Nervous about staying offsite

[7165red]

I have stayed off site about 5 times. After we rented our first pool home I was hooked. There are many communities that have a club house as well as a community pool for everyone. I really enjoy having a pvt. pool to enjoy. You do have to rent a car.

 

[tripletmommiesrock]

First let me say I have not stayed on site as an adult. However, I very much enjoy staying off site. We stay at the Sheraton Visitana each time and I love it! There are 5 of us and one hotel room just isn't going to cut it. We are getting a 2 bedroom condo and a 1 bedroom condo for the grandparents to share for the price of one condo on property. The Visitana is about 10 minutes from the parks and yes we will have to pay for parking however, being able to eat breakfast in the condo saves more than the parking cost. Plus, we are not huge eaters so the DDP is always more than what we would eat in food. There are other things I really enjoy about being off property. I like that we can get away from Disney and explore the rest of Orlando. The pools aren't as nice as the Disney Deluxe hotels but they serve their purpose and the Visitana has other activities if you so inclind. Also, we are not huge fans of Disney food. We have several favorite resturants that we like to eat at while in Orlando and if we stayed on sight I don't know if we've every venture out.

Staying off site does have it's draw backs, you loose the all-inclusive feel, and the DISNEY 24-7 experience. However, Orlando is a nice town and there is something nice to staying off site.

 

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

Sorry I have ply devils advocate here....but we have always stayed onsite and that will never change....even with 6 of us! We too love the dining plan and just the feel and magic and transportation of staying on property.

 

[lotus14]

If the "all inclusive" feel comes mostly from having the dining plan, why not just get Disney gift certificates ahead of time? You have to give a card to get food from the dining plan and it would feel just the same. I just can't justify the extra cost of staying on site.

 

[maxiesmom]

If the "all inclusive" feel comes mostly from having the dining plan, why not just get Disney gift certificates ahead of time? You have to give a card to get food from the dining plan and it would feel just the same. I just can't justify the extra cost of staying on site.

Each family is different, and sometimes it costs just as much to stay off-site. With 4 adults, 2 kids, and needing to rent a van instead of a car, you are close to the break even point between staying off-site and staying in 2 rooms at a value resort. I've run the numbers a bunch of times for many different times of year and different hotels. With that many people there is no way to save a good amount of money by staying off-site, unless you are quite a ways away from Disney property.

 

[dtum]

Each family is different, and sometimes it costs just as much to stay off-site. With 4 adults, 2 kids, and needing to rent a van instead of a car, you are close to the break even point between staying off-site and staying in 2 rooms at a value resort. I've run the numbers a bunch of times for many different times of year and different hotels. With that many people there is no way to save a good amount of money by staying off-site, unless you are quite a ways away from Disney property.

We did the two value rooms once and it was such a pain. Value rooms had no amenities and we had to all go out each morning to have breakfast, etc. One morning DD spent her time at the laundry (costing $$ and time away from parks). At the off-site house we rented, we got up each a.m., had leisurely breakfast, we got dressed and showered without having to schedule it because we had 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms and could throw in laundry whenever we wanted to and didn't have to babysit the washer/dryer with a pile of quarters. A couple afternoons, SIL fired up the BBQ and we had some really nice lunches prepared right in our own kitchen. There are huge pool homes in the area (within 5 min. of the parks) for less than $100/night. I don't think two value rooms could even come close to what you get in a house. JMO, but we will never go back to the craziness of on-site. We just like being a little more relaxed when on vacation.

 

[BrerMama]

Each family is different, and sometimes it costs just as much to stay off-site. With 4 adults, 2 kids, and needing to rent a van instead of a car, you are close to the break even point between staying off-site and staying in 2 rooms at a value resort. I've run the numbers a bunch of times for many different times of year and different hotels. With that many people there is no way to save a good amount of money by staying off-site, unless you are quite a ways away from Disney property.

Wow. You must get some good on site discounts (or I guess you could be looking at expensive offsite options). No matter how I figure it, we're saving at least $1500 by staying off site. Right now there are no discounts available for our late June dates, and honestly, unless they release free dining (which they have never done for our dates), there's no discount they could give that would save us that much money. Even with renting a car, including the parking fee and budgeting for gas, there's just no way to make staying onsite for our family of 5 (oldest will be 18, plus a 16 yo and 12 yo) a better choice financially. We're staying at Sheraton Vistana, a timeshare resort with excellent reviews across the boards and just outside the park gates, and we'll have 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room and a full kitchen. I got it for $123/night plus taxes. The All Star Music family suite (the best option because I don't want to mess with 2 rooms) is $390/night for the same time. That's just crazy.

Edited to add: My dh pointed out that it may matter how long you're going. We're taking a long trip -- 11 nights -- so that may affect our budget.

 

[maxiesmom]

Wow. You must get some good on site discounts (or I guess you could be looking at expensive offsite options). No matter how I figure it, we're saving at least $1500 by staying off site. Right now there are no discounts available for our late June dates, and honestly, unless they release free dining (which they have never done for our dates), there's no discount they could give that would save us that much money. Even with renting a car, including the parking fee and budgeting for gas, there's just no way to make staying onsite for our family of 5 (oldest will be 18, plus a 16 yo and 12 yo) a better choice financially. We're staying at Sheraton Vistana, a timeshare resort with excellent reviews across the boards and just outside the park gates, and we'll have 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room and a full kitchen. I got it for $123/night plus taxes. The All Star Music family suite (the best option because I don't want to mess with 2 rooms) is $390/night for the same time. That's just crazy.

Edited to add: My dh pointed out that it may matter how long you're going. We're taking a long trip -- 11 nights -- so that may affect our budget.

Having to rent a van instead of a car makes increases how much it costs to stay off site a lot! Also having 6 people we will only stay someplace that has 2 full bathroom so that limits us as well. I have looked at the Vistana many times, and it does appear to be a great place to stay. When we stay off site, we usually drive right by it.

We have no problem going the 2 seperate rooms route. And that alone saves money when staying on-site. I also belong to AAA so I can almost always get a small discount on our rooms.

We have stayed off site before a few times, and always at the Staybridge Suites LBV. It is a great place right by DTD, and they also include a continental breakfast in their rate.

I mess around with different dates for vacations all of the time, hoping to find a really cheap trip, so that I can justify another Disney vacation. And if we had our own van with us, it would be entirely do-able. However as it is a 20+ hour trip one way we almost always fly down. And that darned rental van just eats up most of what we would save by staying off-site.

*Wanted to add that I just poped over to Budget rental cars. And for our next trip, March 7-13, the pay at counter price for the smallest car is $216.29. The smallest vehical that will hold 6 costs $489.24. That is a big increase!

 

[willowsnn3]

I am planning our 4th trip to Disney this May. We have always stayed on property but with me, DH, DS11 and DS9, it feels like it is getting too pricey. We have always had dining plan and I LOVE the all inclusive feel that everything is paid for ahead of time-we just show up and have fun. I know I don't want a house because my boys enjoy the pools in a hotel that include a slide and they meet other friends to play with but I worry if we stay offsite we will be sorry we aren't on property w/dining plan, extra magic hours, disney feel. Have you ever been through this and it turned out better than you thought?

What part of May??? Have you thought about investing in an AP for at least one of the adults just for discounts?? I just priced our May trip for room only. 2 adults, 2 age 10 & 11. 5 nights at POP for $664. or 5 nights at CSR for $1063. Adding the ddp to those prices adds around another $600 so we will forego that this trip. We all have AP's so we don't need tickets. For us that is a much better deal than staying offsite, paying added on resort fees & a lot of the offsite resorts charge to park there (we always drive).

 

[dtum]

What part of May??? Have you thought about investing in an AP for at least one of the adults just for discounts?? I just priced our May trip for room only. 2 adults, 2 age 10 & 11. 5 nights at POP for $664. or 5 nights at CSR for $1063. Adding the ddp to those prices adds around another $600 so we will forego that this trip. We all have AP's so we don't need tickets. For us that is a much better deal than staying offsite, paying added on resort fees & a lot of the offsite resorts charge to park there (we always drive).

If you stay at a place with pool homes, there are no extra resort charges or fees. You could come in under $500 for some places that have very good reviews on here. Like someone said though, it's personal preference, but OP shouldn't feel nervous about staying off-site. They may get a pleasant surprise. We always drive and it takes us two days (still cheaper than flying and renting a van). It truely is in doing what you want and what comes out the best for your family.

 

[kimmer]

Being onsite is a little nicer. It is not a couple-thousand-dollars-for-a-week nicer.

Bingo!

 

[Brian Noble]

With 4 adults, 2 kids, and needing to rent a van instead of a car, you are close to the break even point between staying off-site and staying in 2 rooms at a value resort.

If you are flying into MCO, and looking for the absolute bottom-dollar cost, it's often the case that a Value room is less expensive by a few dollars once you throw in rental car, and theme park parking. As a concrete example, I have an upcoming stay for 2/25-3/3. That week in a Value resort, under the current room-only promotion, would cost $742.

So, for your family, it would be about $1500 total for lodging and transportation. But, that's to put yourselves into two 260 sq. ft. boxes with double beds. For maybe a few dollars more, you could have twice as much space, private sleeping rooms for each couple (in larger beds), another private room for the kids, a third bathroom, plus lots of other amenities (kitchen, washer/dryer, etc.), plus throw in the van (or maybe two cars) and theme park parking (for one or two vehicles).

Ultimately, when it comes to WDW lodging, there are three things you might want:

1: To be onsite.
2: To have a reasonable amount of space.
3: To spend a reasonable amount of money.

In general, you can have two of those three, but most people can't get all three at the same time. So, you have to decide which of these you are willing to live without, and which is most important to you.

 

[dtum]

If you are flying into MCO, and looking for the absolute bottom-dollar cost, it's often the case that a Value room is less expensive by a few dollars once you throw in rental car, and theme park parking. As a concrete example, I have an upcoming stay for 2/25-3/3. That week in a Value resort, under the current room-only promotion, would cost $742.

So, for your family, it would be about $1500 total for lodging and transportation. But, that's to put yourselves into two 260 sq. ft. boxes with double beds. For maybe a few dollars more, you could have twice as much space, private sleeping rooms for each couple (in larger beds), another private room for the kids, a third bathroom, plus lots of other amenities (kitchen, washer/dryer, etc.), plus throw in the van (or maybe two cars) and theme park parking (for one or two vehicles).

Ultimately, when it comes to WDW lodging, there are three things you might want:

1: To be onsite.
2: To have a reasonable amount of space.
3: To spend a reasonable amount of money.

In general, you can have two of those three, but most people can't get all three at the same time. So, you have to decide which of these you are willing to live without, and which is most important to you.

Great breakdown!

 

[Cruz91]

That said, when I travel with my kids, we absolutely require separate sleeping spaces for the adults and the kids, preferably with a locked door to the adult space rolleyes1).

I was trying to think of a good way to put it, but this is perfect. It's my vacation too, and I don't want that to require me to go to bed at the same time as the kids do every night. Staying onsite in a moderate, you can't really stay up and watch tv and expect the kids to go to sleep. You could get adjoining rooms at a value, but offsite is cheaper than that. You could also get a suite room at whatever value they put them at (can't remember), but that's also much more expensive.

We only eat 1 meal a day purchased at the park (usually dinner or a "Linner" (lunch + dinner)). We eat breakfasts at the condo and pack a lunch. We do this much less to save money and much more so we can eat healthier. I know there are some healthful choices at the disney restaurants, but if I'm waiting in line and see all the yummy bad choices - I'm gonna pick a bad choice. If I pack, I still pack something yummy, and am not tempted by the burger and fries.

In the end - as I tell everyone - each family needs to find what they value and make their choice for themselves. I have a really good friend who will NEVER stay offsite. She doesn't value the "quiet alone time with her hubby" as much as I value the "locking master bedroom door" while on vacation.

 

[Cruz91]

I can't believe I just agreed with a guy from Ann Arbor! I feel so dirty.

Go Bucks!

 

[21hearts]

In November we did two nights 1 on site and 1 off site. All Star Music cost us $90 and off site cost us $100 (both with military discount & tax is included in that). Off site was 10 times better.

On Site DH & I had to go to bed when the kids did & we both had to share a bed with a child. Our baby didn't sleep so good since she's not use all of the noise her older sister makes when she sleeps (our 2 year old can not just lay still its crazy how much she moves around). It was an awful night. We don't use EMH and we've done the DDP before and found it was not for us.

Off site for an extra $10 we got a suite with 2 double beds and a pull out sofa. Dh got his own bed and I shared with Rachel. Our son & baby slept in the living room (son on pull out & baby in a play pen). Dh and I were able to watch tv in bed and could stay up later. We also had a microwave and a frig in our room. Plus there was a free breakfast in the morning that was pretty good (eggs, bacon, pancakes, bagels, fruit, soda, coffee, juice and some other options). Everyone got a good night of sleep and woke up happy.

It would take a lot for me to go back on site now. Not to mention that it was a 5 minute drive from our hotel to the Disney 'gate' (the one with Mickey & Minnie, ect). So in about thirty minutes we were at the Magic Kingdom. Our kids are early rises (like 6/6:30am) so we had no problem making it to rope drop.

 

[floydfamily4]

If
Ultimately, when it comes to WDW lodging, there are three things you might want:

1: To be onsite.
2: To have a reasonable amount of space.
3: To spend a reasonable amount of money.

In general, you can have two of those three, but most people can't get all three at the same time. So, you have to decide which of these you are willing to live without, and which is most important to you.

I love the way you break down the 2 out of 3 I wanted to not have to wash a dish or make a meal or make a bed as well! My DH said "for a $1.5 savings I've got it covered". He made a great breakfast everyday. We made rope-drop everyday. Had a character meal everyday. I never felt like I was on a "budget" trip It was great Good luck with whatever you decide

 

[willowsnn3]

If you stay at a place with pool homes, there are no extra resort charges or fees. You could come in under $500 for some places that have very good reviews on here. Like someone said though, it's personal preference, but OP shouldn't feel nervous about staying off-site. They may get a pleasant surprise. We always drive and it takes us two days (still cheaper than flying and renting a van). It truely is in doing what you want and what comes out the best for your family.

You're right about doing what fits your family needs is most important. What I left out on my earlier post was that my group consists of myself, my adult dd, and 2 children. We split the cost room & transportation down the middle so the $664 for 5 nights at POP cost each of us $332 plus food & xtras which is not bad. We have AP's & live close enough to make several 3-4 or 5 day trips a year. We have already got dates planned for Feb-May & August. Most families have to foot the whole bill tho so staying offsite could save some money. We have actually thought of trying a rental house for later in the year when we plan on visiting Universal and SeaWorld & having a few non park days.

 

[maxiesmom]

I can't believe I just agreed with a guy from Ann Arbor! I feel so dirty.

Go Bucks!

Imagine how the rest of us in Michigan feel, knowing you agree!!

 

[littlestar]

Don't be nervous. Orlando is overflowing with beautifully themed (and fun) resorts. Quite honestly, I like trying different resorts out (be it Disney or non Disney) - think of it as an adventure.

Used to be to get theming and fun pool features (slides, etc.) you had to stay onsite at Disney. That's not the case anymore.

I truly enjoy doing both - onsite and offsite. And would not want to go back to just doing one or the other. Next month we'll be at Sheraton Vistana and Disney's Old Key West. I'm excited about both stays.