Disney trip - accomodations

1

1Pam

Earning My Ears
Joined
Feb 12, 2017
Newbie. I posted earlier about a trip to Disney with a currently 3.5 yr old. We have complete flexibility to go anytime with the least crowds (just want to avoid jun-sept due to the heat). Thinking of going the week before thanksgiving. The various calendars indicate it would be a 3-4 crowd level.

Also we have no plans to do any adult rides. This is for kiddo only. So a character meal and lots of shows along with kiddie rides that's the plan. We did 4 days of Busch gardens and the water park in Tampa from rope drop to 3pm daily and kiddo was great. We plan to have a similar schedule.

We wanted to:

1) Use hotel points to get a 1 bedroom suite offsite
2) rent a car since we don't plan to eat dinner at the park. Not interested in dining plans and DH doesn't like the idea of tying ourselves to a specific time with reservations.
3) Also use the car to pick up supplies for lunch.
4) Also since kiddo will sleep at 7pm, would be more comfortable with a 1 bedroom suite.

But the many responses here have almost convinced me to stay on-site at a disney property for the single main reason - Save time to get back and forth from parks compared to self-parking.

If I can convince DH to stay on site ...Just a few questions:

1) How many days would we need to do the 4 parks? Is 5 days enough with 2 days for travel? This is not hopefully going to be our only trip. Likely go again when kiddo is 6.

2) Suites are $500+ per night so standard room on site will do but should we be looking for ones with boat as well? (the ones with monorail are too expensive $450+). Will the ones with just bus be as good? Disney's Port Orleans or Art of Animation or All Star OK from a get to the park and back quick perspective?

3) Those who didn't get a dining plan and didn't want to eat an or most meals at the hotel or at the park, did you still get a car to get groceries for breakfast/lunch and eat off-site? And just paid for the hotel parking? Park parking would be free/included?

Thank you for all suggestions.
 
Hello! Here are my two cents :-)

1) This is definitely personal preference....but we like to have at least a couple non-park days to rest, re-charge and spend time at the pool or do some other activities. Ideally, I would add one more non-park day to your plan.

2) I personally prefer a resort with monorail or boat access. We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge and used buses and I found them to be crowded and time-consuming...and even stressful. I find riding the monorail and boat to be much more pleasant...and faster!

3) In your case, I would look into renting a car. I would think that you could easily get a weekly rental rate that would be cheaper than paying for cab rides to/from the grocery store or off-site restaurants. If you are staying at a Disney resort, self parking at the resort and any of the theme parks is free.
 
I am an onsite fan, but too cheap to pay for anything with monorail or boat. We just returned back from all star sports, and honestly, we had great bus service. One morning we took the bus to magic kingdom to transfer to beach club for cape may breakfast, and mears arranged a van to take us over. It was a definite bit of magic for our trip.

Was there a reason for wanting to eat offsite? I know you said your husband wanted flexibility, but I would think that flexibility takes up a lot of time! You might consider something like Saratoga springs near Disney springs, they have a ton of places that don't need reservations. Or, if you're going during a slower time, you can often find reservations for places at a moments notice. We went into our Feb. 1st trip with just a few reservations. We had crystal palace, garden grill, skipper canteen, and homecoming planned, but we added cape may and boma with no problem. There were plenty of options each day. Now, you can't get that sort of flexibility during semi busy, free dining, or very busy times...but we've done it on two different trips.

We did a stay at Saratoga the trip before this one, and walking over to Disney springs wasn't bad. But, you had to keep an eye out for your bus, as it was a fair amount of time in between each park's bus. If you just missed the bus, it really did have you wishing you would have rented a car. But once we got it down, we had no problem. But, the buses at al, star sports seemed quicker than Saratoga. Saratoga was lovely though.
 
OP. Thanks for the comments. We will be renting a car and never stay at a park beyond 3ish. That's why I didn't build a non-park day in the schedule but think I may.

If we take sandwiches with us for lunch, we are not spending time on dining at restaurants in the middle of the day and can leave by 3-4pm giving our child the slower pace they need later in the day. Also that way we can go to one of myriad restaurants offsite. Between special diet and food restrictions it may be better....

While I see mid Jan-mid feb being the slowest, mid-November doesn't look too bad. And the hotels DH is considering are apparently 10-15 mins to magic kingdom, Epcot...so it's been difficult to convince him that even if we are going at non-peak times, driving back and forth from an offsite hotel is a very bad idea. Or that even though we don't intend to do any adult rides and go in November, we still need to be worried about getting fast passes 60 not 30 days in advance. So was looking for convincing suggestions :)
 


Being able to get FP* at 60 days vs. 30 was enough to convince us to stay onsite for our 2018 trip. MK has the most rides and FP of any of the parks and your child is the perfect age for MK. Our grandkids will be 4,5,5 and 1 when we go. We want to do whatever we can to minimize waiting in line. Going at a relatively slower time helps but there is no truly slow time. So staying onsite with earlier access to FP is important to us. We have only stayed offsite in previous trips. Of course it is doable but even staying at a hotel advertised as "10 minutes from Main Gate" took much more time than 10 minutes from hotel to actually being in the park. Onsite guests have parking included; $20 per day for others. We are going to skip the car rental and use MDE from airport and Disney transportation between parks.
 
OP - it's possible you've already thought of this, but is your 3.5 year old going to be comfortable enough to eat sitting on a park bench or similar surface? You mentioned you're bringing your own lunches...that's why I ask. Personally, I think it's nice to take a break in the quick service restaurants, get something to eat, rest, and recharge a little.

In my experience, driving to the parks (except maybe Magic Kingdom, that one's a toss up) is faster than taking the buses.

You may consider one character meal during your trip. Little kids tend to love those. And you'd only be "tied down" once. We're taking our to-be 18 month old in May and doing 1 character meal.

As far as resort goes - we've chosen Wilderness Lodge. It's got a very kid-friendly theme and has a boat to Magic Kingdom. All of the construction at the resort should be done by November.

Good luck with your planning!
 
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1. If you are planning to leave each park by 3pm, you won't come close to seeing everything. That being said, MK will easily eat up 2 days, Epcot, HS and AK could each be a half day if you are skipping all adult rides and nighttime entertainment.
2. Suites onsite are nice. Prices available now are rack rates. It's highly likely that room discounts will be released for your travel dates. You may see a 15-20% discount become available. I enjoy AoA or ASMusic family suites for budgeting purposes. Transportation from monorail resorts to MK and Epcot is efficient but takes longer to get to HS and AK. Staying at a nonmonrail resort is faster to AK and HS and longer to MK and Epcot. It's a trade off and not a big deal, IMO.
3. Onsite hotel parking & theme park parking is free for guests of Disney hotels. I don't typically rent a car during my stay. Try ordering groceries from Amazon Prime Pantry, Garden Grocer or We Go Shop. They deliver to Disney hotels. You can also have pizza delivered from any chain to your hotel. There are a ton of onsite quick service options for dining that don't require reservations. Landscape of Flavors, the food court at AoA, has several great options.

You mentioned bringing food into the parks to save time on lunch. You still have to stop to eat. There really aren't places for people who packed to eat. Either way you have to sit down for your meal. I would suggest saving your "packed" meal for dinner back at your hotel and eating either a quick service lunch in the park or, despite what your husband wants to do, making a reservation for lunch and enjoying the break. Try lunch at Be Our Guest! And don't worry about special dietary restrictions. Disney is amazing about accommodating needs of all types. Just ask!
 


1Pam said:
Newbie. I posted earlier about a trip to Disney with a currently 3.5 yr old. We have complete flexibility to go anytime with the least crowds (just want to avoid jun-sept due to the heat). Thinking of going the week before thanksgiving. The various calendars indicate it would be a 3-4 crowd level.

Also we have no plans to do any adult rides. This is for kiddo only. So a character meal and lots of shows along with kiddie rides that's the plan. We did 4 days of Busch gardens and the water park in Tampa from rope drop to 3pm daily and kiddo was great. We plan to have a similar schedule.

We wanted to:

1) Use hotel points to get a 1 bedroom suite offsite
2) rent a car since we don't plan to eat dinner at the park. Not interested in dining plans and DH doesn't like the idea of tying ourselves to a specific time with reservations.
3) Also use the car to pick up supplies for lunch.
4) Also since kiddo will sleep at 7pm, would be more comfortable with a 1 bedroom suite.

But the many responses here have almost convinced me to stay on-site at a disney property for the single main reason - Save time to get back and forth from parks compared to self-parking.

If I can convince DH to stay on site ...Just a few questions:

1) How many days would we need to do the 4 parks? Is 5 days enough with 2 days for travel? This is not hopefully going to be our only trip. Likely go again when kiddo is 6.

2) Suites are $500+ per night so standard room on site will do but should we be looking for ones with boat as well? (the ones with monorail are too expensive $450+). Will the ones with just bus be as good? Disney's Port Orleans or Art of Animation or All Star OK from a get to the park and back quick perspective?

3) Those who didn't get a dining plan and didn't want to eat an or most meals at the hotel or at the park, did you still get a car to get groceries for breakfast/lunch and eat off-site? And just paid for the hotel parking? Park parking would be free/included?

Thank you for all suggestions.
Click to expand...

When we took our oldest, I had plans to do a rider switch but in the end I didn't care, I knew I'd be back and she had a blast, even at 15 months! So all about the kid is great!

We are now on the 2 park days, 1 off day. I can possibly do 3 but when I get tired I get a migraine. We don't do a park on travel days either. But we arrive at rope drop, leave mid day and return at dinner time to close (yes even with kids that should be in bed!). But we also go in the heat of summer which I love!

The only boat resorts I have stayed at are the Poly, GF, WL and BC. Personally I hate the bus but that is me. I take it but I like to see my mode of transportation coming to get me, even if it takes time to get to me. But the buses are fine.

I have never done the dining plan and never Plan to. We don't rent a car either. I have shipped a few boxes down, DH was able to ship for free with water, snacks and breakfast foods. The last time we went was in 2013 and for our family of 5 we saved money paying OOP. I also have packed bagels in my carry on/checked bag. We look at the menus and prices so we know ahead. DH and I will sometimes split a meal. My girls on our pool days ate Mac and cheese cups that I microwaved in the food court. $4 for 2 lunches for 2 of my 3 kids and they got ice cream after so it was a win win!

I am not sure what we are going to do in 2018, we won't ship the water but my sister lives in FL and I am thinking she may come for a visit and she can bring me water. Or I may do garden grocer, etc...

Hotel parking and park parking is free as long as you are a resort guest.

If you don't plan on eating dinner in the park, I would assume you'd leave the park no later then 5 to get somewhere, wait in line if there is one and then be back for your kids bed time. So don't forget to factor that in.
 
Were you able to check to see if your hotel points were good at Swan/Dolphin? That would be a great option if they do.

In answer to your questions:

  1. I think 5 days is a good amount. We've gone anywhere from 1-5 days. Any more is a little too much for us.
  2. Boat and monorail is great but we've never had any big issues with the buses. If your planning to go at a busy time, my answer might change but I think you'll be fine at a bus only resort. If you find you don't like it, UBER is always an option.
  3. We have never had the dining plan. I have packed some cereal, peanut butter, oatmeal and snacks and gone to the gift shop for bread and milk to be able to have some cheap breakfasts and snacks. I have looked into the shopping delivery services but haven't actually used those. We've never rented a car just to go to the grocery store or eat offsite. The prices in the gift shop really aren't hateful for groceries and they have a pretty good selection.
As a side note, at 3 1/2 my kids napped in the stroller because we didn't find that trying to go back for naps worked for us.
 
1Pam said:
Newbie. I posted earlier about a trip to Disney with a currently 3.5 yr old. We have complete flexibility to go anytime with the least crowds (just want to avoid jun-sept due to the heat). Thinking of going the week before thanksgiving. The various calendars indicate it would be a 3-4 crowd level.

Also we have no plans to do any adult rides. This is for kiddo only. So a character meal and lots of shows along with kiddie rides that's the plan. We did 4 days of Busch gardens and the water park in Tampa from rope drop to 3pm daily and kiddo was great. We plan to have a similar schedule.

We wanted to:

1) Use hotel points to get a 1 bedroom suite offsite
2) rent a car since we don't plan to eat dinner at the park. Not interested in dining plans and DH doesn't like the idea of tying ourselves to a specific time with reservations.
3) Also use the car to pick up supplies for lunch.
4) Also since kiddo will sleep at 7pm, would be more comfortable with a 1 bedroom suite.

But the many responses here have almost convinced me to stay on-site at a disney property for the single main reason - Save time to get back and forth from parks compared to self-parking.

If I can convince DH to stay on site ...Just a few questions:

1) How many days would we need to do the 4 parks? Is 5 days enough with 2 days for travel? This is not hopefully going to be our only trip. Likely go again when kiddo is 6.

2) Suites are $500+ per night so standard room on site will do but should we be looking for ones with boat as well? (the ones with monorail are too expensive $450+). Will the ones with just bus be as good? Disney's Port Orleans or Art of Animation or All Star OK from a get to the park and back quick perspective?

3) Those who didn't get a dining plan and didn't want to eat an or most meals at the hotel or at the park, did you still get a car to get groceries for breakfast/lunch and eat off-site? And just paid for the hotel parking? Park parking would be free/included?

Thank you for all suggestions.
Click to expand...

Listen to your hubby - stay offsite - free is unbeatable...you're getting a car anyway, so the big "you won't need transport" is almost all mitigated (all you are now gonna pay extra for is about $100 total to park). No way would I stay in a single hotel room with a non-infant with such an early bedtime - who wants to spend all vacation in the dark tiptoeing around a tiny area to not wake a little one. Plus, you'll want the fridge/oven/dining area, especially if you want to do lunches.
 
We actually prefer off-site. We are a big family, and having space while on vacation is worth it to us. And we have never found parking to be a profound hassle. Last trip we stayed at the GF and it was lovely, amazing, but very $$ and there was no where to escape each other. Plus, we are not dining planners, we like to choose where we eat on that day, not months ahead, so being on property for us resulted in an insane number of chicken nuggets and hot dogs for the kids. It was very busy and only counter service options were available. Had we been off site we would have gone to various restaurants in the area. So off site just suits us better, but we seem to be in the minority.
 
mom25kiddos said:
We actually prefer off-site. We are a big family, and having space while on vacation is worth it to us. And we have never found parking to be a profound hassle. Last trip we stayed at the GF and it was lovely, amazing, but very $$ and there was no where to escape each other. Plus, we are not dining planners, we like to choose where we eat on that day, not months ahead, so being on property for us resulted in an insane number of chicken nuggets and hot dogs for the kids. It was very busy and only counter service options were available. Had we been off site we would have gone to various restaurants in the area. So off site just suits us better, but we seem to be in the minority.
Click to expand...

There are a lot of CS options on property that aren't nuggets and hot dogs. We only have 3 meals booked for our 5 day trip, but I certainly don't plan on feeding my son nuggets and hot dogs for the remainder of the meals we will have there!
 
I am a off site stayer. My suggestion is the week after Thanksgiving not the week before. Find a hotel you like and stay there, Picking up dinner at curbside takeaway on the way back from the parks works great, you can eat and LO can play and eat but does not have to be sitting at a table. We also pack lunches. There are plenty of outside tables to go and sit, if you feel bad that you are taking up a table and didn't buy anything, get a drink to share. We often stop at subway and sometimes I take lunch meat. I tried not to pack lunches ONE day. That night I went to the store, mostly because when my kid was hungry, I didn't have 15 minutes to wait in line and then find a table. It is so much easier to pull out a sandwich!!

We have done plenty of trips where we RD and then take a 3 hour break and then return OFFSITE. We easily make it faster than if we had to wait for a bus. The one exception may be the MK, but even that is questionable. You will have a great trip. Use the points and save the money!! We have done a trip every year and my boys are now 7 and 10, we have never stayed on site and always had a good time. The space is really nice to have when they go to bed early.
 
1Pam said:
Newbie. I posted earlier about a trip to Disney with a currently 3.5 yr old. We have complete flexibility to go anytime with the least crowds (just want to avoid jun-sept due to the heat). Thinking of going the week before thanksgiving. The various calendars indicate it would be a 3-4 crowd level.

Also we have no plans to do any adult rides. This is for kiddo only. So a character meal and lots of shows along with kiddie rides that's the plan. We did 4 days of Busch gardens and the water park in Tampa from rope drop to 3pm daily and kiddo was great. We plan to have a similar schedule.

We wanted to:

1) Use hotel points to get a 1 bedroom suite offsite
2) rent a car since we don't plan to eat dinner at the park. Not interested in dining plans and DH doesn't like the idea of tying ourselves to a specific time with reservations.
3) Also use the car to pick up supplies for lunch.
4) Also since kiddo will sleep at 7pm, would be more comfortable with a 1 bedroom suite.

But the many responses here have almost convinced me to stay on-site at a disney property for the single main reason - Save time to get back and forth from parks compared to self-parking.

If I can convince DH to stay on site ...Just a few questions:

1) How many days would we need to do the 4 parks? Is 5 days enough with 2 days for travel? This is not hopefully going to be our only trip. Likely go again when kiddo is 6.

2) Suites are $500+ per night so standard room on site will do but should we be looking for ones with boat as well? (the ones with monorail are too expensive $450+). Will the ones with just bus be as good? Disney's Port Orleans or Art of Animation or All Star OK from a get to the park and back quick perspective?

3) Those who didn't get a dining plan and didn't want to eat an or most meals at the hotel or at the park, did you still get a car to get groceries for breakfast/lunch and eat off-site? And just paid for the hotel parking? Park parking would be free/included?

Thank you for all suggestions.
Click to expand...

Wow - I feel like you and I are are going on the same trip. I also have a DD who will be 3.5 and we are planning to go the week AFTER Thanksgiving. Our strategy will likely be to hit the parks hard at rope drop until lunch or a little after, go back to the hotel until around 4, and then stay at the park until around 8. I had initially looked into AoA but don't feel comfortable with the buses. We ended up renting DVC points for a 1 bedroom villa at the boardwalk so that we could sleep separately from DD. I would have preferred a monorail resort but they werr just too much $. We will be there for 5 full days and one partial travel day. Hopefully that's enough time. Our villa comes with a full kitchen so we will be stocking up. I plan on using the Amazon now service to ship to the resort or there is also a service called Gardengrocer that will deliver groceries for $14. Renting a car would be an unnecessary pain IMHO. I'm curious to see how your plans pan out (and mine)!
 
KrazeeK120 said:
There are a lot of CS options on property that aren't nuggets and hot dogs. We only have 3 meals booked for our 5 day trip, but I certainly don't plan on feeding my son nuggets and hot dogs for the remainder of the meals we will have there!
Click to expand...
We were staying at the GF at Christmastime-it was very busy and we didn't want to travel too far afield for dinner. For kids meals they were pretty limited choices at GF at CS. I think there was some pizza thrown in there, but honestly, it was a lot of nuggets. Perhaps had we travelled around seeking better choices we could found them, but we wanted quick and convenient. I think if you are planner then the dining options are amazing, if you are not, then it is challenging. We are a family of 7, so getting a table for 7 without ADR is very tough, when it is busy.
 
Staying offsite while doing shorter park hours per day is really ideal. Check out 2 bedroom condos in the lovely gated communities close by, and you will be amazed at what you get for a price competitive with most suites. Tuck your darling daughter into her own room, and put your feet up in the living room. You save more than your parking costs by eating simple (or even elaborate) breakfasts in, and I bet you would end up enjoying a dinner or two "at home" as well. There are nice, safe streets to walk, lovely resort pools, well-maintained playgrounds in the resort communities as well.

As you mention, this probably won't be your only visit to WDW, and staying onsite when DD is old enough to better appreciate the whimsical theming would be lots of fun.
 
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