Anyone who knows my family, knows we're die-hard Disney nuts. I swore up and down I would never stay anywhere but on-property when we visited Disney World.
But then my son (our 3rd child) was born...
Suddenly, the cheapest I could find on Disney property for 5 people was $279 a night. I didn't feel like paying $2,000 for our vacation before I even added the park admissions and eating.
Having used Expedia before to check out rates & availability at Disney hotels (they are listed here if you search for them), I decided to use the service to check out the rates of nearby suites.
The site is easy to navigate. When you first come to www.expedia.com, you can select from flights, hotels, cars, packages & cruises. You can search just by the destination city & dates of travel, or you can get more specific, stating how close you want to be to a certain attraction, what rating class (1 through 5 stars) you would like, and what amenities you desire.
I brought up hotels containing "suite" within 5 miles of Walt Disney World. I had quite a selection to choose from. Clicking on the hotels brings up the details on each - what is included and available at the hotel, pool, jacuzzi, play area, and (in our case) how close to Disney World.
I then went to another site to check out personal accounts of these hotels. We decided on Homewood Suites. The rate for a suite for 5 people was $109 per night and includes a full kitchen and a continental breakfast every morning. The hotel was only a mile from Disney World. Staying here was going to save me $1,700 over staying on Disney property. This had to be paid for completely in advance, but I was delighted at the savings. My credit card was charged correctly.
Next we decided that instead of driving up during the day from our timeshare in South Florida, we wanted to drive up late the night before our accommodations at Homewood were to begin. I checked around, only looking for the cheapest, most basic hotel we could find, and got a rate of $52 for a night at the Howard Johnson Maingate Resort. In this case, my credit card was not charged until we check in, I only had to use it for a guarantee.
The only problem I found is in my reservation at the Howard Johnson's, it states that extra charges may apply for the children since the room quote is for 2 adults. I won't know until we check-in.
In both of these cases, I had checked other websites, and none had lower rates for these hotels than Expedia.
Originally posted at Epinions.com
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