Accommodations

Once you have your time frame figured, and may have a vague idea of where you plan on staying. If you have a larger family or a tighter budget, you may be feeling a little deflated after looking at Disney prices. That's okay, because there are still plenty of options outside of Disney property.

There are several decently priced hotels within a few miles of Disney. I did a quick search on Booking.com and found 37 options that were between $56 and $110 a night, and another 66 with a cost of $110 to $160 a night within 7 miles all with a rating score of 6/10 or better. Other similar type sites would come up with even more options. It might take a little researching to find the right one, but there are plenty of options with great amenities for under $500 for a family of four for a week. Larger families would be looking at around $700 to $1,000 for a week depending on whether you go for a suite type room or two rooms. Many of the off-site hotels run shuttles to the parks for a low fee or even no fee.

The other option for off-site, and my personal favorite, are vacation rental homes. There are thousands of these properties in the Kissimmee area, many of them within 10 miles of Disney property. Most of these homes are located in gated resorts that offer an array of amenities. These homes are usually privately owned but are maintained by management companies because the owners are located in other states or even other countries. Some homes are even owned by management companies. I'm going to focus on the Windsor Hills Resort for my examples. This is a fabulous resort located about 2 miles from Disney World. We stayed here on our first trip, and will be staying here on our next trip. The homes here vary from 2 and 3 bedroom condos, to 3 bedroom townhouses with private pools, to single houses with 4;5;6 or 7 bedroom that have a private pool and hot tub. I use VRBO.com, but there are several vacation rental home sites. I did a quick search and found 125 homes that can accommodate up to 6 guests, for $125 a night or less. There are several options that would put a one week stay under $500. Condos tend to run cheaper than the townhouses and houses, but there are dozens of options for those under $1,000 for a week.

As previous;y mentioned, you can check out allears.net to get a great breakdown of the hotels in each of Disney’s price categories. They provide fact sheets for each of the hotels that includes types of accommodations, amenities and a broad spectrum for the rates in each of the pricing seasons. Mousesavers.com gives a more broken down time frame for what times of year fall into which price season for each hotel, including showing the rate for each room type during that time.

Active duty and retired military and their family members can stay at the Shades of Green hotel which is located on Disney Property, but is not owned or run by Disney. This hotel offers 5 types of rooms and can accommodate all types and sizes of families.

Beyond family size and budget, there are other things to consider when deciding which accommodations option is best for your family. How you plan on arriving is the first thing you want to take into consideration.

If you drive: There are no negatives for staying on-site at Disney. Every Disney hotel provides transportation to and from the parks at no additional charge. If you are staying off-site, you have to pay for parking each day you visit the parks. Parking is $17 a day, and covers all the parks for the day, no additional charge if you park hop. (There is no parking fee for the water parks and Down Town Disney.)

If you fly: Staying on-site restricts you to on-site unless you want to pay a small fortune for a Taxi or rent a car. You will be transported to your resort via Disney's Magical Express bus service. Staying off-site you will have to rent a car. Car rentals start at $15 a day.

The next thing to consider is food: Staying on-site you have to eat out for every meal unless you are staying in a deluxe villa with a kitchen. Certain times a year Disney offers a free dining package that covers 2 meals a day. You also have the option of buying a dining package that makes paying for meals quick and easy and cuts down on carrying cash or cards into the parks. (I'll cover the dining plans and their pros and cons in the section on food.) Staying off-site at a hotel you will have to buy all your meals, unless your hotel has a free breakfast (most do) which will save you a little money. Staying off-site in a vacation rental gives you the option of preparing meals, which can be a huge money saver.

Room to move: The on-site standard rooms are smaller than a standard hotel room. The are right around 300 square feet. The higher price point hotels have larger rooms. Off-site hotels have standard size rooms which are around 400 square feet. Suites of course are larger. Vacation rentals vary in size, but are full living spaces so they tend to be fairly decent sized.

Pools: Every Disney hotel has at least one pool, most have multiple pools, with great themeing. There are some seriously awesome themed pools at the Disney hotels. Off-site hotels almost all have at least one pool, some have multiple pools and even indoor options. Vacation rentals located in resorts have access to the resort pools, with some rental homes having their own private pool in addition to the resort pool. A lot of rental homes also feature hot tubs among their amenities.

Miscellaneous: Staying in one of the on-site Disney hotels puts you in the "Disney bubble", it's all Disney all the time. The hotels are all highly themed. For some people, being separated from the rest of the world, being surrounded by the atmosphere of Disney, can be highly appealing. I personally, love the idea. I think it would be completely amazing to be completely immersed in Disney. My husband on the other hand... He likes being able to come up for air and get away from it at after a day in the parks. For some people the "bubble" is a great thing, for others its sensory overload. Even though the Disney hotels have a great look, they do fall short of "real world" hotels in terms of amenities and luxury. Off-site hotels tend to have better bedding. You get way more luxury for your money off-site. A higher level hotel at Disney with better accommodations and amenities will run you $300+ per night, where the same level of off-site hotels cost $150+ per night. Dollar for dollar you get much better quality for your money off-site. Off-site hotels significantly slash prices on their rooms rates closer to the date of stay in order to book rooms, so if you are looking for last-minute accommodations you can get a really great deal. Disney doesn't offer any kind of discount on last-minute booking, but they do offer room only discounts at certain times of year. You can use the site HotelTonight.com to find great discounts for last-minute booking. If you are a member of a hotel loyalty program, there can be many other benefits and perks to staying in a specific chain. If you have points already accumulated, you can use them towards your booking and stay free for a few nights, plus you accumulate points toward free nights in the future.
The Disney resorts offer "Extra Magic Hours" to those staying at the on-site Disney hotels. One park each day opens an hour earlier, or stays open an hour
later, just for on-site guests. This can be a great perk, but it also brings larger crowds to whichever park is offering EMH on that day. If your staying off-
site you can easily avoid whichever park is offering EMH, and avoid the larger crowd. If your staying on-site you have to decide whether fighting other resort guests is worth the perk. If you have park hopper tickets you can take advantage of EMH and spend the rest of the day in another park to avoid the crowd of guests who have standard Magic Your Way tickets.

Once you weigh all the options, the biggest benefit of staying on-site is convenience. Having transportation available makes it easier for your traveling party to split up if someone wants to go back to the hotel for a midday break. This can make things more efficient and allow you to cover more in a day. Being able to book your entire vacation through Disney is also extremely convenient, as is using the Disney Dining Plan.

The biggest benefit of staying off-site is that you get way more bang for your buck. The cost to amenities ratio is way better off-site, even if the decor isn't as fantastic. Higher thread count sheets and a better mattress might be more important than a 60 foot dalmatian right outside your door for some people.

Let's look at a couple of scenarios.

The Geeks, a family of 4, are flying into Orlando (flying includes the highest additional costs, so I thought it was a good example.) and want to stay for one week, in mid July. (This search is being done on a short notice of those dates, so I'm not going to find the cheapest options off-site..)

Option A: They can stay in a standard room at Disney's Pop Century hotel for $1,183.
Option B: The Lake Buena Vista Best Western for $746, and $105 for a rental car. This hotel offers free transportation to the parks. Total of $851.
Option C: A Townhouse with private pool at Windsor Hills resort for $663. $105 for a rental car, and $85 for 5 days worth of parking at the parks. Total of $853.

Now, let's make a minor tweak to the Geek family, and add 2 more people.

Option A: Two standard rooms at Pop Century for $1,183 each. Total of $2,366.
Option B: A family suit at Disney's All Star Music hotel for $2,572.
Option C: The Lake Buena Vista Best Western for $1,491, plus $105 for a rental car. Total $1,596.
Option D: A Townhouse with private pool at Windsor Hills resort for $663. $105 for a rental car, and $85 for 5 days worth of parking at the parks. Total of $853.

Price wise, off-site wins in every regard. it's the amenities that need weighed in greater depth in order to decide which options are better for you. Larger families definitely have better options off-site with vacation rentals. 

If you decide to stay on-site, or in an off-site hotel, remember to budget for tips for housekeeping (Mousekeeping, in the Disney hotels) if you are a tipper. At Disney, Mousekeeping is not a tipped position, but a lot of people still choose to tip, and tipping can sometimes lead to a little extra magic in the way of towel animals and such. If you are staying at an off-site hotel you may want to contact the hotel to see if housekeeping is a tipped position. Standard practice seems to be $1 to $2 per person per day. If you do decide to tip, tip daily instead of as a lump sum at the end of your stay. You may not have the same housekeeper every day.

Are you starting to see why I said you needed up to a year to plan?The sad thing is, we've just broken the surface. Making your hotel decision is the biggest and the first step.