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First time to DVC

B

bellesgirl

TUG Review Crew: Veteran
TUG Member
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Location
Farmington Hills, MI
My husband and I have been to Orlando a few times but this is the first time we are staying at a DVC property (Saratoga Springs) and I have a couple of questions.

First, should we rent a car? I know DVC has a free shuttle to/from the park and we will probably use it. But what about other things like shopping, restaurants, getting to and from the airport. We also will probably want to do some things that are not Disney related. I can rent a car at the airport for about $250 for the week, but would I be better off getting it at the resort as needed? If I have my own car, does that mean I have to pay for parking at the theme parks even though I am staying "onsite"?

I don't really understand the meal plan. As an RCI exchange, is that something I am eligible for? The website talks about "Magic your way" packages and I know I am not on that. Do I even want it? Also should I buy my Disney tickets through mousesavers.com or get it from the resort?

Any and all advice is appreciated
 
Hi,
You can use magical express to get from the airport.
Rental prices change often and many companies have sales. Sign up for e-mail info from some companies to get last minute prices and other sales.
You can rent a car on property. Both at the Swan and at the Car care centre near Magic kingdom. There are other rental car places nearby too.

If you are staying on site you do not pay for parking, you get a pass.

You are able to get the dining plan by staying at Saratoga Springs. Go to alears.net to look at menus to see if you would purchase enough to make it worth it. All people in your party must purchase the same plan. There are many people that love the plan and many for whom it is too much food, or too restrictive. You will have to do your own research based on your family

The mousesaver newsletter has a link to great prices at undercover tourist.
 
Get a car for at least part of your stay. Being locked into the often inconvenient schedules of the supplied transportation can make an otherwise nice vacation far too strenuous. The amount of time wasted working around those inflexible times and the chance that some runs will be filled & you'll have to wait longer can really add up. Plus you are stuck having to get all your meals within the walls of Disney - not exactly a gourmets delight especially when you realize how many great restaurants there are in the Orlando area, may with far better food and pricing.

Unless you are a Disney fanatic it can get to be way too much Disney unless you can get out for an occasional break. Having private transportation makes that easy. Enjoy!
 
Car uses

We always rent a car.

We use Disney transport to the Magic Kingdom and Downtown Disney. Driving to those is a real pain.

We drive to the Studios and Epcot. We would drive to the Animal Kingdom, but we never go there.

We always drive to other resorts if we have dining reservations. Disney transport doesn't work well for resort to resort travel.

We also make a run to WalMart at the beginning of the trip to buy water bottles, cold cereal, OJ, and snacks, etc. This saves us a lot over Disney prices.

At Saratoga Springs, depending on where your room is located, you may want a car to drive to the check in area, the counter service restaurant, and even a pool.

We usually rent cars through Southwest Airlines. Those prices are better than any others that I have found. We were there for ten days in mid August and paid $158 total for the car. It was a compact and quite small, but adequate.

While you can get by without a car, I believe that your trip will be better if you have one.
 
I notice a lot of RCI trades into Saratoga Springs recently. Why is this? Is Saratoga the bottom of the DVC food chain, so the people with Disney points go somewhere else first? I even got my first RCI trade into Disney recently - just happened to be Saratoga Springs. I've been trying for years - it just seems funny that it is available so much more than ever before.
 
Hi,
Saratoga Springs has a lot of units so there are always more of them to be had. Also, it is not most people's first choice.
 
SSR

Saratoga springs has some things going for it. There is a new pool there, that has gotten favorable reviews.

Some of the units have a great view of Downtown Disney and are within walking distance.

The points needed are less than at some of the other resorts.

Many people like the counter service restaurant.

On the negative side, the rooms are quite small and the one we had was not in the best shape.

The resort is big and spread out. We drove to the main area when we needed to go there.

For us, it didn't have any magic at all. This is obviously a subjective thing, but it came close to ruining our trip. We won't ever stay there again.

People seem to have strong feelings about SSR, some positive and some negative. Since it is such a large resort, a small percentage, like 10 percent, of owners who don't want to stay there results in a lot of extra rooms.
 
Saratoga is the largest dvc. I love staying there so I am glad it has more availability. :D We used to like the hotel attached dvc resorts but over the years have changed to preferring the more condo like resorts like Saratoga and old key west. More peaceful. Grandstand area of Saratoga is my personal favorite.
 
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Maybe you could rent a car for a few days. Dollar rent a car is in the wyndham at downtown Disney. We sometimes just rent a car for part of the week.
 
I would try discount car rental sites like Hotwire and Priceline to make sure your price is the lowest. Have also had luck with codes from BJs.com.

We really like Saratoga Springs. I would stay there without hesitation.

Enjoy!
 
Costco will probably be about $120 per week for a car, all taxes/ fees included, within a few days of your trip. I have rented cars for less than $100 per week with all taxes included for most of our trips. Right now, the price for October is ~$190 for a mid-sized car. You have to be a member to rent from Costco now. If you have the Costco American Express, you can sign up for the $25 per rental car insurance, and that makes us feel better. Orlando drivers are from a cornucopia of countries, I am sure you are aware already, and that makes for some interesting accident-avoidance tactics on Rick's part. We have had some hilarious experiences over the years.

The $95 fee for RCI exchanges is mandatory, even if you don't use Magical Express, so my daughter loves to use ME and thinks it starts a Magical vacation. She makes a big deal of it with the little ones. The parking is FREE because you are a Disney guest. All you have to do is show your Saratoga Springs parking pass to the attendants at the various parks. That is a huge savings because parking is about $15 per day. We get free parking as annual pass holders, so that $95 is a ripoff for us.

I have never tried ME. Even though I love Disney, I don't want to be a Disney hostage. Eating Disney food every day, every meal is not my idea of a vacation. Plus, I have a favorite spot for ice cream, Twistee Treat in front of the Winn Dixie on 535, so we have to get a car for our nearly daily trips there.

There are a few Disney restaurants that are very enjoyable, like Biergarten for lunch, but most of the rest are overpriced and not all that great. When the kids and grandkids are with us, I love the Princess dining, and we do eat at the various restaurants in the parks with the grandkids. That is an exception, because it's all about family, and it really does feel special with little ones.

We save more than the car rental by eating most meals outside of the World. I actually love some of the chain restaurants in the area. Carrabba's, Outback, Longhorn Steakhouse, Texas Roadhouse (new), Smokey Bones, Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, etc., are some of our favorites. We usually bring our own snacks in a cooler. These are things like protein bars, almonds, cheese, and vegetables w/ dip. Rick likes cashews in our cooler, too.

Another benefit of having a car is our trips to Universal Studios/ Islands of Adventure. Wouldn't miss our chance to go there. I have to ride Men In Black, first thing in the morning, about ten times each trip.
 
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I agree. A car seems the way to go for a number of reasons. Right now the best rates seem to be with Value and NU car rentals. Has anyone used either of those? They both seem to be at the airport. I have a car reserved via Costco with Budget, but it is about $70 more for the 8 days.
 
I just booked a car yesterday for the beginning of Oct. with BJ's for 89.00 per week for a Toyota Corolla size car. While we are members, the site did not ask for any ID, and the car is booked thru Hertz.
 
Ticket?

Should I buy my Disney park tickets ahead of time through mousesavers or wait until we get to the resort? I really don't know how many days to purchase, but it seems like the incremental cost for adding days is minimal. Since our main goal is the Food and Wine festival it might be worth getting extra days.

JudyH - I checked BJs and the lowest price I see for mid Oct. is nearly $300. Do I need a special code?
 
If you're inclined to get a car, do it. TIP: Monitor the rental at AutoSlash.com, and they'll tell you when a cheaper rate comes along.

There's no charge for parking at Disney if you're staying on site. Just show your room key and the parking pass.

You can take Disney's Magical Express from the airport, but we almost always just get a car. That way, we can stop for groceries on the way and be on our own schedule.

You won't find any substantial discounts on park tickets. You can save a bit through UndercoverTourist (and a little bit extra through MouseSavers.com's newsletter link to UT) or through AAA, but it's not much.

As an RCI Exchange, you do qualify for the Disney Dining Plan, but do some research. It's probably not a good deal, financially. Most people find it cheaper to pay OOP, or if you're doing TS dining a lot and qualify to buy one, the Tables In Wonderland card can save even more.

Personally, we find Disney's Table Service (TS) restaurants to be very overpriced compared to cooking or dining off site (another great reason to have a car). Their Counter Service (CS) restaurants aren't bad -- typically in the $10 range (plus drinks) for adults.

F&W Festival is one thing that might tip the scales towards the Dining Plan, though. If you plan on eating the snacks there, you can use snack credits from the plan for most of them (but not the booze).
 
Crafty527 said:
...On the negative side, the rooms are quite small and the one we had was not in the best shape.

The resort is big and spread out. We drove to the main area when we needed to go there.
....
Click to expand...

The rooms at SSR are nearly identical in size to Beach Club Villas, Boardwalk Villas, Villas at Wilderness Lodge. Bay Lake Tower has even smaller villas in some cases than these. But Old Key West has the largest of all.

If you find any problems in your villa, call Maintenance for maintenance issues and Housekeeping for housekeeping issues and they usually will be taken care of quickly.
 
Deb & Bill said:
The rooms at SSR are nearly identical in size to Beach Club Villas, Boardwalk Villas, Villas at Wilderness Lodge. Bay Lake Tower has even smaller villas in some cases than these. But Old Key West has the largest of all.
Click to expand...
BLT Studios are slightly smaller (339 sqft vs. about 350 sqft at most other DVCs), but their 1BR and 2BR units are larger than most (803 sqft and 1216 sqft vs. about 750 sqft and about 1075 sqft). We've always stayed in the 2BR units, and BLT is noticeably larger (and better laid out) than most. AKV Kidani is also a bit larger, too. Neither is as large as OKW, of course, but BLT and AKV are not as cramped as the others.

Another thing we like about BLT was that the fridges have icemakers in them. I think OKW is the only other one that has icemakers in the fridges.
 
I own at Saratoga Springs and like staying there. It is a LARGER resort than others (number of rooms). We also enjoyed staying at OKW (LARGE rooms), Boardwalk Villas (smaller rooms, but we liked the entertainment), AKV Jambo House.

It's more convenient to have a car, but not a necessity, unless you want to go off Disney property. We stayed at SSR for a week at Christmas time and didn't leave the property. We ordered groceries and had it delivered at the beginning of our stay (green grocer or something like that). Car Rental rates were really high that week.

We loved the magical express service (super convenient) and stuck to Disney transportation for our stay. At that time, my daughter loved all things Disney so we were happy to stay on property for 7 days.
 
If you do get a car, the ONE park that I recommend taking the bus to anyway is Magic Kingdom. When you drive, you have to park at the Transportation and Ticket Center, then take the boat or monorail to MK. The bus takes you straight to MK.

For all the other parks, we prefer to drive.
 
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