Haven't been since 2013, still worth it to stay offsite?

[LilMamiBella]

So like my title says I haven't been since summer 2013. I have heard the name magic band but have no idea what that's about. I'm just wondering if its still a good deal/worth it to stay offsite. I feel so lost and confused! My husband def wants to stay onsite..

 

[coastalhh]

You can get fast pass plus by downloading the my disney experience app and linking your tickets. You do not need magic bands but if you want them you can buy them for 13 each.

If you stay onsite you can make fast pass reservations 60 days in advance. If you are off site its 30 days in advance.

Extra magic hours are onsite only and a couple other hotels such as swan and dolphin

If you want a condo with a kitchen stay off site for much less. If you just want a hotel room stay onsite.

By the time you add in parking fees and nightly "resort fees" off site is usually more than Cheaper onsite hotels unless you are in a motel 6 type.

Art of animation is a really great value on site

I like the downtown disney area hotels for off site

Keep in mind if you drive to disney you will need to pay a parking fee at the parks as well if offsite.

 

[kymom99]

I have never stayed off site. I played around with the idea for next summer, pricing out all different scenarios. Then I came full circle and right now I am inclined to stay onsite again. Disney seems to have refined everything so that staying at their resort is almost a no brainer. Here is why:

FP+ means staying off site is a definite disadvantage, especially visiting in June. To get the most out of our visit, and not leave frustrated, it seems like staying at a Disney resort is the way to go.

EMH has worked great for us. We like the morning best and get to do so many things before the crowds come in. We also like the flexibility of using Disney transportation. It's not always the quickest way, but it definitely makes it easier to have some pool time.

Disney has discounts for June 16 through August this year that make the room prices easier to swallow. Last time I went I had a PIN that was good through June 12 or something like that. I had to miss the last day of school to be able to take advantage of a good rate.

I looked into other options in order to get more space and save some money. (The idea of renting a timeshare had my head swimming and about gave me hives.) No matter how I looked at it, the savings just weren't that substantial. Can you save money? Sure. We don't go to Disney often. I am afraid I would feel like something was missing if I stayed offsite.

 

[Alesia]

Last summer we stayed offsite for the first time. We stayed in a 3 bedroom/3 bathroom home for $50 a night. Even with parking fees it was cheaper than an onsite value room.

I can't imagine staying onsite again unless it's just my husband and I.

 

[kymom99]

Wow! That's a great price! What area was the house in, if you don't mind me asking. I found a house for $100 a night, but there was no neighborhood pool, and I thought the kids might get bored with the small pool at the house. that and the fact that the grandkids are a handful and I had nightmares thinking about one of them getting in the pool when no one was looking.

 

[Alesia]

Wow! That's a great price! What area was the house in, if you don't mind me asking. I found a house for $100 a night, but there was no neighborhood pool, and I thought the kids might get bored with the small pool at the house. that and the fact that the grandkids are a handful and I had nightmares thinking about one of them getting in the pool when no one was looking.

It was in regal oaks. It was literally 13 minutes from the TTC.

The price has gone up a bit, but it's still an incredible deal: http://www.homeaway.com/vacation-re...yid_text_o_loth&utm_campaign=VRBOOwnerInquiry

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

By the time you add in parking fees and nightly "resort fees" off site is usually more than Cheaper onsite hotels unless you are in a motel 6 type.

We have a one bedroom villa at Sheraton Vistana Resort for May 1 - 8. $419 including all taxes and fees for the 7 night stay. Booked via Skyauction (open to everyone).

No parking fees, no resort fees, no charge for wifi.

The cheapest Disney 1 bedroom for that week (pricing via David's points rentals) is $2338 (AKL). That's a savings of $1919, or $274 per night.

Our car rental is $114 taxes included for an 8-day rental of a full size vehicle. Assuming I parked every single day at the parks, 8 x $17 = $136. Add $50 for gas.. Even with those two costs factored in, I'm STILL ahead by $1619.

SVR is very much no "motel 6". Its a full one bedroom villa with a king bed in the master, separate full kitchen or kitchenette (depending on the configuration you receive), washer/dryer, living area with queen pull-out sofa, dining area, and in some cases, screened in balcony. The resort offers seven pools (each with their own special features, from waterfalls to in-water volleyball), 6 outdoor hot tubs, 13 tennis courts, 2 sand volleyball courts, 2 basketball courts, shuffleboard, mini golf, dive-in movies, an onsite farmers market, daily scheduled activities, and more. We have stayed onsite before (POR) and their amenities couldn't even come close to matching those found at the Vistana.

I looked into other options in order to get more space and save some money. (The idea of renting a timeshare had my head swimming and about gave me hives.) No matter how I looked at it, the savings just weren't that substantial.

I honestly have never been able to get onsite even close to offsite assuming the room styles are comparable (not a 1260 square foot, two bedroom villa priced against a standard 260 square foot room at a value).

For our December trip (the 19th to 26th):

Our two bedroom, two bath villa at SVR is $906 all-in. Car rental is reserved right now for $267 (a midsize SUV for that vacation). Let's again assume we'll park at a park every single day, so add another $136 in parking fees. Then another $50 for gas. That's a grand total of $1359.

Disney's cheapest 2 bedroom via David's points rental: $3430 (AKL again). Difference: $2071, or $296 a day....and that's after all the extra costs for offsite are factored into the pricing. That is a substantial savings in my book......enough to cover our airfare in its entirety and a portion of our food budget to boot.

 

[limpy]

We stayed at Bonnet Creek for $700 (all in no fees) from Sun-Fri during the high time of February Break. Huge 2 bedroom/kitchen/living/dining, 2 full baths, jacuzzi master tub, several pools, hot tub, and lazy river right outside our door. There is just no comparison costwise.

 

[HeatherC]

We are staying at Bonnet Creek starting tomorrow for ten days in a three bedroom villa.. We are paying $125 a night or $1249 for the entire stay....no taxes...no resort fees.

We have tickets from other trips and are a family of five with three teens. We would HATE being crammed into one Disney hotel room and I just can't justify the price to rent DVC points to stay onsite when BC is onsite.

EMH doesn't matter to us so this works.

As far as fast pass goes, I reserved them the day we were allowed to and got everything we wanted so that also isn't a problem for us.

You will probably have to price it all out including tickets if you need them.

Best of luck to you and have fun planning!

 

[kymom99]

Oh I definitely agree, there are places with much more space, and beautiful grounds, for way cheaper. I was just weighing out the convenience factor of going in June. I was thinking about just staying onsite for maybe 3 nights since that is how many days we probably want to do the parks. Then maybe move to the coast for a nice beach visit for a couple days. I'm sure if I made the jump and stayed offsite I would figure out how to make it all work to my advantage. The thing that kills me staying at Disney is the food.

 

[HeatherC]

I agree...the food costs are ridiculous. Granted, my kids are older now, but Crystal Palace would now cost us about $250 for dinner. We like it, but not at that price.

 

[eliza61]

This is so interesting. If you guys go to the Resort board, there is a similar thread and everyone is saying how staying in the Disney "bubble" makes it worth the price. LOL.

Anyhoo, op I stay onsite only if I use my dvc points.

1) space is a big issue for my family. with young adult sons who are both over 6 ft tall and 185 lbs plus, there would be a homicide if we had to be in a hotel room for 9 days.
2) I love the convenience of having a full kitchen. I don't do much cooking but I enjoy having the ability to keep soda, juice, snacks etc in the room definitely beats paying Disney prices daily.
3) we always have a car onsite or off so Disney transportation is not a big plus for us.
4) we don't do the ddp so once again that's not a perk for us

I have had just as magical vacations off site as onsite.

 

[ICF]

By the time you add in parking fees and nightly "resort fees" off site is usually more than Cheaper onsite hotels unless you are in a motel 6 type.
.

We've stayed off site in multiple places -- Emerald Island, Windsor Hills and Silver Lake and I've never had a resort fee.

For us, its always worth it to stay off site -- the money you save in just food each day way more than covers the parking costs....plus you get so much more room if you're in an offsite condo/townhouse at a fraction of the cost.

 

[Planogirl]

I prefer offsite. I like to get away from that bubble and I also enjoy having conveniences and space!

We had no trouble booking FastPass+ at the 30 day window. If you haven't yet, set up an account at MDE. Go to https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/ and click on My Disney Experience (MDE). We purchased our passes through the Disney website and also took care of restaurant ADR's through MDE.

 

[LilMamiBella]

So I was trying to figure out pricing for a trip in July for 7 of us ages 16,13,8,5,4 and 2 adults. It would be for a week and we want to do at least 1-2 waterpark days. Here is what I found so far:

Caribbean beach w /waterpark and dp
3242.25 for one room
X 2 rooms
=
+200 gas
+500 souvenirs
=7184.50

Or pop century includes tickets/dining
2699.28
X2 rooms
=5398.56
+700 gas/souvenirs
=6098.56

Or offsite

1000 room for week
700 food? (1-2 restaurant meals)
200 gas
500 souvenirs/misc
2793 Tickets through undercover tourist
=5193 forgot to add parking fees
$150?
=5343

When I looked at Disney Y.E.S.
The premium ticket for us all would be $2750.98. I thought it was a better discount? Maybe I did something wrong? I chose the individual enrollment and signed up my 13yr and my dh for a class and added the rest of us for the ticket part.

My husband mentioned us doing a day at ioa/universal but I don't even know if it's worth going. Last time no one wanted to ride the huge roller coasters. If we do universal then I feel like I need to at least add another day or two to my plan.

 

[Darcy03231]

I've found if its just two of us we tend to stay on-site. One hotel room isn't bad for two people.

If more of us are traveling (this summer there's six of us) I rent a house off-site. We've never paid a resort fee or resort parking fee. Typically the house rental runs between $100 - $125/night.

Last trip we found it was faster to get from our villa to the parks than it was to get from the hotel to the parks using Disney's bus service.

 

[WhollyHeretic]

We're going for the first time since 2011. We've always stayed offsite before because we always needed a place with a bedroom or two. I had originally booked a beautiful looking place just outside of Disney with 2 bedrooms. It was supposed to be my wife and I, our 18 y/o son, 16 y/o niece, and 3 y/o daughter. Our niece is no longer coming so my son decided not to come either. Originally him and my niece planned on going off on their own while we did some of the little kid stuff with the 3 y/o(her first time). He decided he didn't want to come. So now that it is just going to be the 3 of us we decided to stay onsite. I'm excited to, I've always wanted to but it never made sense financially before. When the summer sale came out we ended up getting Coronado Springs for $160 a night in July. With the parking savings that will be a pretty comparable price to a similar quality place offsite plus we get the added benefits of staying onsite.

 

[kymom99]

We just have one kid, so the space isn't a big issue for us either. We would be spending lots of time in the parks, so I feel like the big space would be wasted.
We have gone many times to Gatlinburg. One year we got a cabin and spent a lot of time there, cooking our meals, etc. It rained a lot too that trip. Another time we got a condo close to town and I feel like it was wasted. We only put drinks in the fridge and didn't end up cooking a single meal. we were on the go too much. So with the way we roll, I think a room onsite would make the most sense for us to have the best time.

Of course in a week or so I could change my mind. again!

 

[Revf]

My parents have a timeshare condo 7 minutes from the TTC. It has a waterpark, 3 pools, playground, full kitchen/dinning. So on our off days we never leave the area.

They let us use it pretty often.

So we usually stay offsite. When all you have to do is buy tickets its a no-brainer to stay offsite.

I would look for people renting their points or weeks from timeshares around disney. There are usually quite a few and they are usually very reasonable.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

So I was trying to figure out pricing for a trip in July for 7 of us ages 16,13,8,5,4 and 2 adults. It would be for a week and we want to do at least 1-2 waterpark days. Here is what I found so far:

Caribbean beach w /waterpark and dp
3242.25 for one room
X 2 rooms
=
+200 gas
+500 souvenirs
=7184.50

Or pop century includes tickets/dining
2699.28
X2 rooms
=5398.56
+700 gas/souvenirs
=6098.56

Or offsite

1000 room for week
700 food? (1-2 restaurant meals)
200 gas
500 souvenirs/misc
2793 Tickets through undercover tourist
=5193 forgot to add parking fees
$150?
=5343

When I looked at Disney Y.E.S.
The premium ticket for us all would be $2750.98. I thought it was a better discount? Maybe I did something wrong? I chose the individual enrollment and signed up my 13yr and my dh for a class and added the rest of us for the ticket part.

My husband mentioned us doing a day at ioa/universal but I don't even know if it's worth going. Last time no one wanted to ride the huge roller coasters. If we do universal then I feel like I need to at least add another day or two to my plan.

YES tickets are nowhere near the discount that they used to be.