Orlando/Disneyworld Thread (Part 3)

KarenG

maemaesmummy wrote: »

Hi Karen,

just trying to decide which way to jump have looked at a villa at calaby parc (which is where we have stayed last 2 years) but then looked at the villas at ssr to give the kiddies the full on disney experience.

Its quite a price difference (obviously get the free disney dining staying at ssr) but its working out at an additional £3.5k for a 2 bed villa at ssr as oppose to a 4 bed private villa.

decisions decisions have never stayed at a disney resort before..

OK well here are my (random) thoughts.

The 2 bedrooms are a nice size - you get a living room/kitchen (roughly the size of a big hotel room), then a master bedroom with king bed, jacuzzi in the bathroom, and a second bedroom that is like a normal hotel bedroom with 2 double beds and a bathroom (imagine it's basically 3 hotel rooms next to each other). Depending on the type of 2 bedroom you get you will either have one small balcony / patio or perhaps two. You will have proper fridge freezer, cooking facilities, washer dryer etc.

Having said that, they are nowhere near as big as the 4 bed villa will be and you won't have your own pool.

But there are two lovely feature pools with water play areas / slide. My DDs actually prefer this to having their own pool in a villa, and they like the chance to make friends with other kids. There are sometimes pool activities too

It will be nice for you & DH as you can both have a drink and use WDW transport to go home, plus you'll be able to take advantage of Extra Magic Hours.

There is an onsite restaurant (the Turf Club) which has nice food and you can spend your DDP credits here. There is also a food court (Artist's Palette) which has an OK selection but not brilliant and I wouldn't want to eat here more than once every few days because there is not a lot of choice.

SSR is good in that you can be off property within a few minutes and on the 535 which has loads of dining choices (by car - you could walk too but it's a bit of a hike). It's nice and handy for Downtown Disney which is a super walk around the lake (or you can catch the boat or bus).

Some people like to escape the "Disneyness" of WDW at the end of each day and retreat to their own, cheaper, bigger, villa. Some people love to stay onsite for the whole thing.

SSR is a nice, laid back, relaxing resort.

Having said that £3.5k is a LOT of money :eek:

That's a few things anyway, if I think of more I will post again. Have you had a look at the photos on All Ears Net?

jackieblack

techmob wrote: »

i paid for a seat but my child will be 16 months when we got. will he be to big for one of them?

edit: i persumed i paid for 4 seats but apparently, i haven't and my youngest son has not got a seat. they told me it is common practice that when booking 2 adults, 1 child and 1 infant, that the infant doesn't get a seat.

is that true

Yes, because its cheaper that way.
There are generally 3 fare types. Adult (usually over 12), child (2-11) and infant (under 2). Infant fares are cheapest, because they do not occupy a seat.

kdmercury

going to orlando in november and just wondering do anyone know any good,cheap transfer companys or web links from orlnado international to international drive and vice versa

giovanni

KarenG wrote: »

Having said that £3.5k is a LOT of money :eek:

Is that just for the "hotel"? How many people? How long for?

blue_monkey_2

maemaesmummy wrote: »

Hi Karen,

just trying to decide which way to jump have looked at a villa at calaby parc (which is where we have stayed last 2 years) but then looked at the villas at ssr to give the kiddies the full on disney experience.

Its quite a price difference (obviously get the free disney dining staying at ssr) but its working out at an additional £3.5k for a 2 bed villa at ssr as oppose to a 4 bed private villa.

decisions decisions have never stayed at a disney resort before..

Karen, are you in the DVC? What is the Boardwalk like?

Maesmummy, do you do Florida every year?? I ask because we have a timeshare that we bank, initial cost was 8k but we are saving 8k this year on accomodation. We are paying £175 for a week in Animal Kingdom Villas and also looking at a 2 bed in the Boardwalk for the same price.

TImeshares are not for everyone but if you are going to be paying 4.5k per week for accomodation then it might be something that you want to look into. You can buy someone's unti on eBay or the like, pay a transfer fee but make sure you know what the annual fee is - ask for evidence - because some people pay a lot we only pay £400 a year.

You might also want to keep an eye on eBay.com for people selling their DVC weeks: http://travel.shop.ebay.com/Travel-/3252/i.html?_nkw=dvc&_catref=1&_fln=1&_sac=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m282

Also: http://cgi.ebay.com/Disney-Saratoga-Springs-2-bedroom-07-30-08-06-2010_W0QQitemZ130361456128QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Lodging?hash=item1e5a25f600

More: http://desc.shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=disney+DVC&_sacat=3252&LH_TitleDesc=1&_trksid=p3286.m270.l1313&_dmpt=US_Lodging&_odkw=disney+rental&_osacat=3252&_rdc=1

blue_monkey_2

giovanni wrote: »

Is that just for the "hotel"? How many people? How long for?

That is for a 1 bed apartment.

A 2 bed is around 4.5k per week - but you can pay more/less, it depends on where you stay.

ETA: It is 48% discount on SSR and OKW Villa holidays, here is the page on the website: http://wdtc.disneyinternational.com/Special-Offers.asp?ID=16

Just to add, I priced up a 7 night stay at SSR from 5th to 12th Aug 2 adults, 2 kids, a 1 bed villa is £945 and includes the Free Dining Plan - I looked for someone else a few weeks back and it was £1700 so prices have done down :huh: They have some great offers on at the moment but they tend to be a bit hidden on their website. Sign up for offers and you'll get the emails with the offers on it, that is how I knew about it.

techmob

my son is 7, will he need a booster seat over there?

thanks

KarenG

giovanni wrote: »

Is that just for the "hotel"? How many people? How long for?

I understood that was the difference between the villa and the onsite cost.

KarenG

blue_monkey wrote: »

Karen, are you in the DVC? What is the Boardwalk like?

Maesmummy, do you do Florida every year?? I ask because we have a timeshare that we bank, initial cost was 8k but we are saving 8k this year on accomodation. We are paying £175 for a week in Animal Kingdom Villas and also looking at a 2 bed in the Boardwalk for the same price.

TImeshares are not for everyone but if you are going to be paying 4.5k per week for accomodation then it might be something that you want to look into. You can buy someone's unti on eBay or the like, pay a transfer fee but make sure you know what the annual fee is - ask for evidence - because some people pay a lot we only pay £400 a year.

You might also want to keep an eye on eBay.com for people selling their DVC weeks: http://travel.shop.ebay.com/Travel-/3252/i.html?_nkw=dvc&_catref=1&_fln=1&_sac=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m282

Also: http://cgi.ebay.com/Disney-Saratoga-Springs-2-bedroom-07-30-08-06-2010_W0QQitemZ130361456128QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Lodging?hash=item1e5a25f600

More: http://desc.shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=disney+DVC&_sacat=3252&LH_TitleDesc=1&_trksid=p3286.m270.l1313&_dmpt=US_Lodging&_odkw=disney+rental&_osacat=3252&_rdc=1

Hi Monkey :T

Yes we are DVC Members. I only paid about £8k for our DVC points and this year our annual dues are £330 - we have a realtively low number of points though, only 160. That gets us about 11 nights or so in studio.


I LOOOOVE the BWV (Boardwalk Villas). You can't beat the location (6 minute walk to Epcot, 20 minute walk to MGM or you can take the boat). Gentle stroll to the Swan/Dolphin and Yacht / Beach Club for the plethora of dining options (as well as World Showcase ) I could talk all day about BWV :cool: what else do you want to know?

Bear in mind if you rent DVC points or a week on eBay that you will not be eligible for Free Dining (though some may be selling it including the Dining Plan if they paid for it with the booking), so ensure you subtract the cost from that to get the "true" cost (and there is an element of risk involved albeit you can take steps to mitigate that).

blue_monkey_2

Hi Karen, *sigh* we have been waiting for Harry Potter World to open and was going to go in October 09 but it never happened so this year we have told the kids we are going in October and we have added another week on, LOL. Fingers crossed it will be open as it is due to open in June someone said.

I've spent half an hour looking at the pictures of Kidani Village. We are with RCI and my heart skipped a beat when I saw DVC on there. We have a week in a 2 bed red (we are in a holiday club and get a free week at one of 30 destinations but we are banking the weeks) so swings and roundabouts I guess as we can get the 2 bed apartment. We have 3 weeks to take at the moment so we are spending them all in Florida.

I don't think that there is anything else I need to know as I've read it all elsewhere tbh, the free dining does not really bother us to be honest at the price we are paying as while there with all the walking we do not tend to eat huge meals. I have read how convenient it is but also that there is a wait for buses but I figured we can walk over to Epcot and get the bus from there instead.

October seems such a long way off though, LOL. I wanna go NOW!! Lovely to speak to someone who is so passionate about it too.

Have you stayed anywhere else with your points? Do you bank them?