Back from WH, I am an offsite convert!!

[BuzzandAriel'smom]

As you can tell by my signature we have stayed on site for the past 3 trips and even split stays. I thought offsite would lose the "magic". I was sooo wrong! We rented from 5min2disney. Our unit was the fantasmic in Windsor Hills. It was great. Our party was Me, DH, DD8, DS6 and DMil. We all had our own spaces and it was so nice having the private pool for the kids every afternoon. Here are some pics:

My only complaint is that the private pool is very rough. The bricks and the seats are quite abrasive. My kids ended up at Centra Care because the had painful blisters on their fingers and toes that I thought was a fungus. It was surface abrasions. Next time we will be more careful. Kids are fine now and had I known that's what it was I wouldn't have wasted 2 hours there! Oh well.

The management company was great to work with. Even when we had a problem with a door lock issue they called and resolved it over the phone quickly.

My blog has a TR in it if you are interested. Overall it was a great trip. If you have any questions feel free to ask away. We drove our van from Michigan and drove to the parks everyday with no problems. It was wonderful!

 

[lbklyn]

It really is such a difference! We rented a house there Nov of 08 and could not believe such a thing existed! It was so beautiful and clean I did NOT want to come back to my own house! Put it to shame. We had a full size pool and there were no rough surfaces. Only problem we had was there was no rail at all to enter the pool, which made it very difficult for my elderly Mom to get in. If you go back and are in need of a bigger place (relatives or friends with you) I highly recommend a 4, 5 or 6 bedroom villa with the full size pool. Can't beat it. The place you stayed in looks great though! We never got to the clubhouse pool but after seeing how inviting it looks in your pictures I will definitly go next time. You have a lovely family also!

 

[BuzzandAriel'smom]

Thanks! The surface wasn't painful to the adults... just the kiddos with their delicate skin. I assume all the patios have the same bricks and surface. The clubhouse pool didn't though. It was really nice.

 

[js]

Although I own DVC, I also own a 3 bedroom at Orange Lake Country Club and a 3 bedroom at Spinnaker in Hilton Head. Once you get out of a hotel room, ESPECIALLY, with kids, you never go back! WHY would you?
We never stay in a small hotel room anymore, no matter where we vacation now. Even on cruises, we get two connecting rooms.
My kids are 12 and 16 and I would never want to share a small hotel room with them for more than one or two nights and neither would they!
Happy you had a wonderful time.

 

[isla bonita]

I can not agree with you more.

Having stayed with our family in a single hotel room and now in rental homes we have a real holiday.

We all get what we want and need. Both me and my husband get a holiday when we have our own room. We come home from holiday and are not in need of another few days to relax before we get back into the race.

 

[dyna]

Only dh an I travel together now no kids an we always rent at least a 2 bedroom 2 bath condo....in May we have a 3 bed 2 bath house with private pool. We like our space an I use a 2nd bed an bath for my stuff dh an I can both shower an dress at same time without falling all over each other.

We don't do hotel rooms more than 1 night anymore either as a rule altho later in summer we going to disneyland an will be in hotel room there I think

 

[ckey]

Thanks for the blog link! I enjoyed reading your trip report. You have adorable kids!

 

[BuzzandAriel'smom]

Thanks for the blog link! I enjoyed reading your trip report. You have adorable kids!

Thanks!

Here's a link to my photobucket with more park pictures... http://s174.photobucket.com/albums/w88/dancingwife/Disney 2010/

 

[Kat&Dom]

Wow, it looks like you had a great vacation. It is nice to hear of off-site converts - I have only stayed off-site and have been wondering if I am missing out by not staying at Disney.

I love having the space of a condo on vacation with the full kitchen and laundry but I am going to try All Star Music in November. To be honest, I am a little worried about how much I will like it being in such a small space. One gets spoiled with lots of space for the kids to spread out and play in so being in a 260 sq ft room is scary for me. I am hoping that the Disney Magic makes it worth it.

 

[mommyintn]

My only complaint is that the private pool is very rough. The bricks and the seats are quite abrasive. My kids ended up at Centra Care because the had painful blisters on their fingers and toes that I thought was a fungus. It was surface abrasions. Next time we will be more careful. Kids are fine now and had I known that's what it was I wouldn't have wasted 2 hours there! Oh well.

We have stayed at Windsor Hills 4 times and loved it. We are only staying somewhere different this time because the townhouse we usually rent is booked. Anyway.......what's funny is my youngest son had the same things on the tips of his fingers from being in the pool so much!! I figured it was from holding onto the side of the pool + pruney hands.

Glad you had such a wonderful time, you can't beat it really!!

 

[LadySiren]

I've stayed both on-site and off; so far, off-site has my vote. My previous on-site stays were at POR and while it was very nicely themed and the CMs were terrific, I prefer to be able to sprawl out a bit more. One thing I do want to try is DVC; I'm hoping it offers the best of both worlds.

We're going back in June and will be staying at HGVC Sea World. I did try to get into DVC but it was too close to our travel window so no availability. It's no matter though - after thinking about it at length, I'm happy we're at HGVC.

Wow, it looks like you had a great vacation. It is nice to hear of off-site converts - I have only stayed off-site and have been wondering if I am missing out by not staying at Disney.

I love having the space of a condo on vacation with the full kitchen and laundry but I am going to try All Star Music in November. To be honest, I am a little worried about how much I will like it being in such a small space. One gets spoiled with lots of space for the kids to spread out and play in so being in a 260 sq ft room is scary for me. I am hoping that the Disney Magic makes it worth it.

 

[TotoToo]

Wow, it looks like you had a great vacation. It is nice to hear of off-site converts - I have only stayed off-site and have been wondering if I am missing out by not staying at Disney.

I love having the space of a condo on vacation with the full kitchen and laundry but I am going to try All Star Music in November. To be honest, I am a little worried about how much I will like it being in such a small space. One gets spoiled with lots of space for the kids to spread out and play in so being in a 260 sq ft room is scary for me. I am hoping that the Disney Magic makes it worth it.

It is good to try at least once so you know you aren't missing anything (except the extra money for a far smaller place to bed down). After one time "in the magic" we gladly returned to our long standing off site digs. We didn't find anything worth the space crunch & extra cost of on site stay. In fact we found the total immersion in Disney, down to the limited TV channels, to be far too much and actually turned the trip into a negative. Never again on site for us.

 

[giginator]

I totally agree!!! Never onsite again for us, we stayed in WH in Oct 09 and will always stay there on our return trips!!! Having our own pool and room to spread out and kids having their own rooms made vacation much more enjoyable. The kids called it our "Disney house" and can't wait to go back. Especially the price we paid there's no way we could ever compare to staying onsite. The house per night was cheaper than staying in a regular room in one of the value resorts on Disney.

 

[Kat&Dom]

It is good to try at least once so you know you aren't missing anything (except the extra money for a far smaller place to bed down). After one time "in the magic" we gladly returned to our long standing off site digs. We didn't find anything worth the space crunch & extra cost of on site stay. In fact we found the total immersion in Disney, down to the limited TV channels, to be far too much and actually turned the trip into a negative. Never again on site for us.

Thanks for posting this - I appreciate the honesty in it. It really made me think and re-evaluate.

For our November trip, I have decided instead of 6 nights at All Star Music - we will do 2 nights there then do 4 nights at Cypress Pointe in a 2 bed/2 bath condo.

I am just scared to invest my entire vacation in a cramped room. I am travelling with another single mom and after reading your post, I called her and she is totally game for the new plan. She is excited for the 2 days at a Disney resort but was also worrying about the small space for the 2 boys. Her son is turning 4 when we are there and my son will be 5. We will stay at Disney the night before and night of his birthday and the boys will do the Pirate Adventure then we will move to a nice big condo with 2 bed/2 bath and have tonnes of space.

I feel totally excited with this new plan and it was your honest response that helped me make it so thank you!

 

[mdinme]

Our first two trips were offsite at amazing and large spots that we loved. We rented DVC last time and I don't think we'll ever stay offsite again.

Cost is about the same when you add car + parking at $14/day. Free to park onsite if you rent a car or drive, you can get ME, plus you get EMH and you can get DDP only if you stay onsite.

Vacation to us is not cooking meals and cleaning up after them. That's too much like being at home.

If we stay offsite it's be with a large group in a vacation rental like a few have mentioned. The private pool is nice certainly.

 

[Cdn Gal]

We have stayed on and off site. I doubt that we will ever stay on site again. We like the room!!! I agree with the previous poster- I'm on vacation- I don't want to cook! So we don't! We eat out at night, but have breakfast in the room (simple- muffins, danishes, coffee etc.) and snacks in the pm. Dinner we always eat out!

 

[BuzzandAriel'smom]

Another thing about offsite is the relaxation I felt. I am a high strung person that rarely slows down even when my body begs me to. This trip was different. We actually had a relaxing, Disney vacation. It's not an oxymoron! The kids would swim whenever they wanted as long as 1 adult was watching and we would alternate who that was. I took a nap up in my room. The kids went up and played nintendo or watched tv after the pool for some downtime. One night I ate a sandwich, alone, out by the pool while everyone else did their own thing inside. I didn't cook, other than eggs in the am. I prepared food and we got take out a few times. Since we drove we did save a bunch of money over our last trip in a 2 bdrm AKV on rented points. This was quieter and much more relaxing. I love Akl so we drove there one evening for a date night. Best of both worlds!

 

[GingerJay]

We stayed in WH for our most recent stay this March- and we stayed in the Contemporary on our last visit in 2008. I have to say, having all that room was wonderful, and it was super easy to travel between the resort and the parks- It would take a super awesome deal to get me back onsite after our WH stay

 

[TSRE]

Our first two trips were offsite at amazing and large spots that we loved. We rented DVC last time and I don't think we'll ever stay offsite again.

Cost is about the same when you add car + parking at $14/day. Free to park onsite if you rent a car or drive, you can get ME, plus you get EMH and you can get DDP only if you stay onsite.

I'm curious, and I really mean this as an honest question because I have been comparing, how did you arrive at DVC being about the same cost as an offsite place? I looked very briefly at the cost of renting a 2BR at Bonnet Creek ($800-900/week) vs DVC ($2k a week if I remember correctly, and I may not) and couldn't think of any way that renting at DVC would be even comparable. Am I missing something? I would love it if I am, because having the onsite perks and the same amount of space as offsite would be awesome, if the price were similar!

I'm with you on the cooking thing, but really like having the kitchen for breakfast, snacks, and that occasional "I can't eat another meal out" meal. Plus, the washer & dryer is a must for us after traveling once with one. Packing less clothes, plus not coming home to MOUNTAINS of laundry - definitely a huge thing!

 

[proud_canadian]

Love the pics and blog! We're heading to windsor hills in Sept!

It gives me a panic attack just thinking of spending more to have a tiny hotel room with four of us and two double beds! Everyone would be cranky and tired.. ugh not for me! Maybe when they're older, but now now!