Last month, we stayed entirely on points at the Hilton at Bonnet Creek. So, our housing cost was $0 and we only needed one day of parking at a whopping $29/night!
Lyft made it very, very convenient and under $125 for 10 nights. Most of the time, we waited 1-5 minute for a ride. We didn’t Lyft roundtrip on all days. For MK, we got dropped off at the lower Contemporary parking lot. It worked very well, about 0.4 mile walk to the MK tap and almost nobody at security. To Lyft from MK, we walked to the Contemporary lobby, about 0.5 miles. But getting the Lyft driver near MK park closing at midnight took awhile, 30 minutes.
It was such a good experience staying at Bonnet Creek, I’m having a hard time justifying an Epcot area resort stay in cash. Hilton has the Disney perks. But we didn’t use them to our advantage that often and FPP perk was just okay. I wouldn’t mind an offsite condo just for the fridge. But we are itching for the experience of staying at an Epcot area resort.
Oh, we are torn but I’m going to stalk the DVC discount sites shared here.
It is very difficult to book a standard studio at BWI. There are not many of them and most owners try to get them. Usually owners start “walking” their DVC reservations (book a week, drop the 1st night and add a new last night) weeks and sometimes months ahead of time. AKL values, AKL DVC CL, BWI standard views, and many times CC studios and 1 bedrooms can be difficult and I would always expect you have to pay for a different view/room level.
For Swan and Dolphin you may do better paying cash. The reason why is because it’s some horrific amount of points and they never discount them. But you can get a great deal paying out of pocket.
Holiday Inn express gets me a room for a significantly lower number of points. So maybe that, even though it’s farther away. Maybe book both and decide later in the year once I’ve booked flights and planned meals. I probably need to stop encouraging using points for hotel rooms here and there so we can save them for nicer stays (not just Disney).
(And brain fart on free dining - that only works for a longer stay. So that’s not a potential perk.)
Which Marriott did you stay at with more bathrooms & kitchen? We really need two to make a quick exit in the morning. We won’t be staying with the condo company we have used in the past & need another alternative! Thanks!
We stayed at the Marriott Cyprus Harbour or something rather. We had two bedrooms; a living room w sleeper sofa, two bathrooms , and a kitchen. We stayed there for half the trip and then half the trip at POR in a princess room and it was dark and tiny and we were tripping over each other. The people above us were moving stuff around till all hours of the night and the people next to us had the tv blasting. We will never go back.
We currently only collect Hilton points but open to collecting another brand.
We saved Hilton points for 2+ years for our WDW vacation. We did use some points for a night here and there though. We used 120,000 points for 4 nights at the Hampton on Palm Parkway and got another night free. And we used another 400,000 points for 8 nights and got another 2 nights free at Hilton at Bonnet Creek. This hotel gave us Disney perks. I know, a lot of points. But we were okay with it. And after returning from our trip, we can say we are still okay spending all those points for WDW. It saved us housing costs and it worked well for us.
If we don’t end up staying at a Disney resort for our next trip, we are open to staying somewhere convenient for a good cash price or on points again.
We can’t really eat much in the parks so we really need a place with a full kitchen. Plus with a family of 5 (and with my mom coming a few days it will be 6 people), it’s so crowded in those tiny hotel rooms. Plus some of those rooms are really low end and the cheesy “theming” makes it even worse.
On the flip side we can fairly easily find a condo or town house with 3 or 4 bedrooms, 3-4 bathrooms, a full kitchen and really close to the parks. Typical cost is about $1,000-1,300 for a week, all in. That’s often less than what those low end rooms at the All Star hotels go for. We’re staying at Regal Oaks again for our trip next week and it’s only a 10-15 minute drive to most of the parks. Seems like a no brainer to me.
Wyndham Bonnet Creek has condos for $145 a night. We’re going to do that next time. It’s actually in property but you don’t get the FPP perks which I’m willing to sacrifice for the price. So close we can just Uber and not rent a car.
Not same. Well, I mean, not that I’m anxious to cook, but the cost savings is enormous…plus, after many days at the parks, my intestines start to protest at the constant barrage of junk.
Anyhow, for our May trip, we plan to eat breakfast in our rental house, plus one other meal per day, with the exception of I think one day. I can feed the entire family of 8 of us a meal for the same price as a single entree for a single person in the parks. So the cost savings is rather enormous. This allows us to divert those funds to other things, such as AK DAH.
Exactly.
Even if the only thing we “cook” is breakfast, we’ve saved big money.
When you throw in the packed lunches, the savings allowed for incredible spends elsewhere.
I also find that I don’t have to go it alone, like I may have to at home. On vacation, everyone is free to help cook, wash, pack, etc., and it gets done SO quickly.
Just depends on the person. I don’t want to cook full meals on vacation. I don’t want to do laundry. I want a break from all the mundane tasks. I agree there are huge benefits of cooking in terms of costs, but I’d rather sacrifice in other areas (i.e. less souvenirs, extra ticketed events). This could change in a few years when my kids are old enough to help, but at this point they can really only help set the table and other basic tasks.
In 2007, we stayed at the Contemporary with a view of the castle. It was amazing and at the time, I knew I would never do it again. I won’t even bother checking the rate now. It would probably give me a genuine heart attack.
We are doing it for a single night in December. $840. But, it is a special occasion that only comes around once every 25 years.
My biggest fear is that going with the Theme Park view will be a waste of money. Is it worth that much extra money just to see the park/castle/fireworks from our balcony for one night? But I’ll try not to think about that. It is already paid for, and it fulfills a childhood dream of mine to stay in the Contemporary.
It was a dream of mine as well. I left the curtains open every night and fell asleep looking at the castle. It was a dream come true and that made it worth it. That, plus being able to walk back and forth between there and MK with a 2 year old in a stroller.
And I am happy to report that, while my jaw dropped reading your post, I did not have a heart attack.
$840 for 1 night? OMG! That is crazy. I paid roughly $625 a night at the new Gran Destino and that was club level with all the included food, and 5 days of extra FPP in that price. Plus a concierge to move your FPP around and make them anytime FPP because you missed one or two for no good reason. The room was nicer than the garden wing room we had at CR the 2 nights before, in my opinion. Wow, I am in shock! Are you sure you wouldn’t be happier eating at Cali Grill and watching the fireworks? The view would be the same and there would be a lot of money left over.
)
But, it is a special occasion that only comes around once every 25 years. 