Best Area for Off-Site Hotel

Claire M.

Earning My Ears
Joined
Apr 18, 2017
Very confused on what the best area is for an off-site hotel!

We will have a car, so that isn't a real issue. We aren't wanting to spend a fortune though. I've read a lot of great things about the Disney Springs area, but from what I can tell, the hotels are all more than I was wanting to spend. I was hoping to stay around $400 for the week.

I've been looking at the Bonnet Creek, Maingate West, and Lake Buena Vista area, but wanted to get opinion on where is the best!

Thanks!
 
$400 a week is not easy even on the best of times. When are you looking to go? How many people are in your party? What amenities are you looking for? What do you plan to do? What is your overall budget for lodging? How many days do you want to go?
 
I personally like the area just south of Animal Kingdom. I guess that's called the "Maingate West". The traffic is not bad, it's easy to get onto Disney property and there is a nearby Walgreens, Target, Publix and lots of restaurants.

I agree that $400 per week will be a challenge. One of the better values in the area is the Red Lion on Hwy 192 (it gets great reviews) but even that is $635 for a room with 2 double beds on a random week in July (includes taxes and resort fees). There are a lot of run-down, nasty hotels in the Lake Buena Vista area. I would become familiar with TripAdvisor and make sure that any hotel you are considering gets reasonable reviews. Also, make sure that you understand the additional fees. I know that some hotels (like the Radisson Park Inn) have different nightly charges on different websites but they *also* have different "resort fees" so they low-ball one place but make up for it in a larger "resort fee".

I still think that that $400 per week is *doable* but you're going to have to work at it. You will probably end up with a condo or a timeshare property for that price. I would start to check eBay and vrbo.com for your week. Timeshares have Fri-Sun check-ins so you won't be able to check in the middle of the week. I would also check out www.skyauction.com. MAKE SURE that you understand ALL the fine print and additional fees at Skyauction before you bid/buy. You can get some *real* bargains at SkyAuction, especially if you can wait until the last minute to buy and have a cancelable back-up plan. Search for "Skyauction" here on the DIS for more information.

ETA: You can also check out http://vacationcentralflorida.com/. Dave Robinson often has condos for $299 + fees which brings it up to about $425 for the week.
 
well there is a Motel 6 in that area Maingate West - that I have stayed at - okay it has been a few years - but they did a remodel in 2015 might have been 2016

forgot this place is behind a Perkins restaurant - so you have a fairly inexpensive restaurant close.
 


If you are paying for a room at a hotel, you have 12.5% tax. At $400 for a week, you are looking at $50 per night. It is going to be extremely difficult to find it. Yes, it is doable. However, it is not going to be easy and you will have to make sacrifices: how far away, number of rooms, number of days, etc.
 
If you're feeling lucky, you can also try Hotwire or Priceline. If you have kids, I would do Hotwire so you'll be guaranteed a room to fit your family. I just check HW for my random dates of 7/8-7/15 and came up with a 3* hotel in the "Bonnet Creek" area that has breakfast and has a 70% positive rating for $35 per night plus $7.91 per night resort fee. That comes out to $358.05 all in. BUT ... you don't know what hotel it is for sure and you'll have to prepay with no refund.

http://www.betterbidding.com/ can help you puzzle out the hotels that are offered through Hotwire and Priceline. They have lists of hotels that have been reported on both HW and PL. It would be nice if you use them that you post the information about the hotel you scored.

My guess from checking Better Bidding is that the hotel I found is the Baymont Inn and Suites in Celebration, but I can't be 100% sure.
 
Thanks everyone for the advice!

It will be a Monday-Saturday trip in late June. It will be for my boyfriend and I.

I usually use Priceline to book hotels for trips and am eyeing a 3 star in the Lake Buena Vista area that according to http://expdealshotel.com/ is the Clarion Inn Lake Buena Vista. With taxes and after a promo code, it comes to $313.20 for the 5 nights. Does anyone see any reason why I shouldn't book this?

Thanks again for all the insight! I've been to Orlando my freshman year of high school, but that was a long time ago! This is the first trip I've planned myself so I'm a little lost!
 


That makes more sense. You can probably widen your search a little bit more. I am not certain of that resort. Personally, I would not jump to any conclusion this quickly. You have time to search I think. It is a good deal though.
 
Thanks everyone for the advice!

It will be a Monday-Saturday trip in late June. It will be for my boyfriend and I.

I usually use Priceline to book hotels for trips and am eyeing a 3 star in the Lake Buena Vista area that according to http://expdealshotel.com/ is the Clarion Inn Lake Buena Vista. With taxes and after a promo code, it comes to $313.20 for the 5 nights. Does anyone see any reason why I shouldn't book this?

Thanks again for all the insight! I've been to Orlando my freshman year of high school, but that was a long time ago! This is the first trip I've planned myself so I'm a little lost!
I think that the Clarion Inn LBV is a perfectly reasonable choice. I've read good things about it and there doesn't appear to be a resort fee. I usually don't look up in that area because I don't like driving I-4 or down Hotel Blvd to get to WDW ... but that's just me! I'll be staying close to that hotel on my next trip (across I-4, north of the outlet mall) because I booked free on hotel points so maybe I'll get over my prejudice, LOL.

Do be aware that you cannot cancel a Priceline reservation so you need to be 100% double-dog sure you're going on those dates.
 
Were about to stay in a 2br at Silver Lake resort thru SkyAuction for 320.00 for the week. The last 2 years we stayed in Sheraton Vistana in 2 br for 420.00 for the week. These have all been the week prior to Memorial Day. If you look at SkyAuction make sure you read all the way to the bottom of the page. Some weeks have extra fees
 
Thanks everyone for the advice!

It will be a Monday-Saturday trip in late June. It will be for my boyfriend and I.

I usually use Priceline to book hotels for trips and am eyeing a 3 star in the Lake Buena Vista area that according to http://expdealshotel.com/ is the Clarion Inn Lake Buena Vista. With taxes and after a promo code, it comes to $313.20 for the 5 nights. Does anyone see any reason why I shouldn't book this?

Thanks again for all the insight! I've been to Orlando my freshman year of high school, but that was a long time ago! This is the first trip I've planned myself so I'm a little lost!
There is a recent trip report for this hotel on the Orlando hotels thread.
 
Were about to stay in a 2br at Silver Lake resort thru SkyAuction for 320.00 for the week. The last 2 years we stayed in Sheraton Vistana in 2 br for 420.00 for the week. These have all been the week prior to Memorial Day. If you look at SkyAuction make sure you read all the way to the bottom of the page. Some weeks have extra fees

We have stayed at Vistana a few times, but haven't been there in a few years! My daughter misses it and we're considering staying the first few days we'll be down. Are the rooms still clean and well maintained? Pool area still nice? Thanks so much!!!
 
We have stayed at Vistana a few times, but haven't been there in a few years! My daughter misses it and we're considering staying the first few days we'll be down. Are the rooms still clean and well maintained? Pool area still nice? Thanks so much!!!
Yes, everything was very clean and well maintained at Visitana
 
SkyAuction is great, I use it several times a year, but have never seen a Monday check in with the 7 night deals. It's usually Friday or Saturday, very occasionally I do see a Sunday check in.

In the $300-350/week range I like:
Silver Lake-next door to AK, very easy commute via a back road
Cypress Palms-recent renovations, in the Maingate East/Celebration area

We also like both of the Sheraton timeshares-Vistana and Vistana Villages but they've always been a little more expensive than the two above.

I've also stayed at the Clarion Lake Buena Vista many times. It's my go-to arrival night hotel. Darkish rooms but clean enough, very decent shuttle considering that I usually pay in the $50-60/night range. The earliest shuttle to the MK/TTC is early enough to make 9:00 AM openings at the parks. It is also on the Lynx 50 route with stops at the TTC and near Disney Springs.

Here's their shuttle schedule:
http://www.platinumtransportation.c...ages/shuttle_pdf/Clarion_lake_buena_vista.pdf
 
In the $300-350/week range I like:
Silver Lake-next door to AK, very easy commute via a back road
Cypress Palms-recent renovations, in the Maingate East/Celebration area

Here's their shuttle schedule:
http://www.platinumtransportation.c...ages/shuttle_pdf/Clarion_lake_buena_vista.pdf

Thanks for that shuttle schedule!

I also would recommend Silver Lake & Wyndham Cypress Palms. I would also add Star Island which is down the street from Cypress on 192 to look into the price for a week there. I used to work for Wyndham so I would choose Star Island if Bonnet Creek wasn't available with our employee discount. Not sure what regular prices for a week are or what type of site you could look into for discounts but check it out.
 
Thanks everyone for the advice!

It will be a Monday-Saturday trip in late June. It will be for my boyfriend and I.

I usually use Priceline to book hotels for trips and am eyeing a 3 star in the Lake Buena Vista area that according to http://expdealshotel.com/ is the Clarion Inn Lake Buena Vista. With taxes and after a promo code, it comes to $313.20 for the 5 nights. Does anyone see any reason why I shouldn't book this?

Thanks again for all the insight! I've been to Orlando my freshman year of high school, but that was a long time ago! This is the first trip I've planned myself so I'm a little lost!


Well done Claire M for asking the questions & following through with explanations .

We All had to learn how to organize vacations ....... So Keep Up Learning , seek advice

And make a habit of saying thank you for help / advice given

Sometimes GO with your own Instincts

Good Luck
 
Thank you everyone for all the feedback!

Just booked my hotel through Priceline Express and got the Clarion Inn Lake Buena Vista for 5 nights in late June for $313. Very excited about this and looking forward to my trip!

Thanks again!!
 

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