Completely Off Topic...booking Disney for the fam. Any suggestions?

Thanks!  Great advice!

I went to Disney for Christmas in December 2012 with my husband and 3 girls and I put a lot of research into finding the best value at the best price.  

I bid on travel whenever we go anywhere.  We stayed at Rosen Shingle Creek (near SeaWorld)  I found the hotel on "Travelocity" and won the room (13 nights) for $49 per night. It ended up being an amazing high end resort with 4  heated outdoor pools and a market place restaurant with excellent prices.  The valet parking was  an additional $18 per night  -still a great deal even with the parking .

We got a rental car (SUV) on Priceline for $528 for 14 days - amazing deal for that time of year.  I didn't buy the dining plan.  We saved money by planning which restaurants to eat at in advance and also going off site to eat dinner.

The website where I found the park tickets at the cheapest price was at orlandofuntickets.com. 

With the combination of all those cost savings it worked out much cheaper for us to stay off site with a rental vehicle.  It was Christmas when we went (the busiest time of year) so all the prices were highly inflated at the Disney resorts. 

We had so much fun we hope to go again next December.  This time I will be much thinner and have more energy - that's the plan after WLS.

 

 

 

Thanks for your wonderful perspective.  Those are all great suggestions.  I have to admit, bidding on hotels has always intimidated me, so I have never tried it.  Maybe I'll have to give it shot.  What a great deal you got!  How far in advance did you do it?

Hi

We go every year and always rent a house with a pool. The site we book from is called HOME AWAY. It's very safe. This is the first year were driving in July and staying 1 month. Get your tickets from UNDERGROUND TOURIST. Com. You will save money. We always drove to Syracuse and flew with jet blue. Cheapest to use by far. This is the first time were driving down. We're taking three days to drive because we want a full day in savanah georgia. 

Hope this helps. You'll have a great time.

Kelly

if you need more help just ask

 

Thanks Kelly.  Enjoy your trip.  Georgia sounds like a great stop along the way!

Thank you all for the very helpful advice.  How did I know you'd all have such great info?! 

Hi Marny,

There are several sites I use but mostly priceline and travelocity.  I book about a month - two months in advance.  However, sometimes, it's been just a few days.  We went to Canada's Wonderland and we stayed at the Courtyard Marriot in Vaughan for two nights at $46 per night.  For Orlando it was three weeks.

 

If you send me a PM I can give you some tips on how to bid and get the best prices.

Marny, we went January 2012. I'm not sure where you are from but we drove to buffalo and left from there on a flight to Orlando. It. Cost me under $1000 with taxes for the 5 of us. We rented a home for the week with a pool for about another $1000 and rented a car for $160 including taxes for the week. I thought it was a good deal comparing to other deals. We don't like to be restricted so tats why we rented a car....to venture out. I'm sorry I can't give you any feedback on the resorts though.....

Its been a few years since we stayed but we stayed in the Caribbean Resort on Disney.  It was a short shuttle to the parks and we got to go in and reserve the popular rides earlier than the public since we were staying on resort, which we researched and did right away, then we had the times to come back for those rides and did other stuff until the appointments.  If you girls are interested in dancing and the exotic at all we had supper in Epcot at the Moroccan pavilion, the belly dancer taught my daughter how to belly dance and the food was very good.  The fireworks at the end of every day in Epcot was memorable.  In the animal park they face paint for a small fortune but again was so memorable, they did my daughter up like a lioness, she still mentions it every now and then, many years later.  Have fun!  We'll be doing that again in about ten years!  

ps. we did the Cirque du Soliel show in downtown Disney called La Nouba.  Now after 18 Cirque shows that was still our favorite!  Tres expensive but so entertaining, and again not forgettable! 

Hi! I have a couple of friends with rental properties down there. My one friend's house is 3 bdrm (maybe 4?) with an inground pool.It's an 8-minute drive to the park. They charge $525 for the week. They are looking into purchasing a vehicle to leave there as well. Also, they have 2 (maybe 3) children's season passes that they leave for their guests and that's a huge money saver. The adult ones have pictures so they can't be used (too bad!). So there are deals out there, for sure. I prefer staying off-site so we can have chill day**** the beach, prepare our own meals and snacks. It can be done on the cheap!