Hotel Inside WDW or Outside??

[Hownow9]

I am trying to decide whether to stay at a hotel outside Disney or inside during Xmas week. I planned on staying at one of the Disney Value resorts (i.e Pop or Movies) but have found some hotels close to WDW with similar rates.

What are some of the pros & cons of staying at each, especially at this very busy time of year???

 

[K&KsMom]

Hi there.....for our family we love all the conveniences of staying on property has to offer. Last Christmas we stayed off and vowed we wouldn't do that again.....even though we had a 3 bedroom villa with all the amenities it just wasn't the same.
pros:
DME
busses
beauty of Disney
dining plan

cons:
hmmmmmm haven't found any yet!

 

[theflowerladee]

Definitely on... we have stayed off property once and it was also in a 2 bedroom villa with all the amenitities and my DH vowed to never stay off
property again.

Just the convenience of the disney transportation is worth the few extra $$.
The theming of the hotels, the early opening, the whole magical feeling are all pros. I have been during the Thanksgiving weekend into December and
really never noticed a difference at the hotel due to crowds. That was at
a value resort.

I can't think of a single con to staying on property. Off propertry you need to rent a car or rely on that resorts bus service which do not run as
frequent as disney buses. Your restaurants will be much more limited.

IMHO you would be much better off on property.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

I think it depends where you are staying off-site.

We always rent a villa and find the extra room/privacy/cooking facilities is a big plus for us.

On site entertainment and having to drive everywhere are the only disadvantages in my opinion.

There are pros and cons both ways.

 

[BevS97]

The "Con" is that it's more expensive for less space.

Saying that, we love on-site, but for our preferred resort (POFQ), I am getting quotes of $160/night for next feb/march - there are a lot of offsite options that are significantly less than that.

If you can get a really good rate then I would say on-site is the better choice, but when/if you have to pay rack rate, then you really do have to consider the offsite options.

I would also say your restaurant choice is more limited onsite, if you don't rent a car. There are lots of lovely restaurants onsite, and you can eat in them whereever you stay, but with a car you can also eat at cheaper restaurants offsite, which can be useful.

 

[spiceycat]

cons
on property - definitely more expensive - both the room and food

pros
DME - disney will deliver you from the airport to WDW resort for FREE
Disney transportation - every 20 minutes (or less) a bus will come to your resort and take you to the park of your choice
Pools - disney has some of the best pools around. if there is a slide the pool will have a lifeguard. all the value resorts pools have lifeguards regardless.
ID - you can charge anywhere on Disney property with this ID. It is also your key and in some cases, can become your tickets for WDW.
packages - Disney will delivery your packages to your resort that you buy at WDW property (parks or DD)


outside cons

transportation - without a car it is hard to get around
you have to drive to the theme parks - generally not a problem - except for the MK - are you arrive here you need to take a trans to TTC - then a monrail or ferry to the park (this can easily take over an hour)
Disney - there is no or little Disney magic outside the parks. more hotels are just hotels same with timeshares. however sometimes the staff outside Disney is even better. they try harder to make your stay happy is some cases. in others they could care less.

Pro outside

money - everything is generally cheaper.
hotels - you can get a great hotel for the price of a value onsite
timeshares - you can get a condo with 1, 2 or 3 bedroom very cheaply with skyauction (generally less than value onside)
service - as I say sometimes offsite service is wonderful. Sometimes you wonder why you even came....had both!
others things besides WDW - it is far easier to do other things offsite - Orlando has a ton to do!


if you have stayed onsite. Will have a car or rental, then I would say give offsite a try.

some people hate it, others love it. Now some places are as expensive as Disney. Others will save you a fortune.