Florida

[hemel07]

Planning a holiday to Disney next year. Trying to weigh up pros and cons for either a Disney hotel (meals included, free shuttles etc), or a villa or condo type accommodation. Neither of us particularly want to drive so somewhere with some kind of bus/shuttle to the parks would be ideal. All advice much appreciated.

Are you just planning on doing mainly/all Disney? Then stay on site 100%.
Travelling in and out is just wasting time and means you can go back to accommodation in the middle of the day.

Yes, more than likely just doing Disney. Quite like the idea of a bit of respite from Disney mayhem though, and a washing machine would be great. Perhaps we just need to man up and hire a car?

We go to Disney for the second time this November.

1st time - villa with car. I really didn't like it - the villas are miles away and sometimes it took an hour to get to the parks. Once you're home in the evening, that's it - there's no bars or restaurants you can just walk to.

This time we're staying on Disney, with the meal plan and don't have a car. We booked to stay at Saratoga Springs in a studio (we wanted a balcony and separate sitting area) but have since been upgraded to a 1 bed villa at Old Key West with full kitchen and laundry facilities. All resorts have a launderette you can use. PIL are staying in a villa again and have a car if we need but otherwise, you can just use Uber to go off site.

I recently do the same, but went to Universal (dd bit old for Disney, and we are all Potterheads, so stuck with Universal). We went with a resort hotel, so had the benefits of shuttle boats, early opening and a few express passes. Overall, I think it was the right choice as we had never done a holiday like this before.
The only downside was food. We were reliant on hotel and resort restaurants, and they really weren’t that good ( by this I mean overpriced, little healthy options and you can’t book tables). We found a Wholefoods round the corner and drove there most evenings! We were craving greens!!! We hired a car anyway, so used that to explore the area in the evening and had a couple of “non Universal” days out. I can heartily recommend alligator spotting!! If we do this again, I think we will go Villa and self catering.

*did, not do

Villa or condo all the way for us. More space and washing facilities is worth the extra driving imo. Look at condo resorts in Kissimmee along the 192.

We are weighing up the same but as our kids will be younger at 9 and 6 and just sticking to Disney we are veering towards on sight with a Disney meal plan. We're looking at virgin and they offer a car as standard, I like the idea of having that option of freedom if we want to disappear for a day and not have to wait around for hotel transfers.

We've done both and tbh there are pros and cons for each.

Staying in a Disney hotel is more expensive and the food a bit samey if you you do the counter service option. But we found it good value for money when you add up the cost of a villa plus buying food. The on site transport is excellent and means that you can easily go back to the hotel for a break during the day. You also save on the $20 a day parking fees, though I've read that some on site hotels are going to charge for parking now. When we go again we are definitely going to consider not getting a car if we stay at Disney. If you don't plan on driving much it's possibly cheaper to get a cab than hire a car.

Off site villa is nice because you have much more room and usually own pool etc and facilities to self cater which might be cheaper. Though when we last went we were shocked at how expensive food was. The exchange rate obviously didn't help.

I think I would consider how many of you are going and ages. We went with 2 adults and 2 older teenagers. It was cramped in the Disney hotel. We had 1 room with 2 double beds but getting 2 rooms made it just too expensive. In the villa everyone had their own room which was much more comfortable but we did miss the vibe of staying at Disney.

I wouldn't say anyone option is better. It depends on what you want to do while you are there.

If you stay in a villa look at Formosa Gardens area- Emerald Island, Windsor hills etc. 10 minutes to Disney via Sherbeth Road/ Animal Kingdom cut through. It shouldn’t take an hour unless you stay far out- Davenport etc.
Never stayed onsite although I would like to sometime. I have heard Disney transport can be slow depending on time of day and route.

Personally would get a villa - Disney is a bit full on and you will need a break from it. Personally I think Universal parks are better. Try looking at accommodation on universal drive as some of them are like apartments and have a kitchenette in them.

We had a villa and it was great as we could have a healthy meal without relying on diners and fast food all them time

Will be 5 of us, kids age 14, 12 and 9. Have looked at some nice villas/condos on Windsor Hills resort and Blue Heron? The Blue Heron one does have some limited shuttles. Also the Windsor Hills apparently cheap to use ubers to get to the parks. I don't know! Will probably be a once only trip so want to get it right.

We had a villa. We wanted the chance to go elsewhere for a break from Disney (and some of the Universal areas were better for very small children in terms of play areas, we found). We did Disney, Universal, Cape Kennedy, shopping and a local park and it was a good balance for us.

Getting a villa also gave us the room to not get on top of each other - it was good to have a bit of space when you've been walking around parks all day.

If you have children that age I would definitely consider Universal too. It's worth the ticket price for Harry Potter world in my opinion.

Last visit we stayed at Old Key West resort where we had a separate bedroom, living area with kitchenette, own laundry room and balcony or terrace. Was great and the resort was lovely.

We had the DDP that time too - so much food! We couldn't use it all; dd ended up spending the remaining on lots of snacks to bring home.

We've done both: villas and hotels. They both have their pros and cons and ultimately it depends on the type of things you intend to do

We always have a car as visit both Disney and Universal. We've used the Disney transport but not keen on the waiting around morning and night.

We stayed at Old Key West a few years ago. We didn't find it full on. It was a peaceful retreat at the end of a full day and there were several quieter pools dotted about. The transport from all the parks to OKW worked well too, although we had a hire car as well as we were heading off to Miami/coastal beaches after. The Dibb Forum is great for all things Disney and Florida.

I'd stay in WDW

Many quiet properties so you also get away from it all.

Busses/boat links brilliant

Free disney dining

Don't have to bother with huge car/cars for your party and all the parking etc.

WDW all the way if your mainly doing parks.

Also launderettes on disney sites although didn't use looked clean and fully stocked.

Just had a look at Lake Buena Vista resort. Looks great, then remembered have to add on the park tickets too. EEKKKKK.

Look at suites in hotels on/near international drive we stayed at theHawthorne suites last time we were there the shuttles come to the hotels then you can jump on thetrolley bus if you want to go to the outlet malls

Lake Buena Vista resort is lovely we stayed years ago (and dangerously close to outlets!) I'd love to get a free dining plan but as we are planning on going October half term I don't think they do them then (free).

Kit I used dd plan in October last year.

Oh really marthsginyard? Over the half term?

I've also had a look at one of the cheaper Disney hotels, (all star music resort?) and with the dining plan is coming out about £7,600, which seems doable. Obviously doesn't include flights though. How much are they going to set us back? Would really like to do Universal too, but only really the Harry Potter stuff. Can you buy a 1 day ticket, or are they all just combination?

Yes, but just checked it's the departure date that fixes the deal and we travelled 3 days before embargo.

Isn't all stars breakfast only though?

The free disney dining isn't worth much then. What is the jump to a moderate resort like?

Port Orleans/Caribbean beach etc