By: Beth Skarp
Let's face it. Going on vacation anywhere these days
is expensive. People are doing anything they can to save money any way
they can. But is staying at a less-expensive hotel/motel or resort off
Disney property really the way to go? In my humble opinion, the answer
is no.
We have stayed off Disney property before. Our first
trip as a family to Walt Disney World was in 2003. We stayed at a nice
chain hotel near Disney. Why? We didn't know any better. We had
vacation time but little money, so we pinched the pennies as hard as we
could to save up for this trip.
Don't get me wrong, the hotel was nice. We had a hot
breakfast in the morning provided by the hotel. We had a full kitchen
in our room, so I made us a lunch “to-go” before we left for the day
using groceries we purchased once we got to Florida. I did make one
dinner in our room, but we also opted to eat out a couple of the
restaurants we observed on our way driving back to our hotel from Disney
World. Was it magical? No. Did we save any money? NO, not really.
At that time, parking was around $10, which we paid each and
every day we went touring in the Parks. In the 5 days we were at the
parks, that meant $50—the cost for paying for meals out, just to park our
van. Don't even get me started about trying to find a parking spot
closer for our special needs girls. It was torture, pure and simple.
Again, we were clueless.
Our hotel room was very small, made even smaller by
our wheelchair. Our family consisted of 5 individuals—2 adults, one
teen and two smaller children. Sleeping was rather tight, but doable.
Our youngest actually enjoyed sleeping in the chair with the ottoman
(and slept quite soundly actually). The other girls shared one bed and
my husband and I shared the other.
We were told we had a handicapped accessible room.
Yes, the sink was lower as were the mirrors in the room. Nothing like
having to be on your knees to see in the mirror to comb your hair or
apply your makeup. The dresser was smaller as well and low to the
ground, but only had 3 drawers with limited space to hang up clothing
and virtually no hangers. We needed someplace to store our luggage so
we could move around in the room, so yep, the rest of the closet space
served as a place for our luggage as well as our other things.
We figured having the removable plastic
bench sitting in the bathtub was normal for a handicapped room. We
didn't realize that a handicapped accessible room meant so much more and
gave you more “features” until we stayed on Disney property.
We had been to Disneyland many times when we lived in
the Southern California area. Walt Disney World couldn't be THAT much
bigger, right?? Frankly, we figured we would do two days at Magic
Kingdom and one day each at the other three parks. This was all our
budget would allow for at the time. We had 3 days to do something
different outside of Disney. What to do?
Our hotel was very close to many other venues. Just
reading the various brochures that were left in our room, we figured we
would hit up Ripley's Believe It Or Not, something on the Titanic and
maybe Sea World. Trying to get to Sea World one day was nuts—there was
an accident and traffic was backed up for miles. So, we ventured off,
by foot, to Ripley's and the Titanic exhibits.
The girls were fascinated with the Ripley's building being split in half.
We went inside, and stood in line for tickets. So
many of the guests came out saying “I paid good money for THIS?! What a
sham!”. We quickly realized that, well, maybe we just didn't need to put
hard earned money towards this. So, we left without paying to “view”
the exhibits.
Titanic was nice, but we opted not to go. Remember, I
mentioned that we had special needs girls? One is in a wheelchair, and
Titanic had no accommodations for someone in a wheelchair. So, once
again we left.
On the way walking back to our hotel, we spotted a
miniature golf place. Surely, we could do that, right? When we went in
to pay, the lady working the front desk explained that they were not
really set up to handle a wheelchair. Again....we sadly left.
Our hotel was nice, really it was. But you can only
swim so much or visit their so-called arcade so many times. The pool
was nothing more than a hole in the ground with water. It cooled us
off, but that was about it. My girls are not into arcade games.
Nothing much on TV, so what to do?
We did find the Sleuth's Dinner Mystery Theater (www.sleuths.com/ ) as we were scrolling through the channels on the TV one day.
Sleuth's was fun and well worth the cost and the
added drive. In all honesty, while the show was a little bit risque in
some areas for our younger girls, it was done in such a manner that the
adult themed scenarios went right over the heads of my younger girls.
Our teenager laughed and caught on right away and was able to play along
and solve the mystery. I might add that it was actually Mom who caught
the little nuance and fully solved the mystery—but who am I to brag.
There were nice pre-show appetizers of cheese, crackers and fruit.
Our entree for the show was plentiful and flavorful.
The show offers all you could drink both with fountain drinks as well
as beer and wine. Yes, the theater can and will call a cab for you if
need be.
When we came home, the girls talked on and on about
how much they enjoyed Disney—it had so many things for them to do in the
Parks. We were able to ride with our girls, and getting on or off the
rides was easy. We determined that we needed to not only save our
vacation money, but we needed to return and fully explore all that
Disney had to offer.
We were really disappointed and more than put out
that these other venues like Ripley's, Titanic and the miniature golf
place had nothing to offer our family. So, we looked into a certified
Disney Vacation Travel Agency and decided to book our next trip at a
value resort, just to see how it would go. We also looked into
staying in one of Disney's handicapped accessible rooms.
Our next trip, in 2004, we stayed at All Star Movies.
From the moment we walked into our rooms, we were impressed. We had a
spot to park our wheelchair, well out of the way of the walking pathway
in the room. Sinks were lower yes, but the mirrors were such that
everyone could make use of them without having to kneel to do so. No
more lifting our daughter, we could roll her right into the shower,
transfer her, and get her cleaned without having to worry about if our
backs would hold out or not. Best yet, we had a hand held shower head
so we didn't have to get the bathroom and ourselves soaked as we bathed
our daughter. We had ample room to store suitcases, out of the way. We
felt we had been given a mini apartment, based on what we had before
when we stayed at the Homeward Suites.
We spent an entire day just looking around this
resort. The girls loved the larger than life Disney icons they found
here.
Every area had a story to tell, a memory brought on by something
the girls remembered from a specific movie or song. And the pools,
they were themed. They were not just a “hole in the ground with water”
but mini playgrounds all their own.
We purchased the basic dining plan, and had fun
exploring new places to eat. We didn't have to go “looking” for a place
to eat and hoping we could find place that had a short wait time before
we were seated. We had a reserved sit down time. Food was hot,
flavorful, different, and we felt like we were welcomed as a treasured
guest. Best yet, the places we opted to eat accommodated our
wheelchair. We never felt out of the way or in the way of other diners
or our servers.
We fell in love with Disney transportation. Sure, we
still had our minivan and could drive to the Parks if we really wanted
to. We simply didn't find the need to drive. We took in every avenue
of Disney transportation available to us. Best yet, no need to pay for
any parking since we were a resort guest.
Would we ever stay off-property again? Probably not.
For us, staying on property is simpler, easier, more cost-effective, and
provides us the most to accommodate our special needs. We love the
unique accommodations and amenities each level—Value, Moderate, Deluxe
or Concierge—has to offer for our family. Yes, we have stayed at all
level except for DVC, and we will remedy that this coming July.
There are so many things to do and explore within
each category of resorts while staying on Disney property. But, that's
another article all together. Stay tuned.
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