Would you ever stay offsite for the first night?

[MEK]

My best WDW vacation was when I designated a travel day to arrive and a travel day (flying) to go home. I have stayed at the La Quinta close to the airport several times because of a late arrival or early departure. It is very cheap ($40-50 /night) and extremely close to the airport (like 2 miles). It also has continental breakfast and a shuttle.

My best WDW vacation had me arrive on a Saturday evening and leave very early on a Monday (9 days later). I spent my arrival and depature nights at offsite hotels. I spent the other 7 nights at disney and enjoyed 8 completely full park days. I checked in at 8am on a Sunday and got into my room right away. It was very easy and saved $ which helped pay for my rental car. I would be a lot less likely to do this if I did not have a rental car.

For my upcoming August trip I will be arriving to Orlando early in the morning and leaving late in the evening. In this situation I will stay all Disney every night and do not feel I would benefit from an off site hotel.

_________________________________

To Duadi, an angel in heaven!

 

[TammiMcMan]

A few years ago, we discovered the convenience of flying in the night before our vacation begins. Before that, we were always up at 4am for the earliest flight out of Boston. It got us to our Disney resort usually by 11am, but by 2pm we'd all be ready for a nap. Plus my DH and DD usually end up with ear aches after a flight and would lose half the day because of the pain they experienced. Now we simply leave the night before. We choose a late flight and no one has to miss a day of school or work. The most convenient hotel to stay at is the Hyatt Orlando, right inside the airport. It is pricey though ($189 rack rate) and you really have to be diligent if you're going to use Priceline, as it's not always one of the available hotels. If we're all travelling and need extra space for our family of 5, we've stayed at the Hawthorne Suites for $99 a night. They have a complimentary airport shuttle, they're located 10 minutes from the airport and have a complimentary hot buffet breakfast available. We get our air travel over with and if we do run into any delay's it doesn't affect our Disney time. Everyone gets a goods night sleep, we have a hot breakfast in the morning and are checking into the resort by 9am, refreshed and ready to go.

 

[tubachick]

DH and I did this in FEB (by accident) we drove from chicago, and we stopped in TN the first night, and the second night, we were in Orlando, stayed at the Hampton across from DTD and in the AM checked into WL.... it was the one of the more relaxed entries to DISNEY we had ever had, we were not rushed or tired. ---we would do it again.

 

[drakethib]

I read once of a family who decided it was most economical to stay outside at a low rate for the first evening and move over early the next AM to their resort. It makes a lot of sense, but in all honesty, I think it might be too much work at the start of the vacation to check in/out of a motel not to mention not starting the trip off with that Disney feel.

Would you ever do this? If you have, would you do it again?

Only in an emergency.

Too much trouble packing and repacking IMHO.

 

[Alicnwondrln]

yes i would at the hyatt
or over at DTD in the hilton or dtgs

 

[TammiMcMan]

We never actually unpacked anything. Because we'd arrive late, we'd just have a pair of pajamas and our first days clothes in our daybags or the kids backpacks. I'm not that familiar with the new packages, but would it be a cost saver too? I know most packages begin the day you arrive and if you aren't even going to be there in time to enjoy a park or get a meal in, wouldn't it be better if your package started the next day?

 

[leighe]

We've done this before. In our case we were driving down (about 14 hours) and knew we would be getting to Orlando so late - about 11 or midnight. I bid on Priceline and got a 3 1/2 star hotel (I'm pretty sure it was a Hyatt that has since closed or been remodeled) for about $30. It was really nice - we had a king bed looking out over one of the pools. The next morning we got up and checked into CBR - very little hassle. Our room wasn't ready yet so we stored our luggage and went to one of the parks. It really wasn't any more trouble than when we stayed at ASSp for the first night and moved to AKL.

 

[dgaston]

We have used Priceline several times, and once even Pop before WL when there was a great code. We have stayed at LaQuinta near the airport 2x, Amerisuites near the airport (great breakfast buffet), Gaylord Palms (bid on a resort because we were driving that trip--wow, want to stay there again) and Pop. We always have the stuff we need in carryons, learned that a long time ago from airport delays, etc, and don't find the moving too difficult. Our flights from New England tend to have us arriving at either 7:30 or 10:00 pm.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

Once upon a time, we used Length of Stay Passes. Thus, if we checked in late, we still had to pay for tickets for a day that wouldn't/couldn't be used. With AP rates, we really don't worry about late evening check-in's now. It's just nice to get settled-in and wake up at WDW. I don't like the stress of packing and re-packing.

This past May, we spent one night off-site. This was not by choice. Everything was booked over the Memorial Weekend. While our motel was very clean and nice, it just wasn't Disney.

 

[robinb]

We usually stay at a DVC or Deluxe resort. We used to stay off-site the first night (using Priceline) but we started staying at the All Stars instead. It's usually only about $20 more to be onsite for the night and let the luggage fairies take care of our bags. Now that AP rates may be changing, I won't pay rack rate for a Value resort, so I'll be thinking more about Priceline.

 

[the kabuki]

This sounds like a great idea! Thanks again DISer's!
We've usually flown in around 10 am, which coming from MI, means a wake up of 3 am. That first day is always tiring. I'll have to check into doing this for our Jan trip

 

[Phrank40]

Our family has done this many times. Call me frugal, but I can't stand to check in to a Disney resort like WL or a moderate in the more expensive season at 8 or 9pm and pay the money to basically sleep in the bed then get up early the next morning to hit a Park. I usually just try to think of the money I saved as paying for a nice meal sometime during our vacation.
However, I do understand that a lot of people just like to get to a hotel, unpack and not worry about it. I guess to I just like hunting for a nice hotel at a low rate for the first night, part of my WDW tradition.

Phrank

 

[Ishy]

I won a stay at the celebration hotel along with two airfares to orlando, the airline would only book me on certain days and times and same with the hotel. So we are flying in on a tuesday but they could not give me a room that night -unless I paid 199$ for that tuesday. uhmm..... Beach Club villa rental for that night - 14 points... stormalong bay, beaches and creams, cape may cafe.... STORMALONG BAY for the first day - watch epcot fireworks at night... I will enjoy Disney day one, and move day 2 to celebration after I spend most of my day at Disney.

 

[Race4fun]

We drove straight down, 17 hours,to Orlando. We checked into Orlando World Center Marriott on Friday night. We had booked ourselved to stay there until Monday. Then we headed over to Disney. Next time I go I wouldn't make it that many days, but it was a nice down time, I would hate to spend the extra money to show up there at 8:30 at night just to sleep. And that hotel has awesome pools that the kids love. They want to stay there for 2 days and then head to disney and I have to agree! It was great. We arrived at the hotel rested and ready to go. Just pack a seperate bag just for that hotel and your ready to go! We didn't do that an brought everything in, they thought we were staying for the week....lol...