With today’s post, I’m asking for your help. We have finally booked our flights to Orlando and are going to be visiting Walt Disney World in April 2016 as a family of 7. We are taking the Grandparents along for moral support and we can’t wait. So now it’s time to work out where we want to stay.
Do we stay on site or off? Do we do a mixture of both? If we do stay on site, whereabouts – there are so many options? If we stay in a villa do we want out own pool or should we stay on a resort? What did you do?
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Can you add any links to places you stayed in the comments below and I can add them to my Pinterest board below. Let me know what you would recommend?
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Karen Beddow founded Mini Travellers in 2014 while doing what she loves most...going on holiday!
Mini Travellers is for parents looking for holiday ideas, destination reviews, days out and things to do with the kids. We also have family travel tips, activity ideas and all other things family holiday related. Take a look at some of our latest reviews for holidays and day trips in the UK.
We are going for a second time this winter. You will love it. We stay off site in villas and take the grandparents too.
Last time we stayed in Windsor hills it was a great location, had our own pool, a site pool and a park. It meant we weren’t disneyd out and could have time away from it all.
We are staying in another villa complex this time slightly further out as we were told Windsor hills was not available when we went to book this time. 🙁
I’ve no experience of staying on site as we like being able to put the girls to bed and watch a film or go in the hot tub or cook a nice meal for the adults, it’s a home from home. Good luck with your choice.
Hi Karen we have been 3 times and we have done
1st visit – Villa for 2 weeks
2nd visit – Disney Hotel (Old Key West) for the 1st week and a villa for the 2nd week
3rd visit – 2 weeks in a Disney hotel (again Old Key West)
This link has more details on each visit http://williamsworld.co.uk/2014/11/25/the-williams-and-walt-disney-world/
I can highly recommend the Disney dining plan (if you can get it free) as we saved so much money doing it this way. Plus we had the bonus of eating wherever we wanted within Walt Disney World including the actual castle.
You know where I am if you need any information xx
We head out there tomorrow (via a night in Miami) and this we be out fourth time to Orlando (we love it out there!) but our first time doing Disney. We’ve always stayed in a villa as love having the space a villa offers and having our own pool. We’ve stayed in Kissimmee and Davenport but preferred the former as more central. Terra Verde was the first place we stayed which we really like – it is a gated complex with a main pool area with a bar so nice if you want a change of scenery from the villa and the kids have a chance to play with some others. Not too far from Disney although admittedly we didn’t try driving there for opening time.
We’ve done allocation on arrival and had good results both times and booked villa direct twice now (including this time). There’s not much difference in price and booking direct does mean you can choose exactly where you’ll be. We do tend to book the villa quite late as then get a bit of a discount.
I hope that helps! Happy planning 🙂
We love the Disney free dining so normally book when we can get that. We did talk about a big group going and staying at Old Key West. We haven’t stayed there but it sounds like a good fit for big groups. We have stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge as I somehow got an amazing deal. Our wedding trip was at Port Orleans French Quarter. As you can see we like to stay onsite x
We’ve stayed in a villa, off site hotel and on site hotel and I can honestly say that budget dictates where you stay. Also, if you’re doing other theme parks such as Seaworld and Universal, it might be better to stay somewhere like International Drive. Last time we went, earlier this year, we stayed on International Drive at Rosen Inn at Pointe Orlando which did the job brilliantly and didn’t break the bank. The on site hotel we stayed at was Swan and Dolphin in the Epcot area and it was lovely (and just a boat ride away from Epcot and Hollywood Studios). But Magic Kingdom is the best park, especially for little ones so although these hotels are expensive (Grand Floridian, Polynesian and Contemporary), they are on the monorail line and extremely accessible for Magic kingdom and when you have little ones, the last thing you want to do is have a long journey back to the hotel when they’re tired and hot. Disney Transportation buses can take up to an hour from the parks depending on which hotel because they stop at various hotels on their loop. If you’re looking for somewhere really suitable for kids, the Value resorts (Art of Animation, Pop Century, All Star Music/Movie/Sport) have excellent theming. My favourite Disney World advice website (and weekly podcast) is Shannon from WDW Prep School. I would really advise that you have a look at her website whilst planning your trip as she really knows her stuff! Have a great holiday!
Thought of some more things to add!
If you’re staying on site, you get free transfers from Orlando airport on the Magical Express. If you’re in a villa you will definitely need to hire a car because it will be at least a 30 minutes drive. Disney Dining Plan could be good value for money and (I think) you can only have that if you stay on site. On site you can also take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours and because of the time zone difference, you will all be raring to go early in the morning. The first two hours of the day are normally the most productive!
Annabel thanks so much for this comment too