On property or off??

[momof5kiddos]

Hello everyone. We are planning to to WDW over spring break. I have never been. Well...DL when i was about 5. Anyway, I was planning on staying at Wilderness Lodge. The rooms for the week would cost almost 6,000 :eek: That is just rooms. Well, we can stay in a nice hotel at down town disney for ALOT less. Hubby says its up to me on where we stay. He doesnt care either way. There seem to be alot of perks for staying in the parks, but for the money saved, we could do alot of extras. What would you do? Again, it will be our first trip. Our kids will be 18, 16, 14, and twins that will be 6. There are 2 resorts that I really liked at DTD, and then we liked the winderness overall for the other option.

Thank you!

[Momof3Labs]

Yeah, anything onsite will be pricey because you'll need two rooms. Will you fit in a cabin at Fort Wilderness? I think that might have a six person limit. A value or moderate resort would be much more affordable than Wilderness Lodge.

The other thing that matters is the time of year you go. Spring break is a peak time, so the hotel rates are highest, and the parks are soooo crowded. Here you can see that the cheapest room rate at WL is almost $400/night during March 2010:

http://www.mousesavers.com/wildernesslodge2010.html

If you visited in, say, January, you'd pay as low as $240 for a room at WL, almost 40% less.

Another option to consider is the WDW Swan or Dolphin. They are technically onsite (you can walk to both DHS and Epcot), but aren't Disney hotels. You'd still need two rooms but they tend to run more specials during peak times than WDW owned hotels. And the rooms are nice - very nice! There are links all over disboards.com to book directly through them; don't book through the Disney website.

If you stay offsite, I'd suggest that you look into renting a house. It's a lot cheaper than you'd think, and you would have so much more space for your family - multiple bathrooms, etc.

So, in summary, to get your cost down:

- Travel at off-peak times
- Stay at a less expensive WDW resort (value or moderate)
- Stay at the Swan or Dolphin
- Stay offsite at a hotel or rent a house
- Leave someone at home with Grandma?? (just kidding)