Hellobee Boards

@kpc324: BIG news for 2018 that will sway you into staying off-site. The Disney Springs "friendship hotels" (or whatever the official name is) now allow you to book 60 day advance Fastpass tickets, just like staying onsite. And obviously they are way cheaper, and many have super nice pools. The trick is booking a specific package through the Disney website. I just read about this in a recent Mousesavers newsletter.

I actually haven't stayed at any offsite resorts yet, but we're leaving on a cruise from Orlando and I want to spend a few days at a resort when we come back from the cruise, and naturally a lot of Disney area resorts pop up when I'm looking.

I'm looking for kid-friendly, with a suite. And economical. Like when we travel with kids, I'm not looking to stay at a Waldorf Astoria or 4 Seasons, where a true suite will be exorbitantly expensive. Give us a place with a pool, a free breakfast, and a bedroom with a door. I'd call us.....budget-hunter travelers? Anyway, we are not going to Disney on this trip, so I'm pretty sure we're going to try the Holiday Inn Suites & Waterpark. It IS very close to Disney, but it isn't one of the Disney Springs hotels that gets you the 60 day fastpasses. And it's the former nickelodeon resort, so it has a big waterpark structure thing, plus it's so, so cheap. Like 1 bedroom suite for the parents and a little bunk bed room for the kids and a kitchen./living room is only $109 a night. Even the Value resorts at Disney aren't that cheap and you get a suite with a kitchen rather than a regular hotel room.

If you want to stay in a hotel where you can book the 60 day Faastpasses, I would probably pick the Hilton or Wyndham.

Driving is not a big deal, it may be faster in many cases, but you have to pay nearly $20 a day for parking and you don't get to book Fast Passes 60 days in advance. I would definitely NOT rely on a hotel shuttle that is NOT Disney based on prior experiences.
Stay near the freeway and it should be very easy to get where you want. We stayed offsite the first time, split stay the second time and my next trip this spring, we will stay on-site the whole time.
I'd be interested in Friendship hotel options for future trips.

We’re going to DW in September and staying at the Marriott World Center. The hotel offers shuttle service to DW. My LO will be almost 2.5 when we go and we are planning to have plenty of hotel chill time. Based on what I remember from past stays for work conferences there was a nice pool and plenty of restaurants on site.

@808love: Agree. I’d rather use my own car. It’s a family trip and we are commuting to DW like the rest of the group that doesn’t have a car.

@kpc324: I know you said you are not interested in the value resorts but have you checked out Art of Animation? I believe they have family suites which would be cheaper than the deluxe resorts.

ETA link: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/art-of-animation-resort/rates-rooms/

Looking at it, not sure if it really winds up being any cheaper than renting points though. That being said, depending what time of year, you
May be able to get a package like free dining.

@kpc324: ooh, I forgot to say that if you stay on one of the Disney Springs resorts I mentioned above, you get the included Magic Bands and the Extra Magic hours, along with the 60 day fastpass.

The list of hotels is here: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/theme-park-rangers-blog/os-bz-disney-springs-hotels-extra-magic-hours-20171219-story.html

@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: you use them to store your fast pass selections and, if you buy memory maker, they can scan your bands each time. Certain rides, like 7 dwarves minetrain, you
Can only get the ride video if you have one. Without a band, you would just need to pull out your ticket for each fast pass/photo.

If onsite, the magic bands also serve as your room key and you can charge things in the park back to your room with it.

Speaking of, that’s another benefit to staying on site. Any park purchases can just be sent directly to your room so you don’t have to lug them around.

@kpc324: My kids are 2.5 and 4.5. My 4.5yo can party all night but my 2.5 is very routine based so I wasn’t sure what to expect. She surprised me thought and took awesome stroller naps on the go and stayed up for the fireworks. The fireworks were early though, 8pm so we were always back at the room by 9.

On our pool days or days we were at parks within walking distance we went back to the room for naps.

Disney announced today they are starting to charge for resort guest parking Anywhere from 13-24$ a night. It doesn’t affect us because we never rent a car when we stay on site, but it’s another added cost to factor in if you are planning on having a car on site which is unfortunate and may sway your decision to stay off site.

@Lahela017: @bloved: thanks! I can see how Fast Pass and even Memory Maker could be convenient. DH is a sucker for the attraction photos.

We have stayed at Worldquest and Reunion. We’ll be going again Christmas week and my parents have rented a 4 bedroom house for our whole family at Reunion.

When we paid ourselves Worldquest was great. We had a huge 3 bedroom unit and it was really reasonably priced. They also have a huge pool there. Reunion is nicer, but a lot more expensive.

Last winter we were in Orlando a couple days and did one day at Disney and driving there was no problem. Worldquest is super close and we got there really early for a Garden Grill reservation an hour before rope drop. They didn’t even charge us and we got a super close spot.

Reunion is really nice and we like it a lot, but I’m not sure how ideal it is for going to Disney. Disney isn’t really the focus of our December trip and I’m not the one paying, so Reunion it is .

We stayed at the Sheraton Vistana in a 2br suite with a 3 and 1 year old. We loved it! We didn’t need the extra magic hours because our kids weren’t going to last all day anyway. The extra space was totally worth it and the resort was really nice. We also liked having our own car and not waiting for public transit. I’ve stayed onsite before (pre-kids) and enjoyed it, but would do the Vistana again in a heartbeat.