If a million people replied to your thread, you'll get a million different answers, across the spectrum from "only stay on Disney property" to "never" and all the tricks of the trade to get a discount. By all means, read each and every one of them, but if you need to pick a hotel, I'd say read the descriptions of each resort at
http://allears.net/acc/faq_hot.htm
You'll also find reader reviews there as well.
I know that over the past few years, there have been some decent discounts available in September and October. Anything to entice people to take their kids out of school, you know? The mousesavers website is a great place to stay up to date on current offers and they're usually amongst the first to break news on new deals. Sometimes the deals involve a discount on the package, or a discount on the room, or free dining. They usually don't combine, so you likely won't be able to get a room discount AND free dining.
If you wanted to stay onsite with a bigger room at a better price, some people who are members of the Disney Vacation Club (disney's version of a timeshare) will rent out their memberships during years that they can't go, and sometimes you can get incredibly deep discounts as a result. It won't be a discount you'll be able to combine with an official offer from Disney, like free dining, but often the discount is even better. dvcrentalstore and dvcrequest are two sites many people here have used with no problem, and because they're a third party you may pay a little more than finding a Disney Vacation Club member yourself and trying to negotiate the transaction, they do almost all the legwork for you and assume pretty much all of the risk so you don't take a chance on someone sketchy on ebay going "Yeahhhhh, surrrre, I'll get you a nice room with a Magic Kingdom view, just send a money order to this PO Box, and you're not a cop, are ya? Ya gotta tell me if you're a cop!" These sites are legitimate, well-reviewed, totally on the up-and-up.
Finally, there are a few hotels on site that nonetheless aren't run or maintained by Disney, but are still close to the parks, they have their own shuttle buses and can save you a ton of dough. And two of them, The Swan and the Dolphin, actually DO get access to Disney transportation. OK, technically EVERY person who enters WDW property can use any mode of transportation, but the Swan and the Dolphin have Disney buses come to the hotels themselves. They are also within walking distance (and have boat access) to both Disney Hollywood Studios and Epcot's "back door" the International Gateway, which will let you enter near the back of the park versus the front where Epcot's parking lot is. They are also within walking distance of three Disney Deluxe resort - Boardwalk, Yacht Club and Beach Club - in case you'd like to visit them, dine in their restaurants, walk the Boardwalk etc. Both Swan and Dolphin are considerably cheaper than the Deluxe resorts they're near, and they often have great discounts for people who are either in the military or educators or nurses. The Dolphin is run by Sheraton and the Swan is run by Westin, both run by Starwood, so if you're a Starwood member there are discounts as well. Warning - there is a $20 per day "hidden fee" for people staying at the Swan or Dolphin, plus a charge to park, but the savings compared to a Disney resort should more than make up for it.
Good luck, happy hunting
