Convince us to stay off property....

[Bell30012]

In February my DD9 and I were visiting the mouse and we left early, made good time and arrived prior to 10 PM. I called WDW and to my dismay found no rooms available on property! So I went with Travelocity. We would up at America's Best Inn & Suites. One word to those thinking about it... DON'T. A value level resort is not that much more expensive and worth it.

[DawnM]

It so depends on WHERE you are going to stay.

We are a family of 5, we don't fit in a Value resort, nor do we wish to have a small hotel room for our stay.

We get a 2 bedroom condo with a full kitchen and enough beds that the kids don't have to share a bed. We are very happy with our choice.

It is worth the extra *maybe* 15 minutes to park and take the tram.

It all comes down to personal preference.

Dawn

Originally Posted by Bell30012

In February my DD9 and I were visiting the mouse and we left early, made good time and arrived prior to 10 PM. I called WDW and to my dismay found no rooms available on property! So I went with Travelocity. We would up at America's Best Inn & Suites. One word to those thinking about it... DON'T. A value level resort is not that much more expensive and worth it.

[Granny square]

So true. Planning and research pay off almost every time. We have stayed in beautiful, spacious 2 bedroom condos, 1/4 of a mile from dtd or ak for 1/3 of the price of a value with parking factored in.

The op just needs to look at their preferences.

[Patience]

I'm tempted by the low rates at Bonnet Creek and Windsor Hills but... onsite is better for us. We love staying onsite with free regular (not QS) dining. I know it's not really free because we are paying rack rate on the room but my husband relaxes so much better when he doesn't have to worry about the price of our meals. On our last trip, we did lots of character meals for our youngest daughter who was 4 and I know my husband would have had heart palpitations when the bill arrived if not for free dining, even if we were staying off site and had a great deal on our lodging. He would have been drinking water and ordering the cheapest item on the menu at non buffet table service restaurants. It was so much nicer for us all to order what we wanted and not have to worry about spending too much on food and snacks. We spent less than $2000 for a 6 night stay with table service dining plan for the four of us and that felt like a good value to us considering we had lots of expensive character meals.

My husband also enjoys not driving on vacations. He deals with busy traffic everyday and doesn't want to deal with that on vacation.

[rkandmjsmommy]

I used to consider myself and ONSITE SNOB, I would NEVER consider staying offsite, I loved being immersed in Disney Magic, and we LOVE eating at the Disney Restaurants. With smaller kids, using busses, monorails was SO WORTH it!
With that being said last Sept we went to US/IOA and decided to rent a condo thru Windsor Hills, we also drove from Pa, kids were 12 and 9 and I dont think we will EVER stay onsite again.

Having 2 bedrooms and 2 bedrooms was worth its weight in gold, especially after being in the car together for 17 HOURS! We loved the washer/dryer. We learned this past trip that we need to utilize the kitchen more. We would goto parks, eat lunch there, we would get back to condo around 3-4 and then had to go back out for dinner, by the end of the week, we wished we had gotten some dinner food, b/c a lot of nights, we all just wanted to stay at pool and not go back out!

Like I said we are converts now!!!! WE LOVED LOVED LOVED Windsor Hills!

Good luck

[LadyFan55]

We got to WDW a couple times a year and have fiddled with a variety of off-site & on-site scenarios:

• There are a lot of wonderful Resorts ~ check Trip Advisor!

• Wyndham Bonnet Creek is closer to the parks & DTD than the Value Resorts. The Resort is AMAZING! 90% of the rooms have either a lake/pool view or parks view. LOVE THIS PLACE!

• eBay - search Travel > Lodging then narrow your search. This is what my saved search is: disney -daytona -cocoa -coupon -coupons ~ Please know that those who rent out Timeshares, both DVC and Off-Prop, must prove to eBay they own Timeshare(s) before they are allowed to list in this category. (you will be chin-to-the-floor at some of the prices you see, including DVC!!)

• RedWeeks - if you can join RedWeeks, you can find some great deals there too

• rentalcar.com or priceline for your rental car

[Gumbo4x4]

We stayed offsite 8 nights for just under $600 back in June in a cabin with a private bedroom for us, loft for the kids, real kitchen & real living room. It didn't take us more than 15 minutes from door to inside any park (save MK, and we were on the monorail inside that time) EVER. Took 6 minutes to get to Epcot. We stayed just East of Disney on 192 & I recommend that vs staying to the West where it looks like traffic could be an issue.

[StuckInKS]

Originally Posted by cara76

We stayed offsite once between gas, parking and food we could have stayed on site with the dining plan. I don't think anyone could convince me to stay off site again, sorry. I know a lot of people do and love it, we just aren't those people.

Same for us. We stayed offsite the first two times, before I really realized how much eating onsite OOP costs and before I got tired of carrying in food for so many people. After experiencing staying onsite and having the DDP last trip, I don't think we'll do offsite again unless they we can't get free or reduced DDP AND we have 2-3 kids that are 10+. Until then, even paying for the DDP saves us money on dining costs and staying offsite saves us little to none once the real costs of eating are factored in (I am not cooking and cleaning up after while on vacation). To top it off, we also liked being "at Disney" even when not in the parks.

[StuckInKS]

Originally Posted by ICF

Clearly --- but many of the "on-site" people typically talk about the benefits of the bus, something I think is well over-blown.

For some, but even though we drive down and have our car available, we prefer to use the buses. It is easier for us to walk out of our hotel and load everyone on to the bus once and be dropped off at the gate than it is to walk to the car, buckle everyone in (all of our kids are in safety seats), drive to the park, get eveyone out, walk across the (often hot) parking lot, wait for a tram, load everyone and the double stroller on to the tram, and then unload again at the gate. Plus if we are going to MK, then we have to wait for the monorail and load up/unload again.

[Shmily1]

I have stayed off-site many times, but will never do it again. I love the WDW resorts and how elaborate they are. There is just something Disney about them all that I don't want to ever miss out on again.

[ljcraw555]

Originally Posted by kalc12345

Don't go through their website their prices are NOT good. I will PM you some info on the lady I use. Also we always go in off-season so the rates are a lot cheaper then.

Could you PM me the information as well?

Thanks!!

[Granny square]

Could I get a pm also?

[Granny square]

Could I get a pm also?

[PrincessSuzanne]

I would NEVER convince anyone to stay offsite, just not worth it. Even if we didn't have access to the Military discount, it's just not worth the time and effort, the gas money, parking, and sometimes, even resort fees at the offsite place.

The dining plan for next year is really not worth the price, so we will probably not even consider it anymore, and we only really consider it if we will be there for a week or more.

[Gr8t Fan]

Originally Posted by kalc12345

Don't go through their website their prices are NOT good. I will PM you some info on the lady I use. Also we always go in off-season so the rates are a lot cheaper then.

Would you PM me the information as well? We'd love to give WBC a try but the prices on their website are scaring us away. TIA!