Stay in Disney or Outside???

[SmileysPeeples]

We were thinking of spending 2 weeks in disney hotel (maybe the yavht and Beach club) so that we could do the parks for a few hours and then chill at the hotel and go back in the evebing.

Disney hotels seem so much more expensive though, is this worth it? Should we go for a hotel outside Disney, or a villa? Or will we spend loads of time travelling?

Villa - much better for space, and also better equipped. We did a Disney hotel for a few days (to get the benefit of early entrance) and after that did a villa, but the disney hotel definitely wasn't value for money (at least in comparison). You can get some great villas with pools, games rooms, PS2s, kids toys etc.

But The Dibb is really the site to check.

wow i was just about to post a thread about who to travel with the states, esp florida.

We have just come back and stayed in a condo with a shared pool as TBH we spent so much time in the park it was not worth the extra money for a pool etc.

If I went back and money was no object I would stay in a disney hotel to take advantage of extra hours and the ease of being on site but dp does not think it is worth the money.

I think that if you can use the night-time magic hours then the Disney hotel might be worth it, but our chidlren were 6 and 4 and it was peak time so night hours were usually 11pm to 2am so not of interest. The Disney trnasport system was of interest, but pratcially it was far quicker to get around the parks by car (well with one exception as we stayed at the Polynesian so on the monorail for Magic Kingdom).

If you were travelling offpeak then it might be a different scenario. When we go again I'll probably book 2 or 3 days in a basic Disney hotel (to give us early hour access whilst we're still jetlagged), but then villa for the rest. Bear in mind that you can still use the Disney hotels for Character measl (and normal meals) even if you're not staying on site.

the first time we stayed on interntional drive, the second time in kissimmee. both were good so long as you have hired a car. they are close enough to the parks and a hell of a lot less expensive that the actual resort hotels

Are you planning to spend most of the 2 weeks in disney?

We always stay on international drive as we tend to only do 5 or 6 days in disney, then the other 8 or so days are sea world, universal etc etc...

If you plan to do most days in Disney I'd say you're best on site, especially with the lo's. the traffic to get out after the parade and fireworks can be mad!

But if you're planning on doing a lot of other things too, then you'll be driving lots anyway to get out of disney...
iyswim!!

Disney transport after parade etc is also fairly mad. We waited 45 minutes after Epcot fireworks to get monorail back to resort, and in the end gave up and caught a cab.

We've stayed on International drive at hotels with free park shuttle buses, which worked well. Last time we stayed at a Disney resort and it was great except that (we had no car) we couldn't get out and got cabin fever! We got a good deal though so it was no dearer than our previous trip.