Offsite hotel question About This Page:

[dopeyfanatic]

We are a family of five and my mom will be going with us making it 6. WDW is not friendly to large families so I'm looking at staying offsite. Has anyone stayed at Comfort Suites Maingate East? On Expedia I got a price of $1850 for hotel and airfare. Pretty good since airfare alone was over $1600. When you add our tickets it comes out to $2668. All I need to add on to that is food and souv. money. I figure $1000 will probably be enough. What do you guys think? I know it's not on site, but it's A LOT cheaper than on site. I don't think I'll be able to manage on site without telling my mom she can't come, and I'd feel horrible.

[my2girls]

I have stayed both onsite and offsite, and I enjoyed onsite so much more. The benefits from staying onsite (to me) are worth the additional money that you pay. We usually do not rent a car, so we totally rely on Disney transportation.
Have you tried weighing your options of getting (2) rooms on site, possibly connecting???

[HiddenMickey]

Kristine brings up a good point. It doesn't look like you took transportation to/from the parks into consideration. You'll probably want a rental car and that (and parking fees) will add to your costs. If the hotel has a shuttle, it's schedule may not suit your needs (check on that).

Also if you can swing two rooms at a value, you get two bathrooms, which I doubt the suite hotel will offer.

I don't have anything against off-site hotels, but have only stayed offsite one night so far. We find staying on property to be more advantageous with the transportation already taken care of. We may be staying off-site on our next trip since we have a free week to use with Marriott, but we'll drive and have our own car.

I can't help you with what that particular hotel will be like. Good luck with your decision.

[SHEANA1226]

I agree with Kristine, have you looked in to Pop or the All Stars? I have never rented a car on any of our trips and we haven't needed one. I have stayed at Disney and Non-Disney hotels and you can't beat staying at a Disney Resort.

[dopeyfanatic]

Actually 2 rooms at a value is more expensive. We can actually all 6 fit in a room at POR, but that's still enough more that I don't know if we can swing it. It's not an issue if my mom doesn't come, I'm just trying to work this to afford it with her coming. I'm to the point where, as hard as it may be, I may have to tell her she can't come with us because we just can't abosrb the extra cost in hotel if she came, and she couldn't help with that. I feel really bad, but at the same time I don't think my family should have to miss out on the trip just to spare her feelings.... It comes out to be about $400 more for us to stay at a value instead of the offsite hotel I was looking at, but I'd be willing to come up with that money to not worry about transportation and be limited to a hotel shuttle....

[LisaJ]

Why don't you run your dates and information by a Travel Agent. They might be able to figure out something that you have not come up with. When are you going? What are the ages, etc.

If you book by July 2nd, and are going between 8/21/05 and 10/4/05, you will get FREE MEALS. That's a lot of money for 6 people!

There are several agencies mentioned on these boards - Small World, Grand Getaways Travel, Magical Journeys, etc. I'm sure if you need one, they can certainly be recommended by some of us.

[Pris]

[ QUOTE ]
Why don't you run your dates and information by a Travel Agent. They might be able to figure out something that you have not come up with. When are you going? What are the ages, etc.

If you book by July 2nd, and are going between 8/21/05 and 10/4/05, you will get FREE MEALS. That's a lot of money for 6 people!

There are several agencies mentioned on these boards - Small World, Grand Getaways Travel, Magical Journeys, etc. I'm sure if you need one, they can certainly be recommended by some of us.

[/ QUOTE ]

They are great at finding the deals that we didn't even know were out there!

[dopeyfanatic]

Well I'm actually not going until December next year! I'm just obsessed with making this vacation happen since the one in March had to be cancelled. I did, however, find out my mom won't be going. So that means we can stay basically any where. So should I save money and stay value? Go moderate because the values don't appeal to me? Or should I pass on the dining plan and rent DVC points (which is actually cheaper than a moderate)?

[Pris]

Unless your 5th person is in a crib, the only moderate that can handle you is POR with their trundle bed. I think most of the deluxes can sleep 5, but I am not totally sure of that. The values cannot sleep 5.

[dopeyfanatic]

My daughter will be under 3, and can be put in a crib. Yes, even the values will hold 5 as long as the third is in a crib. Most deluxes don't even hold 5 unless the 5th is in a crib.

[ella]

I agree that there is great benefits from staying on site. But if you are looking for a bargin off site, try www.rentalo.com. They rent houses out very resonably and they are nice. We have stayed at two of them on other trips and were very happy. Just be sure to specify that you want to be as close as possible to the Disney parks. We stayed at a 4 Bedroom 2 1/2 bath with pool and garage for $95/night and it was 10 minutes from Disney. It had two king beds, a full, and two twin beds. Also you have a kitchen so you can get a cheap breakfast and occassional meal, and a private pool. It was well worth the money.