Disney Hotel - or Non Disney Hotel in Oct.? - Discuss!

[timben]

Dear all,

we do need a little advice on booking for Halloween this October.
We have been to DLRP a few times already staying at the Santa Fe, Cheyenne, Sequoia Lodge and New York.

Now we are going with friends who have already booked rooms at the Dreamcastle Hotel. An we do have the dillemma that we do no now which hotel to book.

As far as I know in a Disney hotel we would have the benefit of:

-early morning hours
-fantasyland breakfast (in oct )
-walking distance to the parks and the RER (Paris here we come )
-and hopefully the cloud of pixie dust that will surround us during our stay

but also:

-time slots for breakfast
-rooms that may be a bit worn down
-lots of people and waiting times at the reception, restaurants etc.

So what are the benefits to stay offsite in a non disney resort? Only the cheaper room rates? Do they after all include the entrance to the park as well?

Hoping for a lot of advice and tips! Many thanks to you dissers


timben

 

[Bolanette87]

From memory, if you book with Disney direct there is virtually no difference to staying onsite or offsite pricewise.... Which I found a bit odd!!

Me and my DBF have stayed onsite again, for a couple of reasons:

EMH
We like being surrounded by Disney!
We like being able to come back to our room after lunch for a while, and have a bit of a rest and relax. This seems much easier to do onsite as it's only a couple of minutes walk.
Don't have to take the cramped shuttle buses and there's not a long walk either....

I have to say though, the offsite hotels, especially The Dream Castle, look absolutely gorgeous!! We did a drop off at the Dream Castle when we went last time, and it looked amazing!!

The only thing I will say in favour of an off-site hotel is that, if you're travelling with someone who isn't a Disney nut, it can be nice for them to take a break from Disney, and this is probably easier to do offsite.

These are just my thoughts though!

Bob xoxoxox

 

[DLPdaft]

I've just recently had my first offsite hotel experience, to compare with 3 onsite visits, at the Cheyenne and Santa Fe.

Rooms are comparable (certainly between the 2 onsite hotels and the Explorers). The Explorers public areas seemed much more spacious than those of the onsite hotels, but the restaurant area is similar.

Breakfast slots at onsite hotels - you can completely ignore them, and turn up when you want - the earlier the better for a stress-free start to the day .

Check-in can be busy whether you're onsite or offsite.

The advantages of onsite do slightly weigh in their favour, IMO. The fact that you can walk between hotel and parks, and EMH of course(especially if you have young children), really are worthwhile. Although I had no problem at all with crushes to get on or off the shuttle buses to the Explorers, you do have to be more aware of your time in the mornings especially, as the buses run every 20 minutes, and if you just miss one, it seems like forever until the next one comes along!

Unless you book the associated hotels (Dream Castle, Explorers, Kyriad or Holiday Inn) through Disney, you do have to sort out your park tickets seperately.

Elaine

 

[J Marley]

I have never stayed offsite and only stayed once at the Santa Fe ....going back to the Cheyenne in Jan.

So I can't give you any comparisions only a personnel opinion
.......I love to be surrounded by the Disney bubble 24 hours a day
.....it is easy to walk from all the onsite hotels
.....it is nice to come for breakfast and a character to be there

I feel that if I stayed offsite I would be missing something

 

[marcus.ka]

So I can't give you any comparisions only a personnel opinion
.......I love to be surrounded by the Disney bubble 24 hours a day
.....it is easy to walk from all the onsite hotels
.....it is nice to come for breakfast and a character to be there

I feel that if I stayed offsite I would be missing something

I feel the same. Especially with the 24 hours bubble.
If you are staying offsite than it feels like leaving Disney although the 4 hotels nearby are great.

But you can also have time slots for breakfast in other hotels (Kyriad)
and there are also many many people at the check in and in the hotels in general.
And in a few years time also their rooms can be worn a little bit down. And then we will see if these hotels do the same kind of refurbishment as Disney does.

If you should get a Disneyroom that looks a little bit worn down I would ask for another one. As they do refurbishments all the time there is a good chance to get a room that is not worn down.

 

[Ware Bears]

I've only ever stayed offsite at the Explorers ~ we choose to stay there because we're a family of 5 and it works out much cheaper than booking either 2 rooms or one of the expensive family rooms at a Disney hotel.

We buy Dream Annual passes so benefit from EMH and discounts on shopping and dining.

Marcus has made a very valid point about the offsite hotels being newer and therefore less shabby. We have stayed at the Explorers 4 times now and on our trip last October the walls in our bedroom were marked in a couple of places and the bathroom was starting to look shabby ~ nothing to complain about, it was all still spotlessly clean, but now that these hotels are coming up to 5 years old it will be interesting to see how they are kept up.

We don't feel that we miss out on any of the magic but if we were to stay in a Disney hotel then we may well change our opinion on that!!

Why not price up staying at the Dream Castle using this site with buying Dream annual passes as compared to a full package staying at a Disney hotel. I'm sure if you decide to stay at a Disney hotel then your friends wouldn't mind, it will still be easy to meet up with them.

 

[Jonjo]

I prefer to stay on site at a Disney Hotel. We arrive by Eurostar so take advantage of the Disney Express Service so our bags get taken to our hotel and we get our park tickets on the train. You can take advantage of Extra Magic Hours and Fantasyland Breakfasts, have things charged to your room and have gifts taken to your hotel for you.

Being in walking distance to your hotel room also has its advantages. We like to go back to our hotel for a shower and get changed for dinner in the evenings. Being able to walk back to your hotel is especially iimportant if you have left something important in your room, like when I left our Characters Tea Party vouchers in the room one morning.

During check out I got a big hug from Minne Mouse so that made my stay extra special. Plus DW and I love to be wraped in that 24 hour Disney bubble.

 

[jillrobinson]

I have only ever stayed onsite, I did once last year book the Explorers and then panicked at the last minute and swapped to the Sequoia Lodge.

For me the hotel is part of the holiday and I detest the shuttle bus scrum.

 

[Happy Tappy]

I personally choose where I stay depending on the season. Off season, the Cheyenne and Santa Fe are very cheap, you can get the Cheyenne in Nov or Jan for £60 a night without park passes.

In the main season, that price quadruples and I'm not paying that when I can stay in a hotel for £50 a night that is of a better quality. I normally stay in the Ibis at Val d' Europe. It's a new hotel that is next to the train station at val d' europe. It's probably quicker to get from this hotel to the parks then it is from many of the Disney hotels, and there's no scrum for the trains as they're so frequent! I hate getting on the shuttle busses for the on-site hotels!

So for me it all comes down to budget. I enjoy the Disney 'magic' and prefer to stay in a Disney hotel but I wont pay a silly price for the priveledge. Especially as many of the Disney rooms are starting to show their age.

 

[DLPdaft]

Yeah, I have to agree, budget steers my choice of accommodation too.

Elaine

 

[cap'njack.]

I've only once stayed off-site and that was over an hours drive away. That was because my Mum and Dad wanted to go to France and we wanted to go to DLRP. So we stayed an hour away so that we could drive to DLRP when we wanted to.

I'd stay off site if it was cheaper (more than £10-20 per night) to do so otherwise I'd stay onsite for ease of use etc etc

 

[BONITATIME]

We tend to stay offsite.
The reason varies price is always a factor but when DH comes I need a hotel with a gym so this comes into my calculation
The more I stay the more it tends to be offsite mostly because I actually want to spend some time being in France as well as Disney. Also I need some time to shop.
The Ibis looks interesting I am off to check that out.