Do you prefer staying off site?

[Our2Girls&Disney]

We currently have reservations at Coronado Springs Resort for our April vacation and we are very excited about staying there. My parents called last night to tell us that they purchased a place 12 miles from Disney and offered to let us stay there for free. The cheapskate inside me tells me to take their offer and save $1200, but there something about staying inside the world.

The last time we stayed offsite, we loved it. The only draw back I can think of is leaving the park for a couple hours can be a bit of challenge when staying offsite. The strollers, trams, and security is frustrating in my eyes but then again, we were there with a 5 year old and 22 month old, two strollers, diaper bags, etc. Now our kids are older, they are 8 and 4. We will have one small umbrella stroller.

What would you do?

 

[dynamodotcom]

I'd take them up on their offer. We've always enjoyed staying offsite. Its great to have separate bedrooms from the kids...gets them settled quickly in the evening and you can stay up later without fear of waking them up. $1200 is a huge savings.

 

[tiff211]

I'd cancel my ressies and stay offsite in a heartbeat!!! $1200??!!!!! That could be another trip!!!!!

 

[nliedel]

money is good, saving is good, but... There is something about staying on sight that I cannot put into words, a special feeling, a bit of magic. You forget that you're a (for me) 42 year old mom of four and are a kid again. I play more, see more and relax more when I am on sight. I know I enjoy my off sight trips too but there is just something about going to my room in POR or another resort and feeling like I am part of it all.

 

[Robinrs]

After 33 trips in 6 years I can honestly say YES!

 

[spiceycat]

go with offsite. If you hate it - well tell the parents next year that you would rather stay on property....

but if you love it - you might have a place to stay from now on....

put the $1,200 in the college fund....

I love both....Onsite for the stuff you only get onsite. plus OKW is a bit difference from the other WDW resorts. You are close to everything but feel a million miles from the parks and crowds...

I definitely love CWR because Spicey can stay here with me...

It is your decision but I would go with offsite for this trip. Simply because you know you are coming back. This is not your only trip in a lifetime...

 

[kilee]

Well-- for $1200 saved-- I'd be offsite in a heartbeat. I think cost is why 90% of the time I do stay offsite. We tend to only fork out the money for onsite if we're there for a long weekend (since we need to take advantage of EMH and such to maximize our time), or if it's summer. In the cooler months we don't tend to take mid-day breaks. So, traveling back to our offsite resort isn't an issue.

 

[DisneyaholicRaquel]

Well, as much as I LOVE Disney...I like the freedom of going to Universal, shopping up & down International Drive & Sea World among others. So, what I have been doing for the past couple years is hotel hopping. This year we are staying a total of 13 days in July. So, we will stay at the Sheraton Studio city (International Drive) for the first 5 days & the remainder will be spent at CBR. Staying on International Drive puts us in the middle of Sea World, Universal & of course the shopping.

So, to sum it up try staying off site a couple days & change your hotel reservation to a shorter stay. This will give you a taste of both worlds and still save some money.

 

[Lisa P.]

Since you are going in April (according to your sig), it may matter whether you will be there during the 2 weeks straddling Easter, when it's very busy at WDW. If you are, I would make sure you have a day or two onsite, at least. The EMH is useful for MK (with your little ones) when the parks are that busy. So if you'll be there during Easter weeks, I'd check which days of your stay will have EMH at MK. If you'd get EMH by staying onsite for a night or two, either at the very beginning or very end of your trip, a few days onsite would be a good thing to consider.

Otherwise, for most or all of the trip, I'd snag that freebie stay at a nice place offsite in a heartbeat!
We found onsite stays in a hotel room with children to be MUCH more tiring than a condo stay. No one slept nearly as well, all together in one room and that makes everyone a bit cranky by the end of the week. There's a lot to be said for unwinding in the evening, preparing for the next day and enjoying some peaceful couple time, while the kiddies go to bed in their own room. Now that ours are all teenagers, it's still just as true, not to mention the extra bathrooms and kitchen for endless snacking on their favorite foods. And you could pocket some of that money to start saving for your next trip and enjoy a fun character meal or 2 as well. When the budget is easier, we relax more too (make sure you have ps meal ressies if you'll be there when it's busiest). HTH!

 

[Uncleromulus]

If that $1,200 were equal--that is, it would cost the same onsite or off--than onsite with no questions asked!!!!
But I think I'd opt to save that $$$ in your situation, even with the noted problems associated with coming and going to get to WDW.

 

[MiaSRN62]

We love staying onsite, but for free accomodations I wouldn't hesitate to jump at that. The only caveat......you said it's 12 miles away. That is a bit of a drive back and forth every day. I think you may be looking at a 25-30 min drive each way ?
I would agree with Lisa....in that, if you're staying over the Easter holiday week, then onsite may be preferable. Without knowing anything about your parents timeshare, CSR is a beautiful resort with a great themed pool area. Disney transportation and EMH/package delivery etc are nice perks to consider.
Where do your parents own may I ask ?

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

We love staying onsite, but for free accomodations I wouldn't hesitate to jump at that. The only caveat......you said it's 12 miles away. That is a bit of a drive back and forth every day. I think you may be looking at a 25-30 min drive each way ?
I would agree with Lisa....in that, if you're staying over the Easter holiday week, then onsite may be preferable. Without knowing anything about your parents timeshare, CSR is a beautiful resort with a great themed pool area. Disney transportation and EMH/package delivery etc are nice perks to consider.
Where do your parents own may I ask ?

Actually my parents own a brand new 35 ft motor home. They typically let us borrow it for our summer vacation. They use it all winter to travel, mostly in the FL. They have fallen in love with the campground that they have been staying at in Davenport. A couple days ago they decided to purchase a place at a campground to park their motorhome. It is basically a slab and we will be staying in their motorhome. The motor home is beautiful, everything we would need is right there. They were planning on coming home on April 1st. Now that they purchased the spot, they offered to leave the motorhome there, drive their car home (they always pull their car) and fly back after our vacation to get the motor home and bring it back up here. It is was VERY nice gester, but I think that I had my heart set on staying on site mostly because we will be going to Disney only, and I bought a 7 day pass. We will be there the week following Easter week, but according to Unoffical guide the crowd levels are high, but not as bad as Easter week. I think it is because it is school vacation week for my State.

 

[WaltD4Me]

Hard decision! I really don't know what I would do!

On one hand, you save $1200 which is VERY tempting, but on the other, it just sounds like a big pain to me to be 12 miles away. Plus CSR is a beautiful resort with a great pool. I'd have a hard time giving that up. Do you know how the pool and the amenities are at the motor home park? You gotta have a nice pool!

I know alot of people would say $1200 is worth the 12 mile inconvienance, but I'm really not sure if it would be to me...especially if I'd already booked and budgeted that money.

 

[Lisa P.]

Any chance that you could secure reservations at the Fort Wilderness Campground at WDW and move the motorhome for your stay? Then you'd be onsite and it would probably cost half of what you'd spend onsite otherwise.

Does the campground where your parents have purchased have a nice pool area and kids' activities? Most in the area would.

If your park passes don't expire, you can save unused days for a future visit.

FWIW, given the time that you'll be there, and the location, I'd still choose offsite, save most of the money and spend a night or two onsite at the end, just for the pools & theme. We've enjoyed many split vacations like this. JMHO.

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

I thought about Fort Wilderness, but DH did not seem interested in moving the RV and I am not driving that thing.

The pool looks nice, but not nearly as nice as CSR. From the web site, it looks like a commuity geared for retirees, not children (although children are welcome).

My DM just called and said Disney is 15 minutes away from the campground. She said they are between Route 27 and Int 4.

I don't know what to do.

 

[MiaSRN62]

My DM just called and said Disney is 15 minutes away from the campground. She said they are between Route 27 and Int 4.

I don't know about anyone else, but a 15 min drive during busy Easter season (albeit it's after the actual holiday), I think sounds too good for a campsite that is 12 miles away. The distance would be the cincher for me. I wouldn't want to be that far away from WDW if I was spending all 7 days of my vacation there. If your mom is saying it's only a 15 min drive, then perhaps she was incorrect with the distance in miles ? Because I can tell you, we own at the Vistana which is 1-2 miles from WDW and it takes us about 10-15 min to get to the various WDW parks. So I cannot see how a campsite that's 12 miles away is the same amount of driving time ? Also, I'm not familiar with route 27......so perhaps there's some sort of short cut that others here may be aware of.
Again, I agree with Lisa P. Ft Wilderness would be a much better option if you could rent a hook-up there. If not, I'm a little leary about your mom saying the drive is only 15 min when the motor home is 12 mi away. Nothing against your mom---it's a wonderfully generous offer I would just try and get the exact address of the campsite your parents own at and maybe try and mapquest out the distance to WDW to verify the exact amount of miles. I'm still leaning towards CSR with 2 young children and the fact you'll be spending majority, if not all, of your time in the disney parks.
Please keep us posted. The campsite and motorhome do sound like a great place to stay, but maybe if you were only doing a couple days in WDW.
Good luck with your decision ! It's a tough one !

 

[Our2Girls&Disney]

I do not know the area at all. I looked at mapquest, plugged the address of the campground and the address of the Grand Floridian (I did not know what address to use) and mapquest says it is a 25 min drive and 16 miles. My DM may have been taking a guess when she said 15 minutes away. Regardless if it 15 minutes or 25 minutes, I am still not convinced that saving the money is entirely worth it. I really have my heart set on CSR. I like the fact that we can go back to the hotel jump in the pool for a couple hours and then head back the park without driving around. Sounds like I already made up my mind.

 

[traciedee]

My kids are teens and one of their favorite vacation things over the years has been renting a motor home and going to amusement parks all over the country. Stay in the motor home! Your kids will get a kick out of it, it is free and they will talk about it forever.

We have to fly this year to do our amusement park trip, but if Florida was a bit closer to Arizona and we had a lot more time we would do the motor home thing for sure!

 

[MiaSRN62]

mapquest says it is a 25 min drive

This is what I was thinking.....factor in traffic at certain times of the day and it could be longer than that.
Honestly, if the motor home were closer I'd say go for that and save the money. But I think you're gonna spend a good deal of your time on the road---especially if you go offsite to eat or back to the campsite for meals/swimming. Your children are young and I can see them needing some downtime from the hectic pace of touring the parks during the day. I think you'll have a great stay at CSR. WDW bus transport is so convenient.
Have a nice vacation whatever you decide

 

[spiceycat]

you can do it my way....

stay onsite a couple of nights - but offsite most of it.

give your kids a chance to enjoy the pool and others things at the campground....campgrounds generally have a bunch of programs...

I would go with Sun - for MK onsite. EMH that evening. do a park on Monday before you check out...

then don't go on tuesday - then on site again on Thursday or Wednesday....

but I would get your tickets changed to no expiry!!!!

now this does include check in twice - but I get there early and generally don't have a line at all - besides people checking out.... go to the parks immediately - then come back and see your room....

that is how I do both. You can save money and still be onsite for the important days for you.

you take one bag for everyone - just an overnight bag....