Looking for Cheap & Close for First Night

[JT in SC]

We are driving down on Thursday, April 24th and I expect that we will roll into Orlando at Midnight or so. We have to meet some people from my daughter's cheerleading team at Celebrity Hall at 9:00 AM on Friday.

We have a room at POR for Friday Night through Sunday Night. I tried to book us there for Thursday Night, too, but that didn't work out.

Any suggestions for a cheap (but clean) place to stay that is pretty close?

Thanks!

JT in SC

PS - My daughter's team is competing in the Cheerleading Worlds that weekend. She's on a Large Limited Coed Level 5 team - "The Rolling Stones" from Rockstar Cheer! They are competing at the Wide World of Sports, although I understand that there will be other cheerleaders competing at Disney Studios and dancers at Epcot.

[Friend of Figment]

What about the Marriot Village near DTD? There is a Courtyard, Spring Hill Suites and Fairfield there. It is about a 5 minute drive to DTD. You can often find a discounts for them too.

[DDuck66]

I don not know what you mean by "cheap", but the Sheraton Safari Suite is located just outside of DTD on Apopka Vineland Road and you can get nice rooms for about $100 per night. We stay there whenever we are just going to the World for a day or two.

[Hayden's Dad]

We stay at the Quality Inn on International right down the road from McDonalds and the Ripley's Believe It or Not. Very nice, clean right down the road from Downtown Disney. Somewhere between $55-$65 when we went down in November. If you are driving you can pick up the hotel magazines at the welcome centers in Florida and get a discount. Great first night before you move into the magic. :thumbsup:

There are several hotels up and down this road that seemed reasonably priced.

[OogieBoogieMan]

I have used Priceline for this type of thing with some success. You can't specify the hotel, but you can narrow the area fairly well and specify the class. I go for the highest class and start out offering around $65. I usually find something for less than $100 and the hotels are fine. Nothing super, but certainly clean and safe.

[illini]

Although I'm normally a fan of Priceline, I didn't use it on our last trip because the reviews on Sheraton Safari have been awful. I think they have certain "Priceline rooms" that are yucky. Other reviews are usually good for Safari.

Anyway, someone on here (DonaldsDucky? DuckRocks?) suggested the Holiday Inn Express on Palm Parkway. It rocked!!! $75/night, BIG room, recently redone, CLEAN. Just a couple minutes from DTD. If I absolutely had to stay offsite, this is where we'd be for sure. Very pleased.

[buzznwoodysmom]

Have you tried to book a room at one of the value resorts? Those are clean and cheap and then you'll already be in WDW. On our last three trips we arrived around midnight the night before we were to check in. We stayed at Royal Plaza at DTD, very nice, but way to expensive for a few hours of sleep; Pop Centry nice, clean, fun resort; and Shades of Green, very nice resort, huge rooms, but you have to be military or DoD to be able to stay here. Anyway we like to sleep inside WDW once we arrive. I feel better about leaving our vehicle full of luggage in a WDW parking lot rather than some random hotel off site.

[Mickey91]

If there are only four of you, I would recommend staying at a Value on site. Last time we stayed offsite, we had a visit from Johnny cockroach. EEWW!!!:sick: We also had rowdy, loud and obnoxious people yelling and running around all night long. I was so tired the next morning, I never did feel good during the whole trip. Plus, we only saved about $20. Wasn't worth it!

[wdw_bound]

A value is a great idea as suggested above, however, I'm guessing that they booked out even before the mods did for a competition weekend.

We stayed at the Country Inn and Suites at Calypso Cay. Very close to Disney, nice size room, good continental breakfast the next morning.