Can't justify staying onsite anymore!!!

[jessicamouse]

we have done both, and both were WONDERFUL vacations. Obvious advantages to staying onsite were the transportation offerings and the EMH. Advantages to staying offsite were MUCH more room, access to low cost meals (groceries, chain restaurants, etc.) and much lower cost for accommodations. We will only stay onsite if free dining is offered, because we can not justify the additional cost of the onsite resort without FD to offset it. We are only in the room for rest and to clean up. We never even swam in the pool! It just comes down to what we prefer to spend our money on, so for us, we go where the savings take us

Either way, the Magic is found in the parks, and it is all what you make of it.

Enjoy!

 

[Kingdome8]

I've done both on site and offsite. I love onsite
In 2011 we stayed offsite and we had great time.
But last week we stayed at animal kingdom and it was awesOme
Just pulling up to the hotel was exciting. We stayed at kidani and when those doors opened up to lobby we were blown away.
I just felt good there. We do use the pool a lot and pool was great with tons
Of Disney activities for kids. I guess for us it's the entire Disney experience that was fun. I was actually depressed when time to leave. Lol

 

[shalom]

For those who stay off-site, and have stayed on-site before, how different is it when you stay off-site?

Your responses here will tend toward "onsite is so much better"; if you post this to the Orlando Resorts board, likely a higher percentage of people will say, "Offsite is great!" Just pick the response you want.

More seriously, offsite ranges from "total dump with an ugly drive to WDW" to "nice as Deluxe and as close to the parks as the onsite average, but for a lower price!" Staying offsite does mean doing a bit more research, IMHO.

I also wouldn't stay offsite without a car; Wyndham Bonnet Creek is the only place I've seen that offers anything close to the onsite bus service, and it's not that close.

Unless WDW has some discount going, staying offsite is cheaper than the equivalent onsite unit, and usually you can kick up a level for the same price. We go offseason, and have always been able to get 2 BR condos offsite for less than Disney value rooms. With that full kitchen, we can do breakfast at "home", and sometimes lunch or dinner as well, which saves us a lot. But my kids aren't that excited by Disney meals -- Disney snacks and decadent desserts, yes, but meals, not so much -- and they can all cook a simple meal or two so I don't have to cook on vacation; saves us money and isn't a big hassle. I don't mind planning meals, but if I had to do all the cooking, I wouldn't appreciate offsite as much.

There are great vacations to be had both offsite and on, and a fair variety of experiences within either. You just need to figure out what works best for you.

 

[darkwing818]

We've done both & for us it's not even close. If your going to WDW (and not planning on going anywhere else e.g. Universal) onsite is the only way to go. At least it is for us.

 

[kandb]

MOUSEMOMMY1- I just wanted to answer a few your questions. I NEVER said "we won't do disney anymore because they are not offering discounts". Can you please post where I said we won't be going to disney anymore. I did say we won't be going in "September" if FD is not offered, but never said "we won't do disney anymore". I am not "confused" or conflicted, I just post and state facts that I see happening and try to get other people's point of views before I make a decision about our trips (thought that was what the DIS was suppose to be about). I know there are some on the DIS that if you say anything negative about WDW, they get offended, not meaning to offend just get other's views.

 

[robinb]

We have been going to disney and staying on-site for the last 8 years. We love disney and always have a great time. We are planning our next trip the beginning of November. We love staying onsite but the prices have gone up so much and discounts have gone down considerably that we are thinking of going off-site for the first time. I will have a hard time spending $210 for a moderate hotel (which rooms are small and one of my kids will have to sleep on a bed that comes out of the wall), as compared to an Embassy Suites I could get with the AAA discount for around $100. The Embassy Suites room is much larger and also comes with a full hot breakfast. I love being right in disney but the prices for their rooms are getting ridiculous, not to mention the deluxe rooms which are $400-$500 a night. For those who stay off-site, and have stayed on-site before, how different is it when you stay off-site?

I have to say that I don't blame you! We are DVC members and I don't think we would stay onsite if we didn't stay at a DVC resort that was (for all intents and purposes) pre-paid. I just can't stomach paying so much for so little.

Last December we stayed offsite at a pool home for a week near Windsor Hills for $800 total (including tax and pool heat) and it was GREAT. This was over Christmas when there are no discounts and the All Stars was around $175 per night. For the same price as 4 nights in a tiny All Stars room we had 4 bedrooms (for only 3 people ), 2 bathrooms, a living room, a family room and full kitchen, a washer & dryer and a private pool which was warmer than the one at AKL when we moved to a Jambo House the week after.

 

[Mousemommy1]

MOUSEMOMMY1- I just wanted to answer a few your questions. I NEVER said "we won't do disney anymore because they are not offering discounts". Can you please post where I said we won't be going to disney anymore. I did say we won't be going in "September" if FD is not offered, but never said "we won't do disney anymore". I am not "confused" or conflicted, I just post and state facts that I see happening and try to get other people's point of views before I make a decision about our trips (thought that was what the DIS was suppose to be about). I know there are some on the DIS that if you say anything negative about WDW, they get offended, not meaning to offend just get other's views.

I'm not offended. Hope you weren't either. But I was simply coming from the title posts...for instance "can't justify staying on site"....sounds like you have already made up your mind...but then looking for reasons to not stick with that decision.

Also in your "paying more. Getting less" thread you indicated that you were going to take time off and enjoy other destinations...

I'm not judging your opinion, just seeing if you stand by it.
Again, I hope you come to a resolution that you are happy with.

 

[disneyfan55]

Over the years we have done both. All of the trips since the 1990s were on site though. I have always loved being on site. We used to purchase APs and do 2 or 3 trips with them to get our monies worth plus get great room discounts. The AP has gone up quite a bit over the last few years. Our last AP was for the 2010 trips. We did have very good room discounts. The last trip was using FD and honestly not really worth it. The trip was at an ASMu family suite, while nice not really worth it to us. We did drive to the parks on the last 2 or 3 trips since I feel the bus transportation has gone down hill from what it used to be (at least in our experience) The FD has also decreased as well, the values did have the regular FD the first few years and that was a good deal, we did have ap but bought the 1 day passes and kept them. Now a 2 day requirement so with an AP, a big expense and also just CS for values and even a decrease in the snacks. We will be staying offsite this fall and getting a 2 room villa very near (not much difference than the drive from the Allstars. This will have full kitchen 2 bedrooms and washer / dryer. We will be able to eat breakfast at the room and save there. I just love staying on Disney property but for the cost and the cost of AP trips have become further apart and we do other things between. The ticket costs have really gone up as well. We may get a nonexpiring 8 day and use for 2 trips spread out more than a year. (it will be a reason to go back! ) I guess we shall see what comes up with onsite offers, but they too are not the discounts offered all through the years since going to WDW. Just my thoughts of course but I have gone many, many times. Way back in the day, up until the 2001 trip, you could buy a multiday ticket, use it and return within 1 year and upgrade to an AP for the price difference. While you still only received the 1 actual year, you didn't have to put out the money all at once and if for some reason you couldn't come back within a year you didn't pay all the money for an AP. Disney back in the 80s told us this! We saved tickets and used to upgrade almost every time we were there within a year for over 20 years! Wish they still did this. They don't lose any money by doing it so I really don't see the issue with doing so. You still only got an annual pass good for 1 year but paid in 2 pmts!

 

[bumbershoot]

I don't know so much about off site, but I have stayed on site without staying in a Disney hotel. Same reason price. We loved POR when we went there in 2008. Since we have been staying SoG. ....

Heck I can never figure out why military take the 40% off at poly, they still pay $350 or more a night, when I pay $105 or less, the room is the exact same in the two queen beds and sofa sleeper, size SOG is bigger, and every morning we walk the beautiful grounds of SoG and poly to get where we are going,to us we miss nothing but others feel it is not the same. But as I say our room is to sleep in, we don't hang out there, we don't ACTH tv, we hardly use the pools. So it is not worth the price of $250 to $550 more for what you get, but that is us. Most people can not understand how we can be in wdw and be in bed at 10 or 11!

Well, first, of course you know that there are relatively few people who CAN stay at Shades of Green. I will never be able to stay there. So bringing up SOG with such a question is tricky, because you might get someone to want to stay there when they can't. I try to avoid threads about SOG b/c it makes me envious.

And I imagine that military members might go for different resorts because their priorities are different and they want different things.




OP, my current version of offsite at WDW is staying at a Universal resort. So that's hardly a cost-saving measure. But really, for me, being onsite at Disney isn't something I do for the perks, it's what I do for the actual hotel. We almost always rent a car during our stays, and have decided after our last trip that it will only be in the most drastic circumstances that we'll take disney transportation to and from parks. We'll drive or take a cab. We just don't much like the buses. We did DME last trip, and while it was OK, having a car would have been better. We don't have things sent back to our resort when we buy them, not after experiencing the way the Loews hotels up the road at Universal do it, where they actually deliver packages *to the room*, not just to the resort.

I stay at POR because it's beautiful. OKW because we love it. I have a new found adoration for VWL. etc. Our hotel stays are based mainly on the hotel, and also what we can afford, $ or Points, wise, at that time. Out at Disneyland, we have bounced back and forth between off and on site, solely dependent on what we need on that trip.

In January I'm signed up for the half-marathon. That race is 2 weeks before a cruise we're already booked on. We had planned on a week in the parks before. So that leaves me in the area a week before DH can get there. Whoopsie. We're still deciding what to do. Go to Daytona and stay with family for that week? Stay in a beachy hotel there and be near family? Stay in the area, perhaps at Windsor Hills for the first time? That would be really cool, actually. And probably the combo of cheapest AND easiest for all involved (with family would be cheapest but definitely not *easiest* for all involved).

I have no overriding philosophy or never-do-that-again sort of idea; I just go with what works for each particular trip.

Do what you need! Do what you want! I'm sure you know the perks (dubious though I personally feel them to be) of staying onsite, and if you would miss any of them if they weren't available to you. There are a gazillion options in the area, and many of them look INCREDIBLY cool. I mean, have you seen some of the slides while going along I4? They look amazing!

 

[pigletto]

We're venturing offsite for the first time to Bonnet Creek this summer too.
I'm looking forward to it. For me it's not an either/or thing. It's just what the budget is, and what matters to me at the time. This summer is a "sneak in an extra trip" trip and the budget is the main focus. I don't want the DDP. I do want to be able to have food that I can make quickly in the kitchen. I don't want to do the parks from sun up to sun down. I do want to take it easy and relax quite a bit. So for us, 120 a night for 2 bedrooms and a kitchen was a no brainer.
The onsite perks weren't a pull at all this time. We avoid EMH's anyway, don't want the DDP and always rent a car so we can go to Universal as well.

Now at Christmas we're surprising the kids with a trip, want to be immersed at Disney for all of the Holiday festivities, and plan to use Tables In Wonderland so we'll eat in the parks and resorts a lot more. Even then, I rented points. I'm over the Disney method of drastically over pricing their hotels and then dangling a carrot in the form of a dwindling discount structure. That's after 8 tips in 5 or 6 years though. Reasons for wanting onsite or offsite change, as do finances and priorities.
It does seem like I am seeing the offsite topic come up a lot more lately, but that could easily be because I've started really paying attention for the first time.

 

[Eighty8Keys]

After staying onsite for our first three trips, we decided to try offsite in a condo at Lighthouse Key Resort & Spa for our trip this January. We loved it. We had tons of space (a 3 bedroom condo for just the two of us), the full kitchen and washer/dryer were great. We loved the living room with the big TV and DVD player. We always rent a car even when on property and we have AP's so we didn't have to pay for parking at the parks. We avoid parks with EMH so that wasn't an issue with us. The main drawback was that it wasn't super convenient to go back to the condo mid-day for a rest so we ended up with a few really long days when we wanted to stick around for fireworks or parades.

We're back onsite for our December trip because we're going with my parents. With more people it's easier to stay onsite so that we can use Disney transportation to give us the flexibility of coming and going as we please. I really don't like driving in from the airport and staying at a Disney resort lets us use DME and then pick up the rental car from the Car Care Center.

We're regular Disneyland visitors and never stay onsite in Anaheim. We always manage to have a great time no matter where we stay.

 

[kandb]

Alot of you have mentioned about staying at Bonnet Creek. I did price that for our November trip and it came up to almost $300/night. Is there anyway to get that price down? How is the transporation at the hotel? We stayed at the Dolphin last Sept. and loved the location and the hotel was beautiful.

 

[pigletto]

Alot of you have mentioned about staying at Bonnet Creek. I did price that for our November trip and it came up to almost $300/night. Is there anyway to get that price down? How is the transporation at the hotel? We stayed at the Dolphin last Sept. and loved the location and the hotel was beautiful.

Many people rent from different owners or brokers who have access to points. We used Vacation Strategy. There is a dedicated Bonnet Creek thread in the Orlando Hotels and Attractions forum that has tons of information and people to explain it all for you

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

I'm in a different boat - I'm pricing trips to SE CT and dying because the hotel prices are higher than I'm used to paying at Disney!! I mean we're going to CT not NYC!

 

[shalom]

It does seem like I am seeing the offsite topic come up a lot more lately, but that could easily be because I've started really paying attention for the first time.

That's my impression as well, and I've definitely been following those kinds of threads since before I joined. Mostly because I've been trying to justify the cost for us since then!

But maybe initially I'd get busy and behind on the boards just when those threads were popping up, and now I'm more in synch with them.

 

[maxiesmom]

I'm kind of the opposite--at first I stayed off site more than on, but now it has been a few years sense I have stayed off site.

For me, all of the convenience of staying on site are more important than extra space. I'd rather be in a room on site than a suite off site, but I know not everyone agrees with that. Another factor is that most of the time I am part of a family of 6 or 8, so a rental car won't do, we would need a van. And vans are way more expensive than cars to rent. No way would I stay off site and depend on the resort's transportation.

I really don't think one way is right and another way is wrong. It is just what works best for each family.

 

[mickey2minnie1]

We r staying in a 3bed 3bath condo in Reunion Resort for 145 a night. We r 5 people. this is our first time as well. y doing this we can end the last few nights at the Poly with a discount.

 

[beachgrl001]

We have done both on site and off. Our first trip we rented a pool home, It was a great time! so nice to have 3 bdrms and our own pool with jacuzzi right out our bedroom door!
The other time we stayed offsite we rented at windsor hills. It was so close to disney and again having all the extra room was great. goodtimes

But for me there is nothing like staying onsite
Have you thought of maybe renting dvc points? We are renting points at AKV this year and it is costing the same as it would for me to stay at POR w/FD...

Next year we are moving to Florida, and although we will be close to disney and will get AP's I will probably still want to stay onsite for a few days here and there
whatever you decide you will have a great time!!! Its Disney

 

[PA Princess]

Like others have posted, we have done our share of both on and off site. First trips were super budget and we stayed off. Then we tried on and were hooked. We loved the Disney bubble and for many years and 8 trips we stayed on site (several deluxe and one value trip and numerous stays at POFQ).

Last year prior to our Disney cruise on the Fantasy, we decided to do a few days in Orlando. Since we would have our Disney fix on ship, we decided to do Sea World. I actually snagged a super deal and we stayed 6 nights before the cruise - the deal was an eye opener!

We stayed 6 nights in a two bedroom Marriott hotel suite with free breakfast, a week's worth of tickets at Sea World and Aquatica and two days of free food for 6 people (one at each park) for a cost of $1300!!!

We learned several things this trip for us. We may be over Disney food. We have had our share of it (and several free dining trips). Being able to eat at restaurants off site was actually nice...no big plan required with ADR's and no need to alter our schedule to fit in the dining times. That was liberating. And the cost - holy cow, that was also an eye opener, for it was a real savings.

The hotel we stayed at was actually like a 5 minute drive to DTD and driving to MK (we opted to do a day). Once on Disney property it was no different than an onsite hotel, and truly our drive was not any longer than when we stayed at POR.

We have a two week tripped planned this summer and we opted to stay offsite. We truthfully could have stayed a week on site or two weeks off - it seemed like an easy choice after our trip last year.

 

[spiceycat]

you don't have to choose. You can do offsite for this trip - and in a few years (or trips) stay onsite again.

it is not the end of the world. everyone in this economy must look at their budget - if you don't have one - then make one. if you realize that staying onsite at Disney is too expensive (which it has been for a few years - my opinion) - then offsite is a good choice.

right now the offsite price is very reasonable. so would do it NOW. if disney kepts increasing it rates then offsite prices will go up too.

supply and demand.

soon going in week and few days - staying offsite the entire time (generally schedule some dvc resorts in those days). staying at a place that accepts pets a 2-bedroom condo - for less than one day at a moderate. hoping to look at some places to move too.

going again the summer another timeshares this place is not pet friendly - first time leaving my cats at home since got them....

anyway on that trip this summer going to AKV July 3 and BLT July 4 - so have my on and off time at WDW.