Question about Magic Kingdom and staying offsite

[bullynj]

We are considering doing a non-disney resort this year, I am wondering the following:

If you drive to Magic Kingdom how do you get into the park? Someone said you take a boat?? WHat is the wait like for the boat, were going the week of April 3rd 2011.

Also, if you buy tickets online, when do you get your card to get into the park do they mail it? I"ve only ever stayed at a disney resort so Im not familiar.
Thanks

 

[Suellen]

You can either monorail or boat in. Depends on the day and time how long you could wait for either.

You would exchange your printouts for tickets at GR at MK. Good luck and have fuN!

 

[Golf4food]

You park at the TTC (Ticketing and Transportation Center) when you drive to the MK. The ticket booths are right there. After that you can take the monorail or ferry to the MK proper. We've waited as little as zero minutes for both and as much as an hour total trip from the TTC to MK entrance on a bad day at a bad time. Get there early would be my recommendation. Early is always better for avoiding long lines. Our big waits were always later in the morning (around 10am).

 

[starrysky]

To get to MK you can ether take the ferry boat or the monorail. You park at the ticket and transportation center and then its a choice of either option from there.

The monorail can be faster but the ferry boat is a nice chance to see all the resorts that are around the lake. plus you get a lovely view of the castle when you cross the lake.

Some companies send out vouchers for your tickets which you take to one of the windows at the park entrance or at the TTC. If you go through disney direct we have always been sent the tickets.

 

[bullynj]

Ok so when I booked with a Disney agent last year and got my cards for the dining plan and the parks when I checked in that was because we did a package we didnt go to Guest Relations for anything is it worth saving the money for a non-disney resort? We are comparing a room at 1200$ at Caribbean Beach compared to staying at Cocokey for $100 a night both based on 5 nights, and cocokey has bigger/newer rooms and everything is centrally located so there is no walk to the pools.

 

[Dfan79]

Go during the value season and stay on property. Its not worth the price difference staying off property. You could get bedbugs or ant bites. Disney has its own swat team to exterminate bugs.

 

[KLWST16]

Where are you buying your tickets? If you buy them from Undercover Tourist, they will mail you the tickets and you won't need to go to Guest Relations for anything.

 

[bullynj]

Go during the value season and stay on property. Its not worth the price difference staying off property. You could get bedbugs or ant bites. Disney has its own swat team to exterminate bugs.

Caribbean beach looks like a rundown hotel and that is where we wanted to stay, cocokey is not a disney resort, but they have all new rooms/mattresses etc. the one thing in my opinion that makes disney worth staying on property is the bus service to drop you at the park. Aside from that, I cant really see a good reason to stay onsite and pay that big $. Are there any real nice disney resorts that are not far away from the main pool area? I would love to stay at the swan hotel but again very expensive

 

[perdidochas]

We are considering doing a non-disney resort this year, I am wondering the following:

If you drive to Magic Kingdom how do you get into the park? Someone said you take a boat?? WHat is the wait like for the boat, were going the week of April 3rd 2011.

Also, if you buy tickets online, when do you get your card to get into the park do they mail it? I"ve only ever stayed at a disney resort so Im not familiar.
Thanks

If you drive to the Magic Kingdom, you park at the TTC. There you park/get tickets, etc. You can either ride the monorail (my personal choice) or the boat to the Magic Kingdom. Plan at least an extra 30 minutes between parking and getting to the Magic Kingdom.

 

[imthatgirl]

Caribbean beach looks like a rundown hotel and that is where we wanted to stay, cocokey is not a disney resort, but they have all new rooms/mattresses etc. the one thing in my opinion that makes disney worth staying on property is the bus service to drop you at the park. Aside from that, I cant really see a good reason to stay onsite and pay that big $. Are there any real nice disney resorts that are not far away from the main pool area? I would love to stay at the swan hotel but again very expensive

How many people are you going with any when?

I think the main reason people stay on property isn't buses, but rather the closeness. If you were to stay at Cocokey you're about a half hour from WDW. Which would mean planning a couple hours in the after noon if you want to go back to your hotel for a swim, or to relax. I don't know quite what you mean by a resort close to the main pool, but each resort has it's own pools. Within those resorts you can get close to or far away from the pool. Staying on site allows you to get back to your resort quickly and enjoy your pool. Personally that is worth the few extra hundred to me.
Obviously the further from disney you stay the cheaper it's going to get.
Also if you are looking for cheap the Comfort inn across the street from the DTD entrance start at $59 a night. At least there you are minutes away from WDW. If your plan is to go to WDW anyway.

 

[Planogirl]

We stay offsite a lot and the drive is no big deal. We never miss onsite because of the driving and parking. Also staying further away from WDW doesn't guarantee a cheap room. There are some very nice resorts in and around Orlando that are quite costly.

If you are still looking, you might want to check in Kissimmee. There are nice place on and around International Drive but the traffic can be really bad unless you know how to avoid it. Also, not difficult but you have to know your way around.

Wherever you stay, just follow the signs to MK and park where they tell you. Then take the tram to the TTC or walk if you prefer. Then choose either the ferry or monorail. I personally prefer the ferry in the morning - it's just a nice ride.

Get there early to avoid lines at baggage check and entry. Most importantly, have a good time!

 

[Dfan79]

The one thing in my opinion that makes disney worth staying on property is the bus service to drop you at the park. Aside from that, I cant really see a good reason to stay onsite and pay that big $. Are there any real nice disney resorts that are not far away from the main pool area? I would love to stay at the swan hotel but again very expensive

I stay at Pop Century usually, it is cheaper then the real nice hotels off property and as you said you get the bus service. It just seems more convenient to stay on property unless you are doing both Disney and Universal.

 

[khgreen]

We love staying off-site. We stay at Windsor Hills in a two bedroom condo. We pay 70 dollars a night (always stay at the same unit so we know the unit is well cared for). The condo is very close to Disney. I had to talk my husband into a 3 night stay on-site this year. We will spend our remaining 5 nights at Windsor Hills. My husband says staying in a hotel room IS NOT vacation so we compromised with a split stay. We find parking at the parks pretty easy.

I will tell you that years ago we rented a house that ended up being about 10 miles from WDW. Fighting traffic to and from the parks was a nightmare. I wouldn't stay off-site unless you know the location is very close to WDW and the facilities are very nice and clean. And if you are staying anywhere near Universal/Sandlake Road/International Drive....egads....that's a drive that would ruin my vacation. No amount of cost savings would be worth that (IMHO)!

 

[CarrieR]

Go during the value season and stay on property. Its not worth the price difference staying off property. You could get bedbugs or ant bites. Disney has its own swat team to exterminate bugs.

Um... Disney definitely has had bed bugs as well. While I agree that from everything I've read, they handle it well, staying onsite is not a guarantee of avoiding these things.

Personally, I'm an onsite girl -- I love the convenience of DME, busses, etc. (For me, it is a huge convenience... I am the designated rental car driver amongst my friend group and it gets old, fast.) I enjoy being able to use the KTTW for stuff, and never leaving the Disney 'cocoon.' BUT -- many feel the price difference *is* worth it to stay offsite, due to larger rooms for a lower cost. Only you can weigh the pros and cons and decide what the right decision is for your family.

OP, the PPs have covered it well. You arrive, park, take the tram to the front, and then transfer to the boat or monorail. I've done both and while they have their charms, I prefer being bussed to the gate. But YMMV

 

[cheryterese]

We stayed off-site at a rental house in the subdivision of Indian Ridge Oaks, which was no longer than a 15 minute drive to the Magic Kingdom parking lot even in the busiest of traffic. Our 4 bedroom house with pool and hot tub was $122 a night including taxes and pool heat. It was a very affordable way for our family of 5 to travel and we absolutely loved the house we stayed at. The days we traveled to the Magic Kingdom went like this:
8am - leave rental house
8:15am - arrive at MK parking lot, load up kids and strollers and walk to Ticket and Transportation Center (we took the tram once, but found it easier and faster to walk with all of our strollers, kids and stuff and by arriving at 8:15 we were always in one of the closest parking lots)
8:30 - board monorail
8:40 - arrive Magic Kingdom in plenty of time for bag check and opening ceremonies

We took the boat once, at park closure. It did not work out well for us at all and we took the monorail every other time.

We returned to our rental house for a nap and swim time most days. The extra step of the TTC made traveling to the MK from off-site the longest of our off-site travel (other parks were only 15 minutes to the parking lot and then we were there) but we still found it very manageable and plan to travel the same way on our next trip. In addition, my kids LOVED traveling on the monorail so it was fun for them and there was no way we would have been able to afford a monorail hotel.

 

[Brian Noble]

Driving to the park takes only a few minutes longer on average than waiting for and taking the bus. Really no problem at all.

One of the things we miss when we stay onsite is the monorail trip---we often take one "just because".

 

[39CINDERELLA]

off-site for us on our longer trips.. The price for on-site is not worth it to us.

We are staying just around the corner from DTD for 12 nights in a 3 bdrm/3bath and full kitchen for less than two nights at a value. It is a no brain er.

If you ordered from UT they are real tickets no need to change.

We always rent a van. Do not like to be on sweaty, crowed buses at the end of the day. Plus, we can get there faster on our own.

So, we save a lot of time and money doing it this way. Have never lost the magic by not staying on-site. We are actually more relaxed and enjoy our trips better.

 

[ben1993]

Off-site for me too. I would like to stay on-site but the cost is way, way too high or my budget. I don't get how anyone can say staying on-site can be the same if not cheaper than off-site?! Maybe if I were from the US and didn't have to factor in $800 flights too.

 

[Experiment_626]

We almost always stay off-site (we drive to WDW), and it is much cheaper to do so. If you know the immediate area and exercise due care, you can use Priceline or Travelocity or fill-in-the-blank and pay much less per night than even the least-expensive on-site hotel. Some of the least-expensive hotels around are among the closest to WDW. If we had a lot more money, we might stay on-property more often -- I dream of staying at the Contemporary or the Polynesian -- but we don't. At worst, we can afford to stay an additional night or two by staying off-site, and the only thing we really miss is EMH. The Disney "atmosphere" is nice, and the service is great, but we really tend to use our hotel room to sleep and shower -- it's just a staging area. Whether others see it as worth it would depend on what you expect/demand from a hotel. We'd rather spend our money on having fun in the parks and sometimes on food on-property -- and we enjoy visiting the resorts at which we usually cannot afford to stay (or choose not to spend the money).

There's no doubt that staying on-site has its perks, and it has been a pleasant experience every time we've done it -- and once or twice we've removed an off-site place from our "stay here again" list because we've had a less-than-stellar experience, but those have been few and far between; none of those came anywhere close to "ruining" a trip. We roll with the punches and have found those punches to have little force behind them, in the grand scheme of things. We remember the good things from our trips much more than the bad!

Scott

 

[LaurenT]

Caribbean beach looks like a rundown hotel and that is where we wanted to stay, cocokey is not a disney resort, but they have all new rooms/mattresses etc. the one thing in my opinion that makes disney worth staying on property is the bus service to drop you at the park. Aside from that, I cant really see a good reason to stay onsite and pay that big $. Are there any real nice disney resorts that are not far away from the main pool area? I would love to stay at the swan hotel but again very expensive

As far as guaranteeing you won't get bed bugs...there's no such thing. It can and does happen everywhere these days. Even Kidani, which is very new, has had reports of bedbugs. Whether the place is new or old has nothing to do with it. The only thing you can do is inspect your room before you bring your bags in. Peel back the fitted sheets on all the beds and look for dirt along the piping....if you see little dark spots, you are looking at bed bug poop...what's left from the little feeding devils. If that happens, you go to the desk and request a different room.