Crazy to be considering staying off site?

[mymickeyfans]

Last year we stayed on-site at POR and had a wonderful time. This time we are traveling with family and decided to stay off site at Paradise Palms Resort. The kids are excited to have their own private splash pool and resort pool. The money we saved we will put towards other things like a day at Legoland. I'm interested to see which stay everyone enjoyed more after this trip.

 

[mm1971]

My DD will be in a cheer event at Disney's Wide World of Sports in March 2014. The room rates for staying onsite are at all extreme highs. I actually have never seen value resorts at $197/night. Our kids are now 11, 12 so we REALLY need space and privacy for dressing etc. We went to Mall of America last month and it took forever to get ready to go all waiting for the bathroom to change. I will not pay $197/night for cramped accommodations if we can have a 1 bedroom suite off site near downtown disney for the same price. Obviously if the value's are that high, the family rooms or larger rooms are even higher. I did consider renting DVC points to get a larger room, but since it is spring break time, that is still coming out about $200/night.

If it's anything like the other sports (we went for baseball), you cannot stay offsite and compete. Just a caution to check and make sure. We had booked a condo off site for $300 for the week (3 dads and 3 boys). After the fact we found out that the boys would not be eligible to compete unless we stayed at one of the three designated resorts. I'm not sure how they would have known, but just make sure as I would hate to see your DD lose out. And yes it cost us 3X as much to stay on site.

We always stay on property. Well, once ions ago we stayed off- but simply because it was free. Now, with 2 kids, Disney's "affordable" rooms are feeling smaller and smaller every trip. We are currently booked for a standard value room with Free Dining. Though, after looking at Seaworld's packages (1 bedroom, 2 queen beds, and full kitchen) for $400 cheaper...I am having Disney second thoughts. We would still do the parks (just buy tickets at AAA), and I know we would have to pay for a parking, loses EMH and free dining. But, with a full kitchen would we even miss it. Honestly, there are only a few select character meals that the kids feel strongly about...the rest we do out of needing to eat, lol. Thoughts???

PS. Regardless of where we will stay we will have a car, and use that instead of any other transportation, so that is a null point...

We have done both. Here is my take. If you don't mind cooking, cleaning and such during your vacation then off site is a better value. If you prefer to not do the things you have to do at home then on site is worth the extra $$. We prefer on site because it is how we prefer to vacation, but off site is OK as well.

We stayed off site and had a lot of fun with friends in a 5 bedroom condo. We had a private pool and kitchen. We went shopping for food and had breakfast in the room and a couple of dinners during the week. If going with friends or extended family or if we had 5 or more, we would stay off site to save $$ for everyone.

When we travel with just our 4 person family, we always stay on site. The late EMH (we do them frequently) and not having to cook and clean is worth it to us. We take other vacations during the year that require us to do the cooking and such so for Disney, we prefer not to do any extra work unless we have to, especially if FD is offered during our stay.

 

[djmeredith]

My DD will be in a cheer event at Disney's Wide World of Sports in March 2014. The room rates for staying onsite are at all extreme highs. I actually have never seen value resorts at $197/night. Our kids are now 11, 12 so we REALLY need space and privacy for dressing etc. We went to Mall of America last month and it took forever to get ready to go all waiting for the bathroom to change. I will not pay $197/night for cramped accommodations if we can have a 1 bedroom suite off site near downtown disney for the same price. Obviously if the value's are that high, the family rooms or larger rooms are even higher. I did consider renting DVC points to get a larger room, but since it is spring break time, that is still coming out about $200/night.

Some of the info given to you above is not accurate. You CAN stay offsite and compete. However, the competitor still has to purchase the competitor package onsite with the rest of the team. The only way this is realistically possible is when the competitors are staying in rooms together (4 to a room) rather than staying with their individual families. In that scenario, you still pay the competitor's package price (which includes park hoppers) so on paper the competitor is booked into an onsite room, but the competitor stays with his/her family offsite.

The sports packages I've seen (baseball) were VERY well priced for spectators because you have to factor in the expense of admissions each day to WWOS (which is not cheap). Also, keep in mind that the whole team does NOT have to stay at the same onsite resort. Our organizer didn't tell us this and booked all the team families together at one hotel. You can choose from any of the offered competition resorts.

 

[djmeredith]

Also, if you are the type that needs to be in control of your own reservation, don't book with the team. When you book with team, ONLY the appointed team organizer is allowed to call and control your reservation. You can book your own "spectator package" thru the regular sports res line. Then you control your own family's room. We just went in July with baseball team, and I had lots of questions before. Feel free to PM me if you want more info.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

We loved our offsite trip last month. We use a rental car even onsite since DS18 has Asperger's and isn't comfortable on crowded buses. We used the Dining Plan once and didn't care for it, so it's no loss that we can't get it. Having breakfast in our townhouse was great. Everyone had whatever they wanted while lounging in front of the TV or at the table. It was also nice to have at least one normal, non-restaurant meal each day. I didn't clean all that much, except to put a few dishes in the dishwasher and sweep up a little cereal. I loved having the ability to do laundry. We could throw in the sweaty clothes every night if we wanted to. It was also nice to have towels right out of the dryer. I don't think I would stay in a regular offsite hotel at WDW, but a townhouse or villa is awesome!

 

[Darcy03231]

We've done both and as our kids aged, we moved off-site. We found we could rent a private pool home with plenty of bedrooms and bathrooms, a full kitchen, washer/dryer and pool for a fraction of staying on-site.

We found that in staying on-site no one got much sleep in the one small room. Couple that with long busy days it made for some pretty cranky people.

Now that are children are all adults, we only stay on-site when only two of us are traveling. Anything more than that and we're back to off-site.

Also, off-site doesn't mean you need to cook. We typically cook breakfast, eat lunch in the parks, and will eat dinner either in the parks or at an off-site restaurant. A couple of times we've gotten take-out pizza or Chinese and taken it back to the house to eat, or stopped at the grocery store and gotten rotisserie chicken, salad and potato salad/pasta salad.

 

[melissasmithpackett]

we go every 2 yrs or so. in june 2014 we will be traveling with our older and growing family (from 5 to 8). we are looking at staying offsite this time. if anyone has any advice about rental homes/villas they would share that would be so helpful!

 

[robinb]

We always stay on property. Well, once ions ago we stayed off- but simply because it was free. Now, with 2 kids, Disney's "affordable" rooms are feeling smaller and smaller every trip. We are currently booked for a standard value room with Free Dining. Though, after looking at Seaworld's packages (1 bedroom, 2 queen beds, and full kitchen) for $400 cheaper...I am having Disney second thoughts. We would still do the parks (just buy tickets at AAA), and I know we would have to pay for a parking, loses EMH and free dining. But, with a full kitchen would we even miss it. Honestly, there are only a few select character meals that the kids feel strongly about...the rest we do out of needing to eat, lol. Thoughts???

PS. Regardless of where we will stay we will have a car, and use that instead of any other transportation, so that is a null point...

How old are your kids? Are they 10 and over "Disney Adults"? Which resort are you currently booked at?

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

We've done both, and there are distinct advantages to both. Obviously, on-site has the "magic", the transportation, EMH, and so forth. It's nice if you have 4 or fewer in your party, and then, your costs are close to comparable.

However, if you:

have 5 or more in your party
do things other than WDW
don't mind doing some cooking and laundry
have your own car
like having space
like a king-sized bed
can live without EMH
can live with limited Disney dining (maybe a few character meals)

you're going to save money and have a great time off-site. Now, I know there are options for 5 or more on-site, but they tend to get pricey, fast. I know my gang (family of 6) prefers the space of off-site. I don't mind cooking a few simple meals, we eat in off-site restaurants, and I don't mind the odd load of laundry. Our gang especially likes having a house with a private pool--this is always a highlight of our trip. Now, there are many types of accommodations, not all have the private pool, but it means a lot to my kids.

Now, some people go on vacation, and they don't want to touch a dish or a dirty sock--that's fair. Someone like that might still find savings and nice accommodations offsite (you don't HAVE to use the kitchen!). You do have to take into account the cost of parking, and if EMH is important to you, that could be a deciding factor. But a lot of people act like off-site is one step up from a third-world slum, and that's really not the case.

 

[worm761]

We always stay onsite. Our last visit we went down a day early and stayed the night at an offsite hotel. Well, I could not be that close to Disney and not visit something so we went to DTD. It was just crazy. Never again. I like that all I have to do is get on a bus and not worry about getting lost or making a wrong turn and having to backtrack.

 

[WantToGoNow]

I have stayed off-site in villas twice. And while I love the villas and the extra room, laundry facilities, etc. I do not love staying off-site. I do not like fighting the traffic, backups, parking, getting lost, etc. I would rather stay in a tiny room and ride buses back and forth to the parks. It all comes down to your personal preference.

Don't forget to add your gas and parking into the cost of your off property stay. Also, many resorts offer a "resort fee" per night of stay which can add up pretty fast as well.

 

[glassslippergirl]

If staying offsite is crazy, then I don't want to be sane. The value of staying offsite just can't be denied. Rooms are bigger and less expensive, and the availability of a kitchen is convenient, especially if you are willing to prepare a few meals on your vacation. If you will have a car either way, I don't think you'll miss staying onsite too much. Your wallet will definitely be fuller-- what's crazy about that?

 

[robinb]

OP, I see your kids are 6 & 3 from another one of your other posts. I stayed offsite on my last two trips so I do enjoy staying onsite for all the reasons posted here. That being said, you are in Disney Sweet Spot for the DDP. I would definitely stay in a Value resort with "free dining" and pay to upgrade everyone to the regular DDP. Character meals are VERY expensive and with kids that age it is totally worthwhile to have the DDP so you can go to as many character meals as you like and not worry about the costs. The other thing is that with kids that small, the extra room in an offsite condo or timeshare is really not worth it IMO. Once they are in their teens then the extra space is totally worth it! But at 6 & 3 ... meh. It's no different than any other hotel room. So, I would recommend that you stay onsite for the next couple of trips until your kids are older and then you can look to stay offsite.

 

[mmbl]

We've stayed off site twice in 30 years. Once with relatives and once at a very close hotel. Our preference is definitely on-site. We love the EMH and love being immersed in Disney while we are there. We also appreciate the on-site transportation and being able to get from the resort to the parks to DTD. We have a family reunion planned in the spring and since we're taking ( aka paying) for our kids, grandkids we have rented the cabins. Other family members have done the same but a couple are still toying with off-site. They'll find they are spending lots of time on-site.