Need to be encouraged that off-site is OK!

[Christine]

I have done both and LOVE both for various reasons.

First let me say that I am not a "bus" person. Even when staying on-site, I *always* rent a car. I eat at other resorts a lot and I do not like having to navigate the bus from my resort to another resort. So I only use Disney transportation to get to my parks.

My first off-site trip was staying at Vistana in my FIL's free timeshare. Overall I did not like the facilities at Vistana. It was okay, but not great. Getting to and from the parks in my rental car was a breeze.

The second time I stayed off-site, I booked a last minute Easter trip in April 2007. Staying on-site was out of the question--no rooms available. My kids are also teens now and having us all cramped in one hotel room was getting VERY old.

Through the help of this particular board, I was put in touch with somone who had a townhome rental in the Terre Verde neighborhood (about a 10-15 minute drive to the parks). I was very nervous. But this place was WONDERFUL. It is a 4-bedroom townhome with it's own pull. Very luxurious too. Also, it cost us $600 for 5 people for 5 nights.

I then just planned a last minute July trip for this year. I have 6 people going and two of the "kids" are now 18. I can't stay in one hotel room (or even two) and feel rested. So, I looked at renting at Windsor Hills this time. Unfortunately our days are weird and everything is close to being booked. I have ended up going with the same townhouse I had two years ago. $700 for 7 nights for 6 people. Let me say, I "LOVE" this place and it makes for a very relaxing trip. Last time, both of my kids got very minor stomach bugs and we had to stay home a day here and there. It was so nice not to be cooped up in a small room with sick kids.

I just can't say enough positive things about staying off-site.

On the other hand, I *do* miss staying onsite at times. We always stay at the Shades of Green and it is wonderful. It would also be good for the two 18 y/o with me as they could just hop on the bus and be off on their own. Staying off site, they will be forced to hang with us unless we drop them off somewhere.

Either way, you can't go wrong.

 

[GetGlowing]

6 adults and one child at Sheraton Vistiana for 7 nights in November: $502 via an Interval International Getaway. That's a no-brainer for us, even with parking. If it were just DH and I, we would stay on-site.

Peace.

 

[autiger86]

Our kids have only known Disney resorts until we made an impromtu trip to Disney last November and did an exchange at Vistana. We got a beautifully decorated 2 bedroom unit with a huge master bath, full size washer and dryer and a beautiful view. It was so blissful to be able to shut a door and have my kids take a nap and my husband and I would have some peace. Our kids never said a word about being off-site. The pools were awesome, there is an onsite store and the people were wonderful. We had a car and had no problem accessing everything Disney. We took a break from Disney Dining and EMH and had a wonderfully laid back vacation. We even squeezed into 1-1/2 days at Universal. You will have a blast.

 

[dioxide45]

6 adults and one child at Sheraton Vistiana for 7 nights in November: $502 via an Interval International Getaway. That's a no-brainer for us, even with parking. If it were just DH and I, we would stay on-site.

Peace.

We just picked up a Grande Vista getaway for $492+Tax in November. Those getaways just can't be beat.

 

[littlestar]

We just picked up a Grande Vista getaway for $492+Tax in November. Those getaways just can't be beat.

I'm with you guys. I've got a Sheraton Vistana Villages 2 bedroom Getaway for $452 for October.

 

[lisajl]

We are staying offsite at a house with a pool. I am very excited.
While I liked the time we were onsite, we need the room. There are 5 of us.
The kids are excited that we will have a pool all to ourselves.

It will be nice to go to WDW, I don't really care onsite or off as long as I am there.

Lisa

 

[gramd44]

Thanks for the encouragement. You guys are right. Our only other trip on-site was FW Cabins which we ended up loving because the Disney hype wasn't so apparent there. My boys need some down time, and hopefully the off-site resort will give them that.

We stayed off site at Floridays last year with our two granddaughters and loved it! Having a beautiful 2 bedroom condo as opposed to a cramped room with maybe bunk beds makes a difference for us. We liked having the extra room for our relaxation when they went to bed! And it takes 10 minutes to drive there in a rental car. Never did understand the excitement for staying on site.

 

[luchamouse]

We are currently off site at WH. We've done offsite, onstie and spilt stays of both in the past. This is the first time we've stayed in a townhouse.

We are loving it here. The space is wonderful, the kids are living in the splash pool and the shortcut to Disney is fantastic. Leaves the Disney transportation system in the dust IMO.

Offsite for us from now on!

 

[littlbugmom]

6 adults and one child at Sheraton Vistiana for 7 nights in November: $502 via an Interval International Getaway. That's a no-brainer for us, even with parking. If it were just DH and I, we would stay on-site.

Peace.

What are the "getaways"? Is it a specific promotion sent out?



To the OP:
We stayed onsite our first trip and offsite our second. I still feel a little weird saying this but we will never stay onsite again. The money we save while getting SO MUCH MORE ROOM is just too much to pass up.

Next trip, I'm 99.99% sure we're going to do a house at Windsor Hills.



Kim

 

[GetGlowing]

What are the "getaways"? Is it a specific promotion sent out?

Kim

Kim, if you are a member of Interval International, you can pay cash to reserve a week at a timeshare resort instead of using your points/banking your week for the stay.

Interval is only for timeshare owners who own at a resort that participates in the program.

 

[dioxide45]

What are the "getaways"? Is it a specific promotion sent out?



To the OP:
We stayed onsite our first trip and offsite our second. I still feel a little weird saying this but we will never stay onsite again. The money we save while getting SO MUCH MORE ROOM is just too much to pass up.

Next trip, I'm 99.99% sure we're going to do a house at Windsor Hills.



Kim

Kim, if you are a member of Interval International, you can pay cash to reserve a week at a timeshare resort instead of using your points/banking your week for the stay.

Interval is only for timeshare owners who own at a resort that participates in the program.

If you know an Interval International member you can also have them buy getaways for you with a guest certificate. This is truely one of the cheapest ways to stay in and around Orlando. We recently booked a getaway for November for a little more than $70 a night for a two bedroom villa.

If you are not an II member, you can still check out some of their extra inventory for rent at condodirect.com. You won't see any Marriott weeks and very few Sheraton but there are a number of weeks out there in 2BR units for under $650 for 7 nights.

 

[GetGlowing]

Thanks for the condodirect.com link -- I didn't know about that.

We'll probably be getting rid of our timeshare after this year is up. II is the *only* thing I'll miss!

 

[dioxide45]

Thanks for the condodirect.com link -- I didn't know about that.

We'll probably be getting rid of our timeshare after this year is up. II is the *only* thing I'll miss!

You should be able to maintain your II membership as long as you don't let it laps and you keep renewing. You don't ever have to tell II that you sold your timeshare week and the resorts rarely will let them know. You just won't be able to make deposits since you don't own anything. For all they know you are just using your home resort every year and only keeping the membership for the getaways.

Now if you have a long time until your expiration and you want any annual fees refunded to you, they will revoke your membership when they refund those fees.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

You should be able to maintain your II membership as long as you don't let it laps and you keep renewing. You don't ever have to tell II that you sold your timeshare week and the resorts rarely will let them know. You just won't be able to make deposits since you don't own anything. For all they know you are just using your home resort every year and only keeping the membership for the getaways.

Now if you have a long time until your expiration and you want any annual fees refunded to you, they will revoke your membership when they refund those fees.

Our ts is thru RCI and we wondered the same thing. How would RCI know if we sold? Maybe if the new owners register and give their contract # they would see 2 memberships with same ts.

 

[GetGlowing]

You should be able to maintain your II membership as long as you don't let it laps and you keep renewing. You don't ever have to tell II that you sold your timeshare week and the resorts rarely will let them know. You just won't be able to make deposits since you don't own anything. For all they know you are just using your home resort every year and only keeping the membership for the getaways.

Now if you have a long time until your expiration and you want any annual fees refunded to you, they will revoke your membership when they refund those fees.

Interval International actually handles all bookings internally and externally for our club, and the II dues are part of our annual maintenance fees, so I never see a statement from them. We own via Peppertree Vacation Club. So while this may be true for many timeshares, it doesn't work for us. Good idea though!!

 

[aras4007]

Staying off-site definately has its advantages. My family and I have stayed off-site the last 3 times because we had parties of 4-7 adults so we needed more room. Most Disney resorts do not have full kitchens so it was nice to have our own. We didn't do too much cooking as we were on vacation but it was nice to be able to make breakfast before we went to the parks and it saved us a lot of money. We usually rent a car no matter what so that was no difference. It is nice to have your own car because you won't be waiting in line for busses or worry about making the bus schedule. We saved a lot of money by getting multiple bedroom condo's off-site.

 

[Brian Noble]

How would RCI know if we sold?

Provided you have an individual account that you are paying for yourself, they won't. I'd wager that RCI would prefer to have you as a paying member, even if you no longer own a timeshare.