A whole new ballgame....

[Sunshine1010]

Sooooo, we are thinking about going to WDW in November 2009, and saving our DVC points for a GREAT vacation in 2010. But, we go to Disney every year.

Besides the onsite resorts (non-DVC) at Disney, I know there are some really nice WDW area resorts that have HUGE savings.

Questions:
- Are there any area hotels (not on property) that any recommends?
- Which resorts are closest to WDW?
- Do most of the resorts provide transportation to WDW?....for free?
- Would I have to rent a car to get to these hotels, or do they provide transportation?
- Do these hotels/resorts have a shuttle to/from the airport?
- Are there any resorts that are within walking distance to DTD and I am allowed to ride the Disney bus to the parks? (hotels and then to the parks?)

Thanks in advance

[WRWDisney]

Cannot answer all of your questions, but the big one for me is the transportation. If you stay off-site, you need your own transportation. The off-site transportation is just not consistent enough for anyone use to Disney transportation.

Also, walking to DTD, taking a shuttle to a resort then to a park will kill an extra hour each way and is not worth the headache (again, in my opinion). All of that said, there are some really nice off property resorts (Gaylord, Radisson and many others). Another option is the Swan or Dolphin.

Good luck with whatever you choose:thumbsup:

[Sunshine1010]

Hhhmmm....The Swan and Dolphin. It seems as though many people consider them Disney resorts. Do they get all the perks too (compared to the onsite resorts?)

[WRWDisney]

Many, but not all. Disney transportation, yes; DDP, no. ME, no; extra magic hours, yes.

Also, they have nurse and teacher discounts if you are either.

They are thought of as Disney hotels, because they have Disney in their name. They are not owned and operated by Disney, nor Disney themed.

Anyway, just a thought and some info. Good luck:thumbsup:

[aurorafan]

We stayed at the DTD Hilton in June and were very impressed. The transportation ran very consistently (every half hour going to the parks and every half hour on the 25 and 55 coming back). You could easily walk to DTD and there is even a small Disney store in the hotel. They have a lovely restaurant that serves breakfast and lunch (we ate there for lunch every day--much quieter than the parks ;)) and a couple of nice dinner restaurants. They're the only non-disney hotel that has EMH and they even have a character breakfast on Sunday mornings! I'm not sure about the rates since DH was there for the TechEd conference, but I've heard you can get some good deals there :).

We will definitely consider this hotel if we need to save points on a weekend or want to get in a quick cash trip :thumbsup:.

[buzznwoodysmom]

I've seen Gaylord Palms have room rates as low as $99 a night. That is a great rate for that hotel. It is a wonderful resort with a great pool and a few good dining options. I don't know how their transportation is, but we visited for an evening during our Thanksgiving trip last year and I'd stay there in a heart beat.

I am not sure if a value resort is out of the question for you, but I beleive you'd find the value resorts at WDW to be very comparable (even cheaper) than many of the downtown disney hotels or some of the hotels off site. We stayed at the Royal Plaza Hotel at DTD for one night once and while it is a very beautiful hotel we paid something like $177 for the night. You could easily get a room at a value, or even a mod, cheaper than that depending on when you are visiting and what kinds of discounts disney is running at the time.

Good luck with your decision.

[Sunshine1010]

I'm fine with using the Value resorts....but I have to be honest.....the lines for the bus are unbelievable. I've heard stories of people having to wait 1 1/2 hours just to get home at night.

[buzznwoodysmom]

We've stayed at the Values in May one year and the parks were extremely crowded, but we never had to wait long for a bus. However, it seemed like we were always the farthest bus stop from the exit of the parks. It was a long walk to the bus stop at the end of a day in the parks. The other thing we didn't care for was that the bus stops at the value resorts are not covered. Even early in the morning it was so hot standing in the sun waiting for the bus. Other than that we found the transportation at the values to be just as quick as anywhere else we've stayed (and we've stayed at all levels). Keep an eye out for discounts. Last Thanksgiving we had originally booked PC. A discount came out and we were able to move to CSR and our total for our entire stay was actually $4.00 less than our original PC total. You could also split a stay at a value and a mod/deluxe to cut down on part of the trip. Have fun deciding, picking our resort is half the fun for us!!!

[KAT1811]

I'm fine with using the Value resorts....but I have to be honest.....the lines for the bus are unbelievable. I've heard stories of people having to wait 1 1/2 hours just to get home at night.

Personally I would go for a value 10,000 times before I would ever stay off site.

That being said we have not done the values in quite a few years but when we did we never waited very long for a bus and I have noticed on our recent trips that there were tons of busses for the values, probably an effort to ease the wait time. I wouldn't hesitate to stay there and if you are concerned about the wait times either leave a bit early or meander around and leave late either way you should avoid rushes.