Can anyone recommend nice hotel outside of Disney World for guest?

[melissadanny2003]

Can anyone recommend a nice hotel that is located right outside of Disney World for my guest? My guest don't like the All Star and they don't want to have to spend $77 + tax a night for a hotel as childish as the All Star. When we showed them the pictures of the All star we all had a great laugh. I remember seeing hotels on the
internet that we're advertised at $37 a night that were located outside of Disney World but we wanted to find one for the guest that was as close as possible.

 

[amw5g]

Check the Downtown Disney resorts, as they often have relatively less expensive rates. Expedia can also help you search since sales come and go very quickly. Since there are many many alternatives to the All-Star hotels, why can't your guests stay at one of the moderate or delux resorts? I've never really thought of any Disney hotel as childish (since the entire WDW resort caters to kids of all ages), but perhaps they would be more comfortable at the BC/YC or GF.

Assuming these rooms are for your wedding guests, bear in mind that custom weddings have certain room-night minimums and intimate weddings currently require that your guests stay on-property. I doubt your coordinator will waive this requirement based upon the argument you present, but one never knows. Ask them for their own opinions on alternatives and you may be pleasantly surprised.
G'luck!
Andrew

 

[melissadanny2003]

I thought your guest were only required to stay in the Disney Resorts if you were having a custom wedding. The resorts are out of my guest's budget and the All Star is childish. They (my guest) say it looks like a cheap motel with cartoons all over it. I didn't want to make them have to stay there. The Wilderness Lodge is the cheapest delux resort but it's about $199 a night.

 

[amw5g]

Have you gotten your planning materials yet for your wedding from your coordinator? Our initial packet of info says, "to be elligible for your [wedding] guest list, we ask that each person be staying at a Walt Disney World Resort." I would definitely contact your coordinator just to clarify as perhaps the 2003 intimate weddings have different rules. The biggest reason for this is that Disney has a great deal of control over traffic on their own property. Outside the gates, there can be massive traffic snarls which may make your guests late or even miss your ceremony. Personally, I'm much more content that our guests are on property so we don't have to even imagine the worst case scenario.

As for other lodging choices, there are more hotels than just All-stars and Deluxe resorts. Any problems with Boardwalk, Coronado, Carribean BR, PO/DL, etc? If staying at a Disney hotel is indeed mandatory, they may just need to swallow their pride or find some good discounts on Mousavers.Com. Besides, how much time are they actually going to be spending at their hotel? Aren't they there to celebrate your wedding? I seriously doubt anyone will be following them around taking incriminating shots of them next to a giant basketball or treble cleff....
"If you don't hand over $10k by tomorrow, I'm releasing this photo of you standing next to a huge tennis racquet!"
G'luck,
Andrew

 

[hmp2z]

Melissa,
Andrew is right; for our intimate wedding they did require that all of our guests stay on property. The difference between that and the custom wedding requirements is that the customs are given a certain number of room nights on Disney property that they and their guests must meet. Say you have 20 guests and a 25 room night min - not every guest must stay on property, just enough to meet your minimum. This is not the case for intimate weddings (at least for 2002) - ALL of our guests were required to be on property.
Reading your posts for the past few weeks, it seems like you are pretty dissatisfied with Disney resorts in general - doesn't sound like the moderates are within your realm of consideration, you don't like the less expensive deluxe resorts, and you think that the value resorts are childish. Have you considered having a wedding at someplace like the Swan and Dolphin, that doesn't have on property requirements? That way, you could still have Disney elements like charac ters in attendance, but would not be required to stay anywhere in particular.
Cheers!
Heather P

 

[ahutton]

My family also were initially wary of All Star but were pleasantly surprised when they stayed there. As for cheap, There is a Comfort Inn that was less than $40 per night - whether you can use it or not I'm not sure.

 

[renessa]

There are great rates out right now....even WL (the one you mentioned) for $129. We just returned from CBR, and found it to be very adult. Wonderful landscaping, very quiet, and for $83 a night. Ren