we are beginning to think and plan a Disney world vacation. I really hate standard hotel rooms with little kids... too hard for little kids to go to bed earlyand big people to stay up later.. I want a suite hotel.. so there is a bedroom with a door and kids can go to bed early.. I would love at least a microwave and small refrig so we caneat some meals in our room to save some $$...
any recommendations??
Have you looked at vrbo.com? You can rent homes for not too much money. We normally do the timeshare thing though, so you could look in to that as well.
last time we went to disney world we rented a house that was literally 2 miles from disney property. had several bedrooms, a living room, full kitchen, dining area and bonus a screened in pool on the back patio. we had breakfast each day before leaving, packed a lunch in the diaper bag of sandwiches , chips and fruit. kids were able to swim each night. cost us $600 for the week. way cheaper than your going to find at disney. now having said that you will pay for parking at disney and even though it is literally on top of disney you have to drive to entrances. took us about 15 minutes to actually get into the park.
found it on ebay lol. search orlando vacation properties or rental properties
I will second the recommendation for Old Key West, it's great and we've stayed there 3 times.
You can have groceries delivered and they also have a small grocery store as part of the gift shop.
We recently stayed in a condo very near the Disney property. We only went to Disney one day for this trip. The traffic around Disney can be really crazy, we really see a benefit to staying on property if you'll be going to the Disney parks for several days.
M
We went in March, with a 2.5 and 5.5 year old. We did not go to bed much after them, you are exhausted by the end of the day.
We went with my parents, they stayed in a conjoining room. That allowed us to run up to the cafeteria for a snack. We were looking for a place that would accommodate the 6 of us, and the two separate rooms was better price wise.
You can check Music all stars for a preferred room, my friend said that they had small suite there.
Most of the on site places that offer suites are very expensive. But they do have a few to choose from including the newest one, Bay Lake Tower.
If you don't mind a little travel I would recommend looking for a rental outside of the parks. You can find homes for much less. Check out these sites:
We just got back from Disney on Saturday. Although I have not stayed at Old Key West, we ate dinner there one night. (Great meal!) From the time we pulled into the resort entrance until they dropped us off at the restaurant entrance it was a 20 minute bus ride. This resort is huge and there were so many bus stops my husband and I agreed we would never stay there. The number of bus stops and the time it took was crazy!!!
We've been twice and both times traded our timeshare to stay in timeshare resorts near but not on WDW.
If you're set on staying on resort, I think you've got some good suggestions.
Otherwise, look into some of the resorts that are timeshares. You can still get the resort/hotel experience you're used to but you'll have much more space and can cook your own meals when you want to. If you plan to rent a car, we liked Marriot Harbor Lake, but that's a bit further from the parks and doesn't have a shuttle, so unless you have AAA you have to pay to park every day. Marriott has several timeshares in the area. All are nice, but I don't think any have a shuttle.
If I remember correctly Westgate Town Center has a free shuttle to the parks, so that might be an option to look at. I think they also play up the whole Disney thing in terms of showing movies etc on site. It's on our short list if we go back.
Like I said, we always stay by trading timeshare, but these also operate like normal hotels so you can probably call and book or check out websites.
Art of Animation is a "value resort" on Disney property that is absolutely beautiful, still has all the amenities like souvenir delivery to your hotel, shuttles to all Disney parks, cafeteria-style restaurant on property, one of the best Disney pools, concierge, Magic Bands, etc.
They have super-themed family suites (Cars, Lion King, and Nemo) with a dining table that hides a full-sized Murphy bed, a queen-sized closed off bedroom, a pullout couch in a living room alcove, a microwave, a mini-fridge with freezer area (kept my breastmilk frozen all week), 2 TVs, and 2 full bathrooms (1 tub, 1 big shower).
We stayed a full week in that suite comfortably. Hubby and I had a bedroom and en suite bathroom, 4.5yo and 2.5yo had the "table bed", baby in pack n play in living room area, 3 suitcases on floor in living room area, small umbrella and big double jogging strollers parked against the wall.
We have stayed at Old Key West. 2 BR/2BA, full kitchen...basically a condo.
We took my parents with us. The couch pulled out too, in the living room.
We are planning to stay there again when we go in Feb.
PS: there is a grocery delivery service that can stock the room, too, so you can do meals at the house.
I recommend Old Key West. We were there Dec. '12 and it was great. Two BR/two bath..full kitchen, living room, washer/dryer, fridge, coffee maker, etc. Sofa in living room folded out to a bed, also. Kids loved the trip & "our new house!"
Some have suggested staying off Disney property. Here is our experience with that. We were at Disney World in April and stayed at a timeshare (Calypso Cay in Kissimmee) off Disney property. We had a full sized kitchen, laundry, a bedroom, and a pullout couch. There were TVs in both the living room and bedroom. It was the worst place we have EVER stayed!!! We decided we would probably never do that again. Staying on Disney property would be more than worth it.
By the time we drove to the parks and paid for parking it really wasn't worth it. And it was not convenient to going back for a rest in the afternoon. Not to mention we had no maid service the entire week, a broken pullout couch that never got fixed even after at least four phone calls to the desk, a washer that was so loud it sounded like we were washing a bucket of rocks, walls so thin we could hear our neighbors eating cereal in the morning, water that tasted so bad we bought jugs of water that I even used for brushing my teeth. And that is just the big stuff. Never would have had any of those issues with a Disney property.
Get the book Walt Disney World with Kids. It has great write ups on all of the Disney properties and advice for the best ways to travel from hotel to parks.
