Resort with Kitchenette - easy drive

[NellyT]

Hi, this will be our first time travelling to Orlando in April. Any recommendations of a nice resort to stay with a kitchenette and nice pool area for a family of four. We will be renting a car but an easy short drive to parks would be preferable so I guess somewhere central.
Any other tips for first timers very welcome

 

[Upatnoon]

The Disney Vacation Club properties have kitchenettes, are right on Disney property and include free buses to the parks. All of them are great.

There are also dozens and dozens of other nearby resorts and even houses you can book at different price-points.

Do you have a budget? That will help narrow your choices.

 

[NellyT]

Thank you for your reply
Is it easy to book the Disney Vacation Club properties, I can't seem to find any details. We'll be coming from the UK for 2 weeks.
Budget I think will be abound $4500, not set in stone though. If anyone has any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it.
The Wyndham Bonnet Creek or Sheraton Vistana Lake Buena Vista seem to be what we are looking for.
Does anyone have any experiences to share?
Thank you

 

[Skippyboo]

Flamingo Creek area just outside of AK area has a Residence Inn, Town Place Suites, Spring Hill Suites. It’s a relatively new shopping complex Disney built apartments for their college program there. Basically right outside gates on Western Way, so it’s easy drive to parks.

 

[NellyT]

Flamingo Creek area just outside of AK area has a Residence Inn, Town Place Suites, Spring Hill Suites. It’s a relatively new shopping complex Disney built apartments for their college program there. Basically right outside gates on Western Way, so it’s easy drive to parks.

Thank you, I will take a look.

 

[Her Dotness]

Thank you for your reply
Is it easy to book the Disney Vacation Club properties, I can't seem to find any details. We'll be coming from the UK for 2 weeks.

There occasionally will be "for cash" listings of DVC villas on the regular Disney listings. However, you can expect Deluxe resort prices on these, and they're rarely studio villas. The studios are the ones with a kitchenette, others have a fully-equipped kitchen.

What to look into if you wish to investigate a possible DVC stay would be renting points through a broker which will be much less expensive than for-cash through Disney.

You can see how that's done by clicking on DVC on the toolbar above. That pulls up another window for DVC Fan, the division of The DIS that covers all things DVC. RENT appears on its toolbar to the right side.

The catch is that cancellation if necessary gets much more involved when doing a DVC rental. And getting a studio may be quite difficult depending on when you're going. I also have no idea how workable renting points may be for a UK resident.

DVC villas are lovely, though. (We've been members for 5 years.) And, you've the advantage of being "in the bubble." Might be worth saving up for a special stay sometime if currently unfeasible.

 

[winterwhite]

Hi, this will be our first time travelling to Orlando in April. Any recommendations of a nice resort to stay with a kitchenette and nice pool area for a family of four. We will be renting a car but an easy short drive to parks would be preferable so I guess somewhere central.
Any other tips for first timers very welcome

Suggest the Towneplace suites or our new preference, the Home2 suites at Flamingo Crossing.

They are right outside the western gate and there is a Target, Starbucks, and Walgreens walkable from the hotel (especially from the Home2 side of the street)

Free breakfast and free parking.

We’ve stayed on the flamingo crossings side since it opened and it’s the best value we have found, now made better with Target and Walgreens right there.

 

[NellyT]

There occasionally will be "for cash" listings of DVC villas on the regular Disney listings. However, you can expect Deluxe resort prices on these, and they're rarely studio villas. The studios are the ones with a kitchenette, others have a fully-equipped kitchen.

What to look into if you wish to investigate a possible DVC stay would be renting points through a broker which will be much less expensive than for-cash through Disney.

You can see how that's done by clicking on DVC on the toolbar above. That pulls up another window for DVC Fan, the division of The DIS that covers all things DVC. RENT appears on its toolbar to the right side.

The catch is that cancellation if necessary gets much more involved when doing a DVC rental. And getting a studio may be quite difficult depending on when you're going. I also have no idea how workable renting points may be for a UK resident.

DVC villas are lovely, though. (We've been members for 5 years.) And, you've the advantage of being "in the bubble." Might be worth saving up for a special stay sometime if currently unfeasible.

Thank you, I'll take a look. Budget very flexible and I'd prefer the right place so will have a look.

 

[HopperFan]

Hi, this will be our first time travelling to Orlando in April. Any recommendations of a nice resort to stay with a kitchenette and nice pool area for a family of four. We will be renting a car but an easy short drive to parks would be preferable so I guess somewhere central.
Any other tips for first timers very welcome

Kitchenette or Full Kitchen? That makes a big difference in options.

Are you looking for space aka bedrooms and living space, or a suite, or a hotel room?

Also many of the hotels that have kitchenettes (mini fridge, microwave) tend to not have great pool areas.

LOTS of options to choose from, easier if you can narrow down the requirements.


WBC is prime location and would my first choice every time if it were in budget!

 

[robinb]

Welcome to the DIS!

I would recommend that you look into renting a timeshare villa, condo or house, preferably one with 2 bedrooms or more. We stayed at Wyndham Bonnet Creek with my daughter and her boyfriend and it worked perfectly.

Here is a thread dedicated to WBC: https://www.disboards.com/threads/the-we-loooooove-club-wyndham-bonnet-creek-part-4.3366139/

This is who I rented from: https://vacationstrategy.com/ . Two weeks in April will be well under budget for you.

Other alternatives is to rent a timeshare through eBay or through Sky Auction (http://www.skyauction.com/) or to find a place on VRBO or AirBNB. If you book through Skyauction make sure to read, re-read and read again all the fine print and understand it. You can get some great deals, but there are sometimes extra charges for certain dates and other fine print that one can miss if you just skim the ad.

NOTE: most of my suggestions require you to be 100% sure of your dates. Some VRBO and AirBNB owners allow cancelations but that depends on the owner. If you're not 100% now, I would book a place that you can cancel and get a timeshare/condo closer to your dates.

 

[DL1WDW2]

I tried bumping previous threads for this but I guess you missed it.
I would consider the Homewood Suites also because their pool has a slide and indoor/outdoor Bar area…


If you need shuttle service be sure to ask at front desk when you check in.
I don’t think it is on a regular schedule.

 

[Lisa P.]

Hi, this will be our first time travelling to Orlando in April. Any recommendations of a nice resort to stay with a kitchenette and nice pool area for a family of four. We will be renting a car but an easy short drive to parks would be preferable so I guess somewhere central.
Any other tips for first timers very welcome

When you say "an easy short drive to parks... somewhere central", which parks? Disney or Universal or Sea World or others? How often do you plan to drive to Disney parks vs. others? This makes a difference in terms of best location.

When in April are you planning to travel? In 2023, Easter is April 9th. So, April 1-16 will be peak crowds at WDW and Orlando in general, with heavy traffic. Location will be key during this popular time in Orlando.

FWIW, I adore the Club Wyndham Bonnet Creek, a timeshare resort mentioned above. But I would not recommend it for a spring break trip. From Mar. 10 - Apr. 15, 2023, this resort is on Wyndham's "Timeshare Owner Priority Reservations" list, meaning there's a good chance that a guest reservation for a non-owner would be cancelled. Almost all other timeshare resorts in the Orlando area have no such restrictions so I'd choose someplace else.

If you're planning on the last half of April, no worries about the traffic or Wyndham restrictions. There are still many, many great options. In any case, you may want to look for a central location to all of the the parks, not just WDW. Consider the timeshare resorts in the S. International Dr. area... Marriott Grand Vista and Cypress Harbour, Sheraton Vistana Villages, Oasis Lakes, to name just a few.