Distance to stay from Disney?

[ZaraH]

Hi all,

Okay so myself and my Fiance are desperate to go to Disney, but money is really tight due to me not being able to work full time for health reasons.

I have a pen pal friend that has said we can stay with them if we could afford the flights; they live about an hour or so away from Disney in Melbourne, Florida. That way we would only have to pay for flights, tickets and food, not accommodation, saving us a chunk of money!

Do you reckon staying an hour away from Disney and travelling to there for 14 days will be too long? I'm worried getting up that early to get there when it opens and then the drive afterwards is going to be too much with the walking around the parks etc.

What's the furthest drive you've stayed from the parks?

Thank you!

 

[BigRedDad]

After staying offsite by a little bit (192 and 429), that was too far for me. I would NEVER stay that far away again for parks. That is about 45 minutes closer than you are looking at.

 

[John park hopper]

We have all ways stayed in Disney or on International Drive. Melbourne is pretty far away guessing an hour or so and you have to be aware of construction on I-4 ( was pretty bad in May) and commuter traffic. Personally I would not want to drive that far after a long day in the park and consider the time of year the heat can take a lot out of you. Also calculate the gass you would be using for daily round trips for 14 days.

 

[mouse_luv]

That's going to be a little too much. In the money you are wasting by driving there every day in gas etc, you could probably find a deal to stay at one of the Disney value resorts.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Why go for 14 days if money is so tight? You could stay on property or very close for seven nights. You'd save enough on food to pay for the hotel.

 

[ginadee]

I agree. Go for a shorter time, on property and maybe have your friend come stay a few nights to help split cost of hotel. Oh and if you can catch free dining time that is a huge savings.

 

[yensid67]

What your MAX budget your trip? I am going in May 2018 and money was an issue! We are going for 7 days for $1200.00 per person!

 

[DisAl]

I agree with some of the others; an hour - if you are lucky enough to make it in that time - is too far. Especially when you consider driving in Orlando traffic when you are already exhausted. The suggestion to shorten the trip and stay on site or very nearby is a very good one. In our experience you can often stay at a value resort for less per night than many of the "mid level" motels off site.
By navigating to the View Rate Calendar pages on the Disney web site you can see what the prices for the rooms are for every day of the year and pick your time to avoid higher price dates. There are some nights at value resorts as low as $100 per night. And as mentioned above if you can pick a time that has a free dining promotion you can lower your cost even more.

 

[ginadee]

I agree with some of the others; an hour - if you are lucky enough to make it in that time - is too far. Especially when you consider driving in Orlando traffic when you are already exhausted. The suggestion to shorten the trip and stay on site or very nearby is a very good one. In our experience you can often stay at a value resort for less per night than many of the "mid level" motels off site.
By navigating to the View Rate Calendar pages on the Disney web site you can see what the prices for the rooms are for every day of the year and pick your time to avoid higher price dates. There are some nights at value resorts as low as $100 per night. And as mentioned above if you can pick a time that has a free dining promotion you can lower your cost even more.

Where is the view rate calendar? I can't find it anywhere. I only see where you put in specific dates. It would be great to see the whole year.

 

[LSV]

We live about 80 minutes from Disney. The drive is fine for single day trips, but 14 days in a row, actually even a few days in a row, would be exhausting. There are many options very close but less expensive than staying on property.

 

[Tinkerbell397]

I looked on Google Earth and the distance between Melbourne and Disney World is 77 miles or 1 hour and 15 minutes without traffic etc. I cannot imagine doing this every day...not to mention the time it takes to get from the parking lot to TTC and then the park. I would imagine that the drive would be at least 90 minutes and then another 45 or so to park and get into your park of choice. Reverse the process when you leave. I agree that you should either not go....if $$ is that tight or look into staying for a week rather than 2 weeks and staying at a value resort or a hotel/motel closer to the park. Your plan just does not seem to be a very enjoyable vacation. Sorry.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

What your MAX budget your trip? I am going in May 2018 and money was an issue! We are going for 7 days for $1200.00 per person!

You can go for a LOT less than $1,200 per person. Like half that, easily.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Many years ago I had a job that took me an hour to drive back and forth to. That commute was a killer. The job lasted a year, I got tired of the drive and moved on. As much as I love Disney and saving money, its not worth doing. The early raising and fighting traffic to get to WDW will be a horrible start to your day. Then after being in the parks all day youll be bushed and then have to face the long drive back. You will only regret doing it and it will make you have a miserable memory of your Disney time. Search out more options and find a way to make it work better for you.

 

[Tinkerbell397]

Parking alone for the 14 days will be $280. Add gas to that and you will probably be close to $500 not counting a car rental if you need one. Add it all up and you can stay at a value resort for a week for maybe a bit more.

 

[Minnie Mum]

I agree that the distance to/from Melbourne is too great, and I also agree that 14 nights is too long if your budget is tight. A 7 night stay would be more reasonable. I also noted that you haven't factored in the cost of car rental, gas and daily parking. You will have to add those into your calculations when deciding whether staying off site would be a better budget choice. Oh, and since many off site hotels include free breakfast, add that into your calculations, too. Have a look at a few booking sites like TripAdvisor or booking.com. These let you set filters for price and location among other things. Depending on time of year there are lots of places within a 10-15min drive of the TTC that are under $100/night.

 

[DisAl]

Where is the view rate calendar? I can't find it anywhere. I only see where you put in specific dates. It would be great to see the whole year.

Sometimes they seem to change the path to get to this, but here is what worked for me at 11:20 a.m. CDT on 07/02/2017.
Go to the Disney web page at:
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/
I suggest that you do not sign in to your MDE account. Sometimes that may only want to let you look at what you already have in your "cart" from previous visits.
Click on "Places to Stay". In this case I chose the value resort category.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/#/value
For this exercise I chose Pop Century:
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/pop-century-resort/rates-rooms/
Make sure the ROOM button is green. You can only see the daily room prices as a room only, not a package. For this exercise I chose a standard room type. Click on Rate Details under the price. When that page opens click on "View Rate Calendar" and you should be able to scroll through the months all the was to Dec. 2018.
The attached photo is what the calendar looks like for one of the other resorts I was looking at a while back.

 

[yensid67]

You can go for a LOT less than $1,200 per person. Like half that, easily.

And STILL do everything listed on my signature? I would like to know where you get the prices from then! Travelling from Chambersburg PA to Orlando by AVIS is $136.00($272.00), Clarion LBV w/ BREAKFAST Is $241.50($483.00 7 Days), 3 Day WDW was $308.85, I drive 360 is $35.54, Capone's Dinner Theatre is $49.00, Keys tot he Kingdom $150.00 and Memory Maker $75.00(per person!), Sea World w All Day Dining is 107.00=$1102.89...but with GAS at $100 would make it $1202.89 Captain, if you can find that cheaper you need to fill me in!

 

[CaptainAmerica]

And STILL do everything listed on my signature? I would like to know where you get the prices from then! Travelling from Chambersburg PA to Orlando by AVIS is $136.00($272.00), Clarion LBV w/ BREAKFAST Is $241.50($483.00 7 Days), 3 Day WDW was $308.85, I drive 360 is $35.54, Capone's Dinner Theatre is $49.00, Keys tot he Kingdom $150.00 and Memory Maker $75.00(per person!), Sea World w All Day Dining is 107.00=$1102.89...but with GAS at $100 would make it $1202.89 Captain, if you can find that cheaper you need to fill me in!

No offense but this is horribly inefficient planning. You talk about money being an issue but then you book dinner shows, Memory Maker, SeaWorld, etc. Yeah, your price is about right for all the stuff you booked but I would never recommend anyone book that stuff on a trip when money is an issue (your words, not mine).

 

[yensid67]

No offense but this is horribly inefficient planning. You talk about money being an issue but then you book dinner shows, Memory Maker, SeaWorld, etc. Yeah, your price is about right for all the stuff you booked but I would never recommend anyone book that stuff on a trip when money is an issue (your words, not mine).

No offense taken, but the reason that we booked those EXTRAS is because this will be out last trip and wanted something better than cellphone pics and the same for Dinner Theatre!

 

[DonnaBell]

Back in the 1990 we stayed with the in laws in Melbourne and took the kids to Disney world. We would drive one day over to Disney and not the next. It is not that bad of a ride.We drove down from NH one year so we had a car. The next time we fly down and used their car. Now I stay on property always. I like that we can come back to resort and rest in the afternoon.