You know, I've been thinking lately about the trip we took in December and what we would do differently when we go back (probably not for a few years, but eventually).
The main thing we would do is stay off-site next time. We stayed for 10 nights at Pop. It was a fun place to stay. We liked the theming and it was fun knowing that we were staying on Disney property. We had a rental car so transportation wasn't an issue. We did take the bus to MK to avoid the TTC and monorail or ferry, but we drove everywhere else because we like the freedom.
What wasn't so magical was cramming our family of 4 into that tiny room (our boys are 11 & 8, not exactly little kids). The bathroom area was very small and there was no private area to change expect in the bathroom itself. The food at the food court was good, but it was seriously crowded at times and hard to even move around. We had to come up with a strategy before entering the food court just for our own survival (you go to the grill for the burgers, you get the pizza, you get the drinks, you find a table...OK team...break!). I won't even go into my nightmare in the laundry room.
Part of our trip was over holiday season rates so we paid $109 for several nights of our stay. I've been looking at condos and townhomes for roughly that same price. I love the thought of having an extra bedroom for the kids, a kitchen to cook some of our own meals and (now I'm drooling) a washer/dryer right in the unit! Since we're used to driving everywhere, we don't mind not having access to the buses. Even the extra $10 a day for parking would still make it worthwhile.
This may sound like Disney blasphemy, but you get hit with "the magic" all day long at the parks. Maybe it would be nice to have a respite at the end of the day? At least for us it would.
So, staying on-site is definitely the way to go for some people. For others, staying off-site might be more desirable. There's really no right or wrong answer. It all depends on the individual.
