One of the most expensive parts of a Disney vacation is the hotel cost. The least expensive resort hotel in Walt Disney World charges almost $100 per night as of September 2010. Property owners around Disney are aware of this fact, and offer cheaper alternatives. Week-long stays in a fully-equipped condo for six to eight people for around $500 are common. The condos have full kitchens, so you can prepare your meals instead of eating in expensive restaurants in the parks. Most of the condos are within 10 minutes of the parks for easy access, and they generally offer pools, hot tubs, game rooms and other amenities that you would ordinarily find in the resort hotels. There are dozens of aggregate sites online that offer these condos, and you can easily find them by doing a search for "Disney Condo" in your favorite search engine.
For the family that loves the outdoors, Fort Wilderness Campgrounds offers the best of both worlds. Fort Wilderness has campsites from one-tent sites for a small family to large premium sites that accommodate the biggest travel trailers. Each site is equipped with water, electricity, cable tv hookups, Internet access, a grill and a picnic table. Fort Wilderness offers air-conditioned comfort stations with showers, laundry facilities, ice and phones. Children's activities include swimming, pony rides, sing-alongs with Chip 'n Dale around a campfire each night and outdoor Disney movie showings. Transportation is free to any of the theme parks, with buses running from one hour before park opening until three hours after park closing. Campsites run from $44 to $121 per night as of September 2010, depending on the size of the site and the time of year.
The Campsites at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort
4510 North Fort Wilderness Trl.
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830
407-939-7675
disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/campsites-at-fort-wilderness-resort/
While the holiday season is the most expensive time to visit Walt Disney World, the prices don't increase until one week before Christmas. However, the holiday feeling in Disney starts much earlier. Between Thanksgiving and the third week in December, Walt Disney World is transformed into a Christmas spectacular, while offering some of the lowest prices of the season for onsite resorts. Guests can celebrate their family holiday two weeks earlier than usual while saving hundreds of dollars in vacation costs. A weeknight before December 16 will run from $82 to $240, depending on the resort, but on Christmas the price will jump up to $159 to $430, as of September 2010.
The crowds are smaller and the cast members are just getting into their holiday attitudes, so the atmosphere is especially pleasant in the parks. Many guests bring small artificial trees to decorate their rooms, holding their family Christmas celebration amid the Disney fun.
