Starting to plan :)

Butterbeer · 18 Jan 19, 09:01 PM

Hi

I'm beginning to plan our next visit to Orlando, most likely for 2020. We last visited in late February/early March 2015, so it's been a while and I'm desperate to go back! I have a few questions and am looking for a bit of advice.
Firstly, I'd like opinions on when would be the best time for us to go? It will just be myself and my partner, neither of us are tied to school holidays and currently don't have anything else to work around in 2020. I'm thinking of going for 2 weeks. I like the idea of seeing the Halloween decorations, or maybe the Christmas ones, he will just agree with whenever I say to go haha. So maybe sometime between September and November. Is there quieter weeks during these months, or are they all roughly the same (except half term obviously)? Or is there a better time people would suggest if I forget about Halloween/Christmas?
Second, I'm deciding whether to stay at Disney/Universal or off site. We don't care about the dining plan or fancy hotels or anything, just getting the best value for money really. Is it always significantly more expensive to stay on site? There's so many deals and hotels floating around that I can't keep track haha.
Thanks!

disneyfangirl01 · 18 Jan 19, 10:10 PM

I saw a pretty good deal on all star sports for this sept/oct - if a similar offer is on i think you would struggle to beat it offsite once you take into account parking fees, car rental or other transport.

I think it was under �900 for two weeks if your not too bothered about what hotel you stay in

Butterbeer · 19 Jan 19, 08:41 AM

This is what I was wondering if I hired a car: By the time I�d paid for the car hire, insurance, petrol and parking, surely that would cost the difference between staying at a cheap I-drive hotel and staying at a Disney hotel where we could just use their buses instead?
�900 seems really good for 2 weeks! Was this direct with Disney or somewhere else? Thanks!

disneyfangirl01 · 19 Jan 19, 02:14 PM

Originally Posted by Butterbeer

This is what I was wondering if I hired a car: By the time I�d paid for the car hire, insurance, petrol and parking, surely that would cost the difference between staying at a cheap I-drive hotel and staying at a Disney hotel where we could just use their buses instead?
�900 seems really good for 2 weeks! Was this direct with Disney or somewhere else? Thanks!

Yeah we are basically in the same boat im not too bothered about the hotel but shower curtain in general make me feel sick so im looking at pop or CSR for us depending on what dining plan offer come available!

we have looked at staying at the Rosen inn on I drive again - i have stayed here before on a cruise and fly and they are one of the few hotels on I drive that don't charge a daily service fee which suddenly makes them not of a good deal in my opinion! - unless this has changed since i have been!

but once you take into account like you said car, gas, parking, food - we are right back at disney in a moderate with a free dining plan at basically the same price!

Yes, that deal was with disney direct included 4 free nights which you obviously wont get once/ if free dinning comes into play!

Butterbeer · 19 Jan 19, 06:24 PM

Yeah we stayed at the Rosen Inn closest to Universal last time, and to be fair it was great for us at the time. We could walk to a few restaurants and to the Walgreens if we wanted drinks and snacks, and we just used the Lynx buses to get to the parks which were fine, but I would like to be as close as possible to Disney or Universal this time, and Disney would make more sense as there�s more parks etc there.
I found that deal through Disney last night and did think about the free nights not being included if the dining plan offer starts. It�s a good offer currently though, shame I�m booked up in September! I�m really not fussed about the dining plan but maybe it�s worth me seeing what they do offer and the prices.
Glad to see I was thinking along the right lines that it would be about the same price to stay at Disney with no car etc vs off site with a car and all the associated charges!

disneyfangirl01 · 20 Jan 19, 01:07 AM

Originally Posted by Butterbeer

Yeah we stayed at the Rosen Inn closest to Universal last time, and to be fair it was great for us at the time. We could walk to a few restaurants and to the Walgreens if we wanted drinks and snacks, and we just used the Lynx buses to get to the parks which were fine, but I would like to be as close as possible to Disney or Universal this time, and Disney would make more sense as there�s more parks etc there.
I found that deal through Disney last night and did think about the free nights not being included if the dining plan offer starts. It�s a good offer currently though, shame I�m booked up in September! I�m really not fussed about the dining plan but maybe it�s worth me seeing what they do offer and the prices.
Glad to see I was thinking along the right lines that it would be about the same price to stay at Disney with no car etc vs off site with a car and all the associated charges!

Yes thats the Rosen Inn we have stayed at before! - I would like the Dinning plan but will deffo be exploring options when next years prices come out!

tonymc · 21 Jan 19, 09:43 PM

We are going this year in November as DW has always wanted to see the Christmas decorations at Disney, and with DD finishing uni this May, we now have the freedom to do this!

We were hoping to stay at SSR or OKW in a one bed apartment (as there will be 4 of us going), but the free DDP wasn�t available for these resorts. We decided on staying at the Doubletree Suites in the Disney Springs area, as it offers many of the perks of staying on-site (60 day FP booking, EMH and buses to the parks) at a significantly lower cost than a couple of rooms at a value resort.

Even if OKW/SSR had been available with DDP, it would have cost around �3,800 (based on similar length stays) for the fortnight. However, the Doubletree is �1,860, so we have almost �2k for food, albeit we will be eating off-site quite a few nights!

Butterbeer · 21 Jan 19, 10:40 PM

Thank you, the Double Tree sounds like it could be worth a look for us! Especially as we�re not too fussed about the dining plan but I definitely like the sound of 60 day fast passes!