I am officially converted offsite!

[iheartdisney]

Ever since my childhood I have always stayed onsite- either value resort or Shades of Green. When planning the last trip, we were planning on going fancy and staying at a moderate, but dental and vehicle emergencies made us look for other options, and I started looking at pool houses.
Two rooms at POR would have cost $1800 each for the week. Instead we found a 5 bedroom 4 bath house in Indian Creek for $1095. Just got home yesterday, and i don't think we are EVER staying onsite again! My favorite part was being able to park in our driveway (no busses!) and being able to shut the door to my bedroom for an afternoon nap.
And having our own pool- that we didn't have to hike to or share will a few hundred of our closest friends- WONDERFUL!!
Timewise- we never drove longer that 20 minutes to a park, but never had to wait because the bus was full!
Our vacation was perfectly magical, even more magical because we didn't have to worry about everyone being in each other's space, or keeping the kids quiet for the guests in the next room.
Anyway, am now in the offsite works for us crowd!

 

[ArwenMarie]

Thats awesome
We will be looking offsite next trip I think. Need more space!

 

[TinkTink78]

Indian Creek wasn't "far" from the parks? I hear its one of the farthest community to rent in. Any thoughts?

Glad you had a great time! I have stayed off site in Emerald Island once with a huge family. Now it's just the 2 of us I'm still debating if its worth it. We always drive to the parks anyway

Thanks

 

[sympatico]

Our vacation was perfectly magical, even more magical because we didn't have to worry about everyone being in each other's space, or keeping the kids quiet for the guests in the next room.
Anyway, am now in the offsite works for us crowd!

to the dark side

 

[Luv Bunnies]

We're staying off-site at Windsor Hills for the first time in just a few weeks. I'm looking forward to the space, the private pool and the washer/dryer. I have not-so-fond memories of doing laundry late one night at Pop several years ago. We're going to pack about half as much and toss stuff in the washer every day or two. We can even go through two outfits each day and not worry about running out. Also, we're going to cook whatever we want for breakfast instead of battling the food court or sitting on the beds and eating in our room. No TV fights - everyone will have their own. My sister gets her own bedroom and bathroom downstairs. No sharing with our teen boys. Can't wait!

 

[sympatico]

Indian Creek wasn't "far" from the parks? I hear its one of the farthest community to rent in. Any thoughts?

Glad you had a great time! I have stayed off site in Emerald Island once with a huge family. Now it's just the 2 of us I'm still debating if its worth it. We always drive to the parks anyway

Thanks

Indian Creek is closer than Emerald Island to the parks. There's Indian Point that is a lot further out down Poinciana Blvd. There's also Indian Ridge and Indian Ridge Oaks that are south of Windsor Hills by about half mile.

 

[iheartdisney]

Indian Creek wasn't "far" from the parks? I hear its one of the farthest community to rent in. Any thoughts?

Glad you had a great time! I have stayed off site in Emerald Island once with a huge family. Now it's just the 2 of us I'm still debating if its worth it. We always drive to the parks anyway

Thanks

I guess that depends on your definition of "far"
As you are driving up Formosa Garden, it was right before the Windsor gated community. So not far in my perspective.

 

[JimMIA]

A lot of people give driving distance/time as a reason for not staying offsite, and there is also the cost of renting a car if you fly in, and the $14 daily parking fee at WDW.

Okay, let's say that's $50 per day -- $36 for the rental car and $14 to park. I would gladly pay that for the convenience having a car gives you!

We drive to WDW, and we always drive to the theme parks unless we are staying onsite at one of the Epcot resorts and can walk/boat to Epcot and DHS. Here are the advantages we find in driving:

• The ability to come and go when you please. When DD was young, we used to come back to the resort for nap/pool time in the middle of the day. Simple, easy, minimal time lost if you are driving. And we don't have to wait to stand up on an overcrowded bus full of out-of-control kids and smelly adults.
• TIME: From anywhere onsite, or anywhere in the DTD, WBC area, I can be parked at any theme park in 10 minutes. Can't beat that time with anybody's buses.
• Offsite DINING! Offsite dining is better, much more varied, and much less expensive than eating the same old Disney food cooked in the common kitchens -- and that is true whether you are talking about McDonalds or fine dining. Offsite is BETTER food and real variety.
• Shopping. This is not a biggie for us, but for some families it is. You can shop for groceries and eat some (or most) of your meals in, or you can visit local outlet malls. We don't usually do much of either -- but for some families, the ability to cook at their lodging saves a LOT of money.
• Other attractions/recreation. Universal, Sea World and associated stuff, Leggoland, the beach, Kennedy Space Center...the list goes on and on.

To me, a 20 minute drive to WDW is nothing compared the other benefits that driving brings.

 

[pattibehan]

We have stayed offsite for all but the first two of our 15 trips. We have a big family, but now that we are down to two teenagers, I can't imagine cramming into a moderate. I love having our own room, a full kitchen, free breakfast buffet and since we drive, we can come and go as we please. staying off site has allowed us to go 3 times a year instead of one, so we have APs and no parking fees and soon access to fast pass +.At times, I feel like we "off siters" are looked down as having a less than Disney experience...I love Disney and come more often because I stay off site! Welcome to the dark side! !


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[rriley25]

A lot of people give driving distance/time as a reason for not staying offsite, and there is also the cost of renting a car if you fly in, and the $14 daily parking fee at WDW.

Okay, let's say that's $50 per day -- $36 for the rental car and $14 to park. I would gladly pay that for the convenience having a car gives you!

We drive to WDW, and we always drive to the theme parks unless we are staying onsite at one of the Epcot resorts and can walk/boat to Epcot and DHS. Here are the advantages we find in driving:

• The ability to come and go when you please. When DD was young, we used to come back to the resort for nap/pool time in the middle of the day. Simple, easy, minimal time lost if you are driving. And we don't have to wait to stand up on an overcrowded bus full of out-of-control kids and smelly adults.
• TIME: From anywhere onsite, or anywhere in the DTD, WBC area, I can be parked at any theme park in 10 minutes. Can't beat that time with anybody's buses.
• Offsite DINING! Offsite dining is better, much more varied, and much less expensive than eating the same old Disney food cooked in the common kitchens -- and that is true whether you are talking about McDonalds or fine dining. Offsite is BETTER food and real variety.
• Shopping. This is not a biggie for us, but for some families it is. You can shop for groceries and eat some (or most) of your meals in, or you can visit local outlet malls. We don't usually do much of either -- but for some families, the ability to cook at their lodging saves a LOT of money.
• Other attractions/recreation. Universal, Sea World and associated stuff, Leggoland, the beach, Kennedy Space Center...the list goes on and on.

To me, a 20 minute drive to WDW is nothing compared the other benefits that driving brings.

This is a great post and gives very compelling reasons for staying offsite. I am especially moved by the offsite dining option. I know there are many that claim that Disney dining is second only to ambrosia, but I am not impressed and appreciate the idea of more variety and cheaper prices.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

to the dark side

Once you go offsite you never go back! TRUST ME. THAT is why WDW picks you up at the airport. THEY never want you to know how great the outside accomodations are. Like my husband says the longer they can keep you on the property the more money they make.

 

[davinakb]

Stayed WH, IR, Emerald Island plus a few vacation clubs; we've converted plenty of F&F to offsite with that combo of space + amenities + value. Like all the other comments, it's the TVs and the laundry, the kitchen and all that space.. often way, way less than even a value resort. We find driving faster, easier than buses so it's worth the parking plus we love shopping the outlets, doing things more on our own. The longer the stay, the more we appreciate extra rooms and bathrooms; so used to it, can't imagine trying to stuff 4+ people into one tiny room.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

Once you go offsite you never go back! TRUST ME. THAT is why WDW picks you up at the airport. THEY never want you to know how great the outside accomodations are. Like my husband says the longer they can keep you on the property the more money they make.

We stayed offsite in a Windsor Hills condo for our WDW trip this past May and I have to say we may very well be permanent offsiters unless we get an amazingly great deal that brings us back onsite. I agree that WDW offers Magical Express and markets their transportation system as more convenient because they want to keep people paying premium bucks to stay on their property! Been there, done that - as it was nice for our first WDW trip because we wanted the all inclusive experience for our first trip, plus we had our pick of really great discounts (free dining or kids stay/play free) in addition to the fact that our youngest was two years old and our oldest two kids were still at child prices. Flash forward two years and we went back and forth about where to stay and felt very confident in our final, gut decision to book a Windsor Hills condo (I even started a thread about our experience). We got a nice, clean, spacious 3 bedroom condo for $79 a night and our minivan rental was only $279 for the week through Alamo with the discount we got! The process of renting a minivan at the airport and driving to the parks from our condo was a lot easier than I imagined it would be. It took no more than 10-15 minutes at the most to drive to each of the four main Disney parks from Windsor Hills. We LOVE Disney and we don't think we are any less Disney fans or had less of a "magical" vacation because we stayed offsite. I think a lot of people are afraid to even try offsite because they are afraid they are going to miss something which we did not feel at all. You can go to the same parks, have ADRs at the same restaurants, do experiences like Bippity Boppity Boutique or The Pirate's League, and go to MNSSHP or MVMCP and so on regardless of where you stay. We also appreciated having the space to spread out comfortably at the end of the day and all my kids didn't have to share a bed which definitely wouldn't happen onsite even with two rooms or a family suite. The only thing I have to say I missed about staying onsite was having the ability to utilize the buses to split up because some of us like to stay in the parks longer than others, so staying onsite makes that possible because with offsite we all have to come and go together since we only have one vehicle. I think the Disney resorts are fun places to visit to eat at the restaurants and explore the unique theming (which we enjoyed doing on this past trip); but to pay those prices to stay at one is going to be tough to justify doing again because we found so much value in the amenities, space, and savings we get by staying offsite. I am so glad we tried it out!

 

[TinkTink78]

I guess that depends on your definition of "far"
As you are driving up Formosa Garden, it was right before the Windsor gated community. So not far in my perspective.

Thanks! I was thinking of a totally different area! Glad u had a great trip! I was able to score a great townhome in Emerald Island for a rate I could not pass up! Can't wait to get final confirmation for our October trip!