Half offsite and half on?

[pigletpete]

Happy new year to you all

Last years holiday was great but we ended up going off disney property a lot more than we thought. We worked out that less than 7 days were actually full disney days

So we thought that this year we'd do 7 nights off site somewhere and 7 nights at disney is this a good idea? Has anyone done something like that and are there any planning problems I should be aware of?

We're also trying to decide where to stay for the offsite portion. There's the hotels by downtowndisney are any of those nice?

Or how about a hotel on international drive? is there a lot to do there if we stayed at a hotel right on the drive?

Any other areas we should look at? Basically we want somewhere that lets us easily explore other restaurants, shops, places without a car

Would a villa be a lot more expensive for 7 nights than a hotel?

[arkvilla]

Hi,

I can't help with the hotels bit ( we havn't stayed in a hotel on or offsite ) but I would say if you are considering a villa, then you would almost definately need a car so bear this in mind with your price planning.

Sandra

[Tink]

Definitely split your stay. That's a common thing to do when you have more than just a Disney centered holiday planned. I would plan on having a car though. It's far easier to get around.

I don't know much about villas, but I'd look into one. (We intend to look into a villa type arrangement when we go to Ireland, next). They seem so much more comfortable to me. More spacious and the ability to cook your own meals. That's probably not something many want to do on holiday but I sure do like to have the opportunity to do so.

I-Drive is a fun place to stay, but I no longer know where to recommend. The only place left that I'd feel comfortable suggesting is The Peabody. One of our members here has written a very disturbing review about the Rosen Hotels and I won't recommend them anymore.

Hotel Plaza Blvd, or Palm Parkway has some nice hotels too. If you find a Hilton Chain (Hampton Inn/Suites, Homewood Suites, Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, etc.) you'll be in a fairly decent set up. I'd avoid Doubletree Suites though. Although they are part of the Hilton chain, I've had some real problems with them over the past year.

Marriott Chain has some nice places too. From their suites to their simple hotel room, you are usually guaranteed cleanliness and decent service.

[Slowhand]

Totally agree with what has been said.
We own a villa which we only rent out to close friends and family and we love staying in Florida without feeling any pressure for the holiday to be totally immersed in Disney.
Great as it is, there is a big world out there apart from WDW and dining off site is also less expensive and you don`t have the added hassle of making ADR`s etc.
As such we always split our stay as you suggest.

[Tink]

I think too that staying the full time in a nice villa and coming and going as you please (again, provided you have your own transport) would be about the ideal way to do Central/Florida.

[Ursula]

Oh you will be well stuffed without a car.... for sure.

[Keith]

Here comes the only poor sucker without a holiday car

Thing is I reckon we could survive 7 nights at a villa without a car. We take the taxi everywhere from Disney anyway and I reckon we do that at LEAST 7 days.

So if anything, a villa in the right place would SAVE us taxi fares

We'd need somewhere reasonably placed to get to charlies steakhouse florida and millenia malls and we'd be happy

Perhaps a pool with some gators for me to photograph

[OWJAY]

We have done split stay holidays both on disney/idrive and disney/villa and loved them. But must admit we did have a car and would feel lost without it

[minnie-me]

Hi

We have stayed on I-Drive without a car for the last 2 years - going to do it again this year. It is no problem getting about without a car.

We use the Lynx buses & I-Trolley to get everywhere & Ok it is abit more time consuming, we found it a great way to meet people & to just chill for abit.

We stayed at Homewood Suites Convention Centre 1st time, which was very nice & friendly. Alot of restaurants withing walking distance including Bahama Breeze, Olive Garden, Tony Romas, Friendlys, Dennys, Sizzlers etc., as well as crazy golf, ripleys etc..

Last year we stayed at Sheraton Vistana Villages which is South int drive. This was a fantastic hotel, condo style hotel. Bus stop right outside hotel.

This May we are trying Floridays.

All these hotels use shuttles to get to the parks - which again has been no problem to use. There has been myself, DH & 2 DD;s who are now 11 & 7.

Hope this helps.

[Tink]

What great information Minnie-Me! Thank you for sharing this with us. I wouldn't have ever guessed that getting around from I-Drive without a car would be so very doable.

Did you use the I Trolley at all? If so, did you buy a pass or just pay as you go?