Looking for budget friendly offsite condo

[DnA2010]

We are considering throwing together a budget friendly spring break trip using Aeroplan, the Canadian Ticket discount,and staying offsite- on our other WDW trip, we stayed at a vrbo in Crestwynd Bay which was a great location, price andspace.
I've just started reading about the offsite condos in this forum, but can you guys recommend the best way to go about searching for a condo- our party included myself and DH, our DD who will be 7 months at the time, our DD12 and myMom- DD12 and mom are fine to share a room.
Closeness to parks, and budget are important- where would you stay and how do I book? Budget friendly is important with the exchange and all!

Thank you so much in advance!

 

[RevKjb]

We are considering throwing together a budget friendly spring break trip using Aeroplan, the Canadian Ticket discount,and staying offsite- on our other WDW trip, we stayed at a vrbo in Crestwynd Bay which was a great location, price andspace.
I've just started reading about the offsite condos in this forum, but can you guys recommend the best way to go about searching for a condo- our party included myself and DH, our DD who will be 7 months at the time, our DD12 and myMom- DD12 and mom are fine to share a room.
Closeness to parks, and budget are important- where would you stay and how do I book? Budget friendly is important with the exchange and all!

Thank you so much in advance!

Are you stuck in a Condo? This us the house we r renting in May. https://www.homeaway.com/vacation-r...way_us t nb traveler 010216 alwayson facebook

PM me if you want more deets. Owner is Cdn.

 

[starvenger]

Vrbo/home away (same company) is a good start. I'd check airbnb as well. Asking friends about timeshares is also an option.

I've never bought DVC points, so I'm sure someone else can vouch for them.

 

[rey_rey]

Are you stuck in a Condo? This us the house we r renting in May. https://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p4139277?utm_source=Facebook.com&utm_medium=display&utm_term=630332|17650171|35813840&utm_content=D SOC DYM facebook stitcher ACQ|RET|DYN|View_1_Day_Desktop TP1x1 x&utm_campaign=display homeaway_us t nb traveler 010216 alwayson facebook

PM me if you want more deets. Owner is Cdn.

This looks like a great property, have you rented from them (or home away) before? Im always so worried about getting ripped off. I have used villa direct before but thatsall

 

[jcourtney]

We stayed in Windsor Hills last time and booked through VRBO. The place was owned (or at least managed) by a company. We never had any problems. I would do it again.

 

[Northernlites]

WE stayed here last year, clean and beautiful, the owner is from London Ontario Canada

https://www.vrbo.com/7072562ha#ownerprofile

 

[branmack]

We use Vacation Central Florida website. Most properties are at Windsor Hills, just outside Disney property behind the All Star Resorts. Great to deal with, easy to use

 

[Sue M]

Just a thought, it's not a condo, but the Disney Springs Doubletree is all suites. We had a one bedroom very spacious suite. The living room has pull out sofa. Mom & DD could share that? The suite also has a dining table and large bar area with coffee maker, toaster, microwave, and fridge, sink. Cabinets to store food. We had a great discount/promo from Mousesavers.com that included free breakfast. Sign up for their newsletters for discounts. They freq have special hot rates for their preferred hotels, and condos.

Staying in Disney Springs Hotel area may be a savings for you because you won't need a rental vehicle or pay for daily parking at the parks. The Disney Springs area has very good bus transportation running every 30 min. This also gives your family more freedom to come and go as needed with out everyone having to come and go together. Traveling with a baby, maybe baby isn't having a good day and needs a nap. One of you can go back to hotel with baby while the others can stay in the park. Maybe mom wants a sleep in day, or afternoon break, it's easy for her to meet up with you.

You can walk to Crossroads shopping plaza to get groceries from Doubletree.

 

[jcourtney]

Just a thought, it's not a condo, but the Disney Springs Doubletree is all suites. We had a one bedroom very spacious suite. The living room has pull out sofa. Mom & DD could share that? The suite also has a dining table and large bar area with coffee maker, toaster, microwave, and fridge, sink. Cabinets to store food. We had a great discount/promo from Mousesavers.com that included free breakfast. Sign up for their newsletters for discounts. They freq have special hot rates for their preferred hotels, and condos.

Staying in Disney Springs Hotel area may be a savings for you because you won't need a rental vehicle or pay for daily parking at the parks. The Disney Springs area has very good bus transportation running every 30 min. This also gives your family more freedom to come and go as needed with out everyone having to come and go together. Traveling with a baby, maybe baby isn't having a good day and needs a nap. One of you can go back to hotel with baby while the others can stay in the park. Maybe mom wants a sleep in day, or afternoon break, it's easy for her to meet up with you.

You can walk to Crossroads shopping plaza to get groceries from Doubletree.

I might be wrong but I don't think they run buses between DS and the parks regularly. You'd have to take a bus to a resort and then to a park from there. They do this so people don't park for free downtown and take the buses to the parks. If I were staying at the Doubletree I would probably still want to rent a car.

 

[Sue M]

I might be wrong but I don't think they run buses between DS and the parks regularly. You'd have to take a bus to a resort and then to a park from there. They do this so people don't park for free downtown and take the buses to the parks. If I were staying at the Doubletree I would probably still want to rent a car.

The Disney Springs hotels have their own bus transportation. Running continuous every 30 min. The busses stop at these hotels and take you to the parks. It's operated by Mears I think.

 

[jcourtney]

The Disney Springs hotels have their own bus transportation. Running continuous every 30 min. The busses stop at these hotels and take you to the parks. It's operated by Mears I think.

Good to know!

 

[jacksdadcan]

We stayed very comfortably at the Grand beach resort last year (and my extended family many occasions) and thought it was great. (5 adults+1 child). I believe Polynesian isles is the same company. Grand beach was maybe a 10 minute drive to Disney springs. At the time I think it was around $200 CDN a night for 3 bed 3 bath full kitchen.

 

[michelb]

As others mentioned, check HomeStay and AirBnb (personally, I think AirBnb offers better protection and HomeStay is kind of open to scams because they don't force you to do the payment through their site - if you aren't paying through HomeStay, I don't believe they'll give you any protection). FlipKey (TripAdvisor) is another option.

As far as where to stay, Windsor Hills has a great location and is a very nice community but you do pay a premium for it. You can save about 1/3 for a comparable (or larger) property if you go to one of the communities just to the West of them or East of Celebration (Celebration is expensive). You can also get much nicer communities if you go a bit farther so it's up to you to decide what's important. If you want the best possible deal, you might do better if you wait until the last minute (e.g. book a week or two before travelling) but that's a bit more stressful. That said, there are so many vacation rentals in the area that I think you'll always find something.

Decide what's important to you - if you plan on going to parks / attractions every day, a private pool (and maybe a spa) might not be worth it. If you plan on spending some "relax" time at the rental and care for your privacy, a private pool / yard might be something you want. You have to consider if driving 15 more / less minutes is important to you (the farther you are from Disney, they cheaper and / or nicer resort you can get (e.g. some of the farther ones have water parks, lazy rivers, etc)

If you want the best value, obviously a townhouse / apartment will be cheaper than a villa (house). Also, especially if booking at the last minute, don't hesitate to ask for a better price. I suspect many owners won't do it but some might.