Anonymous wrote:We're going with or family of 6 - need tickets only for 5 as one is young. All in, easily $7500 with airfare, hotel, tickets, food. Disney will be one of our more expensive vacations. We too are Mariott/not Ritz/not Holiday Inn, but Disney is just not going to be cheap.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP here. To clarify, Bay Lake Towers is the condo Disney Vacation Club (DVC) portion of the Contemporary Resort. It is super expensive.

Hi this is OP. in the travel agents defense - I asked about Bay Lake Towers because I know two people that stayed there recently and recommended it. I did not realize quite how expensive it was.

Also, I equate Disney Deluxe with Marriott, not Ritz. Perhaps it's more like Marriott style at Ritz prices.

Now i'm thinking about the Wyndham Bonnet anyhow - $700 for a 2 br condo...

Anonymous wrote:PP here. To clarify, Bay Lake Towers is the condo Disney Vacation Club (DVC) portion of the Contemporary Resort. It is super expensive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were there in May last year, with a 2 year old and 5.5 year old. We were there for 6 park days/nights.

We stayed offsite, at a suite property, and would be hard pressed to do it another way with young kids. We spent 5-6 hours each day at a park, and then headed back for nap time (or vice versa). When we weren't at the parks, we spent time resting, at the myriad of pools, or heading out to eat at a nearby restaurant. Our suite was around $200/night.

By getting to the parks before rope drop/after 4 pm, we were able to get parking spots close to the front. We thought we were going to park hop, but no way. We were all exhausted. No meal plan - ate breakfast back at the room, packed some small snacks, and grabbed what we wanted where we wanted.

We typically spend good $$$ on vacations, so not bargain hunters by any stretch. But we were pleasantly surprised at how much we liked staying off site and coming and going as we liked.

did you stay at the Wyndham Bonnet Creek?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We usually pay about $3000 for 5 days at a deluxe, including park hoppers.

We are probably like you -- I like the Marriott comparison! We do choose to stay deluxe because of proximity to parks, which is nice for our style of touring (we aren't dawn-to-dusk park people). But I've heard nice things about the moderate resortsm (Port Orleans in particular), which would bring costs down considerably without sacrificing the Disney experience.

Bay Lake Towers is going to be one of the pricer deluxe resorts because of its top location, plus I believe it's all suites. You could probably pay a little less at the Contemporary, which is right next door and a more traditional hotel. Value is even better in the Garden Wing of the Contemporary, which still gives you the benefits of a deluxe and the Contemporary's great location at a lower price point.

You can get the Deluxe experience for less at the Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom Lodge, both of which are gorgeous properties but a little farther away from the parks. But we really like the Epcot area resorts, which are walking distance to both Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Again, we pay a little more for the convenience and the nice setting.

I don't recommend the dining plan because it really ties you to reservations too much. Unless everyone in your group is a big foodie or loves to eat, spring for a couple of nice sit-down meals then stick to quick service for everything else.

This is OP. Thanks, this is helpful. What time of year do you go that you pay $3000? That seems like a good price. Is that just lodging and tickets... with food costs on top of that?

We want a suite to avoid the 7:30 pm family bedtime... we like to be able to put DS to bed and have somewhere to hang out.

I am going to look at the Boardwalk area resorts too - I really like that area with walking around the lake, lots of restaurants, etc. Seems like the prices at the Beach Club are similar to Wilderness Lodge.

In searching around it also looks like the 15-30% room-only discounts will eventually come out for our travel times...

I'm the PP. Join the Mousesavers newsletter, check out the Disboards, and if possible sign up for the Chase Disney Visa. You'll get advance notice of discounts, and in the Disney Visa case, first crack at them before they're opened to the general public. We have always been able to apply codes, which is how we manage to keep it to $3K for 5 days in deluxe resorts.

I agree with another PP about the BLT being almost the Ritz. In the Disney world, suites are so much more expensive than the deluxe hotel rooms that they're out of reach for almost everyone unless you rent points from a DVC owner. I suggest a deluxe resort with a balcony room so you and your husband can have a place for down time. Remember, Disney is outrageously priced all-around. You get used to the Disney math after a while but it still means we find ourselves not blinking at paying $500/night for a standard hotel room when in real life we'd be looking at a nice Marriott suite for half that. I agree with another PP that it's really hard to keep to a 7:30 bedtime. The parks are so nice at night -- crowds are lower, lines are shorter. Then depending on what resort you're staying at, you can be putting your kid to sleep and then all of a sudden the electrical water pageant out your window, or fireworks begin and sleep just doesn't happen.

From one Marriott type to another, choose the location you like best, spring for a regular deluxe, make sure to request a balcony. Even without a code you should be able to cut your costs quite a bit that way and I promise your experience won't be diminished in any way.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We usually pay about $3000 for 5 days at a deluxe, including park hoppers.

We are probably like you -- I like the Marriott comparison! We do choose to stay deluxe because of proximity to parks, which is nice for our style of touring (we aren't dawn-to-dusk park people). But I've heard nice things about the moderate resortsm (Port Orleans in particular), which would bring costs down considerably without sacrificing the Disney experience.

Bay Lake Towers is going to be one of the pricer deluxe resorts because of its top location, plus I believe it's all suites. You could probably pay a little less at the Contemporary, which is right next door and a more traditional hotel. Value is even better in the Garden Wing of the Contemporary, which still gives you the benefits of a deluxe and the Contemporary's great location at a lower price point.

You can get the Deluxe experience for less at the Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom Lodge, both of which are gorgeous properties but a little farther away from the parks. But we really like the Epcot area resorts, which are walking distance to both Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Again, we pay a little more for the convenience and the nice setting.

I don't recommend the dining plan because it really ties you to reservations too much. Unless everyone in your group is a big foodie or loves to eat, spring for a couple of nice sit-down meals then stick to quick service for everything else.

This is OP. Thanks, this is helpful. What time of year do you go that you pay $3000? That seems like a good price. Is that just lodging and tickets... with food costs on top of that?

We want a suite to avoid the 7:30 pm family bedtime... we like to be able to put DS to bed and have somewhere to hang out.

I am going to look at the Boardwalk area resorts too - I really like that area with walking around the lake, lots of restaurants, etc. Seems like the prices at the Beach Club are similar to Wilderness Lodge.

In searching around it also looks like the 15-30% room-only discounts will eventually come out for our travel times...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Whoa!

I've stayed at Orlando hotels about 30 minutes from Disney for business travel, and they seem to include breakfast and dinner in their hotel rates. What about renting a car and staying further out?

The issue with that is usually timing. It depends on the ages of the kids. For younger kids, the most pleasant way to do disney is to visit the park in the morning, take a rest break for lunch that could include naps and pool, and then head back to the park in the late afternoon. If your hotel is 30 min away and your parking in the Disney lots to be shuttled in and out, that easily can add an hour and a half to each trip. Now your spending 3 hours a day for travel to and from the parks. If the kids are older and don't need a break in the middle of the day, your plan is great.

Anonymous wrote:We usually pay about $3000 for 5 days at a deluxe, including park hoppers.

We are probably like you -- I like the Marriott comparison! We do choose to stay deluxe because of proximity to parks, which is nice for our style of touring (we aren't dawn-to-dusk park people). But I've heard nice things about the moderate resortsm (Port Orleans in particular), which would bring costs down considerably without sacrificing the Disney experience.

Bay Lake Towers is going to be one of the pricer deluxe resorts because of its top location, plus I believe it's all suites. You could probably pay a little less at the Contemporary, which is right next door and a more traditional hotel. Value is even better in the Garden Wing of the Contemporary, which still gives you the benefits of a deluxe and the Contemporary's great location at a lower price point.

You can get the Deluxe experience for less at the Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom Lodge, both of which are gorgeous properties but a little farther away from the parks. But we really like the Epcot area resorts, which are walking distance to both Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Again, we pay a little more for the convenience and the nice setting.

I don't recommend the dining plan because it really ties you to reservations too much. Unless everyone in your group is a big foodie or loves to eat, spring for a couple of nice sit-down meals then stick to quick service for everything else.

Anonymous wrote:We were there in May last year, with a 2 year old and 5.5 year old. We were there for 6 park days/nights.

We stayed offsite, at a suite property, and would be hard pressed to do it another way with young kids. We spent 5-6 hours each day at a park, and then headed back for nap time (or vice versa). When we weren't at the parks, we spent time resting, at the myriad of pools, or heading out to eat at a nearby restaurant. Our suite was around $200/night.

By getting to the parks before rope drop/after 4 pm, we were able to get parking spots close to the front. We thought we were going to park hop, but no way. We were all exhausted. No meal plan - ate breakfast back at the room, packed some small snacks, and grabbed what we wanted where we wanted.

We typically spend good $$$ on vacations, so not bargain hunters by any stretch. But we were pleasantly surprised at how much we liked staying off site and coming and going as we liked.