How much trouble is it to leave parks and return if staying off property?

[jenniferyawn]

We have always stayed on Disney property, but I'm thinking of staying OP this time. We will have a 2 year old and would like to travel back to the hotel by car in the middle of the day. How much will I miss the luxury of Disney transportation back to the resort during the day? Is it a lot of trouble to get back to your car, leave, and then go back to the parks for the evening?

 

[hookedonears]

We have always stayed on Disney property, but I'm thinking of staying OP this time. We will have a 2 year old and would like to travel back to the hotel by car in the middle of the day. How much will I miss the luxury of Disney transportation back to the resort during the day? Is it a lot of trouble to get back to your car, leave, and then go back to the parks for the evening?

We've stayed off property and driven a car only once in our many years of going to WDW. For many people here, the convenience of having a car far out weighs the problems of having to drive and park in giant parking lots, and having to walk across giant parking lots in the heat. Part of the magic just wasn't there for us, not having Disney transportation to and from our resort. Did we enjoy our trip? Yes, but it just wasn't the same.

 

[chalee94]

probably a bit more of a hassle when going to the MK because you have to deal with monorail/ferry and then trams back to your car instead of hopping a bus to get back to your resort.

probably less of a hassle at other parks, depending on where you are staying offsite.

when i stayed at the sheraton vistana resort, i walked back to my car and timed it as an 8 minute drive from my parking spot at epcot to my parking spot at the sheraton resort. i'm sure i beat the onsite resort buses in that case with no waiting at a bus stop. so no trouble at all IMO when it's a short trip to a resort like the sheraton vistana (not the vistana villages) or marriott palms resorts.

if your drive is 15-20 minutes off property, that adds to the hassle...

your wdw parking fee is good all day (even if you have park hopper tickets and go to a different park) so that is a non-issue.

i often stay onsite with DVC but don't think it's a big letdown to stay offsite due to the much cheaper prices.

 

[FINFAN]

we stayed off site for the first time last September at Windsor Hills. Having the space was incredible and the rate was killer $199 for a week in a 2/2/ condo. We for sure missed the ease of staying on site but really liked getting to stay longer due to the great rate more, lol. With a 2 year old, hmmm., they are young enough at that age to be stroller~able and you call the shots for the most part on timing of things so that would be no biggie (like not being controlled by a certain FP time for a princess M&G) I wouldn't say it's particularly difficult to leave, just add in time for hiking it back to your car. The lots aren't really bad to get to except MK and if you are lucky to get there early enough you may not even need a tram for there. We used the tram once at AK and qonce at MK...then decided walking was more efficient in more in our control. We weren't patient enough to sit and wait for the tram to fill before leaving, making it's stops etc. Now the traffic to/from the condo was not something we liked all that much, and if we go back I think we will do a split on/off...3 solid on site nights at the beginning of the trip and then a week prob back at WH. Many like Bonnet creek as it is so close. We are commando park goers tho, and now 4 adults so we do pack a lot into our days. Honestly it is really hard to say until you just take the plunge and try it off site, but maybe try a split stay for the best of both worlds?

 

[SabbyR]

My sil just tried off site for the first time and she HATED it! And they weren't just doing a Disney vacation more of an Orlando area vacation. And her kids are older(8 to 14 range)

 

[wookiebeck]

Our last two stays were off property (and pretty far down the road). We felt it was still more convenient than any buses on property. We took a 3-4 hour break midday. One of those hours for for travel to/from. We embraced it as a nice rest in the AC of the car.

 

[hashtagsavemaelstrom]

We stay off site almost every time since we do a lot of weekend trips thoughout the year. It saves a ton of money that we can spend on food and souvenirs. Honestly, it's no big deal leaving the parks and going back later, with the exception of MK. In fact, it's kind of nice to be in your own space in the car and relax on the ride back to the hotel. I'd give it a try!

 

[grimley1968]

Sometimes I prefer to drive even when staying on property. With the exception of MK, I think the benefit of having our own space (and our own climate control) outweighs the benefit of not having to drive. Even at MK (if I'm driving from off property), though it takes some extra time, I don't mind the monorail/ferry ride and the tram ride. For MK, just make sure to budget some extra time to get to/from the TTC parking lot to/from the gate.

 

[Itinkso]

Consider Valet parking at Contemporary rather than the MK lot. It's $20 for Valet and you can come and go as many times as necessary in that one day. It's a short walk from Contemp to MK.

There are also a lot of couches and quiet areas on the 4th floor of Contemp where you can take a nice, quiet break from MK without having to return to your off-site accommodations.

 

[Dis703]

We stayed offsite multiple times before kids, but most of the time we stayed in the parks all day. Going to and from the parks even though we were quite close to Disney property, we hit awful traffic here and there. Particularly around the DTD area. But the most annoying part to me was getting into a scalding hot car that's been sitting in the sun for hours.

I know I read lots of reports though of people offsite who take 10 minutes to get back to their rental house/hotel. I don't recall it ever being that short of a timeframe when we drove, especially at MK where you have to take a boat/monorail to ttc and then a tram to your car.

 

[WikiDisney]

We have always stayed on Disney property, but I'm thinking of staying OP this time. We will have a 2 year old and would like to travel back to the hotel by car in the middle of the day. How much will I miss the luxury of Disney transportation back to the resort during the day? Is it a lot of trouble to get back to your car, leave, and then go back to the parks for the evening?

Hi There! This is my first post! My family almost always stays off property at a resort just East of the property near Downtown Disney. It's wonderful because we tend to save a LOT of money and ultimately get to enjoy our vacation even more.

If you stay off property and intend to leave mid-day and return later, it requires a bit more planning; like which parks are open later to accommodate the break (remember no more EMH if you stay off property), and travel time. Speaking of travel time, my resort is ten minutes away from the parks, about as far away from the parks as the All Star resorts. If you stay OP I would strongly recommend staying as close to the property as possible simply for convenience.

In regards to the "Luxury of Disney Transport." I personally despise the busses; however, I love the boat/monorail experience so if you would otherwise stay at a deluxe resort that features boat or monorail transportation it makes the decision a little tougher. Good Luck!

 

[Dis703]

FWIW, when I took my first at almost 2 1/2 he refused to nap in the hotel. It was too new and exciting and he just wouldn't do it. At home he would nap in a stroller easily but wouldn't do that at Disney either. So each day he went past naptime, got overtired and cranky, tears came for a bit and then he passed out in our arms. My twins did pretty decently with falling asleep in their strollers at 22 months at Disney but we tried to get back to our onsite resort for naps most days. Just sharing as it's possible you may not need to take a full break all the way back to your resort.

This trip we are planning on quiet walks and hoping for stroller napping since they are sort of transitioning away from naps at 3 1/2.

 

[tobikaye]

It has been a while since I stayed off-site and did the WDW parks, but I have considered doing such. If I have my sister, then I would definitely need to add breaks during the day. I think it depends on how much down time you are planning. If you are planning at least 3 hours, then it should not be much more difficult unless you usually stay at a MK or Epcot resort and walk to and from the parks. Now that said, I would pick a place that is only about 20 minutes from MK or Epcot/DHS that does not force you to go past DTD.

I would also suggest that you check out various maps for ways to see if there are alternate routes. I do this even when staying onsite. This has saved me lots of times by going a slightly different way to avoid the busier routes.

 

[Laketravis]

For 40+ years we've always stayed on site, but next month we are going to start trying off-site. I've been using Google Directions and a traffic website to get an idea of how long it will take to move around between WDW, our off-site resort, USO and restaurants. I've been told to roughly double the Google Directions time estimates primarily due to the abundance of unfamiliar drivers who go slower, take longer, and change lanes without warning.

So I'll be paying particular attention to transit times and will post results here: More for Less: A Theme Park Planning Strategy

Here's a nice website I've been using to get an idea of how fast or slow traffic is moving: Live Orlando Traffic




.

 

[robinb]

We have always stayed on Disney property, but I'm thinking of staying OP this time. We will have a 2 year old and would like to travel back to the hotel by car in the middle of the day. How much will I miss the luxury of Disney transportation back to the resort during the day? Is it a lot of trouble to get back to your car, leave, and then go back to the parks for the evening?

I've stayed offsite twice in the last 2 years, both at VERY busy times. Both places were about 15 minutes from the parks and it was no problem at all getting to and from the parks. The only problem was that my family would get a little *too* comfortable back at the house/condo and we ended up not going back into the parks at night a couple of times.

 

[cckp72]

Totally agree with all the posts above. It depends on where you stay. We have stayed at Bonnet Creek 5x with a rental car and never had a problem with returning back to the hotel and going back again. Yes, it's a bit of a hassle to repark and tram it in but we find it's part of the experience. There never seems to be a line at the parking booths either when we return and all you have to do is show your ticket from the morning and you are good to go!

 

[Laketravis]

For those of you who have done it, how long would you say it takes to get from your parked car to scanning your band to get into each park? Especially MK? And how long would you give yourself to get back to your car from the same point?

 

[sueliz]

Stayed offsite at Emerald Island (pretty close off 192) in dec 2013. We only took a break one of the days but it was our MK day and I didn't think it was that difficult or took that long- just the time to monorail to TTC. Getting from car to condo was fast and easy as was getting back. Of course it was early dec so pleasant weather and about level 5 crowds- maybe a summer day with 8 or 9 crowds would not be so easy? But i can't see how napping could be any better. for waaaaaay less than staying onsite we were able to get a 4 bedroom townhouse- so both kids each had their own rooms for afternoon naps and adults watched tv downstairs. much more conducive to napping than us all hanging out in the same room I think

 

[robinb]

For those of you who have done it, how long would you say it takes to get from your parked car to scanning your band to get into each park? Especially MK? And how long would you give yourself to get back to your car from the same point?

It depends. Will you be there for rope drop?

 

[Laketravis]

It depends. Will you be there for rope drop?

Some days we will try that but some days we've made FP's for midday or evening times.