Where to Stay in Disney-Florida

We never stay on site, never have. We always stay at the Marriott Royal Palms, Marriott Imperial Palms, or Wyndham Bonnet Creek. It's not at all difficult or inconvenient for us to drive to the parks. We get a lot of space and save money by being able to cook meals...it's VERY worth it to us.

We always stayed at the Polynesian which is on the monorail line. It is pricey but worth it to us. Easy acces to Magic Kingdom and the monorail.

I always booked things myself. However, I'm used to doing that for our personal and business travel so it is easy.

Make sure you book any character meals well ahead of your trip!

It is easier to stay on property, but it is a lot more expensive with two families staying together. I list my rental on vrbo.com, homeaway.com, and tripadviser.com. There are many companies that you can go through to find just what your need, Villas Direct is a popular one around the Disney area.

You will find that staying in a house or townhome off property will save you since it will be two families traveling together. Most have private pools, the nightly prices range from $75 a night and up. You can make your own meals there and bring lunch to the park, you also have a large variety of restaurants outside of the parks.

It really depends on what your budget is.

I suggest you stay on disney property. You get perks by staying there that you would not get if you stay off property - early access to fastpasses, dinner reservations, free transportation to and from the airport, free parking, etc.

Disney has travel specialists who can help you plan. They don't charge you anything, and they know all the ins and out of booking and planning your trip. So, I suggest you talk to a travel agent and find one with Disney credentials.

We stayed at the Contemporary Inn. Our room faced the Magic Kingdom and it was beautiful. The kids were exhausted at the end of the day, so we would go to our room and watch the fireworks in air-conditioned comfort! Our kids thought having the monorail go through the building was amazing.

I must echo the others- stay on the property. My other advice? If you want to do a character breakfast, BOOK IT EARLY! They fill up quickly!

Finally, we planned the entire trip ourselves, but used a planning kit from Disney. You can find everything you need at their website.

Have a wonderful trip!

DO NOT STAY AT CALYPSO COVE!!!! Worst mistake we ever made. It was a horrible place. And it really was kind of inconvenient to stay off property. We probably would never do that again.

With kids that age you can probably skip the meal plan. Our kids were 5 and 7. The meal plan would have been a big waste of money for us. We didn't really care about eating in the themed restaurants or doing a character meal.

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khairete
S.

Stay on property. So much easier. The value level hotels are great if you are in a strict budget. I have always booked things myself. It's easy enough. How long are you going for? I would invest in Birnbaums Guide to Disney. There are several but Birnbaums is the best. Also allears.net is an awesome website. Make your restaurant reservations early. Spring break is a very busy time.

If you stay on property no need for a car, or paying for parking. Stay on property you get on bus or boat or monorail, depending where you are staying, and you get right to the gates.

I agree with the others, if you are planning a Disney Vacation, stay on site. It is so much easier, and less than you think (especially with any discounts they may have). I personally believe that on site makes the vacation so much more magical! A travel agent is up to you, but they can answer this question and so many more. And they do not cost anything (and can give you money saving tips too). I am a travel agent specializing in Disney if you want to message me, I can help you.

Are you on Facebook? There is a Facebook page called Disney Vacationing. It has tons of information about Disney. What to do, where to stay, whether or not to use a travel agent. You can post tons of questions and get personal responses from some self professed Disney Fanatics. It really helped me plan.

We used http://www.magicmousetravel.com/ and our agent was amazing! It's a free service, and they handle anything and everything! Dinner reservations, dining plans, fast passes.... EVERYTHING. We stayed at POP Century right on Disney property and it was great! They are like a well oiled machine! The Dining plan was a huge plus for us, as was the Memory Maker Photopass. All the photo souvenirs cost so much ($25 and up!) but with the Memory Maker package, we got ALL the photos from the photographers and rides (over 600 total) for a great deal! As far as staying onsite, it was so easy to get up and go with the Disney transportation. Also, our travel agent from Magic Mouse Travel got our plane tickets (I found a better deal than she did so I sent her the information and she booked them for us) and connected all our information together with the reservations. A Magical Express bus took us from the airport to our hotel, and took care of our luggage for us. Everything was so easy! If you have any other questions feel free to email me! I am real big into details so I tend to know more than I need to haha!

We stayed at the Polynesian because it's equal walking distance to the monorail (to Epcot), to the private boat that goes from Polynesian to Grand Floridian to Magic Kingdom, and to buses to other properties. It's pricey but you don't need a car. We had 2 older kids and then a baby, so we came back from the parks at 2-ish for naps, sent the big kids to the pool with one adult, and then hired a Disney sitter for the baby so the rest of us could go out on the "big rides" and a real dinner.

Get a small fridge so you can keep snacks and things like cheese and yogurt on hand. You'll be paying for all your meals, but you won't be renting a car or spending forever trying to park and take the trams. A lot of people I know have rented a villa on the property as well - that give you the kitchen and your own breakfasts. We always took a small soft-sided cooler or insulated bag with us that had snacks - you can take your own food onto Disney properties/parks. That means no waiting in line at key meal times - if you're happy to eat a PB&J sandwich. We bought some supplies at a market on the way in - get a paring knife (for fruit), some plastic silverware & paper or plastic plates, and a small bottle of dish soap. Get a few extra hand towels to use for draining or drying clean dishes. The advantage to having snacks on hand is that a hungry and cranky kid standing in line can have a little something to tide himself over.

Definitely take refillable water bottles - don't waste your money on plastic bottles of water you pay for. I think that's the biggest marketing scam around (and not just at Disney).

I agree about Birnbaum's book - it's updated frequently. One of the great tips we got from it was to enter the park and proceed to the far end! Yes, you have to drag kids past the first few attractions, but everyone will be getting on those lines. Instead, we went to the back of the park (with virtually no visitors), did those attractions, and worked our way back to the exit. Then when everyone was fried and exhausted, we were nearest the exit for either the boat or the monorail or even the bus.

You can certainly do a VRBO but the Disney properties offer pools - the kids can only stand in so many lines, and sometimes you just need to come back at 3 PM and let them swim and go down a few water slides.

You can use a travel agent, but if you are a member of AAA, use that service (sometimes they have info on coupons and so on). Or use the Disney travel coordinators especially if you are booking things like character breakfasts. If you're on a budget, tell them - there are properties in a variety of price ranges, the most expensive ones being closest to the parks. But you also need to decide which parks you are going to visit - there are quite a few appropriate for this age range, and they cater to different interests.

You can also consider having one set of parents keep both kids on one evening so the other set can do something "adult" at the parks, and then switch off a different night. There are a lot of options for adult entertainment.