AboutSue Holland Expertise I can answer just about anything relating to the Florida Disney parks - including the resorts & Downtown Disney. As a Disney Vacation Club member, I`m very familiar with that program as well. I love the resorts as much as the theme parks - especially the attention to detail and the friendly service provided
Question We are planning to check in on Dec 3rd and check out on Dec 7th for my daughter's 13th birthday. It seems the Disney hotels we were interested in are booked, so we will have to go off site. Any suggestions? Also, where is the best place to buy tickets and how busy should it be during that weekend? Thank you.
Answer Hi Chrissy,
The reason you can't get a room is Pop Warner, the youth football organization. They descend on WDW and fill up the cheaper resorts that time of year every year. It can be unpleasant, as not all of the kids are supervised like they should be!
The parks will not be terribly busy at all. The kids have games or events so they really only make a mess of the resorts they're staying at.
I generally don't recommend staying offsite - for me it's just not worth it. Be advised you'll pay $14/day to park your car if you stay offsite. You also won't have access to extra magic hours so several mornings a park will open an hour early to Disney guests and when you arrive it will already be a little crowded. You'd have better luck booking early for next year for your daughter's 14th birthday - or celebrate it a month later in early January.
If that's not an option consider the hotels on Disney property such as the Swan or Dolphin or the ones just outside Downtown Disney. Swan/Dolphin have a great location. All of these hotels will charge you to park your car nightly as well as charge a resort fee on top of the room rate. For that reason, it's hard for me to really recommend them. They do have transportation (Swan/Dolphin uses Disney transportation) and from the Downtown Disney hotels it's not very convenient. For example, if you're going to Magic Kingdom, after you leave there you'll swing WAY out of the way to Animal Kingdom before going back to the hotels.
If you decide to look further offsite, do a search on Lake Buena Vista. That's where WDW is actually located (not Orlando or Kissimmee). There's a decent Hampton Inn there along with several other of the usual chains. There you'll still pay the Disney parking fee at the parks but no parking or resort fees at the hotel. It'll be a really 2nd-rate experience compared to staying in a Disney resort, however.
Good luck - hope you have a great time, however you do it!
