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I have researched over and over trying to find a place to stay. My husband, two children, and I will be coming in late June to DW. I have found a couple of hotels off of the mousesavers.com website and the reviews are great. For about $100 a night. We are staying 6 nights. We want a nice, comfortable place to stay, breakfast included would help but we cannot pay $150-$200 a night. I am mainly worried about transportation to the parks. My husband and I went to DW about 14 yrs ago and stayed at the all star sports resort, was new and was basic. And the transpo was a plus. The other hotels I have found offer transportation to the hotel but I think it is limited. I don't want to rent a car. Is it really that much better to stay in a disney hotel at a higher cost and not-as-nice, just to be on disney property. Or are there other good hotels with good, reliable transportation to and from the parks off of the property? I thought the sport resort several years ago was pretty far away from everything. Especially since we aren't renting a car. Advice please! I don't want to be stuck at the parks with a 10 and 6 yr old and can't get back to the hotel either!
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IMHO staying on Disney property is worth it. Consider the cost of renting a car and staying off property. It just might equal a weeks stay on property with out a rental car. Also you may have some savings if you are a AAA member, BJ's, or Disney Visa card to stay on property.
Staying on property gives you the buses, no car lines, tolls, or looking for a parking spot. Also, Disney may offer really great packages.
I know you said you can't afford the $150, but just as an example: As a BJ's member, they are currently offering for $113 Pop Century stay for 1 week. All Star Sports is $109.
You can always get a quote from one of the many Disney TA's.
Good luck!
ETA: you can also bring with you breakfast foods like muffins and cereal with you and keep them in the rooms.
__________________
Karyn K.A.
Last edited by acidreignn; 01-18-2012 at 11:18 PM..
Reason: added more info
I'd agree with what's already been said. If you can afford to stay at a Disney resort, it is well worth it. We love the ability to just head out of the parks for a couple of hours in the afternoon and easily take a break at our resort.
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I would not stay offsite without a car. I would not want to have to deal with the very limited schedule of shuttles from any of the hotels. The pick up spots at the parks aren't ideal and they are very strict in the scheduling. Sometimes the last one leaves before the park closes.
I have stayed offsite and am doing so again....but I've had my own car each time. I prefer to stay onsite and use the bus system.
We used to stay off property. In the past we have rented vacation homes and tried other hotels. Just last march we used we used my friends points and stayed at a wyndam creek resort. It was nice. We didnt rent a car we used their transportation. But at the end of the day it wasnt a disney hotel, there wasnt a feel of being in disney. The transportation was fine altho some of pick up locations were right out in middle of parking lot. Would i stay there again sure if i couldnt afford a disney resort. When we stayed off property we only went to disney every 4years, it wasnt until we stayed on property a few years ago that the disney bug hit me full on. Now we try to go every year. I prefer to stay on property. I want mickey waffles for breakfast. I want hidden mickeys in my room. I want to be surrounded by disney magic 24 hours a day. (But thats just me)
Hi, and welcome to the boards like everyone has said staying on property has so many advantages and since you are family of four you can stay at any of the value resorts. You have the magical express which will pick you up at the airport for free and you won't have to worry about your luggage. Also if you stay on property you can take advantage of extra magic hours. Good luck with your decision. Jen
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I have to agree with everyone. I'd stay on property as well. As a family of four, you could stay at Pop Century and take advantage of the Magic Express and bus service. The hotel has lots of fun things for the kids and a nice pool. Often, there are discounts available for rooms. At the bottom of the disney website there is a link for current deals. And you can always bring your own breakfast items with you to cut down on costs, or have a service like Garden Grocer make a delivery to your hotel of grocery items.
There are usually good deals to be had when staying on property in June. You could try and contact a AAA agent for a quote if you are members. Also, there is usually free dinning in June if you stay on property. If you are looking to say money, sometimes staying at a value resort and getting free dinning saves a lot. Just keep checking around and contact Disney to see what rates they can give you. Sometimes just visiting the website and playing around with dates and different resorts will result in a discount pin code being sent to you. Good luck and remember, Disney is fun no matter where you stay!
Is it really that much better to stay in a disney hotel at a higher cost and not-as-nice, just to be on disney property.
I have stayed both on and off Disney and I think that yes staying on Disney may be higher, but the rooms are nice rooms. If I have a choice I would always pick staying at Disney then off. Now if staying off Disney was the only way I could go then yes I would do it. However you have to look at a few things when making the choice to stay off site (and you said you were not renting a car if you stayed off site). First with out a car you would have to pay for a taxie to get to the motel you were staying at...2 years ago for 1 person and 3 luggage it was 60.00 one way to a motel that was 4 miles from Disney, so with 4 people and 4 bags I would say that would be about 100.00 each way. Second, while you would be at a park most of the day you would eat there so you would have to figure (I always over guess on food cost) say 60.00 for counter service each day for lunch. And 60.00 for counter service for dinner each day...unless you do a table dinner and then I would say figure in about 200.00-300.00 a day for that. And the room well that is 600.00 plus tax and most motels have a resort fee per day...so the hotel would be about 1,000.00 (give or take a little) for the week. The bus's to the parks run on schedules, you may be sitting there ready to go on the first bus of the day and the bus gets to your motel and it may fit your family on there and then again it may not, so you could sit around until 12 to get a bus to the park--thats 3 hours you have been sitting for a bus. And then you have to figure in park tickets, that is about 100.00 a day for anyone over 9 so if your kids were over 9 that is 400.00 a day. After a day of fighting the bus's off site and not being able to enjoy the parks like you want you will end up renting a car so that could be about 200.00+ and the cost of gas.
So in the end you are looking at something like this (tips are not included in the following):
Off site cab to/from motel: 200.00 motel: 1,000.00 park tickets for 4 days: 1,600.00 counter service lunch 4 days: 240.00 counter service dinner 4 days: 240.00 table service dinner 4 days: 800.00 car rental: 200.00 gas: 50.00 eatting day you get there/leave: 300.00 TOTAL: with counter service for dinner: 3,830.00 TOTAL: with sit down dinner: 4,390.00
To stay on disney: (This is for eveeryone being over 9) Ride to/from resort: included Room: included 4 day tickets: included quick service DDP: included Reg DDP: included bus to/from park: included TOTAL: with QSDP 2952.00 TOTAL: with Reg DP 3397.00
SO IMHO it is just as cheap if not cheaper to stay on Disney then off with the DDP. I have never been in June, but as someone else has said Keep an eye out for free dinning or a discount on the room/package.
In the end you and DH are the ones that know what you can afford and have to go from there. What ever you do enjoy your trip.
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like everyone has said staying on property has so many advantages and since you are family of four you can stay at any of the value resorts. You have the magical express which will pick you up at the airport for free and you won't have to worry about your luggage. Also if you stay on property you can take advantage of extra magic hours. Good luck with your decision. Jen
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