Off Property Anxiety

[resol37]

Not sure if this is the most appropriate place to post this question, so mods, feel free to move me!

My next trip is coming up in May and we're staying off property. I've always stayed on property at Shades of Green because my dad is retired Air Force. This trip will be for 12 family members (including two other military members) so we were going to need a few rooms. But SoG was booked up during the week we were planning on going! With that many people, there was no way we could switch our dates. I put together info on other on property resorts we could stay at (Value resorts and DTD resorts - we can't afford anything else), but mom decided it'd be cheaper to rent a vacation home (which we do every year at the Outer Banks in NC - this year we're going to WDW instead) for all of us.

Yup, it's cheaper...but it's off property! I initially freaked out, but grew to accept it. Now we're getting closer to the trip and I'm starting to worry.

The house is just off of 192 less than five miles away from WDW property, so it is pretty close. Am I getting worked up over nothing?

 

[Sunrisedream]

You are going to love it! It sounds as if you could be in one of the communites in the Formosa area which is a really short drive to WDW. You will enjoy the space and amenities a vacation home has to offer.

 

[fla4fun]

Unless you are visiting over Memorial Day Weekend, the rest of May is a slower season, so you shouldn't have any trouble getting to and from the parks. If you are staying the the Formosa area on west Hwy 192, you can even bypass the main Disney entrance to get in. As you start to head east on Hwy 192, the first traffic light you should come to is Sherberth Road. Take a left on Sherberth. You'll go past a couple hotels and some warehouses, and come to another traffic light. To the left is the entrance to Animal Kingdom Lodge. You'll want to turn right. This is the beginning of the Osceola Parkway, and there are exits off this road to enter Animal Kingdom Park (if you're going here, get in the left lane fairly quickly because you do a U-turn to get into the park), the next is for Blizzard Beach (and MGM Studios and Downtown Disney as well, because it puts you on Buena Vista Drive), the next is for World Drive (the main entrance road which takes you to the MK and Epcot). At the next traffic light, to the right, is Wide World of Sports. All this without having to deal with the most congested portion of Hwy 192. You'll have plenty of restaurants in the area as well, so you won't be tied down to theme park food.

 

[Lucky4me]

I thought they will book you into other deluxe hotels at the same rate if SOG was full.
Did you check into that?

If not, you will be fine in the rental home. Since you've all stayed in a home together before, you sholdn't have any problems.

We've stayed in neighborhoods twenty minutes from WDW and it was great.
Have a great time!

 

[FLParadisevilla]

You will have a great time! I think you will find you will enjoy the space of a home all to yourselves.
Let us know how great your trip was when you get back! When are you going down? We in the middle of planing our trip for may as well. I am looking at going the end of may! It sounds like you will be staying close to us! We are going to be in Indian Creek.

 

[isla bonita]

It will be a different type of vacation. You might actually enjoy your self as much.

 

[swillis]

I stayed offsite with my 2 kids last year. I really loved it. I'm giving onsite a try this year because I want to take advantage of the dining plan. But that aside, I wouldn't hesitate to stay offsite again for a minute.

We stayed at the Marriott Grande Vista, and it was clean, beautiful and about 10 minutes away from the gates of Disney World. There was enough to do at the hotel to make a vacation in and of itself!

Don't worry, you'll be fine!

 

[sympatico]

We usually stay off site at a vacation home. I would be really freeked out if I thought I had to stay onsite in a hotel room for a week instead of in a nice big house with my own pool. Also being free to eat in the many restaurants that line 192 is great. Disney isn't the only thing in the area. It's nice to drive around and see the sights, go shopping etc. Don't expect it to be the same as staying onsite but you never know you might like it better.

 

[Cdn Friends of Pooh]

The whole offsite vs. onsite issue really varies from person to person. You really won't know what works best for you until you do both and compare for yourself. We stayed offsite for our first several trips but last year decided to spend half of our vacation onsite to compare and see which we preferred. Having done that we can honestly say we'd never stay onsite again.

 

[Dismom+two]

I stayed off property in April and ON in July and SO much enjoyed the OP so much more!! I found that having my own car was so much better, I didn't have to wait for those dreaded busses and was back to my hotel in two shakes of a monkeys tail!!

 

[jguner]

I can stay off-site and get a 2 bedroom villa at the Caribe Royale and payless than what i would for a so called Deluxe at Disney. What Disney considers deluxe i actually don't so i can not pay that higher price for less room. It makes no sense to us and we have stayed on-site at least 6times. I just don't feel it is worth it. The hotels are getting run down and the emh perk is not such a perk as we found out. We also have never taken Disney transportation as we always rent a van. We are literally 2 min outside Disney at the Caribe Royale which is a wonderful resort. That being said i think you will be pleasantly surprised.

 

[MiaSRN62]

DISmom +2 says : I stayed off property in April and ON in July and SO much enjoyed the OP so much more!! I found that having my own car was so much better, I didn't have to wait for those dreaded busses and was back to my hotel in two shakes of a monkeys tail!!

You can use a car when staying onsite. Was that the only issue with onsite vs offsite ?

To the OP, I will agree I think you'll enjoy your stay in a home offsite. I think you will feel some differences such as not being on disney property. When staying onsite, you feel like you never leave wdw. This is a good thing for some and a bad thing for others
We stay both on and offsite and while we enjoy both vacations, staying onsite does edge out the offsite experience by a little bit. We like taking advantage of EMH and package delivery.....we also like having the ease of using the disney transportation. My kids are all teens now (13, 15 and 19). They love that they can come and go as they please. When traveling with large groups it's also good because everyone is not stuck having to stick to the same agenda. You mentioned 12 family members. Hopefully you have at least 2-3 cars so people can come and go as they please, because I think it'll be a little tough for 12 people to agree on the same thing every day. You'll have to add in $10/day for parking per car though. So this is another added expense, in addition to the car rentals you have to budget for when staying offsite.

jguner says : The hotels are getting run down and the emh perk is not such a perk as we found out.

Again, very subjective. I don't feel the hotels are rundown. In close to 20 onsite stays in wdw, haven't had any major room issues. I've had probably another 12 stays offsite. We definitely find EMH a great perk---especially during busy times. You can really beat the crowds and get alot more attractions in during the EMH time periods. I agree, some EMH are a bit crowded, but most are much better than during regular park hours.

But like someone said, it's a very subjective thing that varies from person to person. This is the DIS "Orlando & attractions" boards, so you'll get alot of support for offsite stays---which is fine. There is alot to be said about having a whole house to yourselves. Enjoy your trip !

 

[Kuffam]

This March we are also staying off site at a cottage at The Tropical Palms Funresort.

My question to the off-siters, Is it a problem to visit the little things at the WDW resort? We have a noon flight on Saturday so we don't want to hit a park that night. But I thought it might be nice to goto the Polynesian or Grand Floridian to watch Wishes and the Electric Water Pagent.

 

[jguner]

We do that all the time. You can visit any resort and do all those things.

 

[MiaSRN62]

Is it a problem to visit the little things at the WDW resort? We have a noon flight on Saturday so we don't want to hit a park that night. But I thought it might be nice to goto the Polynesian or Grand Floridian to watch Wishes and the Electric

It shouldn't be. Some of the disney guards are a little tougher than others. If you don't have dining ressies at the hotel they may huff a little, but just say you want to do some shopping or something. They seem to be toughest at the Contemporary/BW/Y&B guard gates. We had dinner reservations at Chef Mickey's on Dec 2. The line to get into the Contemporary parking lot was crazy. I think we sat for about 10 min. There were about a dozen cars or more in front of us and another dozen behind us. The guard was asking questions, checking reservation lists and asking to see ID's from everyone. We were staying at the CBR in Dec and I had forgotten my key card (husband and kids were back in the room). The CBR guard would not let me into the resort----despite my parking pass on the dashboard----without seeing my photo ID. So I'm just seeing a little bit more of a security crackdown.
You'll most likely get a 3 hour parking pass & have to show ID at the GF or Poly. Have fun !

 

[kaysmommie]

I can relate to your onsite anxiety. I love soaking upall the Disney atmosphere I can get too. We are trying to decide if we want to stay onsite again or try something new and stay at a vacation townhome. It will save us some money since we stay deluxe. DH is all for it because of the space and money saved. The kids love staying in Disney. I just wonder about missing the disney atmosphere and not being able to hop the monorail for DS2 naps in the afternoon. A friend of mine just bought DVC after staying in a condo in Westgate villas. She missed Disney and was even willing to stay at POR if she had to. I can't imagine that . Maybe Westgate was not very nice. We are willing to try offsite once and see if we like it just as much. I think Windsor Hills looks very nice. Also I like Hyatt Grand Cypress if I were going the hotel route and offsite. Both of these look very deluxe to me. Have a good trip.

 

[Dismom+two]

I should not have used the car example....we stayed at a Marriott vs the All Star Music. I just enjoyed the marriott so much better. It may have been different at another on site hotel, I dont know. However, I also found the Marriott not so "busy" with people all over like the on site hotel.

Heck I don't know....I guess I dont have myself a very good case....I just like off site better..

 

[MiaSRN62]

Heck I don't know....I guess I dont have myself a very good case....I just like off site better..

And this is totally cool Dismom+2. It's nice there are both on and offsite choices to fit all needs and desires.