If you stay off-site, does it really provide a huge savings?

[littlbugmom]

We've just decided to give offsite a chance this year. We want a lot of room and a kitchen. We stayed at Old Key West last time and loved the 1 bedroom villa. But the price is pretty steep. We're getting a 2 bedroom villa for more than half off. The savings for just the hotel expense is $2,500.

The last time we went to Disney was earlier in the year so we had free dining. This year, the food budget is all ours. We're guessing $150 in groceries at the start of the week will get us meals in the room. Even if we go over that amount, we're still waaayyy ahead. We have several character meals planned and will likely get some snacks while in the parks but most meals will be in our room. I don't think it's going to be a huge hassle to whip up some easy meals.

We'll see how it goes....but really, how could it NOT be cheaper when we're saving that much just on the room?


Kim

 

[Anc96]

We vacationed from June 13th - July 4th this year. We like long vacations and the only way to make it 3 weeks is by staying off property at least some of the time.

I usually do a combo of staying off property and on. This is this years total.

Windsor Hills 3 bath/3 bedroom townhouse with it's own splash pool for 14 nights: $1477 including all taxes and fees.
Our first experience with renting a townhome and it was FABULOUS!!
Total for groceries and necessities was about $250 (might have been less if I knew what to take from home)
Car rental was $386 for a Rav 4, but we always rent a car so it would have been the same even if we were on property.
2.5 tanks of gas total for the 3 weeks ($150 total) , so I'll estimate $100 for the off property time.
We have APs and would have been the same even if we were on property.

The total for the 2 weeks of what we spent because of being off property (so not counting the car and APs):
$1477 Townhouse
$ 250 groceries
$ 100 gas
---------
$1827.00

The last week we stayed at AKL, standard view.. free upgrade to Savannah

Cost for 6 nights plus dining plan for me and dd(11) with AP rates:
$1676.46
$ 50.00 the last week's share of gas
-----------
$1726.46

It's like the second week of the townhome cost us only $100. And, we had our own splash pool which was GREAT after a long day at the parks! Our own bedrooms and bathrooms. A washer and dryer, so less clothes to take. Just toss them in at night b4 bed, toss them in the dryer in the morning.. by the time it's time to leave you have fresh clean clothes!
The community pool was very nice... warm and a nice slide for dd.
As for the timing to the parks... the last morning we had an ADR for Boma (it was a surprise for DD that we were checking into AKL!), the adr was for 8:25. We left the townhome at 8:10 and we made it with no problem taking Sherberth rd.

Our townhome was very tastefully disney themed. Lots of great shots of Disney in glass frames in every room of the house!... small accents like a disney teapot and potholders. The opening of the vase on the dining room table was a mickey head ( i didn't even see this until my dd pointed it out!)...
the drain plug in the kitchen sink was a mickey glove. So many things that we never forgot we were there for Disney! We felt the magic... and I could AFFORD the magic at those rates!


Bottom line.. renting off property saves lots of money, gives you lots of room, and you don't have to lose any Disney feel at all!

 

[lovindonald]

Thanks for all of the input, everyone... So much to decide! (Good thing I have two years! )

Remember a lot of the decision has to do with where you stay. We stay very close to Disney (usually within 1 mile) and there are so many places right around there and the Walmart to grab some quick breakfast items and fruit. We do rent a car since I like to get around on my time. The savings for me are huge. I will be paying $850 for a 2 queen bed suite 1 mile from the parks in August equal to a Deluxe resort. If I stayed at Disney, in a deluxe (even the Wilderness Lodge) the cheapest I could get was over $2000. I think it is worth the savings. We do go and eat in some of the hotels and parks, but mostly we eat off site. There is the Orlando Ale House, Pizzeria Uno, Olive Garden and my kids LOVE Cici's pizza. At Cici's alone we all eat for $20. How can you beat that? You wouldn't find that inside the parks or hotels of Disney. I think the savings is worth it. I know some say there is not as much "Magic". I find the magic within and have never felt I was missing something. I guess I just like the freedom of not being held captive on property if I forget something, I run to Walmart. Plus like another poster mentioned, the souveniers there are great!

 

[churchpilot]

We have a timeshare, so every two years we can exchange to stay at the Vistana. The two bedroom model is huge and the resort has numerous pools. We paid $150 for the week and spent less than $150 on groceries. We ate counter service meals at Disney and ate off site a couple of times for dinner. However, this was when we were without children and staying on site for their first trip to Disney was well worth the extra money. The next time we will stay on site also, but after that we will probably revist Vistana again as we will be going in Feb. and the again in late October/early November.