Blown away by this "budget suggestion" is this STEALING to you

[torinsmom]

I was with a friend who insisted on doing this once. I felt bad, but she didn't and she was driving. The only reason she considered it was that we were going to MK and were leaving straight for home when we were done. She didn't want to deal with the car/tram/monorail situation at that park.

She pulled into Grand Floridian, the nice man at the booth didn't ask what we were there for and she just said we're going to valet park. He pointed the way to her and off we went. I felt so guilty knowing we were getting out of the car and going to the monorail though, I was sure everyone knew what we were doing.

In the end it did save a lot of time, but not money since she used valet anyway. We also got food & gifts at the gift store there. I'm sure I'll get flamed for even being with her, oh well.

Valet parking is different. You're paying for your spot, so you can stay as long as you want.

As far as onsite/offsite, if you need more than one value room, offsite will almost always beat onsite, unless you get free dining. We stayed in a 5 bedroom pool home at Indian Creek last year for $90/night. There were 8 of us, and we would have needed 3 rooms onsite to even be slightly comfortable(youngest of the 8 was 12 years old) Values averaged $100/night during the summer, so we saved about $210/night, $1470 over the week. Car rental was $150 for the week(discount code) and parking was $98, so we still came out $1200 ahead. We saved even more money by having breakfast at the house. It was summer and HOT, so we took a break around 12:30 or 1 and had lunch either at the house or got fast food. We did about 1/2 dinners onsite and 1/2 at offsite sit down restaurants.

Our totals for the week:

8 YES tickets(7 day hoppers)---$1500
5 bedroom pool home(7 nights)--$625
7 day car rental---$150
Parking---$98
Amtrak for 2--$230
Gas for others to drive from NC round trip--$150

This does not include food, but that is very flexible, depending on how you want to eat.

We made it to AK in 8 minutes, DHS in 10 minutes, Epcot and TTC in 15 minutes. The best parts of staying offsite were:

--being able to spread out

--not having to lug towels, sunscreen, etc to get to a pool

--having a full kitchen

--having a washer/dryer(may sound weird, but I like to change clothes in the summer, but I also like to pack light)

--more than one bathroom

--no waiting in line for the bus in the a.m. or p.m.

--A/C on the ride back to the house

--not having to watch the same thing on tv

I could go on and on, but unless I am taking someone for their first trip and want all the bells and whistles, I will always stay offsite.

 

[ScotsMinnie]

I don't think the price of food off site vs on site makes a huge deal personally. Most people don't go to Disney and leave at meal times just to go off site to eat. Honestly with the amount of time you'd lose at the parks and cost of gas you really aren't saving anything. I know some folks do, do that, but for the majority they eat on site.

I think you would be surprised. There is no way I would eat all 3 meals at disney every park day. I would be ill! And skint!

We grab a quick breakfast before we leave, usually cereal, toast fruit etc. If we are there over lunch we might grab a light lunch. If we are not staying all day (we rarely do as there for 14 nights + ) we might wait and have lunch somewhere else. For evening meals we eat out of the park either at a local restaurant or at the villa. We do make some ADRs but those are treats rather than the norm. The difference in price between eating on site and off is huge. Unless of course you are on the dining plan!

 

[momto2js]

I have rented a campsite at FW to allow us a down day at the resort biking and using the pool (without cheating) and then free parking and emh the next day. With free parking the get the rate down to $40 (off season and with tax) and my kids love the pool so that is a cheap way to spend our non park day. We then go back to our inexpensive off site condo that has indoor plumbing and a/c for the night.

 

[NotUrsula]

Do people who rent campsites for $48/night get free dining? Somehow I find it hard to believe they would give away free dining like that, Disney would be giving away more food then the cost of the site.

Most of the offers now exclude the campsites, but in the early days it was a popular loophole. It is still popular for those who want to take advantage of EMH and stay offsite; they book one night when an EMH is scheduled.

As to taking the time to cook meals and eat at offsite accomodation, not a lot of domestic visitors do it except for breakfasts on park days. Most Americans don't stay for more than 5 days, so they tend not to want to leave during park hours because they want to get the most bang for their buck. We do usually leave the parks around lunchtime for a break, but we wouldn't if we were staying offsite; it takes too long to drive off-property in most cases (traffic is horrendous near DTD and on 192 mid-day.)

 

[torinsmom]

Most of the offers now exclude the campsites, but in the early days it was a popular loophole. It is still popular for those who want to take advantage of EMH and stay offsite; they book one night when an EMH is scheduled.

As to taking the time to cook meals and eat at offsite accomodation, not a lot of domestic visitors do it except for breakfasts on park days. Most Americans don't stay for more than 5 days, so they tend not to want to leave during park hours because they want to get the most bang for their buck. We do usually leave the parks around lunchtime for a break, but we wouldn't if we were staying offsite; it takes too long to drive off-property in most cases (traffic is horrendous near DTD and on 192 mid-day.)

We easily made it back to Indian Creek in 10-15 minutes from all the parks and TTC. There is a back way which helps you avoid I-4 and you are only on 192 for two stoplights. We got back to the house more quickly than we got back to our room at Pop using the bus when we stayed onsite. This was in August too, so pretty busy time of year.

I guess I am not a typical domestic visitor, because I always stay 7-10 days and eat at least 50% offsite. I guess I am just a POOR domestic visitor

 

[bookgirl]

I put other.

No I wouldn't consider it outright stealing, tacky and something that only a trashy person would do, big Yes.

I'd tell them my opinion of that as well.

 

[Ed J]

I guess I am not a typical domestic visitor, because I always stay 7-10 days and eat at least 50% offsite. I guess I am just a POOR domestic visitor

We fit right in to your disccription also. A typical trip for us is 10 days and as much as I enjoy eating out, there is no way I want to eat out that much. We average half our meals in the park and half back at our full kitchen equipped acomadations.