Disney World-inexpensive hotels??
 

My husband & I are going to WDW 10/97. We stayed at Comfort Inn LBV on our last trip but are looking for something else but in that general price range. Is is worth spending $40-$50 more a night to stay onsite? Any other comments or info anyone has would be appreciated too. Thanks!

Just returned from my 125th visit, give or take a couple, from Disney this morning. Unless you are staying at one of the major hotels on site its not worth the extra money. The time it takes to get a ride on a Disney bus to go back and forth at any time of the day can be really irritating. By major hotel, I am referring to theContempory, The Polynesian, The Grand Floridian, Boardwalk, The Swan or The Dophin, The Beach Club or my personal favorite, Wilderness Lodge.
If you want to stay off property, call the Buena Vista Suites, formerly a Comfort Suites Hotel on the corner of state road 535 &536 and right next door the Caribe Royale. Both are about from 3 miles from Lake Buena Vista entrance to Disney and Disney Village. Hope this is of some help.

I disagree completely! I think it is MORE than worth it to stay onsite. The whole Disney experience is just great and you get even more of it by staying onsite. Look at Dixie Landings or Port Orleans for great, relatively inexpensive digs--and each hotel runs specials occasionally where you can get a room for less than $100 per night.

I would highly recommend staying on site. My wife and I stayed at Dixie Landings last October and loved it. (Great weather helped) We never waited more than five minutes for a bus coming or going from any destination. The convenience of walking to the food court in the morning and choosing either a sit down breakfast or cafeteria style was great. The other big benefit is early entry to the theme parks. We used this and found ourselves the first to ride Tower of Terror one morning and had Epcot nearly to ourselves (well, as much as that's possible) for the first hour another morning. We also enjoyed the boat trips to Pleasure Island and the Marketplace from Dixie. If Dixie is full, Port Orleans is similar in price. We paid about $100 per night and it was well worth it! We would never stay off-site again.

Agree with the votes on Dixie Landings...reasonably priced, can't beat the bus service close by, the resturants and (especially, according to the boys, the 2 pools). We'd do it again!

If you want something cheaper than what's mentioned here already, stay at the All Star Sports or the All Star Music hotels, which are on Disney World property. When we last went, they were $69 a night. The rooms are very clean and you still get all the extra stuff people staying on Disney property get, such as getting into the parks early, package delivery to your room (if you buy stuff while in the parks, they'll deliver it to your room for free!), length-of-stay park passes (unlimited entry into all parks from the time you get there to the time you leave), etc.

Both of my trips I've stayed on-site and say that it is the only way to go. The bus service is wonderful. While they say that the buses run every 15(?) minutes, I've never had to wait for one. Whenever we were leaving the park there was always a bus wait to go back to the hotel. I've stayed at the Port Orleans and the Dixie Landings and prefer the Dixie Landings, just make sure you ask for a room close to the main building. Since the Dixie Landings and the Port Orleans share a bus, the plus side of staying at the Port Orleans is that the bus stops there first when going and coming from the parks, so you are assured of a seat when going and after a long day you're the first to be dropped off.

We have stayed at Dixie Landings and All Star Music, both are great, this year we will be ataying at the Wilderness Lodge, sine we will not be going to a national park I want this experience, and next summer maybe at the Dixie Landing since we are takling a Disney Cruise.
I have checked all over for safe and fun vacations for adults and children, and by far Disney comes up as number one, you can not beat it in any respect, and the money is niminal as compares to fun, action, and safety, still the number one place for family vacations in my book, I would rather spend my time with Disney and I know we have received a superior vacation, not to mention easy with children.
I do agree, stay on location at a Disney Resort, it's money well spent and enjoyed.

I agree with the on-site crew, if you're there to take in the whole thing. We went, w/ 2 kids, in January, stayed at All-Star Sports (Music's about the same). Found the convenience of being on-site, not needing to drive, access right to the gates, etc. to be a real plus. $69 was still the rate, or $74 for better view (skip it, I'd say -- we paid, but not worth it). Basically a very clean, well kept motel set-up, but with a central concessionary (sp?) having good food, etc. also. Heard the Dixie Landings also is very good, but a bit more $. The multi-park pass, available only to on-site guests (I think) also is a major convenience.

We just returned from our first visit to WDW. We spent 1 week. Our travel agent insisted we stay on site (we did splurge--Grand Floridian) and kept telling me I would thank her when we got back. Boy was she right--as I was riding on the monorail or bus I thought of having to treck to a parked car then drive back to a hotel---forget it!!! Disney is hard enuf to see in a week and I felt the convenience of early entry and bus/monorail service was worth the xtra $$. It was probably one of the more expensive vacations we've booked but I would not do it any other way!