Discounted Disney World Tickets

[pearlieq]

I personally am not sure the offsite lodging is worth it - the Disney eco. properties are pretty cheap - around $99/night. But if you are saying you can get lodging for $40/night, I guess that's pretty good (and have it be 2 BDR's to boot!!!).

You can often do better than that for the Value properties. It's not uncommon to get down around $77/night so make sure you look for specials.

For the same physical amenities (square footage, number of beds, etc.) offsite will ALWAYS be cheaper. Some truly spectacular values can be found in offsite hotels and rental properties. But it's not onsite and it never will be.

The question then comes down to what's important to the individual vacationer. Luckily there is an abundance of choice!

I would echo Disneysteve's comments that transit times really aren't a factor for offsite accomodations within a few miles of one of the resort gates. Driving from onsite will be quicker, but it's a matter of a couple of minutes--negligible in the decision process. Driving from offsite vs. taking the bus would be comparable. Driving will get you to the park gates faster, but the bus will drop you right at the entrance instead of in parking lot F, serviced by trams. When the buses are running well, it's probably a wash. If the buses are slow, driving wins every time.

[disneysteve]

Driving will get you to the park gates faster, but the bus will drop you right at the entrance instead of in parking lot F, serviced by trams.

Maybe it's because we go off-season, maybe it's because we get an early start, but except for Magic Kingdom where one has no choice, we rarely use the trams. At Epcot, MGM and Animal Kingdom, we virtually always park close enough to walk to the gate in a minute or two, so the buses don't offer any advantage. In fact, I'm not sure I have ever been on a tram at Animal Kingdom.

Also, consider that depending on where onsite you are staying, the walk from your room to the bus stop can be quite long, whereas offsite the distance from our room to our car can literally be less than 10 feet. So we may lose a couple of minutes at the park gate but we gain it one the other end so it balances out.

It really comes down to what matters to you. Some people are onsite devotees. They want to be surrounded by Disney all the time and that's perfectly fine. We just happen to prefer the space, amenities and savings available offsite. I've stayed onsite 8 times at a variety of places but at this stage, offsite is more appealing to us.

[cicy33]

If we flew (which we will! we live in southern illinois), is offsite a total wash for getting to disney? is there any transport? If anyone wouldn't mind, to make a few suggestions. Four kids, two adults. So far I am looking at $7000. with a free food package thrown in. Includes air fare. Do we have a good deal?

1. we are planning on staying on site, as we are flying and have no transportation.
2. we are not planning on cooking as I am tired of being the maid on vacation., so what cost effectiveness with food? Possibly keep small snacks in room, but no meals!
3. want access to as many parks as possible.
4. planning on staying at least 6 nights perhaps more. not sure yet. When we go on vacation, we try to make it worth while.

If I think of more will post more questions. But would love to hear suggestions if there are any.

[disneysteve]

I want to comment on the "free" dining. As with any package deal, be sure to evaluate the value of each item in the package. If getting "free" dining means paying more for the hotel (and I'm not saying that it necessarily does), it might not be as good a deal as you think.

cicy33 - I would NEVER stay offsite without my own vehicle. Most hotels run shuttles, often free, but they have a very limited schedule. If you can't rent a car for some reason, then I would definitely vote for staying onsite.

[Scanner]

DisneySteve,

What's the chances of pulling something off last minute. . .like last week in August?

Oh, does that place at $40/night have a pool? The pool is pretty much a must with the boys.

[boomeyers]

Well, here's my two cents:

The first time we went, we drove from St. Louis. We stopped and stayed at hubbys uncles in Atlanta to break up the trip. We stayed onsight that time and it was FANTASTIC!! We also paid more for a bigger room because we have more than 4 people in our family. Lets put it this way, we spent a TREMENDOUS amount of money but had a GREAT time!!

The second time we went, we flew. (For Cicy33, check on flying out of MidAmerica Airport (around O'Fallon Illinois) on Allegient Airlines. You can get tickets AND a car from Alamo for CHEAP!! Well worth it!) We stayed offsite, which I found to be much more inconvienent, even with shuttles, etc. BUT we did save money this way.

Some advice I can give, is to go online and print out maps of the parks and the rides, then go over each description so you know in advance what rides look good and which ones you probably should'nt waste your time on. Plus it will list times for shows and fireworks to help plan your day.

[disneysteve]

DisneySteve,

What's the chances of pulling something off last minute. . .like last week in August?

Oh, does that place at $40/night have a pool? The pool is pretty much a must with the boys.

Last minute is no problem, especially with Skyauction. I just checked and there is plenty of availability for a 2-bedroom unit that week (8/25 arrival). And yes, we're talking about Florida. Every place has a pool.

I'm at work right now. As soon as I get a break, I'll PM you with details of how to find these deals.

[disneysteve]

Scanner, I sent you a PM.

[disneysaver]

Unless they changed it, it's too late to book free dining. The deadline was in June. We stay onsite because we like parking the car when we get there and not driving the rest of our stay. We stay in value resorts so even with free dining it was less than $90.00 per night. For 2 of us - 3 nights, 1 day tickets, free dining it was just over $400.00.

[cicy33]

We aren't going until either next year or the year after. So I have a little time. But I want to get the best deal too! Believe me any ideas, suggestions, recommendations, bring em on! By the way, the rate quoted was around $5,000, I figured flying would be about $2,000 so that is where I get the $7000. can also email me at cicy35@yahoo.com with any additional comments.

[JimInOK]

Hi all. I've been lurking here for a few weeks after reading about these boards over on the Disboards.

The tradeoff to getting the free dining package through Disney is that you have to pay rack rates (full price) for the room. If you're staying at a value or possibly at a moderate resort this probably isn't that big of a deal. But if you're staying at a deluxe resort, the full price cost of the room will wipe out a lot of the savings you could have had by visiting during a time when discounts on the room are offered.

DisneySteve, could you post some guidelines of things to look for on those rental websites, or red flags, etc? Or PM me? Also, what locations to look for that are close to the parks. I'm always too nervous to book places I don't know much about, and have stayed onsite at WDW partially because I know what I'm going to get there. There's other factors too: we've been twice as a family and wanted to try the Polynesian, Wilderness Lodge, and Animal Kingdom Lodge. Obviously spent a ton on the rooms, but we saved diligently to do so and viewed them as once in a lifetime splurges.

Thanks!
Jim

[disneysteve]

Hi Jim. First, here is a map showing the various developments near Disney.
Location Map for Disney Area Villas
Keep in mind that these maps quicly become outdated as they are constantly building stuff down there. I'm not sure how old this one is so there may be a development or two that aren't on there.

As for the rental sites, I think you can't go wrong with vrbo.com. When you get to the central Florida page, you can sort rentals by development and then match them up with the map to see where they are. Personally, I'd recommend sticking to the ones near mile markers 4 and 5 on 192. All the developments along route 27 are too far, IMO. In fact, in all the years I've been going to Disney, I don't think I've ever actually been on that road as we never go down that far.

On vrbo, you are renting from a private owner, or through a management company on behalf of the owner. On Skyauction, you are renting an RCI timeshare unit from the resort itself.

A very nice and very popular complex is Windsor Palms. They have their own website at windsor palms resort Florida disney world vacation Orlando. We've stayed there a couple of times and I'd highly recommend it.

[LuckyRobin]

MousePlanet has menus for most of the in park restaurants that include the prices. This really helped me to plan what meals we wanted to eat on site and which ones off. Course that was for Disneyland, but they have the menus for Disneyworld. Allears is another good site.

It depends what you are going to Disneyworld for, but if you are just going for rides, I'd recommend Disneyland and California Adventure over Disneyworld, because its cheaper to stay outside the park and you are just across the street, you just walk over, or around the corner and they'll shuttle you for free.

But if you are going for all the extra lands, than I suppose it's worth it to do Disneyworld. Keep in mind that if you are going during a peak time, it will take you longer to get through each land. To really do the Magic Kingdom right and do everything during crowd season it'll take 3 days, more if you want to do anything more than once. That doesn't give much time to really get everything out of the other areas that you might hope for.

[DebbieL]

I'm a huge Disneyland (the Original) fan myself. I'm planning my next trip for early December. I will be able to get a hotel for us that has fridge/microwave and free breakfast for about $60 (plus tax) per night. That's within a few minutes walk to both parks. I also always go for a day to Universal Studios Hollywood. There is Knotts Berry Farm theme park a few miles away too. I also enjoy taking the bus tour down to San Diego for the Zoo one day and Seaworld another day.

I’m excited for our trip! It will be my new husband’s first time there.

[Tree0164]

We did the full Disney spend a lot of money week in June. We spent about $6500 for our family of 5. I had this budgeted for us and it was all paid in cash. No credit card debt for this.

We stayed at the all star music suites- it was our biggest expense. There are no discounts on the suites because there are only 192 of them in the value category. Disey value room only holds 4.

We did the plane- I paid less than $200 a person. I couldn't deal with driving with 3 boys and more than 20 hours from Boston.

We did the dinning plan-we paid $120 for it daily. Well worth it.. don't have to worry about paying out of pocket for each meal.

I shipped bottle water down from staples.

I think AAA has some discounted tickets not totally sure of that but we did get a discount on them because we booked with them.

We are fairly frugal family and this was our biggest family trip. We have so many nice memories of it!!