Giving up on staying on property....

[Disneyfan1977]

So after a very disappointing day ( trying to get free dining) we have opted to stay off property. Just can't take the constant price increases. Hope we are making the right decision.... This is so out of the box for us....

 

[Fivemuggles]

So after a very disappointing day ( trying to get free dining) we have opted to stay off property. Just can't take the constant price increases. Hope we are making the right decision.... This is so out of the box for us....

I seriously considered this too- and actually found a 2 bedroom condo within 2 minutes of downtown Disney for $322 for the whole week. I'm so afraid to jump on it though- I love the convenience of the dining plan, and the extra magic hours!

 

[Sandysbuddy]

We may be joining you and completely agree. I knew we wouldn't get FD for the 1st week of December, but we were really hoping for the military or RO discount. So far, no luck. We have a condo reserved that we cancel up until the end of September without losing any money, so I will keep trying.

I keep telling myself we will have a lot more space, a kitchen, washer and dryer, etc for less money and that the condo is really close to the parks but I am afraid we will really miss the atmosphere and experience of being onsite. Wish Disney's rack rates weren't so high!

 

[WDW Crawl]

Honestly more people should stay off property. The reason WDW keeps the prices climbing up, up ,up is because people continue to pay it. Same goes for tickets and everything else.

With the money pit that is the magic band, they really aren't giving us many reasons to even go back to begin with considering the price hikes and lack of love for the parks. My wife and I have already had the "to renew or not renew AP" discussion. This coming year it looks like we will because of some pre-booked trips.

 

[Disneyfan1977]

Fivemuggles, do you mind if i ask where you found that condo for so cheap?

Thanks for the replies..... Feel so much better knowing we aren't alone in our decision. I've been loyally staying on property all these years but I just can't justify it!

Sad but I know it's the right thing to do. Guess all the hikes in prices are paying for the new fantasyland....

 

[Fivemuggles]

Though a friend who is part of some vacation club... It's at the Blue Tree resort in lake Buena vista. Not sure if you can book that cheaply without being a member of the club tho- if I were to book it I would have to have her do it for me with her points. Or some thing like that haha, she was explaining it to me and I think that's what she said. (They just got back 2 weeks ago from a 3 week stay!)

 

[Disneyfan1977]

Thanks! I will search it and see! Open to new things this time for sure! Maybe if enough people start to stay off property Disney will get the hint...

 

[WDW Crawl]

Fivemuggles, do you mind if i ask where you found that condo for so cheap?

Thanks for the replies..... Feel so much better knowing we aren't alone in our decision. I've been loyally staying on property all these years but I just can't justify it!

Sad but I know it's the right thing to do. Guess all the hikes in prices are paying for the new fantasyland....

I would imagine the billions of dollars in the magic bands too. They are really making a blatant financial move that park goers will have little benefit from. Carrying the Key-card and using that to charge things to, open the door, tickets, is really not much different from the magic band and certainly not worth the amount pumped into it.

Of course the big reason for the bands are to track and attempt to decipher spending habits, and how to "control" how much and what you will buy through strategic marketing that would bend and change over the years in a much creepier way.

Most park goers surely would much rather have billions pumped into actual new attractions, rather than this creepy infrastructure that offers very little to the user.

 

[ColonelHathi]

So after a very disappointing day ( trying to get free dining) we have opted to stay off property. Just can't take the constant price increases. Hope we are making the right decision.... This is so out of the box for us....

Here too, really disappointing chaos this morning. I did not see that coming. I have been planning my kids 1st trip for over 2 years now, and did not see this for the past 2 Fall promos. My TA was on the phone for 3 hours. Seriously considering dumping our POR reservation as that resort now looks fully booked - crazy, crazy. Sorry, the chaos might out-weigh the benefits! I'm looking into Sheraton Vistana LBV - still SO close with room to spread out!

 

[Step]

We did an offsite condo on the last trip and LOVED it.

I preferred my private condo pool over the big public resort ones. l

The only thing we missed out on was towel animals, as we still visited Disney resorts for shopping and dining. The cast members don't know you aren't staying onsite and they treat you just as nicely.

 

[Coconuts]

So after a very disappointing day ( trying to get free dining) we have opted to stay off property. Just can't take the constant price increases. Hope we are making the right decision.... This is so out of the box for us....

We are feeling the exact same way. After yesterday I am just so dejected. Not only were we not able to get POR like we needed, it just seems SO much more expensive this year, even with FD.

 

[TeresaWen]

We are joining you! I almost caved when I heard that there were room discounts being offered October - December. Unfortunately I could not score one for the Yacht Club. I think I could have gotten free dining but there are no circumstances where that will work for us.

Sooooo....after thinking we were not going to Disney at all this year, we are getting a 2 bedroom condo for 2 weeks for less than $900. Cannot beat that. The resort has 7 pools, a fitness center, and lots of other amenities. The master bedroom has a huge jacuzzi tub and there is a full kitchen and a washer and drier. The money we are saving, and the HUGE amount of space we will have more than makes up for what we will not have. And we can rent a car, pay for valet parking, pay for taxis. I think this will be awesome.

We stopped using EMH a few years ago so that is no loss for us. We don't really shop any more so resort delivery is of no use to us and if we miss the resorts we can go and have a drink!

Just can not stand paying that much money for a tiny room (and no guarantee of a king size bed) any longer. Disney pushed just a bit too far.

 

[Coconuts]

We are joining you! I almost caved when I heard that there were room discounts being offered October - December. Unfortunately I could not score one for the Yacht Club. I think I could have gotten free dining but there are no circumstances where that will work for us.

Sooooo....after thinking we were not going to Disney at all this year, we are getting a 2 bedroom condo for 2 weeks for less than $900. Cannot beat that. The resort has 7 pools, a fitness center, and lots of other amenities. The master bedroom has a huge jacuzzi tub and there is a full kitchen and a washer and drier. The money we are saving, and the HUGE amount of space we will have more than makes up for what we will not have. And we can rent a car, pay for valet parking, pay for taxis. I think this will be awesome.

We stopped using EMH a few years ago so that is no loss for us. We don't really shop any more so resort delivery is of no use to us and if we miss the resorts we can go and have a drink!

Just can not stand paying that much money for a tiny room (and no guarantee of a king size bed) any longer. Disney pushed just a bit too far.

Where did you find a condo that cheap?

 

[tink1953]

I feel the same way after waiting for the discount its only 15% off the Movies resort...we would save $245

for our November family trip our two sons and family are staying offsite at a resort for 7 nights for only $209 (staying for 2 weeks) so only $418.00 for 14 nights....compared to $1300 for 14 nights at Movies resort with the discount...we might just join them and forget staying onsite...

There is nothing like staying at a Disney resort, but is it worth going in debt to pay for that week or two???? Perks aren't that great anyway...anyone can hop on a bus and they keep lowering extra hours in the parks...

seems Disney keeps giving nothing and taking away more and more

 

[tinkerbella16]

Yesterday was just madness! We never had to go through that kind of crap years ago to get a discount! I hope many people decide to stay off-site to send Disney a message. I couldn't believe that in order to get a lousy 5% off my existing POR reservation, I'd have to pay the ticket increase- that is crazy! So I just kept what I had and said to heck with it. It is not even worth it.

I miss the days when there actually were slow seasons all through out the year and they didn't try to get more and more people in with Free Dining. Buy 4 get 3 nights free was awesome for us and back then WDW was affordable and it still was not crowded like it is today. The more people will pay these through the roof prices, the longer we will have to see and pay them too!

 

[Disneyfan1977]

Well I agree with what everyone is saying! I'm sick over these so called discounts. No benefit to my family who has spent a lot at Disney over the years.... But not like Disney cares.... They are laughing all the way to the bank.

One problem we are running into is that we are going to need to rent a car.... We don't use credit cards any longer so basically we are screwed. Trying to figure out how much taxis will cost us because we really want to rent a house and I'm sure there are no shuttles from these communities. Any suggestions anyone?

 

[pittsburghmom]

One problem we are running into is that we are going to need to rent a car.... We don't use credit cards any longer so basically we are screwed. Trying to figure out how much taxis will cost us because we really want to rent a house and I'm sure there are no shuttles from these communities. Any suggestions anyone?

Not sure if this helps your situation, but as far as the rental-with-no-credit-card, I do know that you can rent a car thru Alamo with a DEBIT card (with the Visa/Mastercard logo) as long as you have proof of a return flight (ie: plane tickets or flight intinerary). I just asked this question over on the transportation board for my sister who I am helping with her travel plans. She and her husband do not have credit cards either. HTH

 

[OurBigTrip]

If off-site works best for someone, financially or otherwise, then they should stay off-site. We've always been fortunate, in that we've always been able to get some kind of discount, either AAA, AP, Florida resident at one point, or military.

Having said that, I've never felt that Disney owed us a discount. It's great to get them, but while I hope for them, I never expect them. Discounts are to fill rooms, period. They aren't a rewards program for people that have spent lots of money over the years, or a loyalty program for people that come every year. They're a way for Disney to make money on rooms that might have otherwise sat empty.

As for the rack rates continuously going up, I just haven't seen a big increase for next year, at least not at the time we're going (Jul-Aug). AKL and CR went up $9/night, and a BLT 2BR went up $25/night. Personally, I just don't find that to be unreasonable.

For our family, we only want to stay on-site, and we go less often so that we can ensure that we are able to do so, even at rack rate, if necessary. But if the only way we could afford to go was to stay off-site, then we'd certainly do it, and still have a great time.

I do wish the very best to people that are still trying for discounts - one year, I was calling every day for 3 months, and had 4 different reservations for an 8 night stay, just to get discounts, and in the end, I got discounts for every night. So keep trying!

 

[su_A_ve]

Unless then stop FD, we'll continue to go with it and stay in property. We drive but we use Disney transportation. We don't care for the resorts to be honest but stay in mods due to the queen beds (ignore the deluxe listings in my sig - those are company paid

Staying off property means a longer drive, parking fees, loss of EMH (though with the switch from 3 to 2 at night, I'm not happy), ADRs 180+10. And of course dining plan, which we would only do if free - 2A 2Jr is a big discount...

 

[Kelnick]

Has anyone checked into this hotel. We are leaving a day early and are DVC members with no more points so we needed to find a room for one night. This hotel is next to DTD and it says its a WDW hotel with the benefits of EMH. it looked like it was about $95 a night.
http://t.buenavistapalace.com/