Really no benefit to stay "on Property" anymore

[Marionnette]

Onsite vs offsite is a matter of personal preference. For some people, staying in a Disney resort is as much a part of their vacation as going to the parks. For others, a hotel is just a place for a bed and a bath. If you fall in the former camp, then the cutbacks/changes are not going to have a huge influence on your choice of resort. If you're part of the latter group, you probably have already found that Disney is way overpriced for what you get.

I happen to like staying onsite. I like waking up to a view of one of the parks from my balcony. I like having ME service to handle my bags and my transportation to/from the airport. I still rent a car onsite because I don't care for the bus system. But I also like being able to take a boat, monorail or just walk to one of the parks from my resort.

EMH is fine if I have the energy to stay out late or get up earlier in the morning. But if it goes away, I only hope that it is because Disney has decided to offer their onsite guests something new in its place. Lately, it seems that EMH has gotten to be more crowded than the normal park hours. This is especially true with evening EMH when the it goes for hours after all of the other parks have closed.

Not everyone is going to be happy with the changes Disney has planned. And the costs keep going up while most of us have had to deal with stagnant or reduced income. But I'd rather wait a little longer between trips than stay offsite. For me, it's the difference between a Disney vacation and an Orlando vacation.

 

[maxiesmom]

We have always stayed onsite & loved it. In June 2012 we stayed at CBR but had a rental car so we went to the store for breakfast foods & had some meals at the restaurants at Crossroads or just outside the DTD area. So we are thinking about booking our next June 2014 trip at Staybridge Suites LBV. They just renovated, so close to DTD & the stores/restaurants which we enjoyed in 2012. Plus our DS will be 13 so the suite maybe nice for a change. So sometimes the consideration of staying off-site is comfort zone & not staying too far from the Disney parks. I wouldn't go any farther than the DTD entrance area. So now we just have another option when we are looking at resorts. Plus our DS wants to concentrate on the water parks so maybe it won't be such a bad idea to give Staybridge Suites LBV a try because we all agree that having a rental car was great on the past trip.

When we stay off site, we stay at Staybridge Suites. As you have noted, it is in a great location, so close to Disney property. They also have a free continental breakfast, so you save money on food too.

 

[abner1776]

Cutting back on EMH is no big deal for me...who really stays for 3 hours anyway.
DME and the transportation is what sells me on staying on property and just being ...at WDW...rather than being...in Orlando.
DDP is overrated and overpriced and not a big deal IMHO.
I do not see myself staying off property anytime soon....of course, being a DVC member may have a "slight" impact on that decision !!!!

 

[Abharmagic]

AGREE!!! This is our last onsite stay. Next trips will be a day or two at WDW then several at Universal, SeaWorld, and Legoland.

 

[mom2rtk]

Cutting back on EMH is no big deal for me...who really stays for 3 hours anyway.

Actually this is now more correct than ever. Nobody stays for 3 hours because it's no longer 3 hours. They cut it to 2 just recently.

 

[ItsNotMuchofaTail]

As a single mom who HATES to drive, staying on-site is worth the extra expense to me. I don't go often enough to learn my way around, and besides, its vacation, I don't want to deal with driving. My last trip was pretty low crowds, we planned on doing 1 EMH, but ended up changing plans anyway. When we went in the summer, we used morning EMH, but not nighttime.

I still think staying on-site has its benefits, but you really may not appreicate how much I like DME and Disney bus tranportation. Because I REALLLY, REALLY hate driving.

ETA: I also like the immersive experience. As I said, I don't go often, and I like to feel like I am in another world. Staying in a Disney Resort gives me that. Last time, we stayed at POR with a view of a lovely courtyard and a peek of the river. For my money, that is worth something.

 

[DiscoMinnieMouse]

I agree that EMH is not a big draw for us b/c of the extra crowds, although we like the evening ones at HS for the Disney Junior dance party. But when we fly, we love ME. When we drive, we love the free parking at the theme parks. Love being in the middle of the Disney action 24/7. We like the DDP since we eat on property every meal as well and it's nice to have all that paid for in advance.

We drink the Kool-aid, it's still on-property for us!

 

[dadddio]

I have to respectfully disagree their is now no real slow time for Disney, the parks are full as are the resorts, DIsney has been telling us for a while now that they are going to be doing away with the free DDP and as much as I will be gutted I truelly believe its going to happen!

Two questions:

1. What does 'gutted' mean? It sounds messy.
2. When has Disney officially stated that they are doing away with free dining?

 

[ManyMinnie]

They haven't. They have cut out one night at the Magic Kingdom for the summer.

For now.

EMH will eventually be done away with altogether, if not this year, by 2014 at the latest.

 

[mickeynut1]

There is more to staying onsite that the EMH's, etc. We love the complete ambiance of being surrounded by *Disney*, the transportation is a very nice perk to us.

I agree .

The Magic is the best WDW "perk" of all!

Off-site is much less costly

Offsite is less expensive when comparing just the cost of hotels, but once you add in travel time to/from the parks, parking fees per day, etc., it's not any cheaper (for us) than staying at a Disney resort. I consider our time just as valuable as saving a dollar and staying onsite might not save money (per say), but it does save us a lot of time and that is just as important to us when we are on vacation.

Love being engulfed by Disney magic 24/7 for the duration of our trips.

Us too .

Onsite vs offsite is a matter of personal preference. For some people, staying in a Disney resort is as much a part of their vacation as going to the parks. For others, a hotel is just a place for a bed and a bath.

Not everyone is going to be happy with the changes Disney has planned. And the costs keep going up while most of us have had to deal with stagnant or reduced income. But I'd rather wait a little longer between trips than stay offsite. For me, it's the difference between a Disney vacation and an Orlando vacation.

I agree 100% . We have taken two family trips and have rented a house both times, but those trips were "Orlando" vacations. When we go strictly for a Disney trip, it's onsite without question.

 

[LeahA]

There is no EMH for the summer? Sorry, I missed the boat on this! Is this a new thing or something that's always been in place. We always go spring break time but plan on hopefully going this summer. Please, any info on this would be great or direct me to the thread that expains this.

 

[BeerMe]

Wow this will be fab when moving to the states for our 3 yr posting in September we always stay on site but if we want to do Disney just for a few days and universal seaworld Etc for the rest this would be a great option

Look at Armed Forces Vacation Club

http://www.afvclub.com/

Good luck. Condos are generally $349/week but they have specials throughout the year. We've found off season is the best time to go.

ETA: But we're retired now and have no restrictions on when we can go.

 

[TheDisney411]

Two questions:

[*]When has Disney officially stated that they are doing away with free dining?

They haven't ever officially or unofficially said they would end any specific discounts. In a stockholder report last year they indicated they are trying to scale back on some discounts. This is a typical line they feed us in the annual stockholder reports. They used similar verbiage in a stockholders report 2 or 3 years ago and everyone hit these boards claiming free dining was dead. But, guess what? Free dining is still around. The FD discount has simply made them too much money to be completely done away with at this point. They may continue to try to experiment with new promos like Stay/Play/Dine during lower crowd weeks, but I don't see that as them ending free dining or other deep discounts - at least not at this point.

 

[Chuck S]

I rarely take advantage of EMH. And generally avoid the EMH Park of the day because it is usually more crowded. My favorite onsite perks are transportation, free parking for the occasions when I do drive and resort delivery of park purchases.

 

[TheDisney411]

There is no EMH for the summer? Sorry, I missed the boat on this! Is this a new thing or something that's always been in place. We always go spring break time but plan on hopefully going this summer. Please, any info on this would be great or direct me to the thread that expains this.

They haven't cancelled all of the summer EMH. They cancelled one night, and there seems to be some speculation that it means they will cancel other nights. Also, the speculation is that they will phase EMH out in 2014. All just rumors and speculation at this point.

 

[dadddio]

For now.

EMH will eventually be done away with altogether, if not this year, by 2014 at the latest.

When have they stated this?

 

[maxiesmom]

When have they stated this?

They haven't. People are jumping to conclusions. You know, the unofficial sport of the Dis.

 

[squirrel4569]

Figure I'll throw my 2 cents in on this conversation.

I've stayed onsite and offsite, flown and drove and really think that I prefer the onsite to the offsite.

Our kids don't have the endurance for evening EMH and it can be difficult to rouse them (and us) to be up and at a park by 8am for morning EMH so losing out on EMH isn't really a factor for me.

I love the DP and despite the fact that it looks like I'll break even on the price of meals this trip it's nice to know that my meals are paid for prior to me arriving and bills won't follow me home. It helps with my budget. I even asked the wife if we wanted to save a few bucks by passing on the DP and maybe forgoing some desserts, splitting meals for the kids since they don't seem to eat as much when we are at WDW, etc. She said no. She likes being able to get a dessert when we are gone and again, just swiping the KTTW card and not worrying about it going on a credit card or what else we could be spending that money on, etc.

I enjoy the Disney transportation. I like the fact that I don't *need* a car there. If we drive our own car it's a 1200 mile trip. While there are some nice things about having a car there, like going to DTD or off-site for something, it's also nice to just relax at the end of a day or even in the morning while we go to the parks. I've literally seen fist fights for people trying to get on the parking trams at MK so avoiding the parking lot is kind of nice. I love the fact that when I fly and I drop my bags at my airport I don't touch them again until I get back home. Disney Transportation also means I don't have to deal with booster seats, etc either. Lastly, my kids love the buses. They think it's a cool and special thing. Something out of the ordinary.

Being immersed in Disney is also a huge plus for me. When I'm on vacation I am escaping from the world and my day to day life. I don't want to watch the news or sports or any of that. I want to have experiences and get away. I want to find Hidden Mickey's and bask in all of the little touches of the resorts, the parks, etc.

And for me, Disney service is another plus. We've experienced nothing but spectacular service from all of the CMs we've met and they go out of their way to make my kids feel special.

Then there is cost. I looked at AAA & Costco packages and still couldn't find much that would save what I consider to be a significant amount of money. If I stay off site then I'm renting a car ($500 for the week we're going,) paying for parking ($14 x 6,) losing out on the DP and potentially time getting to and from the resorts (time = money, esp at WDW.) While the dollar for dollar costs on the hotel/room itself is much higher at WDW than a comparable room off-site, there's much more to it than simply the room.

As many others have said before me, there is still a lot of value for staying on-site.

 

[jordanri]

I can't believe no one has mentioned the MOST amazing perk of staying on property:

STACEY!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Disneylvr]

If the other attractions in Orlando were part of my vacation then yes I would agree with you. But our vacation destination is Disney and staying onsite is a very important part of that experience.