What hotel to stay at?

[Starshyne]

I was just looking for some advice. Last summer when I went to DLP, I stayed at a Disney owned hotel for the first time in all of my Disney trips. Usually we stay at a hotel nearby the park and take their bus into the park. The last time we went to WDW was in 2008 and we stayed at the Best Western that wasn't very far. It was nice and in the budget.

After hearing about the great time we had at Disneyland Paris while staying at the Disney hotel, my Dad got jealous. He had decided that he wants to go back to EPCOT but this time stay on property. The only thing is that he wants ME to figure it all out for him. The good news is that if I can figure out the details and book it, I can come along (if I want--haha) and stay in the room for free with my parents. (Not ideal for a single 34 year old woman, but whatever...it is Disney World!).

I have read about all of the property, but seem overwhelmed. We will be there for about 3-4 days I would guess. He will be retired in July 2011 and wants to go sometime in July, and spend most of our time at Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. I am sure my Dad is wanting a hotel that is comparable to the Comfort Inn in price (a little bit more would be understandable).

I guess I am curious about what hotel would be the best fit for us, if there are any packages available and how do I go about booking a room? Is straight through the web site the best or calling? Or should I try a 3rd party person? In the past we have used a travel agent, but I want to avoid that this time.

Any help is great. Keeping my fingers crossed that I can get to Disney World in 2011!!!

[BeautyandtheBeast]

If you are looking into something close in price to the Comfort Inn and sticking to that, it would probably fit your budget best to get a Value resort room. I have never stayed at a Value resort, so it might help to have some other reviews.

However, if you are willing to pay a bit more, it's definitely worth it to invest in a Moderate resort. The stay is much quieter (usually) and usually a better experience overall. I've been known to love the Port Orleans resort, but it would be beneficial if you're considering this option to read other member's reviews on other threads.

Be sure to note where the hotel is located (it will say on the website if it is an Epcot resort, MK resort, DTD resort, or AK resort.)

The way my family likes to book a trip is online. We've also booked through AAA before and it's just been a bit of a hassle to deal with everything. It's the fastest way and you can read the information rather than having to take notes. If you find the online process to be confusing, don't hesitate to call and ask your questions to the Disney concierges. They are very knowledgeable and can answer almost any question.

[aimster]

What's your budget? Even the "value" resorts aren't much of a value these days. $100+ a night? I can get cheaper at the Holiday Inn Express less than a mile from Downtown Disney and get FREE hot breakfast and FREE wifi.

I'm not knocking the on-property resorts, don't get me wrong. I've stayed at some of them. I've stayed once each at Port Orleans Riverside and Port Orleans French Quarter and 4 or 5 times at Pop Century. I personally liked the latter the best because I love kitschy pop culture stuff. I'd love to be able to stay on-property more, but it's just not affordable for me these days. Sometimes Disney offers room-only discounts depending on the month/days of the week you plan your visit. Look on the WDW site to see what the current specials are... if any. ALSO, sometimes you can score a decent discount on an on-property hotel through Hotels.com. I once got a room at Port Orleans that was regularly $160 a night for $99. Deals like that are hard to come by though... I just got lucky when I came across that deal.

If you're willing to stay off property or at one of the hotels by Downtown Disney on Hotel Plaza Blvd, then I can offer better opinions as I've stayed at several of those hotels over the last 10 years (I live 90 minutes from WDW, so when I go, I like to make a long weekend out of it... or at least stay for one night).