Offsite or onsite?? THAT is the question!

[lisaj68]

Hi Everyone,

I could really use some "professional" imput here !!! This is our first trip and I am getting a little overwhelmed!

We (me, DH, DD6, DD8) currently have an offsite timeshare booked (Fairfield Star Island Resort in Kissimmee) for 12/22 - 12/29. We just paid the transfer fee - it was about $125 and that is all we will have to pay for the room. It has a kitchette so we can eat breakfast there and any other meal we happen to be there for. We plan on renting a car for that time.

BUT.....I keep reading all of the posts about staying on-site, Extra magic hours, dining plan, all the little extras about sending stuff to your room, etc. that may make it worth staying on site.

I wonder if the savings of the dining plan and not renting a car is worth the price of the hotel? When making ADR's, is it easier/better when you are actually staying at the park?

I read on a post that it takes a really long time to get from hotels to park on the shuttles; 45 minutes and longer. Is it better to have a car??

Also, I am just learning that this is one of the most busiest times at WDW. Is that a better reason to stay on site - or a better reason to stay off site with a car?!?

I just spoke to AAA and they quoted a price of about $750 p/p for 8 nights in a value hotel, 7 day park tix, & dining.

Any imput would be truely appreciated!
Lisa

 

[loveysbydesign]

We stayed offsite for our 1st trip this past May and it was wonderful!!! I too lost many a night's sleep trying to decide if we were making the right choice! I know we never would have enjoyed ourselves if we were cramped into one room for sleeping arrangements as dh snores like a feight train. We had a 2 bdr. condo at WH and it was awesome!!! We did opt to rent a car and drove back and forth to the parks to avoid having to wait for busses. if you seach for a thread with the words offsite and onsite you'll come up w/ a ton of thread about this exact subject. We loved WH so much we plan to stay there again for our next trip! just the fact that you're taking your 1st family trip to WDW should be magical enough!

 

[lisaj68]

Thanks!! I will look for other posts (off/on site), too!

Did you have an issues with ADR's since you were not on-site?

I forgot to mention that we will be doing as many character meals as we can!

 

[rt2dz]

1st: Either way I'm sure you'll have a great time, especially since you have nothing to compare it to.

But my real answer is: I've stayed off site over a dozen times. I always had a good time. My parents insist it is just as nice, however they have never stayed onsite. When DH and I took the kids for the first time we stayed onsite, and I swore I'd never, ever stay offsite again. But there are a couple of things to note with this.

We stay deluxe. I don't know if that makes a difference or not. If all we could afford was a value, it might be money better spent in a nicer accomidation situation. Personally, when traveling I like to have two things--room service option (not that we use it a whole lot) and interior hallways.

We also always have our own car since we drive. Not only, for us, is it cheaper, it's just way more convienent (partially due to some extenuating circumstances). So we are never fully at the mercy of buses. We've also stayed at WL, which meant boat service a bit too. When we have taken the buses, it has never been overly crowded, but it did still take a bit of time.

As far as breakfast goes, we always eat in room anyhow (breakfast bars, milk & juice in the fridge ). Another reason we like having a car, trips to the grocery store. If we do a breakfast character meal, we book it late & use it as lunch. We have APs (one trip per year), so we get DDE and get 20% off most meals--so have never done the dining plan either.

The busier the time of year, the more pull there would to be onsite. Easier to go back to the hotel during crowded times, if necessary. Although really, for my family, in park breaks work better. But it is also more expensive to be onsite during busier times.

It's a flip. You could always book it and look for discount deals too. Check out http://www.mousesavers.com for even more ways to save money & get the discount code. Be sure to sign up for the newletter!! The one at http://www.allearsnet.com too!

 

[disguy1]

stay onsite!! do yourself a favor
Ive tryyed the offsite game years ago. To much driving around, payying for parking each day. My opinion is its not worth the few bucks you save.
Stay at a value resort, I usually do and its fine & no car needed!
also, dont forget the extra hours plus the disney magic express airport pickup!
Disney transportation is very good
after a day at the parks, all ya need is a nice bed

 

[stacy6552]

There is no question. Stay with Disney. I'd stay in a Disney value resort over a deluxe something-else, every single time. Disney just knows how to take care of you!

 

[mericletwins]

If it was a different time of year, I would say it would really be up to what works best for your family, but since it is the busiest time of the year I say definitely on site. You are really going to need the extra magic hours.

 

[TheDizMom]

On site for sure , because the benefits you get far outweigh the small amount you might save off-site. You can use ME to get to and from the airport, (no baggage claim, rental or parking fees to worry about) DDP is only offered if you are staying on site, EMH only apply if you are on site, any purchases you make can be sent to your hotel so you don't have to lug them around, and the experience of a WDW resort is a lot more fun. I have done it both ways and now that I have kids on-site is just much less stress .

 

[becca011906]

as you can see from my siggy, we have NEVER stayed on site (ok dh did when he was 17 and went with his old girlfriend and her family LOL) but we stay off site and really LOVE it, we enjoy having the kitchen, the choices of chain resturants, we usally only do disney 2-4 days out of the 7 so we like to be able to get to the other attraction easily too. It is about 15-20 (depending on which park) to get from star island (fair field cyprus palms is about 2 blocks away or so, also parts of star island is woned by fair field), my grandparents stayed at star island once and said they would never stay their again, it wasn't as first rate as the "owned" fairfield resorts.

I think due to the time of year you are going i would stay ON SITE IF:
1.you have young kids and plan to go to the restort durring a disney day...
2. you plan to go to disney 5 or more days
3. if you plan to park hop
4. if you can affoid to get modrate resort (i couldnt' do the small rooms for 7 nights with my 3 kids anyways) we like our space LOL
5. IF you do stay onsite you probably WON'T need a rental...

 

[surfgirl]

Just as strong as others are in the 'omg, how could you do anything else other than stay onsite?' I'm in the other camp. I personally think the benefits of offsite far outweigh the negatives.

However, as other posters have mentioned, it depends how you travel.

My thoughts?
- rent a car. whether on-site or off. I've heard nightmares about people waiting for transportation for either place. There were some threads late December about how buses were full and people had to wait for the next one when staying on-site. There is enough waiting at Disney, that when I want to be somewhere, I like to control my own destiny.

- will you do all park days ? That time of year, you may just want to take some days off. If you are on-site, there will be less flexibility.

- do you eat in your room/kitchen or do many restaurants ? We have small kids and like to eat in at night. We believe they need the downtime and it makes for easier bedtimes. There will be no difference getting ADR's whether on-site or off. Mark in your calendar the 180 day mark and plan on calling at 7am each day to get your ADR's.

- space - It is nice for each person to have their own space without being on top of each other. Especially with different bedtimes (my kids are in bed at 7:30, and I'm not quite ready yet).

We rent a villa off-site, we typically do 4 park days and 2 or 3 off days (depends on how long we are there). We have a pool with our villa, so we come home early afternoon and swim in the pool, get dinner, and to bed. We are up early to be at the parks when ropes drop and we can ride rides without lines. We are happy! to be leaving when the hoards of crowds are coming in after lunch.

so... that's my experience!

 

[MinnieMom]

I have stayed on and off-site and I always suggest to people that it is just not worth it to me to be onsite . . . unless I was staying in a deluxe like a pp said. IMHO, I would rather take the money I save and use it for other extra special touches for the kids.

I just don't see what you get out of being on-site. Typically, the EMH days are so crowded that I really don't think you benefit much from them. Of course this depends on when you go. I could never stay in a value resort -- to me a cramped hotel room is just not a vacation even if you don't spend much time in the room.

When we stay off-site we are staying in very nice homes with private pools and usually we are in a gated community that also has a shared community pool with a waterslide, playground for the kids, mini golf right on site, tennis courts, move theater, you name it -- it's there!

I should also mention that we generally do 10 days so that we can do a park every other day. That way we have a day to relax and with being offsite (and having a rental car) we can go and see other things as well.

It isn't all about the $$ to me although we do save over a thousand dollars easily by staying offsite. More than that though, we love being able to have the parks and the go-go-go fun of it when we want it, but also be able to get away from it all too and have our own space.

Good luck with your decision! You'll have a super time no matter what you choose to do.

 

[daisyduck123]

We'd never consider staying offsite, so thank goodness deciding where to stay is never a problem for me.

When we go to WDW we want the "total Disney" experience, which for us means staying at a WDW resort.

For me, if we are going to go all the way to WDW, then we're going to stay there too.

 

[misshilda1]

That is a big deal to think about..WE have done the offsite things but since finding the onsite I would never go back. I even helped my best friend convert to onsite. Once I showed her how you save on parking ,dining and the actual greatness of the extra magic hours she was hooked. My husband and I do the dining. We saved our reciepts from our dining and wow we really saved and we ate like steaks and stuff versus hamburgers all the time.Plus I love the nostalga of waking up in the complete Disney atmosphere it's like you are a resident of this wonderful community called Disney. By staying on site it's like your inside the walls of a different simpler world..The main thing is to each their own but do what you feel is right for your family and no matter what you choose hey it's Disney your time will be magical and I wish you the best...

Off site many years

Disney All Stars Movies-Oct 2005

Disney All-Stars Music-Oct 2006

Up NEXT-----
Disney's Pop Century -Sept/Oct 2007

 

[Krisj]

I was going back and forth this year as well. We went to Universal last year and stayed really cheap $250 for the week off site and ate cheap as well. The vacation was still fun, but I remember always being hungry because we were at the parks all day and the food there was expensive. My 12 year old daughter says her memories are of being hungry too.
So, when priced out a disney value resort at $200 a night (2 rooms for us) the cost was just crazy. I finally came up with a good plan. We are camping on site for $58/night and this way we can afford the din ing plan. If it rains or is just awful then we can keep the campsite and get a cheap hotel for the night somewhere. I figured out the cost of 7 of us eating a character meal or nice Epcot for 1 meal each day and it works out cheaper to have the din ing plan and we get more fod for that.
Plus, the extra hours are a big help. This way you can rest in the middle of the day when it is crowded and enjoy the good rides when it is less crowded. We got most of our touring down with the extra hours and then spent the crowded times doing stuff most people pass up.

 

[t&m+5]

we have tried both but as a family of 7 it is hard to stay on site. For example, we stayed on site with 2 rooms but adopted daughter (8 at the time) freaked out about hotels (flash backs to her past life) and ended up miserable. We now stay off-site - she feels much safer when we rent a house.

I do miss the ability to send purchases to the room and the transportation but I enjoy the space, private pool, and a calm/secure daughter!

 

[disguy1]

on site is the only way to go
only costs a little more but you get alot!!
Ive tryyed both..on site all the way

 

[lisaj68]

Thanks for all of the great input!! I really appreciate everyone's different points of view!

I've spent this weekend thinking it over and realize that I just can't justify staying on-site this trip since our week stay in the timeshare is $138. It's pretty spacious with 1 1/2 ba, 2 br, kitchenette, etc. With the kids going to bed by 7:30 or so, dh and I will need room to relax in the evening...My option this year is a one room value hotel and we will simply be on top of each other.

But Hey!! as many of you have posted, we have nothing to compare it to and besides, WE WILL BE AT DISNEY WORLD!!!!!! How bad is THAT ?!?!?


Lisa

 

[powellrj]

you will have a wonderful time whatever you decide. We have done them all.

Last year we went with Pop just to get the free dining plan and while the free dining was a very nice perk, you just can't beat the 2 bedroom condos. We really missed the extra room you get off-site. In all the years we have stayed on-site we have never charged anything to our room key, had a package shipped back to the room, we always rent a car so we rarely use disney transportation. The only things we have done were EMHs and had free parking. Honestly, if I could get a 2 bedroom condo for that price I wouldn't think twice about it.

Its Disney, you will have a wonderful time!!

 

[blessedby3]

Just remember that you are going at the busiest time of year. There is the possibility that they will close a park(s) because of crowd volume. Since you would be staying off site you would want to make sure you are in the parks early to guarantee you will be able to stay in. Allow yourselves plenty of travel time because it will be very crowded and it will take you longer to even get into the parking areas.