Need opinions...will we regret staying offsite?

[KJWA]

We are planning a trip for May 2015 with our 2 kids, who will be 4 and 5 1/2.

We booked a 2 bedroom suite at Marriott Lakeshore Reserve which is a family member's timeshare and won't cost us anything. It is supposedly a beautiful resort and I know we will enjoy it. But people say it's more convenient to stay onsite in terms of transportation and also in terms of getting the dining plan. It just seems hard to justify spending so much on a Disney hotel when we can have a stay at a beautiful resort for free.

If we do stay onsite we would probably have to stay at the art of animation if we wanted a suite, otherwise we would be staying in a regular room at one of the other resorts....which would be so much smaller than the timeshare and we would sacrifice the kitchen, laundry, and separate sleeping space which we are now used to after years of staying at the Marriott Vacation Clubs.

I guess I am looking for people who have stayed offsite and loved it to reassure me!

Opinions?

 

[Jkpark]

Will you have a rental car? Using a stroller - especially a double - was so much easier when I could keep them loaded in to the car, take my time emptying it and not having to hold it and manage 2 young kids on a crowded bus.

Mid day breaks are also easier with a rental car as you are more in control of time.

We like being able to have a kitchen and more room to spread out, shop for their favorite snacks or breakfast foods. It was also nice on days we did nap for them to have their own space so DH and I were stuck in a room quiet for 2 hours. Note when we are we just nap too which isn't that bad...

Not sure if AAA still does this, but we bought tickets through them in those years. Same price but preferred parking, which eliminated trams and made mid day breaks even easier.

You will have a great time regardless of where you stay and it would take a lot of perks to give up free accommodations.

 

[MikeP22]

I NEVER regret staying offsite.
I find that we generally get to the parks at least as quickly as staying onsite (with the exception of deluxe resorts that are right near a specific park, of course).

To me, not having to depend on WDW transportation seems so much freer of a vacation. You'll be on your own schedule and free to come and go when and where you need to. If you need to shop for something you won't have to pay the markup in a WDW shop (assuming you'd rent a car offsite but not onsite).

You'll have clean clothes with laundry in your unit, provided you don't have an issue doing laundry on vacation as many people claim to. For us doing laundry in our unit is a luxury since we have to schlepp to our building laundromat at home and contend with neighbors and such.

Unless you're getting free dining, I personally don't find the dining plan all that worthwhile. Staying offsite with your own transportation allows you to eat in your condo and/or eat at a restaurant offsite at a much better price without the hassle of an ADR. While I think the dining plan gives you flexibility to eat at WDW and "not worry about meals" (which is good in its own right), I think not having the dining plan gives you more flexibility to eat what you want/when/where and how much you'd like for a more flexible price.

I prefer staying offsite and you pretty much can't go wrong with one of the Marriott Vacation Club properties in Orlando. Would I stay onsite sometime again in the future? Sure, given the right discount and/or drastic change in our income circumstances. But I wouldn't want to have to stay in a small room for more than 2-4 nights tops.

 

[MOpGrad2013]

We stayed off-site in June. 45 minutes after park opening: From the front door of the townhouse, we were able to be in a WDW parking space within 20 minutes. Then we unpacked what we needed, loaded the stroller and walked down the row to the lot tram (you will need to fold that stroller back up on the tram)...or we walked directly to the park entrance (10 minutes stroll).

Versus our on-site in May 2010. Get to bus stop. Wait 5-20 minutes to get on the bus. Ride bus and get to drop off at the park. Wait for others to get off; step past the safety line and load stroller and then continue in.

Shopping off site is just like being at home, except every grocery store we went in had a Disney souvenir section. It kept our in-park purchases down.

Dining off site--familiar friends are sometimes what the little ones (and adults) need after a day of friendly touring with thousands of your closest friends.

It's only a regret if you let it be a regret. We enjoyed our on-site stay and having the dining plan was nice, but our on-site opened up so many more opportunities.

 

[jm106]

We do prefer on site but I'm sure it will be great. Marriott is supposed to be great. We have a condo, I would rather be on but it's free. I won't use the kitchen and laundry so the condo is nice but wasted on us. We found it easier to take breaks on site, had dh head out to Epcot for YES class ahead of me, like EMH but we make the best of it this time off site. We had bad experience on first off site trip with horrible weather which caused traffic issues. Hope that we don't experience anything like that this time.

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

I've stayed offsite at a homewood sweets and had a very nice vacation. Your accommodations sound good and free is fantastic. Your not missing anything with out the meal plan. Yes I've done it for free and paid but I won't ever do it again even for free. It is not a way I want to eat for a week. Too many calories and too much time eating. Your not missing anything.

 

[evcollins]

You have a FREE, BIGGER room!! We've done both, onsite and offsite. There's definitely pros and cons with each. You'll have a great time regardless where you stay. And free dining won't be included in your dates, so no worries there. The transportation issue, you still will be fine! We've stayed onsite and still drove our car to the parks. As far as being able to go back for midday breaks, just search the DIS and there are tips of where to hang out, in the air condition, and rest a bit. Have a great time at the Marriott!

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Having access to a vehicle is a major key for enjoying an offsite stay. If you don't/won't have a vehicle, then I'd suggest you stay onsite.

If you do have a vehicle, then staying offsite is much better, value-wise, amenity-wise and space-wise. The only time WDW transportation saves a bit of time is when traveling to MK because the resort buses drop you off directly at the MK whereas driving gets you to the TTC and you have to take the monorail or boat to MK. Add about 15-20 mins. for this option. Driving to all of the other parks will be much more convenient with your own vehicle.

The DDP adds no value to the equation as far as I'm concerned, unless it's free, and even then the value is marginal. If you like the idea of having your meals prepaid, purchase a few Disney gift cards to cover meals before you go. We usually purchase ours at Target using our RedCard discount which gets us 5% off. Without the DDP you can eat whatever you like, not feeling like you have to order dessert with each meal to "get what you paid for" out of the DDP. Having a full kitchen allows us to make a few meals if we want to because we get tired of eating out all the time.

We've had a mixture of both on- and offsite trips over the years, but prefer offsite now that our kids are grown and we usually need accommodations for at least 5, sometimes more depending on who we're traveling with.

 

[trudyt623]

The number 1 factor will be cost because Disney also has on site timeshares you can rent but they can be very expensive. I have stayed on and offsite with children and strollers and both were fine. Disney's transportation is free from and to the airport and all parks so you won't need a car. But, staying offsite you will need a car and will have the freedom of eating and shopping in less expensive restaurants and stores. The only real benefit of on site are the extra magic hours but judging from you children's ages you probably will not stay until closing at most parks any way.

So, use the free timeshare and enjoy the parks and your beautiful resort!

P.s. Look at the moms panel questions and answers about planning your park visit with young children.
Ex: renting double stroller, going to park early and returning to resort by 3 and going back to park late night for fireworks. Also, Going on weekdays before Memorial Day will be much less crowded.

 

[Detailor]

Lakeshore Reserve is the newest Marriott timeshare resort in Orlando (there are six others) and, from the promotional pictures, it looks to be at the highest end of luxury. Since you're used to MVCI timeshares you shouldn't be disappointed by this one as you'll get the space (the smallest LSR 2 bedroom villa is about 1,230 sq. ft., while the two-story townhouse versions go about 1,400 sq. ft.), comfort and features that you've come to expect in a Marriott timeshare.

As long as your expectations are in line with the reality of an off-site stay, I suspect you'll do just fine. Expect it to take between 15 and 20 minutes or so to drive from the resort to the various Disney theme park parking lots - time will vary depending on time of day, traffic and which park you're heading to. And, of course, unlike when staying on site you'll have to pay for parking.

When we've stayed on site we have tended not to change how we vacation in Orlando - we still rent a car and drive it to the theme parks (free parking!), we usually take Disney transportation when park hopping (monorail for Magic Kingdom - Epcot, boat between Epcot and Hollywood Studios, less frequently bus between any of them and Animal Kingdom), we have specific off-site restaurants that we like so we go to those regardless of where we're staying, same thing with off-site shopping, visits to Celebration, BoardWalk and Downtown Disney. And we like making a few meals back at the resort where we have a full kitchen. The washer/dryer generally allows us to pack lighter, too, - haven't checked a bag for an Orlando trip in many years.

So, staying off-site, at timeshare resorts works well for how we prefer to vacation. In fact, I think we'd regret staying onsite if we had to stay in a standard hotel room without the sort of features we've come to expect (Disney Vacation Club timesharing is a nice way to go for onsite, though I think the average DVC villas are a little smaller than the average Marriotts).

Dick Taylor

 

[KJWA]

Thank you for all the replies! You all made good points and I think overall it will work for us. Yes we will be renting a car so that will give us a lot more freedom.

Also the more I think about the dining plan the more ok I am with not having it.

Now the only thing I am worried about is getting ADRs and fast passes for what we want since we won't be able to do it as early as those staying onsite. Any thoughts on this?

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Thank you for all the replies! You all made good points and I think overall it will work for us. Yes we will be renting a car so that will give us a lot more freedom.

Also the more I think about the dining plan the more ok I am with not having it.

Now the only thing I am worried about is getting ADRs and fast passes for what we want since we won't be able to do it as early as those staying onsite. Any thoughts on this?

Last trip we booked a throwaway room because FP+ was very much in flux and we didn't know if it would even be offered for offsiters. That allowed us to book our FP+ 60 days out and we got Magic Bands for everyone. Now that FP+ is offered for everyone, we don't need a throwaway room. We had a bit of a hard time getting a FP+ for Anna & Elsa and had to stagger our times and search a bit, but it worked out in the end. Not getting a FP+ would not have been a dealbreaker because our DD15 got to see them over Spring Break. If not getting a FP+ for Anna & Elsa or 7DMT would be a dealbreaker for you, then I suggest you book 1 night onsite at WDW so you can get your FP+ and ADRs. We don't make ADRs as we don't like to waste park time on TS reservations and feel that the quality of TS food has gone downhill while the prices have gone way up, but I realize that they're important for some people.

 

[nugov2]

Thank you for all the replies! You all made good points and I think overall it will work for us. Yes we will be renting a car so that will give us a lot more freedom.

Also the more I think about the dining plan the more ok I am with not having it.

Now the only thing I am worried about is getting ADRs and fast passes for what we want since we won't be able to do it as early as those staying onsite. Any thoughts on this?

Like a PP suggested a throwaway room or campsite(controversial, but allowed) to get access. We are already booked for our second offsite trip and LOVED it and have stayed onsite in past trips. For us the extra space is key, we wouldn't use the DDP even though we eat almost exclusively on site, we avoid the park with EMH and wouldn't use WDW transportation. The waits at the end of the day are brutal and we enjoy just hopping in our car and cruising home. We did book a throwaway for our upcoming trip to have 60 booking and 180+10 and MB. It is worth the extra cost for those benefits. I think you will too especially since you are not paying for the current room you have.

 

[KJWA]

Ok so that is an interesting idea about the throwaway room. I would only have to book one night? How does that work?

I have to think about whether it is worth it. Anna and Elsa would be a big priority for us with our girls being 4 and 5 and Frozen obsessed. Other than that we would probably just do a few character meals like Akershus and maybe some others. I guess sit down meals won't be as much of a priority if we aren't doing the dining plan and our girls won't care very much about the food other than the characters. There are a few places I wanted to check out but as people have said the food isn't always that great and can be expensive. Since we will have a car we will have freedom to eat offsite too. Now that I think about it, it might be annoying to have a ton of ADRs because when your kids are 4 and 5 you just never know when they will be tired, cranky, etc. and I don't like the idea of having to show up to a reservation when somebody is in meltdown mode.

 

[KJWA]

Also not too familiar with magic bands....is it worth it have a throwaway room just for that?

 

[Upatnoon]

Also not too familiar with magic bands....is it worth it have a throwaway room just for that?

You don't need a room to get magic bands, you can buy them and put your tickets on them.

 

[nugov2]

Also not too familiar with magic bands....is it worth it have a throwaway room just for that?

Yes, they are 12.99 each and you get them for free with the room and in advance with the room(so it would cost you $52 + tax to buy the MB at the park). One night at a campsite is about $60 and a value around $120. When you think of it, you are getting a lot of bang for your buck with a throwaway room! You can book FP 60 days out instead of 30 for the length of tickets or up to 10 days. ADR's are easy to get even at 180 days, but it is nice to have the extra 10 days if you want. This is why the concept is popular and has been done at Universal for a long time, but now it is just as beneficial at WDW.

I had littles with on our last trip(will still have one small guy on our next trip) and we did all character meals for our TS and all were breakfast. That way they were fresh and it was better than waiting in lines for meet and greets. We did do two evening TS one was BOG and the other was Tommorowland terrace. It is hard to book evenings with small kids so if you want to do a couple I recommend the morning.

 

[trudyt623]

If I purchase the $60 campsite as a throwaway for 1 night then I can get a 4 day ticket and fp for each day? What about emh?

 

[Itinkso]

If I purchase the $60 campsite as a throwaway for 1 night then I can get a 4 day ticket and fp for each day? What about emh?

You will only be able to book FP 60 days out for your arrival day and your departure from the campsite the next day.

Your MagicBand can be used for park entry every ticketed day and for FPs you make for the additional two days @ 30 days out. No FPs during EMH and you only qualify for EMH on your arrival and departure days of your campsite reservation.

 

[trudyt623]

Thanks ITinkso. Now we can have 2 late nights even though we will be staying offsite!