How onsite @Disney is different from other vacations

[lmbcdb]

I think I may have figured out why staying onsite at Disney is so different from other vacations. (We've been going yearly for 3 years, always staying onsite)

My mother bought a beach house in Galveston this past fall, and she said we could use it! So we packed everything up (using my Disney list as a starting point) and came down for a week. We stopped at Wal-Mart and bought a week's worth of food.

The beach is beautiful. We've been staying for hours on end, loving every minute of it. You can see the sunrise over the Gulf of Mexico and the sunset over Galveston Bay.

However, I've had to do loads of laundry, cook dinner, make lunches, pack up coolers to go to beach and keep the house clean. What I'm dreading is having to clean the house before we leave...

While I am enjoying our trip, it doesn't feel like a vacation with having to do all the above.

I have a feeling that staying off-site would feel similar. Any thoughts?

 

[Phatoomch]

The reason for us why staying onsite is so different is because once we come off that Florida turnpike and hit Disney Property, we stay there until its time to leave. For all that time we do not see the 'outside world' ... we totally get away from real life and any stresses we had completely slip away. We really are in a whole other world where everything is magic

 

[KristiKat]

I agree. I don't want to have to go on a vacation and deal with laundry, cooking, and cleaning. It might be a vacation for everyone else in the family but for this mom it would be just like any other day except I'd be some where different. I love the convenience of staying onsite at Disney. Once we park we don't have to drive if we don't want to and I don't have to cook and clean. Love it!

 

[Tink9295]

Having stayed on-site and off-site multiple times, I agree with both of you. Staying on-site is by far my first choice. The magic of Disney is in full force. Unfortunately staying off-site is more affordable, but the magic is not there once you leace Disney property. I have to stay off-site to be able to visit DW every year for a week or more. If it's a short trip (a few days) we will stay onsite.

 

[bcrook]

The reason for us why staying onsite is so different is because once we come off that Florida turnpike and hit Disney Property, we stay there until its time to leave. For all that time we do not see the 'outside world' ... we totally get away from real life and any stresses we had completely slip away. We really are in a whole other world where everything is magic

I agree!

 

[ajpa]

Absolutely - no cooking for me (though I usually still do laundry once) and for hubby no driving (or almost no driving - this time we are doing a 1 day car rental to see Harry Potter).

 

[MistressMerryweather]

I love getting out of my car at the airport and not having to unhook the 4 carseats, bag them up and lug them into the airport.
I love checking our bags on the curb and not seeing them again until they are neatly deposited into our room at the hotel.
I love getting on the magical express and not having to think about car rental, directions, car seats, gas, stopping at the store...
I love not driving anywhere, not cooking anything, not washing a dish, or a sheet or towel.
Total vacation from the time we get out of our car at the airport until we get back in it to drive home.

 

[saskdw]

WDW is a vacation destination. A total escape from the real world if you want it to be. I love the feeling of getting on the Magical Express at the airport knowing the submersion is about to begin. I refuse to rent a car, nothing but Disney transportation. Most people I talk to have know idea the scope of Disneyworld and how much more it is than Disneyland. 4 theme parks, DTD, Boardwalk, Golf, Mini-golf, Fishing, Drive a NASCAR, exotic car drive, etc

Yeah, until you have experienced it you cant understand why people go back 10 times.

 

[lynn46356]

I'm experiencing the best of both worlds starting Saturday. We'll be staying at Gulf Shores, Alabama, from Saturday until Thursday. Thursday we're traveling to WDW for 6 nights. Then back to Montgomery, Alabama, to visit our son for two nights and finally returning home on Friday, June 29th. Disney we've done many times but this will be our first condo rental. Its a lot of packing for sure! I'm planning on cooking one meal a day and eating out one meal. We'll see how this all turns out. Hoping I'm rested up for the Disney portion of the trip.

 

[bumbershoot]

Huh. It seems to me that the difference is between a *house* and a hotel room.

If you stayed at a timeshare at Disney, and if you cooked there, you'd have the same things, without the big cleaning at the end.

To me, laundry is part of life, and I'd rather do it on vacation than pack 2-3 times more clothes and have DAYS of laundry after vacation!

 

[Nomad70]

The reason for us why staying onsite is so different is because once we come off that Florida turnpike and hit Disney Property, we stay there until its time to leave. For all that time we do not see the 'outside world' ... we totally get away from real life and any stresses we had completely slip away. We really are in a whole other world where everything is magic

This is how we are as well. We live close enough to drive, so we have transportation, but there is never a reason to drive anywhere. Vacation to me is not having to do everything we have to do at home. No cooking, no cleaning (besides a load of laundry once or twice). Nothing worse then needing a vacation from vacation! lol We have also stayed off property in condo's, which, can be much cheaper and roomier, but there just doesn't seem to be the 'magic' there is staying at Disney!

 

[KELLY]

We feel the same. I refuse to do any actually chores on vacation. In fact we go for 11 days and we have to do a couple loads of laundry and dh does it. I do pick up the room after our messes. But not cooking for 11 days is simply heaven.. I live in a beach town so to me that really is not a vacation. I live 5 minutes from the beach.

 

[HappyDaisy]

Interesting. I've never had to clean a hotel room nor do I cook when I'm on vacation, but that goes for whether I'm on Disney property or off site. The only time I've ever had to cook and clean on vacation was when we had DVC. I always have to do my own laundry--I never had anyone at Disney, or any other hotel for that matter, offer to do my laundry. You won't catch me on a Disney bus any more. I'd much rather drive so I can come and go as I please.

So, to me they're the same. The only thing missing by staying off site is the magic of Disney. I get more than enough of that while we're in the parks, so it's all good.

The bonus to staying off site (for us, anyway) is that the hotel chains have loyalty programs in place. I've been a loyal Disney goer for years and have never even received anything. Not even an upgrade. We still go, though, because I love the parks. Although, we don't go as often as we used to because it's getting harder to justify the cost.

 

[cmcadoo66]

As a SAHM there is no way I would choose to stay off-site! I do not want to do any type of chores while I am on vacation. I want to focus on having fun with my DH and kids and not stressing over cooking, cleaning, etc. I don't even do laundry while I am there. We take enough clothes that it isn't necessary. I love parking at the resort and not seeing our car for a week. And I agree with everyone else, if I am going to vacation at WDW I want that Disney magic the entire time!!

 

[Jktrush]

The reason for us why staying onsite is so different is because once we come off that Florida turnpike and hit Disney Property, we stay there until its time to leave. For all that time we do not see the 'outside world' ... we totally get away from real life and any stresses we had completely slip away. We really are in a whole other world where everything is magic

My thoughts exactly!!!!!

 

[greeneggs1082]

We live in Orlando, only about 45 minutes away from Disney, and when we go for more than just a day trip (thank you monthly payment plan!) we always stay on-site for just those reasons! We take enough clothes that we don't have to do laundry (and usually take extras because we tend to extend our stays after we get there, lol). I definitely agree that as a SAHM, when on vacation I don't want to have to do the things that I have to do at home (cook, clean, laundry, take care of pets, etc.), so when we go to Disney it is actually a vacation for me, too, instead of just for everyone else. And for us, living so close to Disney, if we didn't stay on-site and had to drive home at the end of every day, I'd still have to take care of the dogs, clean the kitchen, and all that jazz. Bleh! I do get weird looks from some people, though, when I tell them we are going to stay at Disney, lol.

 

[crusoe2]

We've done both onsite and off - just returned from a week at Windsor Hills. It had been a couple years since we'd done an offsite stay. And now I remember why I prefer onsite. Actually, I knew going in that I would prefer onsite. But I have some projects I want to get done around the house this summer. Staying onsite and doing the projects here at home would have been a bigger hit to the savings account than we were comfortable with. So we opted for less expensive accommodations offsite thinking that would be better than not going at all. Now I kinda wish we'd just gone to the beach or something this year and waited on going back to Disney. It was still a pretty expensive trip but just was not very satisfying. The rainy weather is partly to blame. But there were several other minor aggravations that just really added up to not feeling like much of a vacation.

Like a lot of others, I hate having to do grocery shopping and housework on vacation. We like to keep some snacks and stuff in the room even when we stay onsite. But since we drive down, I can do my shopping here at home and pack it and take with. I really don't care for trying to do a week's worth of grocery shopping in an unfamiliar store - especially when I'm trying to gauge how much to buy so that we have enough for the week without a bunch of leftover stuff at the end of the trip. We ended up having to make multiple trips to the store. If we'd been onsite, I wouldn't have had to worry about going to the grocery store again after we left home. If we go thru all the stuff I bring from home or don't see anything that strikes our fancy at that moment, we just hit the food court at the resort and get something there.

I also had to do several loads of laundry, had to wash dishes (before we could even use any of them - yuck), and had to stay after DS and DH to take the garbage out. And I had to always be thinking about what we had back at the condo for meals and snacks and decide if we needed to stop off somewhere and pick up something and, if so, what that would be.....felt just like home. But not in a good way.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mind self-catering vacations so much if we're staying somewhere like the beach or mountains and we're going to spend a lot of our time around the house. But when I've got a Disney park hopper burning a hole in my pocket, I want to be in the parks - not grocery shopping or doing laundry and dishes.

 

[lmbcdb]

To me, laundry is part of life, and I'd rather do it on vacation than pack 2-3 times more clothes and have DAYS of laundry after vacation!

I always have to do my own laundry--I never had anyone at Disney, or any other hotel for that matter, offer to do my laundry.

This is where we have a difference of opinion.

When we go to Disney, I do NO laundry. If we are going for 8 days, we pack 9 days worth of outfits, all pre-matched in gallon ziplocs with socks and underwear.

I would rather do lots of laundry at home in my laundry room than sit in a laundry room at Disney, where I've paid money to be there. I'd rather be at the parks.

And like a previous poster said, Disney is a full escape for me. I like not having to cook, clean, do laundry, or drive.

To each his own!

 

[fmiaw]

You also get extra perks for staying onsite, like access to magic hours.

 

[Hoosier37]

The reason for us why staying onsite is so different is because once we come off that Florida turnpike and hit Disney Property, we stay there until its time to leave. For all that time we do not see the 'outside world' ... we totally get away from real life and any stresses we had completely slip away. We really are in a whole other world where everything is magic

Absolutely this.