Experiences staying on vs off site with young kids?

[jll2800]

I'd like to hear people's experiences and opinions about staying off site vs. staying on WDW property with young kids. We're going the first week of January, and I haven't booked a room yet because I'm waiting to see if there will be any discounts offered. We'll be going with our 8 month old and 5 year old.

We plan to come back to the room for afternoon naps. We do love the theming of the disney resorts (we are mostly considering WL) and we like the extra perks, but if we stayed off site we could get a 1BR suite for less than half the price of a small WL room (looking at Caribe Royale Orlando in particular). Given that the baby is not a great sleeper, I'm wondering if being trapped for 6 nights together might make for 4 unhappy vacationers!

And I've been researching the commute times for some off site hotels (renting a car) and they really seem comparable to using buses for the on site properties. We do expect to spend more days at MK than any other park, and I know it takes a bit longer to get there with the extra monorail/ferry step. Is it so much longer that it's not worth it?

Obviously there's a large element of personal preference here, and the answer will be different for every family. But I'd really like to hear about your experiences. Which is easier with young kids, do you think? Are there downsides to staying off site that you think negate any $ savings? Or are the benefits I haven't considered?

Thanks for sharing!

 

[lwig124]

To me the biggest benefit of staying onsite is the transportation because you don't need a car. That being said, it does take longer to get around than just hopping in the car and going, and its not on your schedule. my husband and I have been there, standing on the monorail platform struggling with a stroller, all our bags, and a screaming baby and feeling rushed because the people behind us were waiting. With small children I would take a car all day everyday!

 

[set1208]

We are a family of 6 and we rented a house last year and we will never stay on site again when we travel all together. The space and privacy far outweighs the benefits of staying on site. We were more flexible with our plans too. We went to Lego Land and Sea World as well as Disney.

We had a five bedroom/ 3 and a half bath villa with a game room and a private pool in Windsor Palms? (..the Windsor property that does not have the amazing pool). It was $1200 for a week in October.

Our kids were 13, 7, 5 and 3 at the time. It was great to get them to bed in their own rooms and then me and DH had time to ourselves at night. We'd watch tv, or sit by the pool or swim. It was heaven.

We did an onsite trip for a week when we had just three kids (9, 3 and 1) and it was cramped and we couldn't leave the room without hiring a sitter. We had to haul our strollers and bags on and off the bus and when it was crowded, it was not fun.

Renting a house and a van was the best decision we've ever made traveling with our kids. It was weird at first because I felt that a "Disney Vacation" meant staying on site and having a fully immersed Disney experience every waking second. It was nice to step back and go back to our house. The kids rooms were decorated in Disney themes so that was fun for them but it wasn't all in our face.

I'd highly recommend trying it at least once.

 

[canadiandisneymommy]

I've stayed both onsite and offsite this year at WDW on two different trips with a 2 and 3 year old. IMO there is nothing that beats staying at a MK resort with little ones. Longer shuttle bus rides and the constant opening and closing of strollers can be annoying but it's very doable and saves you hundreds of dollars. I wrote a trip report regarding my recent vacation in May staying at the Hilton Orlando near Downtown Disney. I'll also be posting a resort review of Animal Kingdom Lodge shortly...we just came back last week! Feel free to check it out at www.canadiandisneymommy.com

 

[MandiC]

We've never stayed off site so I can't really compare but we loved on-site and I'm pretty sure we will always stay on-site. I like the added benefits. It just fits our kind of vacation, when we don't do Disney we do all-inclusive resorts...I want to feel taken care of I do want to rent a car next trip, but that is because we can do so very inexpensively through dh's work...I probably wouldn't if we had to pay regular price...and we are likely staying at the cabins in FW so I have heard a car is a big advantage there.
For us, space doesn't matter too much, we are a big family but the only time we were in our room, quite literally, was to sleep. The benefits of staying on-site were worth it (I mean we walked right up to the front of the line at lunch for BOG and were seated within minutes when the line went way out the door for those in the stand-by line...wouldn't have gotten that FP without staying on-site) Everything we needed was on our wrist (MagicBand)...we could buy things, use our dining plan, get into our room, get pictures linked to our account, ect without dragging our personal items (driver's license/credit cards/ect) into the parks all day. You can make your FP reservations before off-site guests, you have the option of extra magic hours, and if you do chose to rent a car, you get free parking at the parks.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

We stayed off site when my son was 3 and again when he was 5. It was a pia honestly. It took forever to get to the parks in rush hour traffic. This year we went to disney again with my now 7 year old and our 8 month old son. We stayed at the contemporary. We loved staying there is was convenient being a monorail ride away. If we saw the baby getting tired my hubby took him back to the resort while I stayed with the 7 yr old and and we would meet up later. We are going again in April and we are staying at the contemporary. It's just nice not having to rush around to get where we are going. I always felt rushed in the mornings when we stayed off site bc we were always trying to get there at rope drop and trying to beat out the mob of people who also had the same idea. Another good thing about staying on site is u have the option for a dining plan. I personally love the dining plan bc everything is paid for in advance and we just have to worry about tips and souvenirs.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

remember that the parking for MK includes a ferry boat or monorail ride plus most likely a tram ride and then the car ride back to your resort. will your kids stay awake or fall back to sleep if they fall asleep on the trip back. we had trouble with this even staying on site with toddler grandson who fell asleep on way to resort and would not go back to sleep. no one got any rest, it was that bad. he then fell asleep during dinner. one more thing to think about

 

[Ladygoldenhair]

All in all, I think it's about the savings. If your family can spend the money to go to a monorail resort, you'll love the onsite at any cost.

If saving 2/3 the cost by staying off site and thus able to work a second vacation, cruise or other event in your life, you are happy off site. We have stayed off site twice recently and equally as many onsite to off site.

My biggest complaint onsite, we nice ended two rooms so the cost. The biggest pro, the extra room offsite, washer and dryer, kitchen, kids in their own rooms while we used the pool, living room or snored away.
We saved enough with this trip to upgrade to AP's. That was my reason for off site this time.

It use to be competitive to onsite. But, with the refrigerators added and free Internet, the added cost is no longer competitive for us.

 

[Happyjen27]

When my son is tired, he just kinda "loses it" and becomes a crying mess. So, it was most important to me to have fast transportation to our room so he can get to sleep very quickly. Our first trip he was 5, so it's not like a baby who will sleep anywhere.

So, I happily shelled out the big dollars and stayed onsite at resorts that have very easy access to MK, which was the park in which we spent the most time.

So, it's up to you, what do you think would be most disruptive? Travelling with tired little ones back to the resort, or sleeping all in the same room with a baby that isn't a good sleeper?

Also, I'm a sleep consultant, and if you start working on sleeping better all night long right now, that baby will be sleeping all night, every night without a peep by the time you go to Disney. Barring any medically diagnosed conditions that might interfere with sleep, of course.

 

[msmama]

Another thing that I like that hasn't been mentioned is that I like being in Disney hands from (essentially) the moment the plane lands, to the moment I'm back at the airport. I'm a single mom traveling with one child.

I LOVE not having to worry about driving somewhere unfamiliar (though I have at other times driven around Orlando and it is fairly easy) and I know that if anything goes wrong I'll have Disney customer service to help me. That alone is worth any extra I might pay.

I don't know if I've had odd luck with busses, but I've never had any problems nor have I ever experienced any bizarrely long waits (that weren't my fault by taking the wrong bus).

 

[kalc12345]

We have did both...Disney Resorts and off-site. I have to say I like off-site better. We tried Bonnet Creek a couple years ago and that is where we stay now. It is not a Disney resort but it is on Disney property. That makes it SUPER easy to get to all the parks pretty quickly.

I love my kids to death but being stuck in a small hotel room for 8-10 days is no fun! We enjoy the extra space of a condo. Everyone can spread out and relax when we are at the room.

Another benefit is it is SO much cheaper. You can also save money on food. We eat breakfast at the condo before heading to the park. You could also take a crock pot and have dinner ready when you get back from the park.

As far as transportation to the park. Even when we stayed at a Disney resorts we hardly ever used the buses. It was just a pain with a stroller getting on and off and folding the stroller. Then at the end of the day having a fussy little one while waiting on a bus...not fun! I like being able to walk to my car and head to the room without waiting. I have found that we can get there quicker by driving ourselves.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

If you choose your offsite location carefully, it's actually WAY more convenient AND faster to get to & from all but MK from offsite than using Disney transportation onsite.

We had zero issues going back & forth.

 

[JMSMommy]

We've done both as well. We liked staying in Windsor Hills (has a great large pool). It's just a few minutes driving to the parks. That said, when we stayed onsite it was usually value or moderate. After a couple of horrendous bus rides to/from the resorts, we started driving ourselves to the parks. For our children, the ability to sit in their car seats in quiet was great. Yes, sometimes they would sleep. But, we all had seats, it was quiet. If we were park hopping, we'd drive ourselves between parks and they would normally nap for a short bit. If we travel back to the "home" and they fall asleep, then yes, it would be at the cost of a longer nap. However, getting to rest in quiet and spread out was great. We also loved having a washer/dryer in the unit.

That said, we are trying onsite this trip and worried about it. We like having to space to separate and we really loved that private pool!