Offsite or ON?

[katieloubear]

So I have been told from a friend of dh's that he has a condo that we could rent. It would be considerable cheaper to do this. Could we still do the dining plan staying offsite? We would still get park hoppers. Any help please! We are going in September and as a family of five we are limited to where we can stay.

me
dh
kaitlyn
lauren
trey

 

[swillis]

You can get park hoppers, but you can't do the dining plan. That is only available when you purchase a "package" through Disney, which includes accomodations.

We stayed offsite last year, and would have done so again in a heartbeat, but I wanted to give the dining plan a try to see if it was worth spending the extra money on accomodations.

 

[katieloubear]

Ok, got ya, I think IF they offer free dining we will definatly stay onsite, fly and just rent a vehicle to get around. But if free dining isn't offered we will most likely look more into staying offsite

 

[swillis]

Either way...I'm sure you will have a wonderful, fantastic vacation!

 

[byoung]

Either way...I'm sure you will have a wonderful, fantastic vacation!

I agree.

 

[mill4023]

While I prefer staying onsite, I do think you can have a great trip staying offsite. As long as you stay close enough that it doesn't take forever to get to the parks each day. Some people prefer staying in condos because of the extra space.

If you're not aware though, you can stay at Port Orleans Riverside with 5 people. It's the only moderate resort that allows 5 because the rooms have a pull-out trundle bed. Our kids took turns on it and it was very comfortable, even for our big 11 yr old son. That's where we've stayed for at least part of our stay on all 3 of our WDW trips. It's a beautiful resort and much cheaper than the deluxe resorts.

 

[GoofyTraci]

way too much fun in the resorts and extra time in parks! stay in but as others have said you will have fun either way!

 

[themudd4]

As others have already told you... you will not be able to do the DDP which imo is a great deal...BUT, that being said if you are not having to fork out all the money for the room then you would still be able to enjoy the same resturants and still save a lil money.
Yes, you will be able to still do Park Hopper tickets.

My 2 cents...set down and figure up the actucal cost both ways. Don't forget to include gas, meals, and what ever little extra's you may need. Like the PP mentioned you can stay at POR with 5 ppl. If it is only going to be a difference of a few hundred bucks I would opt for staying onsite. We love being able to use EMH, Disney transportation (we park our car when we check in and don't so much as see it again until we check out), and the resorts are just so ...DISNEY. I really enjoy never having to leave the magic.
We are going next month and we already have everything booked and paid for. My cousin-in-law told us this past Sunday that we could use his condo for FREE, he has already paid his fees, dues, etc for his time frame. We just smiled and said thanks...we might take you up on that NEXT TIME. Granted Free would be nice and maybe if we ever decide to go to Orlando and not do WDW we will take him up on his kind offer, but when we go to WDW, that is where we want to stay!

 

[willowdell]

We are a very budget-minded family and have figured it out to be a LOT cheaper to stay off-site. I guess it does depend if staying on-site is a priority for you, but we get the same experience staying off-site and save a lot of money too. We also get to stay in a condo with W/D & appliances when we need them. We are picky about our food (healthy stuff) so we make ours ourselves. I hope that I didn't offend those out there that love to stay on-site, I really didn't mean to. Our family wouldn't get to go as often as we do if we did it any other way.

 

[mericletwins]

Ok, got ya, I think IF they offer free dining we will definatly stay onsite, fly and just rent a vehicle to get around. But if free dining isn't offered we will most likely look more into staying offsite

If you stay on-site and you aren't planning on going anywhere but Disney property you won't need to rent a vehicle. That alone is at least a couple hundred in savings. Either way you'll have a great time, but I would vote for on-site. The EMH are great.

 

[willowdell]

We stay off-site and the condo has a free shuttle. They even take us to the grocery store and anywhere else we need to go. We just tip the driver

 

[mx55mom]

http://www.greenorangevillas.com/default.asp We are staying here, off-site and while we will have the comforts of home I think I'm going to miss staying on site. There are some things we wanted to do off-site so this is what worked for us this year. There really isn't anything as magical as staying on site, but it isn't cheap! Like another poster said, you really don't need a car if you stay on site. I looked under Restaurants and there was a whole discussion on the Dining plan. Here is the paragraph regarding the FREE plan: What is "free dining"? Will they offer free dining this year?
During the heart of Hurricane Season, Disney has offered a free dining promotion to help encourage reluctant guests to visit during this normally very quiet time of the year. The free dining promotion requires guests to book a Disney MYW package, paying for the hotel at the rack rate, and in return offers the Dining Plan as a free add-on to the package. For the UK/European residents offer, the free dining promotion had to be booked between August 25 and November 6, 2006. The free dining promotion has also been offered to guests while on-site at WDW if staying at Disney resort hotels during December 2006. The free dining promotion applies for arrivals starting August 5 (for the bounce-back offer) or August 12 (for the UK/European offer), through September 29, 2007. There is no indication, one way or another, whether free dining will be offered to other targeted groups and/or to the general public.

Here is the link to the Dining - http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=14

 

[Von Drake]

Can you grab a couple of nights on site? We have free access to an offsite timeshare, but we always get a few nights onsite to enjoy the magic.