Good, Bad & Ugly?

[Dsnymouse]

This will be our first trip staying off site while at WDW. We used our timeshare to save money. It is a tad bit away from the parks. Can anyone give me some helpful tips to plan for while being off site? I am excited to have a kitchen, but know we will stay at the parks most of the time. Our timeshare has a shuttle,, but I've read it is bad and not a lot of pick up/drop off times. Any tips would be helpful . Thanks!

 

[sympatico]

For me not having a car would definitely be the "ugly". The "good" is the extra room and ammenities you will have and the "bad" is getting around by depending on shuttles. Summerbay is quite far from the parks but you are close to a Publix and SuperWalmart. I wouldn't go without having a car but that's just me and I know you said you wanted to save money.

 

[ibcrazie4dizney]

we have stayed off site more than on, but we have always had a car. i wouldnt go without one, it is nice to come and go as you please, plus we are carting a toddler and stroller along with tons of bags on the way home. we go to go to publix right after we check in to stock up for the week. we usually eat breakfast in the room and lunch and dinner out or take out on the way back to the room after we leave the parks.

 

[Brian Noble]

Get a car.

Have a nice real breakfast in your room before heading out for the day. If you are more than about 15-20 minutes from the theme park parking lots, consider not going back and forth more than once most days.

 

[Dsnymouse]

Thanks sympatico, ibcrazy, & Brian - We have never stayed offsite & always used Disney transportation. We will rent a car. Then that brings parking fees along with large park parking lots. I don't want to be frazzled before we even get there. LOL

I'm sure it will be fine.. I mean magical.

 

[Brian Noble]

Then that brings parking fees along with large park parking lots. I don't want to be frazzled before we even get there.

Even with the parking fees, you'll probably be far ahead of where you'd be, cost-wise, staying in comparable onsite digs. I normally figure for an 8-day stay that I'll spend about $250-$400 in parking, rental car, and gas, depending on the rental car rate I get. If you're saving a thousand in lodging (which is pretty typical for us) you're still doing well.

Don't sweat the large lots. You will be guided to a particular space, and there will be constant tram service to take you to and from the front gates---except at MK, where the tram takes you to the TTC, and then you take the monorail or ferry to the gates. Disney works hard to make this easy for you!

 

[MomofKatie]

Don't sweat the large lots. You will be gided to a particular space, and there will be constant tram service to take you to and from the front gates---except at MK, where the tram takes you to the TTC, and then you take the monorail or ferry to the gates. Disney works hard to make this easy for you!

We find that if we arrive in time for rope drop, we park pretty close to the front gates at Epcot and Hollywood Studios- usually within the first 5 or 6 rows. We usually walk to the gate, and it can be a shorter walk than from most of the bus stops! We can also walk from the lot to the TTC when we get to MK for rope drop.

One of the really nice things about having your own car is not having to be smooshed into a crowded bus at the end of the day, or standing in a long line waiting for it to come. Just hop on the tram right outside the gate (always closer than the bus stops), take the very short walk to your spot, and get in your nice, uncrowded car.

 

[summermac]

For us, the good is the money you save by staying offsite. This year, we are *gasp* driving it rather than flying so we won't even have a rental car expense. I don't want to fly with two preschoolers. Of course driving might wind up sucking too.

When we went last time, we flew and rented a car. I would never stay offsite without having a car.

We stayed onsite one time and honestly never spent one minute at any of the resort attractions anyway. Other than not paying for parking & being able to be shuttled home (which actually took quite some time due to being at All Star Movies) I can't think of any "bads" to staying offsite.

 

[jpeppers]

I have never stayed at Summer Bay but I believe it is right across the street from Cypress point where I have stayed a few times. The location is awesome, close to groceries and restaurants (and probably 1.5 miles from DTD). I would agree that you should rent a car and I have always had one which is probably why I think these places are so great. It is so nice to have the kitchen and extra room. Staying on site is great but I find staying in the condos to be a much more relaxing vacation.

 

[sympatico]

I have never stayed at Summer Bay but I believe it is right across the street from Cypress point where I have stayed a few times. The location is awesome, close to groceries and restaurants (and probably 1.5 miles from DTD). I would agree that you should rent a car and I have always had one which is probably why I think these places are so great. It is so nice to have the kitchen and extra room. Staying on site is great but I find staying in the condos to be a much more relaxing vacation.

Summer Bay is on the far west end of 192, almost to the intersection with 27. It's #38 on this map:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=U...8.272032,-81.608849&spn=0.068335,0.11055&z=13

 

[dougsmom98]

You will see Summer Bay Resort listed towards the top of this map on the right side.
http://www.kissimmee-us192.com/map/map1/kiss192map1.htm#1btm
To get to Disney, you will travel down the map away from highway 27.

When I have stayed out near Summer Bay Resort, I used the Sherbeth Road shortcut to get to the parks. I think there is another road that can be used now (Western Beltway 429), but this one is free and will allow you to turn off of 192 at mile marker 4 or 5 (I can't remember which one). You will see the turn off on the right as you scroll down on this map.

http://www.kissimmee-us192.com/map/map2/kiss192map2.htm
You take the left onto this road at the light and just follow the traffic to the Osceala Parkway. There, you will follow signs for the parks you want.

 

[Brian Noble]

For my money, Summer Bay is just a tad too far for a Disney-centric vacation. I'd make an exception for an exchange into the Houses though---those have private pools, very nice.

 

[Andrea from PA]

Check out the transportation board & sign up for all the car discounts.

We got a great price after many days of searching for our Oct trip -- $168 for 7 days for a minivan. The cost was well worth it

 

[Dsnymouse]

Sympatico - Thanks for Google map

Dougs - Thanks for directions

Brian - Yes, probally not the best location for Disney- we are locked in to it.

Andrea - Thanks for the tip on car rentals.

 

[Brian Noble]

It's not the end of the world. I've been farther---up in the Glenbrook sub, about a mile north of the 27/192 interchange. Summer Bay is probably right on the edge of where I'd be willing to come and go more than once in a day.

 

[crusoe2]

We did our first offsite trip back in October and there were definitely some onsite perks that I missed a bit but the good parts were worth it. One of the things that proved to be a little problematic is that, on the day of our arrival, I discovered that some of the park hours had been changed and I needed to come up with a whole new park touring plan. I wanted to avoid the EMH days at each park but I had not written them down before we left home and since we weren't staying at a Disney resort I couldn't find any park literature that listed them. We had free I'net access at our condo but there was a glitch with it and it took a couple of days to get it straightened out so I could look up the information I needed. Other than that, staying offsite was great. We deliberately started our park touring a little later in the day a couple of times and had a nice big breakfast and a second cup of coffee out on the lanai. And we found that we really liked driving ourselves to the parks - we were able to park so close to the gate at Epcot that we didn't even need the tram. Another thing that we loved about staying in a condo was that there was someplace to sit besides on the bed. It was wonderful to come home and kick back on the sofa to watch tv for awhile. Overall, we liked staying in the condo so much that we'll probably pass on the great 4/3 deal that Disney is offering and just stay in a condo again. And this is coming from someone who has always loved the Disney resorts. From now on I think I'll be satisfied to just visit the resorts for a character meal or nice dinner, tho.

One tip - there is a nice Walmart on Hwy. 27 just a little north of where it intersects with 192. It didn't seem to be quite as busy as some of the stores closer to the parks. We did our grocery shopping and picked up our park tickets from the vendor there. The park tickets can be bought in one of the little shops at the front of the store. The guy who waited on me was super nice and the prices were slightly discounted.

 

[Dsnymouse]

Crusoe2 - Thanks for the post. You have given my hope it won't be to terribly bad stay offsite. Guess there is always room to try something new especially when it saves $.

I will look into the Walmart you mentioned. Thanks for the tip!

 

[crusoe2]

Crusoe2 - Thanks for the post. You have given my hope it won't be to terribly bad stay offsite. Guess there is always room to try something new especially when it saves $.

I will look into the Walmart you mentioned. Thanks for the tip!

Your welcome - I'm glad I could help. I know how hard it can be to break the on-site habit. We actually were booked to stay at Pop Century that trip but our 6yo DD came down with a bad case of bronchitis at the last minute. We had all kinds of meds and equipment for breathing treatments and I just didn't want to deal with all of that in a hotel room. Plus we knew we would be staying inside more than we'd planned and taking things a little slower so having more space to spread out and relax was so nice. I was worried that DD would be disappointed about not staying at the fun Disney hotel but she loved the condo and would rather stay there again than go back to any of the Disney resorts. And we never even made it to the pool or playground. We actually ended up doing our last night onsite at POR because we decided to stay an extra day and the condo wasn't available. We used the bus transportation to go to DHS while we were there and wished we'd just driven ourselves. We took time to let DD play on the playground, got Mickey waffles in the foodcourt, and explored a bit and DD would still rather go back and stay in the condo. It probably helped that the condo had been Disney-fied by the owners. It had several Disney posters that had been very nicely matted and framed and lots of other little Disney touches throughout. We got it through Dave Robinson at vacationcentralflorida.com. Dave was just wonderful to deal with and so was the family that owned the unit. I highly recommend checking out their condos for your next trip. Have a great time - wish we were going again that soon.