport has some form of financial cost also - which will offset some of the savings.

 

[BLTtinkerbell]

Personally, I wouldn’t do it. I like to stay on property whenever possible. We usually don’t have a car, so staying on property is very convenient.

At WDW, we are DVC members w/annual passes. If we need/want to add a night or two and don’t want to use DVC points, we first look at Swan/Dolphin. We have also stayed at the All Stars and enjoyed it. We have talked about staying at French Quarter because we’ve heard great things about it and it looks nice to us. We often travel with extended family and find Disney transportation is easy for us to use. The entire group doesn’t have to be together every second of the trip. It’s easy to meet at parks or restaurants at set times.

We went to Universal last summer and stayed on property. It was amazing and we all had a great time! The ease of taking boats and walking was fantastic. Much smaller property than WDW. We did need to take a bus to their water park and that was also very easy.

I hope this info helps a bit.

Happy planning!

 

[disneyseniors]

No, I wouldn't. I'd rather be at Universal so no go.