How Much More Would You Pay to Stay Onsite?

[ValpoCory]

Just a non-scientific poll for fun.

 

[disneychrista]

I choose $1 - $50 but it would need to be much closer to the $1 than the $50.

 

[DSNY4ever]

That depends...how much does the Good Neighbor hotel cost? $80? $100? I would maybe spend $50 more to stay onsite if the price wasn't too high already and it wasn't for too many nights. $50 extra per night could add up fast. Once about 5 years ago we splurged and stayed at the DLH for one night when we got a really good price $165...but we still only did one night (the nicer good neighbor hotels were going for about $79 at the time).

 

[sheetz]

Kinda hard to compare because the standards and amenities of the hotels would need to be same, which is generally not the case.

 

[scrapshappen]

My opinion on this has changed a bit. I used to be all about saving the $$ and staying off site. But I voted $200 plus because we are staying at the GC this next trip and actually are paying full price for it. (Planned too late to try to buy DVC credits).

We are celebrating a special occasion on this trip and we looked at other places we could also go to celebrate: Hawaii, WDW, NYC, etc. I compared the full package price at DL to the full package price of the other trips and we are actually saving money by going to Disneyland and staying on site (because we can drive there) versus if we bought airline tickets to just about anywhere else for our family.

That is not to say that we wouldn't go back to staying in a GNH again. We probably will. This is a special occasion so we are spending a little more than usual.

 

[hootey]

The wife's hairdresser and a couple of her clients like to harass her about all the money she blows staying at the DLH on our DL trips. They also include comments about going to character meals and using disney travel company. The wife had enough this past spring and booked our trip online purchasing everything seperate as her clients/hairdresser do. No DLH, no character meals, no early admissions, no ttmm, or any of the other extras we usually book through DLT. We stayed at one of the motels across the street. We were there for 6 days as usual. We saved a grand total of one hundred ninety dollars($190). Will we ever return to DL without staying on property?

 

[ChrisSD]

I pay $200 a night to stay in a 2BR Villa at VGC, split 3 ways with in laws and worth every penny =) I even get the King BR room. DVC rental is gold.

 

[DSNY4ever]

The wife's hairdresser and a couple of her clients like to harass her about all the money she blows staying at the DLH on our DL trips. They also include comments about going to character meals and using disney travel company. The wife had enough this past spring and booked our trip online purchasing everything seperate as her clients/hairdresser do. No DLH, no character meals, no early admissions, no ttmm, or any of the other extras we usually book through DLT. We stayed at one of the motels across the street. We were there for 6 days as usual. We saved a grand total of one hundred ninety dollars($190). Will we ever return to DL without staying on property?

Good GOD! What GNH were you in? I compared it a million times for our upcoming trip and the Anabella is saving us about $1200 (vs. the DLH). Our last trip the Hyatt saved us big time too.

ETA- our trip is only 5 nights.

 

[Lucille1963]

We spent our first 3 trips at a pretty carppy off site hotel, and had a ball on our trips. For the subsequent trip, just after 9/11 we were surprised that the usually cheap hotel we had always stayed at had upped their rates, and that Disney's Paradise Pier was only $20 more a night. We've never looked back. Its the way to go for our family.

 

[ValpoCory]

I pay $200 a night to stay in a 2BR Villa at VGC, split 3 ways with in laws and worth every penny =) I even get the King BR room. DVC rental is gold.

Yep. And you can get a Studio for under $200 per night final cost during the Adventure seasons (Jan/Feb/Sept), and slightly over $200 during the Choice seasons (April-June, Oct-Dec non holidays).

 

[ValpoCory]

That depends...how much does the Good Neighbor hotel cost? $80? $100? I would maybe spend $50 more to stay onsite if the price wasn't too high already and it wasn't for too many nights. $50 extra per night could add up fast. Once about 5 years ago we splurged and stayed at the DLH for one night when we got a really good price $165...but we still only did one night (the nicer good neighbor hotels were going for about $79 at the time).

I guess just use your personal GNH options you'd use for your family as a baseline.

 

[Heymy]

We'll pay quite a bit more to stay onsite and just make less trips. This upcoming trip my folks are tagging along and will only stay at the GCH. We just discovered the senior rate, so their stay at the GCH was cheaper than our AP rate at DLH. Needless to say, we'll all be at the GCH with the senior rate...and yes it's still ridiculously expensive...but it's how we choose to spend our money.

 

[Mary09]

Good GOD! What GNH were you in? I compared it a million times for our upcoming trip and the Anabella is saving us about $1200 (vs. the DLH). Our last trip the Hyatt saved us big time too.

ETA- our trip is only 5 nights.

Yeah, whenever I check fares, decent GN hotels can be had for ~$100/night where the on-site hotels are $275-$375/night. So that $190 would be saved after about one night or even less.

I think the Hilton and Marriott are about comparable star-wise to the on-site hotels and those aren't hard to get for $100/night or thereabouts.

 

[goldies 5]

We will pay the price to stay at the GCH. We tried offsite once a few years ago. It is just easier with little ones and more enjoyable for us, this way. We always take advantage of the early entry, and the proximity can't be beat. Yes, it has gotten way more expensive over the years, but it is the only vacation we really take and we save all year for the trip. Hopefully, in a few years, when some of the kids are out of college we will be able to buy into DVC.

 

[tinkerbelt]

I normally wouldn't. But we have annual passes that include parking, and live within an hour of the parks. So when we go and stay overnight, we stay near the parks in a less expensive hotel with better amenities (like free breakfast).

Now, if it were a vacation and something we did once a year or less, then we'd go all out and pay $100 to $200 more a night to stay onsite, because that's the sort of thing that we would budget and save for as part of the vacation experience. We're planning a WDW trip, and want to stay in one of the more expensive hotels for the experience. But that means that we will have to plan and save longer to make it happen.

 

[hollyshoffbrau]

$50-100 range for us

 

[rosie2283]

We are a family of 5 so this means room size is a problem for us. We are headed down in November and have a family suite booked at the Desert Inn. It is two rooms, two bathrooms and four queen beds at a cost of $179/night. Is it high, yes. But no where near the cost of an onsite property for the same amount of space. Plus...a closer walk.

 

[Geemo]

I'm a granma and I take the kids and grandkids that are available (and want to go) when I'm going.

It means there can be as many as 9 of us. The usual number is 6.

Disney has a max of 5 to a room. So we would need two rooms or a suite. Which puts the cost well out of my budget. We have to stay off-site.

The trips where there are 5 or less, we do stay on site. These trips I'm usually the only adult and I like the security of Disney property.

Geemo

 

[ValpoCory]

So far, it appears most people (59%) would upgrade to onsite if the difference was just $50-$100 per night.

59% = Adding up the $50-$100 category and those who would pay even more than that.

 

[MillauFr]

Even if the Candy Cane and the Paradise Pier were the same price I think I would still stay at the Candy Cane. It is a great family run motel, comes with a free breakfast, and is very clean. We usually leave our room about 7:30a and get back about 11:00p. We are in the parks the entire day. It makes no sense for us to spend extra staying at a place like the Grand Californian.