Non-Disney resort choice

[EileenL]

you have some great suggestions on places - another option on transportation - a timeshare close to downtown disney is a shorter and cheaper taxi ride - then use the disney buses to go everywhere on disney property

[nursie]

Originally Posted by MichaelColey

You could always have one person drive the van down and the rest fly. Two rental might be possible, but probably wouldn't be much cheaper.

FWIW, Vistana is quite a bit closer than Orange Lake.

The only off site place where I would ever consider staying without a car would be Wyndham Bonnet Creek, and I would still strongly prefer having a car. With four special needs kids, the convenience of a car would only be magnified, I would think.

Have you already bought your airfare?

For eight people and a three week trip, I would lean very strongly towards driving.

Spend some of the money you would save and do some things to make the drive more enjoyable. Electronics. New movies. New books. Stop somewhere fun along the way. Hit some nice restaurants. Whatever everyone enjoys.

We prefer flying and getting a rental car, but we drive when it makes sense. We really enjoyed our last trip to California (about the same distance as your trip). We were dreading the long drive, but it wasn't bad at all.

Tough decisions.

To everyone, Thanks for all the input/advice.

To Michael,
No we didn't buy airfare yet, it's insanely high $430+ per person x 8 = really broke parents.
I like your idea of spending the extra money on misc. other things like electronics esp.for the road, we have a DVD player that needs to be installed in our 15 passenger van so we could take the $ we didn't spend on airfare and do that.
We did book Sheraton Vistana Resort for our 4th week as Disney has not come through yet. If we do get a match for Disney that week (I've still got the ongoing search on) I don't know if we would take it or release it now since we will have transportation. Plus, Sheraton Vistana Resort seems like it would be very nice.
We are considering leaving from MN Thursday night and driving straight through to Orlando, 24 hour drive time, and then checking into Orange Lake for 1 night to sleep and hang out there at pools Sat. before we check in to OKW. We have the opportunity to get an inexpensive (9 TPU) week at Orange Lake and we could jump over there throughout the week and use the amenities vs going to the Disney waterparks (Typhoon Lagoon & Blizzard Beach) for a price.
Don't know if that makes sense but with high cost lodging for party of 8, getting an inexpensive TS exchange even if we only sleep there 1 night and using the facilities some throughout the week still seems more cost effective than other options i.e. 2 hotel rooms on the road,etc.

[MichaelColey]

Even if you catch a $200 sale on airfare, $200 x 8 = $1600, and you wouldn't have a vehicle for the 3-4 weeks you were there.

I'm not sure I would do a 24 hour straight drive. That would be torture for the you, and for the kids. I would probably split it into a two (or possibly three) day drive, overnighting near St. Louis and/or Atlanta. You should be able to find a decent hotel (like a Hampton Inn) in those areas for $50-$75 per room per night. Search with Kayak.com, limit to 3 stars and up, and sort by price. When we do two long days like that, we always try to do about 2/3rds the first day and 1/3 the second. That second day is much more bearable when you know the bulk of the drive is behind you.

Having the vehicle with you will be a huge convenience and money-saver.