Is it worth it to stay off-site?

Fintastic said:
After I told DH the parking fees he's warming up to staying onsite. :rotfl:

I don't mind the kids sharing a bed at their ages, but we'll probably just split up, DD and me, DH and DS.
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This is how we did it at our kids ages but we did stay in a moderate for the queen beds.
 
if you stay onsite you can book your fast passes 60 days in advance instead of 30 days if you stay offsite.
 
ruadisneyfan2 said:
As our kids became teens and nightowls, EMH had more appeal. We could easily do EMH at MK from midnight to 2 am.
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I have to agree with this. With older teens that may want to wander off on their own I always stay onsite using my DVC points so they can hop a bus and go "home" whenever they want to.

I looked at the OP's other posts and she want to go in Oct-Nov of 2017

Here is a list of historical discounts on WDW resorts:
http://www.mousesavers.com/historical-information-on-walt-disney-world-resort-discounts/#codetrends

Last year "free dining" was backed out for all but 1 week in that time period.

I don't know if someone mentioned it upthread but another option for the OP is to rent DVC points for a studio at one of the resorts that has an extra murphy bed. That way one child can take the foldout couch and the other the drop down murphy bed. The studios also include a small kitchenette that works fine for breakfast and access to free washers and dryers. These include Villas at Wilderness Lodge (1 week is 107 points in "choice season" Oct 1 - Nov 21, 2017 when the OP wants to go), Boardwalk Villas (a "standard view" is 78 points, a "preferred view" is 107), Villas at the Grand Floridian (standard 125 points, lake view 153 points), and lastly the Polynesian Villas (120 standard, 153 lake view). DVC points rent for as little as $12 per point all the way to $16 per point. My guess is that the OP will have to pay on the higher end of that range since her dates will coincide with the Epcot Food and Wine Festival which goes from mid-Sep to mid-Nov. DVC resorts sell out for those dates so if she wants to rent I would recommend that she find someone who has points that they can rent in the 11 month window. So she should start looking this October to find someone to rent to her. If she can snag a standard view BWV studio for $14 per point it would cost $1092 for the week or $156 per night or the equivalent of $138 pre-tax (since there are no taxes on DVC rentals).

That's still a LOT more that a condo even when you include the additional $140 in parking. It's also more than a Value resort, but less than a Moderate.
 
Happyinwonerland said:
the home are better themed than the disney hotels
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I find that hard to believe. Have you ever seen VWL or AKV?

There are pro/con's to both sides. Staying on site is expensive when you factor in the hotel and meals. Both of which will definitely cheaper outside of the disney bubble. It depends on what type of experience and budget you want. My husband strongly insisted we stay on site. This was my first real trip (went only once for only one day so i don't count that). I initially though about renting a house near by disney, renting a car and going back and forth - it would be much cheaper -- of course! but totally not the same experience of being in the disney bubble -- it is a real thing and I didn't believe in it until i was in it myself. The bubble starts when you get on the magical express at the airport. You are driving so that isn't a factor. It was so convenient being able to go back to the hotel relax and then head back out to a park for the evening. I have heard there can be quite a bit of traffic in the area so going back and forth to a house might not be as easy. I would not want to stay any other way. You could look at some better priced options of renting DVC and staying in a one bedroom with a full kitchen washer/dryer. It will be more expensive than offsite house but with a car you can still go out to dinner elsewhere and you can still drive to the park and i believe the park parking is included for resort guests. You will also be entitled to extra magic hours - which we definitely take advantage of and helps with getting on rides without long waits.

If you are a frequent WDW visitor then staying off site isn't a big deal because you are not there to be a park commando. You can visit the parks then head back to your hotel/house and relax for the evening. I could see this being a good option if you also want to hit universal and sea world. If you are planning on any back and forth time at the various parks. I guess you need to write you pro/con list and discuss with the family
 
kniquy said:
It was so convenient being able to go back to the hotel relax and then head back out to a park for the evening. I have heard there can be quite a bit of traffic in the area so going back and forth to a house might not be as easy. I would not want to stay any other way.
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The timeshare I stayed at off 192 was only 5-6 minutes from the Purple Gates and no more than 15 minutes to any WDW parking lot. It was extremely easy to get to WDW parks and even with traffic very quick. Once you make it past the Purple Gates I consider the transportation by car to be equalized between onsite and offsite guests. We went back to our villa every single day and the extra 20 minutes (total, 4 one-way trips) we spent driving to/from our timeshare and the Purple Gates per day was not a burden. I rented my 5-day reservation over the same week at BWV to a lovely couple who wanted the "Disney Magic". They had a great time. So did I. My entire vacation, including the timeshare and all meals, was paid for out of that rental. (We do have APs, so we didn't have to pay for passes or parking).
 
dhardawa said:
We stay onsite, but only go during free dining, so it is very economical for us.
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Us too. The thought of staying off site takes me out of Disney mode. We don't drive at all down there either. I expect to be surrounded by Disney the whole time.

Staying and then driving past the 7 eleven, metro stops, gas stations and such just isn't vacation to me.
 
kniquy said:
I find that hard to believe. Have you ever seen VWL or AKV?

There are pro/con's to both sides. Staying on site is expensive when you factor in the hotel and meals. Both of which will definitely cheaper outside of the disney bubble. It depends on what type of experience and budget you want. My husband strongly insisted we stay on site. This was my first real trip (went only once for only one day so i don't count that). I initially though about renting a house near by disney, renting a car and going back and forth - it would be much cheaper -- of course! but totally not the same experience of being in the disney bubble -- it is a real thing and I didn't believe in it until i was in it myself. The bubble starts when you get on the magical express at the airport. You are driving so that isn't a factor. It was so convenient being able to go back to the hotel relax and then head back out to a park for the evening. I have heard there can be quite a bit of traffic in the area so going back and forth to a house might not be as easy. I would not want to stay any other way. You could look at some better priced options of renting DVC and staying in a one bedroom with a full kitchen washer/dryer. It will be more expensive than offsite house but with a car you can still go out to dinner elsewhere and you can still drive to the park and i believe the park parking is included for resort guests. You will also be entitled to extra magic hours - which we definitely take advantage of and helps with getting on rides without long waits.

If you are a frequent WDW visitor then staying off site isn't a big deal because you are not there to be a park commando. You can visit the parks then head back to your hotel/house and relax for the evening. I could see this being a good option if you also want to hit universal and sea world. If you are planning on any back and forth time at the various parks. I guess you need to write you pro/con list and discuss with the family
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To the bolded: You should take a look at some of the rentals on vrbo.com. Some of the condos and houses are amazingly themed. Way over-the-top, more so than any WDW hotel room. Personally, I prefer y decor a little subtler, but if someone had a princess (or Tigger or Buzz Lightyear) fan, they would be in heaven in some of those rooms!

Also, some people prefer to take an occasional break from the Disney bubble. Not saying you're wrong to love it--everyone's entitled to the vacation that suits them--but I've found that my gang doesn't so much care for all-Disney, all the time. Everyone's pro and con list would be different, that's for sure.
 
kniquy said:
I find that hard to believe. Have you ever seen VWL or AKV?
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I have stayed both offsite and onsite including AKV and I can tell you my off site homes were much more themed. They were over the top Disnyfied! I personally prefer offsite, for the room with 3 kids and the fact that my transportation is just steps away from the door! I had to walk almost a mile from our room to our busstop at AKV only to wait up to half an hour for the right bus to come along. When you have a car at the house, you just step from the house right into the car and you are off! I would say getting to the park can be much quicker. And no waiting in line for the bus at the end of the day with thousands of other hot, tired, and cranky people. And then get on a overcrowded bus and have to stand. Or when the kids fall asleep on the bus. I remember when the kids were younger they all 3 fell asleep on the bus. So we had 3 sleeping kids and a stroller to take the long walk back to our room. Not fun!
 
When my husband was a reluctant to go and our son was little, he preferred onsite because of the bus convenience so we went in off-season and got great room only deals - we stayed at the DW timeshares. Now our son is older we stay off-site. We are going less to Disney and doing more of the other things in Orlando. DH still hates the parking lot wars. I am the only huge Disney fan now. We are going back next April and are not going in any of the DW parks and are staying off-site.
 
Fintastic said:
After I told DH the parking fees he's warming up to staying onsite. :rotfl:

I don't mind the kids sharing a bed at their ages, but we'll probably just split up, DD and me, DH and DS.
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I have two boys but first trip we took, they were 5 and 7 and that's exactly what we did, split up. They were so overtired and stimulated that they just couldn't settle down in a bed together.
 
This has been the eternal debate for us. We originally booked at CBR, switched to an off site house, cancelled and switched to a split stay with the family suites and campgrounds, and are still wavering as to whether to switch our campground reservation to an offsite house. Even with car rental, it would save us about $700.
I think it's all relative. If it were us and 2 teens, staying on site and doing the busses wouldn't even phase us, but since we are a family with 3 kids under 6 that will all need strollers at some point during the day, I'm not at all relishing that process if we stay on site. The car sounds way easier. On the other hand, it being one of only a couple of trips to Disney for us, I would so love to experience a couple (or more!) of the resorts, they all look so amazing in their own way, so the idea of staying off site and losing one of only a couple of opportunities is a bummer to.
It also matters what your "philosophy" is. I hear on here all the time "It's my vacation, so I'm not going to _________". For us, we can take this vacation because we _________ (cook, drive, stay value, whatever) so that isn't a dealbreaker for us. It is for some others.
 
We stay both places, for different reasons, but we ALWAYS rent a car because I hate the Disney buses. I figure if we are traveling for 7 days/6 nights, we are doing 5 park days, so $100 in parking and $150 (or less) for a rental car is worth it to us if it means we don't have to ride the buses! That's $36 a day (so let's say $40 with gas and tolls) to maintain my sanity! If it's just DD22 and me and I can get a good discount on Orbitz, we'll stay onsite at Disney, in a value. However, if we are traveling with DH, it's a different story. He needs more maintenance so we stay offsite, or rent points from a DVC owner, but even that's way more expensive than an offsite accommodation of the same type.

Pluses for onsite in a value: Well, you are at Disney. I don't buy "the bubble" theory, but the exterior theming can be fun (I think most of the rooms at value/mod level are "meh") and it's nice to feel like you are having a Disney Day from the moment you step out of your room.

Minuses for onsite in a value: Cost for what you get. Small double beds. Limited privacy. No coffee pot in room, so there's the whole "get dressed, hike to the food court, get the coffee, hike back" thing just to have that first cup. One teensy tiny bathroom (enough floor space to open the door). Only place to sit/visit is on the beds or in one of 2 small hard chairs. Minimal bathroom counter space. Minimal space, period. THE BUS SYSTEM. The mess in the food courts, especially at breakfast. Public laundromat. Crowded, warm pools.

Pluses for offsite: Cheaper. MORE SPACE and privacy. Kitchen for making breakfast (saves money, better quality of food), storing cold drinks, etc. YOUR OWN COFFEE POT. Plenty of bathroom space- and often more than one bathroom. Sometimes free breakfast (although still crowded). Bigger beds. Washer/dryer so you can throw a load in and be gone (to the park, to bed, whatever). Sometimes your own pool, and the public pools seem less crowded than Disney's pools.

Minuses for offsite: Out of "the bubble." Drive yourself (which we do anyhow, regardless of where we stay, so for us not a minus). PAY FOR PARKING unless you have an AP. Shuttles usually don't operate when you want to use them.
 
We stay at Bonnet Creek...onsite just not Disney owned. We pay $125 a night including all taxes for a two or three bedroom villa with two bathrooms, kitchen, washer and dryer, multiple tvs, etc.. The resort has multiple lazy rivers, hot tubs, free mini golf, kids activities, etc.

Can't get any closer because it is pretty much onsite...next door to Caribbean Beach Resort.

Even paying $20 a day to park makes it far less expensive than a Disney value or moderate. Don't they start over $100 a night before taxes for two double beds and one bathroom?

As a family of five, for us Bonnet Creek wins hands down every time.
 
Bonnet Creek isn't onsite. Its actually off Disney property, but surrounded on three sides by it - you have to go through Disney to get there - unlike the Swan/Dolphin which Starwood leased the land from Disney. Its a nit, but a sort of important one since the Swalpin gets some of the onsite benefits (like transportation, EHM and the extended FastPass window) while Bonnet Creek doesn't.

As for themeing - Disney is working to make their rooms more generic. Which I find sad. But the resort themeing is still immersive. If you need pictures of Mickey on the walls, you are probably better off off-site - Disney is moving away from that to neutral palates and pretty darn hidden Mickey's (it was three days before I found the Mickey in the curtains at BWV). But there still isn't anything off property like Animal Kingdom Lodge for immersion in a theme.

I like onsite - this year we had teenagers who were off on their own and onsite made it really easy to give them a "meet us for dinner at 6:00" and let them do their own thing. They didn't need to be on our schedule. But then cost isn't a huge factor in our decision (we do multiroom DVC units - so we get space like an offsite condo) - plus we fly, so onsite means no car rental. If I drove and had a tighter budget - and a family who wasn't going to split into independent units - I'd run the numbers and likely end up off site.
 
crisi said:
Bonnet Creek isn't onsite. Its actually off Disney property, but surrounded on three sides by it - you have to go through Disney to get there - unlike the Swan/Dolphin which Starwood leased the land from Disney. Its a nit, but a sort of important one since the Swalpin gets some of the onsite benefits (like transportation, EHM and the extended FastPass window) while Bonnet Creek doesn't.

As for themeing - Disney is working to make their rooms more generic. Which I find sad. But the resort themeing is still immersive. If you need pictures of Mickey on the walls, you are probably better off off-site - Disney is moving away from that to neutral palates and pretty darn hidden Mickey's (it was three days before I found the Mickey in the curtains at BWV). But there still isn't anything off property like Animal Kingdom Lodge for immersion in a theme.

I like onsite - this year we had teenagers who were off on their own and onsite made it really easy to give them a "meet us for dinner at 6:00" and let them do their own thing. They didn't need to be on our schedule. But then cost isn't a huge factor in our decision (we do multiroom DVC units - so we get space like an offsite condo) - plus we fly, so onsite means no car rental. If I drove and had a tighter budget - and a family who wasn't going to split into independent units - I'd run the numbers and likely end up off site.
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I find it interesting that two people mentioned the immersive theming at AKL, specifically. I found AKL to be cool and quiet, calming and relaxing--we stayed DVC in Kidani. OTOH, DH found it dark, depressing, and thought the long hallways were dreary, and you had to walk forever to get anywhere. So, I divorced him. No, seriously, he didn't HATE it, it just wouldn't be his first (second, third) choice--in fact, our family really loved OKW. This probably has to do with our vacationing style--I mentioned earlier that we value space and down time. I just found it fascinating that two people who have been happily married for over a quarter of a century can stay in the same room at the same hotel, and have two, completely different reactions to it.

And I think that goes to the larger point of the onsite/offsite debate. Different people put a premium on certain vacation features--there's no one "right", fits-all answer.
 
I'll start by saying I have never stayed off site. (I have stayed 4 times in various Disney resort hotels.) Not yet anyway but I can see doing it. I was planning a trip for this year but plans changed. Started out off site in a house with a pool. But then all the changes with fp came about and I was second guessing myself. I also was a little afraid of all the togetherness because we were planning to travel with people with small children. So I started pricing on site rooms and the convenience won out. Also I was planning a couple nights at universal to get the fotl access. So as you can see, the struggle is real.

However, I am a bit of a rebel by nature. I can see some of the traps of staying on site. There is a reason furniture is sister in those rooms. They don't want you to stay in your room because then you aren't spending any money. That's why ME is free. No car means you stay on property and so does your money. Now that I know my way around Disney, being able to get away now and then can feel liberating. Last trip we drove and I had the freedom of going to Walgreens to get some needed items. It didn't take me an act of congress to get what we needed and wanted. I like being at Disney but I am also lured by what lies outside. So now, under the right circumstances, I could easily see myself staying off site and enjoying it just as well.
 
After 10 trips onsite, I went offsite and we LOVED the space. In fact we are in the middle of planning another trip right now and we are heavily leaning toward being offsite after originally planning to go back to onsite. DD and I were just saying, we would choose onsite every time if we could stay in a one bedroom villa or larger. But we can't, and trust me when I say 2 adults and 2 teens in one small room for a week just isn't peachy. It's great for 4 or 5 days, then tension builds, nobody has any room to get away for a few minutes and the meltdown happens. Perhaps we are just a family with strong personalities but it never happens offsite because we have the room to breathe. It also saves a ton of money on food, because we eat out once a day instead of all day long. Bonnet Creek allows us to go back to the room easily to have a rest and lunch and go back to the parks for the evening.

I love the immersion and the theming and the feel of being onsite, but the reality is that we end up paying a whole lot more to be on top of each other and annoyed by the end of the week.
 
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Fintastic said:
My DH seems to think that it would be cheaper for us to stay off-site. (We're driving, so we wouldn't have to rent a car to get back and forth.) ASM is cheap as it is, and you get the perks of Disney transport and all that. Opinions?
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Do you need extra space? Do you care about perks like queen size bed or 2 bathroom? Do you want to cook at all? Or are you more likely to be in the parks all day, every day and just need a place to sleep and shower?

I'm cheap and was a student up to recently so we always tried to save money. I did on-site+plane and off-site (all star) + my car. All variable considered, it essentialy costed me the same thing.

If you go in value season or regular season, you'll pay between what 90-120$/night for an All-Star regular room. So you would have to find somewhere that cost less when you factor in parking and gaz (let's say 20+5$/day) so if the price is between 65-95$/night, you are not saving any or barely any money staying offsite. You wont have the convenience of being driven around, extra magic hours and 60 days FP. And you will need to check out of the Disney bubble everyday ;)

I don't think staying offsite is the best way to save money. For us, food is usually where we can save a lot.

Right now, I booked a room at All-Star Music with free quick service dining, we're trying it for the first time, but I know I could have cut cost by using the Back-to-school promotion which offered a % on the room price, making a stop at a grocery (using UBER) and eat breakfast in the room + sandwich/vegetables/fruits and snack for lunch. We would need only one meal at the park.
 
QueenIsabella said:
I find it interesting that two people mentioned the immersive theming at AKL, specifically. I found AKL to be cool and quiet, calming and relaxing--we stayed DVC in Kidani. OTOH, DH found it dark, depressing, and thought the long hallways were dreary, and you had to walk forever to get anywhere. So, I divorced him. No, seriously, he didn't HATE it, it just wouldn't be his first (second, third) choice--in fact, our family really loved OKW. This probably has to do with our vacationing style--I mentioned earlier that we value space and down time. I just found it fascinating that two people who have been happily married for over a quarter of a century can stay in the same room at the same hotel, and have two, completely different reactions to it.

And I think that goes to the larger point of the onsite/offsite debate. Different people put a premium on certain vacation features--there's no one "right", fits-all answer.
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We said the theming was immersive, not that it was universally liked :)

A lot of people find it and the Wilderness Lodge to be oppressive, your husband isn't alone - however, they are good examples of how a Disney resort can transport you to the Pacific Northwest or Africa or Tahiti.

And to me, that's a different experience than having Mickey Mouse on your coffee mugs and a girls bedroom decorated in Princesses - which is the theming of a lot of offsite locations. Personally, I can do without over the top Mouse.
 
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