help?

[tianna88]

Hi, this is the first time I have posted so I hope I am in the right section.
I have loads of questions. We are planning a family trip with my husband and I, 2 teens and a 3yr old in the begining of Dec. We have a chance to use an offsite hotel for $200 for the week ( either Wyndham Cypress Palms or Cypress Pointe Grand villas... any help on what is better?) and then the last 3 days at maybe the wilderness cabins? Is it worth staying off site for 7 days for the savings? I suppose we will have to rent a car (never done that before... any help on price range, what rental co. and is it hard to get places?) Also, ( I know lots of stuff here :blush: sorry) is it worth getting an annual pass for extra savings and can you get extra savings if you have a disc. code.
Can you park in DTD for free still? Can you use the disney buses to get around if not staying there the whole time? Sorry if this is a lot but I need a lot of help.
We hope to book next week so any help would be greatly appreciated :mickey:

[ThanxForNoticin]

You do have a lot of questions!! I cannot address them all, but here are some quick answers to get you started.

Yes, you can park free at DTD. You do not have to be staying on site at Disney to use their transportation - theoretically, transportation is included in the price of your park passes.

It's very hard to argue with the chance to stay off site for 7 nights for $200. That is a lot of savings over even the cheapest Disney hotel. The cost of a rental car will vary, so you'll have to check with companies like Alamo, Budget, Avis, etc - those companies that rent at the Orlando Airport (I'm assuming you are flying into Orlando). While staying off-site, you'll need to pay for parking to get into the parks, but only once per day.

I cannot help you with info about either of the resorts you have listed. I hope this all works out well for you and you have a great trip!

[laprana]

First of all, :welcome: to Intercot! You've come to the right place to ask questions! :thumbsup: I'll try to help with a few of them...

While there are a lot of benefits to staying on site, $200 for the whole week is a GREAT price!! I don't know about the Wyndham Cypress Palms, but I have stayed at the Cypress Pointe Grand villas and it is a beautiful place! The condo we were in was a 2-bedroom and it had tons of room, a full kitchen, living room, a lovely balcony, it was beautifully decorated, and it was clean, comfortable and very nice. There also was a beautiful pool. It's a very nice place to stay! You definitely wouldn't be able to stay in a WDW villa on property for the price you're getting, and the space and cleanliness of the Grand Cypress villa is comparable to WDW villas, IMHO.

We've always had a rental car at WDW, even while staying on property, and we've always rented from Alamo. It seems to have some of the cheapes rates, it's right on property of the Orlando airport, and the cars we've gotten have always been new, nice, and clean. Do a search online for coupon codes and you'll find a ton for Alamo and many other rental car companies, which will help keep the cost down. One nice thing about Alamo (and probably other rental companies) is that you can book a reservation on their web site, but you don't have to pay for it right then. You can then keep checking back for lower rates or better deals, and change your reservation to the better price! This past June we were able to get a full-sized car from Alamo for 12 days for right around $230.

It's not too hard to get around WDW property. All you have to do is look for the purple and red signs, and they'll pretty much direct you anywhere you need to go! You can also pick up a map of the WDW property that is handy to keep in the car.

You can park at DTD for free, but if you stay off site you'll have to pay to park at the parks once a day. I think they just raised the parking prices to $12 per car (but I'm not 100% positive on that). If you park hop, you will pay to park at the first park and then you'll just have to show your parking pass to the attendant at the next park. You won't have to pay for parking at each park.

I'm not too sure about your other questions, but I am sure that someone else will come along with the right answers! Hope this helps and have a great trip!! :mickey:

[Strmchsr]

:welcome: to Intercot!!!

It should be noted that, yes, you can park at DTD for free, but there are no buses from DTD to the parks so if you're going to the parks you'll need to pay to park there. Figure that into the total cost of the trip. It may be that after figuring up the rental car, gas and parking staying offsite might not be a better deal.

I would recommend working with Magical Journeys (http://www.yourmagicaljourneys.com/) to book your trip. Since they are an Intercot sponsor LOTS of folks on here have used them and they have the best service, hands down, at figuring out how to best help you save money and work your trip.

[tianna88]

Thanks every one!! I know I asked a lot of questions he hee. I just want this to be a great trip. I am a little reluctant to take a 3yr old on a plane but have read lots of other posts to help me out. I love this site. :number1: I have been reading for a while but just recently joined. I agree it is a wonderful site to find stuff out. Thanks for the help. I can't wait till Dec !!!! I would come several times a year if we didn't live so far away. Air fare is a killer.

[disneygirlie11]

Do you know if either of those hotels has a shuttle? When we stayed off site our hotel had a shuttle and we didn't need our car once...

[KAT1811]

:welcome: to Intercot!!! I think you are going to like it here!!!



It should be noted that, yes, you can park at DTD for free, but there are no buses from DTD to the parks so if you're going to the parks you'll need to pay to park there. Figure that into the total cost of the trip. It may be that after figuring up the rental car, gas and parking staying offsite might not be a better deal.

I would recommend working with Magical Journeys (http://www.yourmagicaljourneys.com/) to book your trip. Since they are an Intercot sponsor LOTS of folks on here have used them and they have the best service, hands down, at figuring out how to best help you save money and work your trip.


:ditto:

Although $200 for a hotel for the week is a great deal I agree that the overall cost may be close to what you are going to pay for staying onsite without a car (figure car rental fee, parking fees, & gas).

I would also think about your chioce in resorts it may be more economical to get 2 rooms at a value resort (or the family suite) instead of the FW cabins. Think about how much time you are planning to spend in your room and then weigh the costs. Personally I will never stay off site or rent a car, too much hassel. Plus by staying onsite you can take advantage of Disney's Extra Magic Hours which lets you into a select WDW park an hour before or stay up to hours after the scheduled park closing times. EMH is only avaliable to those staying in WDW resorts.

As far as the AP rates are concerned I would advise you hold off on purchasing an AP until you see if there is actually a viable discount for you. You do not need an AP to make an AP discounted reservation you just need one upon checkin.

Yes you can still park at DTD for free but like a PP stated there are no direct busses to the parks you would have to travel to a resort and transfer busses there adding tons of time onto your commute.

If I were you I would stay on property. That way you can hop back to the resort for a break if need be and take full advantage to the zillion things WDW has to offer. Like the campfire movies at FW, the Electrical Water Pageant on the lagoon, EMH, free transportation, and Disney's Magical Express just to name a few. For us the magic of staying on property is almost tangible and I could not imagine staying off property, I think it would be torture leaving WDW each day.