Does the full roll out of MB make you rethink offsite?

[ldhr2005]

We have done both onsite and off (backstory, we got at least once a year, sometimes more than that)...and like both for differing reasons. I am starting to plan our 2014 trip and just beginning to think about whether or not it really makes THAT big of difference to me. Just curious what everyone else thinks...

 

[OldSpiceGuy]

I like Disney World. Really I do. But you get so much more for your money in accommodations at an off site hotel. Being honest even the deluxe Disney hotels are just okay to me. The customer service is good but I wouldn't call them nice rooms. Three and a half stars at the most.

First time we went we stayed at animal kingdom villas in a two bedroom with savannah view. For the price of week there I paid for the plane tickets, rental car, Disney tickets, and a four bedroom presidential at Bonnet Creek on our upcoming trip. They can keep their magic bands. I'll just use plain old tickets.

With all that said I will admit that it does feel more magical on site. However, I can't justify paying more for something that isn't tangible.

 

[shalom]

Onsite doesn't offer the space we want, and nothing they're likely to do with the MBs or FP+ is ever going to change that. So long as we're traveling with the troops, we're not going to be staying onsite.

I am considering one night with just the girls onsite next time (we'll abandon the guys in the offsite condo), so if things get to be too much hassle we might consider the whole "throwaway room" idea, where you get a room onsite for one night in order to get hold of some MBs, but I don't really expect that to be necessary. We're rope drop people, and most of the kids don't care about riding anything multiple times. The one who does care is only worried that it might do in his single rider line for TT; limiting FPs per day and all that doesn't bother him any.


EDIT:

People on EasyWDW who're staying offsite are getting messages that ""You may begin making Fastpass+ selections for your vacation on April 6, 2014" -- was "April 21" but they've backed it up. Which supports my prediction that they're going to offer before-you-get-to-the-parks registration for FP+ to offsiters.

 

[happymommy]

I'll have to admit that first it did make me rethink it, and our upcoming trip was going to be originally myself and my DD only. I looked into a value resort (gasp - I have never considered such a small room before) but then DH said he wants to come along.

I kept my Marriott Sabal Palms reservation. I like to have a washer/dryer and a kitchen (in that order) and a living room and space to spread out. I like to get away from the whole Disney thing for a few hours a day.

I have had a great time with our Disney resort stays, but the discounts I used to get (like AKL concierge level with an AP discount less than $250 a night over Christmas how that happened I don't know, plus multiple times we got overflow from Shades of Green for only about $100/night at deluxe resorts) are pretty much slim now. We had our on site fun, but now we prefer a condo (and the times we've enjoyed the Boardwalk villas, although we love the area, those villas are tiny compared to the Marriott ones).

I was concerned about this whole magic band thing. I think it's crappy that for now no one can get more than 3 FP+. And at one park. But that's for all of us. I always used to park hop, but now don't know if we will! Still, I don't see any benefit to booking FP+ ahead of time. I have no idea what parks we want to go to what day at this point! I'll decide when we get there and see the weather/crowds/fireworks and how we feel. So, staying on site doesn't help us at all. We'll just go where we want and see what FP+ we can get when we get there.

Side note: I am making no dining reservations either. I've always found something available when I call a few hours ahead of time, and often it's gotten us to try something new! Like once by the pool one afternoon (at the Dolphin) my DH told me he'd like to have dinner at 5 somewhere in Epcot, so I called and the only thing available was the Bistro (now Mr Paul's). Well, what an awesome dinner that was! Expensive, but DH still talks about how great it was and wants to go back! Anyway, I don't want to worry about making a reservation time when now they require cc and will charge a penalty (which I pretty much understand with so many no shows).

Disney is getting too planned and I just am not going to do that. Years ago I did plan our days, but not anymore.

 

[supergoofy]

For us onsite versus offsite is either a short trip or long trip.

We are a family of 5 and more than taking daughters BFF so in all 6 people.

With that said there is limited choices in an onsite stay. I can either stay at the cabins, value suite or two rooms somewhere.

With the cost of the cabins, the chance rooms will not be next to each other or cramped in a suite we choose Bonnet Creek.

Guess its a catch 22 for us. Onsite we would get more hours in the parks but less actual days. Offsite we get less park hours but more actual days.

This is our first trip in more than a decade so we shall see.

 

[pinoke]

Yes- it does. But we have never stayed offsite yet. I am considering it for our next trip, but after doing MB last fall, even with all of the glitches, we really liked it.
Generally we book ADR's as we have favorite places that we love, so we knew which park/place we would probably be at. We also look at the EWDW sight for crowd info.
With MB, we were able to try TSM and TT for the first time in three trips- and that was us doing RD or getting to the parks by 9! Seriously, by the time we would get a FP option before, it was either around our DP times, or so late in the day we weren't planning to still be at the park ( we don't do 10 hour days).
I also loved not having to pull out my tickets, and our son thought it was cool ( when it worked).
Particularly if we stay offsite, I'm not sure if we'll get to the parks early enough to really beat the crowds and get FP that will work for us. I think we'd have to rent a car...

 

[mamabear0222]

Nope not at all. I refuse to sleep in the same room as my kids and go to bed at 8pm on vacation. It's not worth it to me. I like the quality time with my husband without having to pay top dollar for a 2bdrm suite

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Makes me rethink Disney. Other vacation spots will be getting my $$$

 

[jcjen519]

i'm a little biased towards staying onsite. I've never stayed offsite and doubt i ever will. However, I like the idea of booking some rides ahead of time. I don't like that i can't get a fastpass in the park or that my fast passes are so limited though. what it makes me rethink is going to disney during a time of year I would rely more heavily on fastpass. we'll see how it goes with the trips we currently have planned but i foresee a lot of crowd calendar stalking for "1" and "2" level crowd days when planning trips in our future. on those days 3 fastpasses would be about right. being able to pre-book in that circumstance is kind of a bonus to me....allows me to plan around meals and not race around grabbing the paper fastpasses.

 

[jeff968]

Nope, between all the extra room and the vacation dollar savings that offsite offers I would be paying quite a premium for that MB. Just not worth it.

 

[bankr63]

It's just made me reconsider Disney THIS year. Thanks to the MB's we're taking on off year and going to MB (Myrtle Beach) instead. The horror stories I'm still reading here make me glad to be missing the carnage - on-site or off.

Hopefully it is all worked out by March 2015, but we will always stay off-site. If there is too big a disadvantage to the off-siters, we'll just focus more on the Dark Side. As they get older the kids are already leaning more in that direction anyway.

 

[eliz603]

It did. We were considering Wyndham Bonnet Creek for this trip. But when we took into consideration MB, FP+, and the PIN received in the midst of planning , we chose a 1 bedroom at OKW.

 

[ElizabethG]

I don't believe the MB situation will have that big of an impact on people's decision to stay on/off site. People have their preferences based on many reasons, so I don't think it will tip the scales for too many.

Josh at easyWDW had some blogs about using Fastpass+ and kiosks. It didn't seem to increase the pain that much. (I loved FP+, by the way).

http://www.easywdw.com/uncategorized/magic-kingdom-cheat-sheet-day-1-with-fastpass/#more-12783

 

[RIdisfan]

Hi all , we stay on site at Pop Century . For us this place has worked many many times . It is just us two so maybe that helps , but we love Pop . The buses help ( no car renting ) ME gets us to Pop from airport . We also have no problems with Disney food , dining plan helps with a sit down meal as well as a counter service and a snack . .. We can get to all 4 parks on the buses in fast order . Now , we have been one time with MB and we loved them . Everything worked great for us . We were there in Sept and thing's could not have been better for us as well as all others that we saw using MB . We did a bounce back return trip in Sept for this year and can not wait

 

[RIdisfan]

So we have stayed off site many times and enjoyed it very much . The time that we spend driving from 192 to the parks are just about the same as what we spend on the buses when on site so that all is a wash . For us staying at Pop just is more fun Disney the whole time on vacation . Also I need to say remember we are all at Disney no matter where we stay on or off site let us all have fun yeah

 

[BadgerGirl84]

No not at all. I would have to pay more money to stay at a Value and have a fraction of the space and amenities. Plus no kitchen. I don't see using Disney transportation as a big bonus as I don't like waiting around for busses when I could be driving myself. The one time I stayed at Wilderness Lodge I about had a meltdown when I waited 30 minutes for a bus to get me to a park for a breakfast reservation.

Oh and on the theme parks board there is a long thread about offsite people who are being allowed to book Fp+ if they have tickets and an ADR linked to their MDE account. So I do think offsite will be able to book Fp + in advance.

 

[ldhr2005]

Thanks for the thoughts. We DO enjoy having the magic that staying on site brings. But, with 2 kids, we REALLY enjoy the extra space, full kitchen, and washer/dryer that staying off does. In fact, we passed up free dining this past year and took the extra money that we saved staying in a condo and extended our vacation 3 days and added a non Disney park into the mix. We do tend to travel during non- peak times, so I am hopeful that even if there is an impact of not having a MB that it will be minimal. But, I must say, I am not 100% on what out plan will be yet. (I would love to just stay in a Disney cabin, but I just cannot bring myself to spend that kind of $$$ on a space that we are hardly ever in).

 

[melissac]

Have decided to stay offsite for te first time this May. I can get a 2BR at WBC for the same price as POP. No brainer. Now I do have AP so free parking and would only stay onsite if we didn't rent a car or use our DVC from now on. Wish I thought about this sooner.

 

[Silock]

Yes, it does. We have always stayed offsite at a condo. Never stayed on property before.

But after our trip last week, we will be staying on site now. We don't like driving and taking taxis is so expensive. The Disney transportation is far more convenient. We never use the amenities at bonnet Creek. The shuttle sucks now.

It also seems that there's not really a good low season like there used to be. That makes AM EMH even more important for us, because we love riding things many times. PM EMH, too. Although, if they get rid of those, we will probably be back at Bonnet Creek.

 

[timwhackymouse]

I agree it all depends on your family needs. We are a family of 5 so for us it makes more sense to stay off site. We get much more space and the washer and dryer is helpful because we usually stay more than a week. Money to us is very important, for us staying offsite saves us enough money to go DW twice a year instead of one. If it was just my wife and I we would probably stay onsite.