Offsite Tips?

[lesliekatya]

Hi Everybody!

Does anyone have some favorite offsite tips to share? This will be our first time offsite, and so far I've learned:

• Don't go on EMH days,
• Scope out the local restaurants (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2106431&highlight=restaurants+near+windsor+hills)
• Use the short cut between Windsor Hills and the parks. http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=15205787&postcount=19
• We CAN get MagicBands
• We CAN'T get a BOG Lunch Fastpass (try to get a dinner ADR or show up really early or really late for standby)
• AAA Diamond Parking Passes no longer work

Anybody else have any tips?

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Budget for $17 a day for your parking fee's.

 

[Monykalyn]

plan for "down days" after every 1-2 days at the parks-staying offsite its less likely you will take those mid day breaks. We did 2 open to close days (utilizing an earlier closing park like AK one of those days) with a "sleep in, water park" day with a late night at a park, followed by an "off day=no park day" followed by a couple more relaxed days (like Epcot-lots of time for more relaxed touring) with planned ADRs to to get a break and rest. We found that having every couple days where we didn't have to rush in am and allow time at resort to work really well offsite-we did have teen and preteen who liked to sleep so dragging them up at 7 am every day simply wasn't going to happen-might as well plan for it

 

[Candleshoe]

-staying offsite its less likely you will take those mid day breaks

Or, know yourself and whether you will or not.

We are more likely to take mid-day breaks because we find it faster to get back to our place when not relying on the busses. And mid-day breaks onsite are not relaxing. We tried it a few trips but treking to the pool = not relaxing; and everyone trying to nap in the same room made us cranky.

Personally I like to plan for a light-day every few days regardless of where I'm staying! Ropedrop-5p or late morning to early evening.

 

[Hootch]

This might make you feel better, the Disney Food Blog states that the BOG FP+ test will end 2/24.

 

[LuvMyEAR]

When did the AAA Diamond parking pass stop working? Sorry to hear about this as we made good use of it for many years!

 

[Hootch]

It might be because "Disney and AAA are reviewing their relationship". I tried to get a AAA discount for our upcoming trip. That was what I was told by one of the reservation specialists. We used to get 10%-15% of resort rates which was good since POFQ was usually excluded from their discount offerings.

Nothing was available for Universal locations either.

 

[spiderann]

you can get BOG FP+ for lunch. i'm staying offsite and snagged one when they started allowing booking on 2/25!

 

[LovesTimone]

I live in Orlando, so here's a few things to be prepared for.

Traffic - Early am and pm rush hour traffic is a reality and you should plan for it, especially if you are going anywhere near I-4. If you miss your turn please don't cut across 3 lanes of traffic to make your exit.. just go down and turn around. Use your GPS or other devices so that you are prepared to get on the road and know where you are going.

Parking - On that note parking in the parks takes time, and there is someone to direct you to your spot ( Parking is around 17.00 if it did not go up when ticket prices did so I would check and budget for this) Please follow their directions and park where they point, don't be "one of those people" who think that all that direction is for everyone else. If you are going to park hop, park your car in the lot where you will be finishing your day. This will save you some steps at the end of a long day.

Research your offsite resort - My friends got all kind of surprises, they found out that parking at there offsite resort was 20.00 a day ( 140.00 for the week), another surprise that there was a daily charge for Wi-Fi was 10.00 a day( 70.00 for the week) and the 2 biggest surprise was that cleaning of the unit was not included with the price listed on line with 4 kids daily cleaning is necessary so that was 200.00 for the week, nor was the resort fee that was added to the bill at check out, which was about 50.00( 350.00 for the week) extra dollars a day to the bill. So 140 + 70 + 200 +350 = 760.00 extra that they spent. She said with all that and the rental car and gas they could have done 2 moderates room and used magical express and got free dinning, for what the ended up paying. I am not trying to change your mind about saying off site, I am just saying check the fine print before you commit .

Restaurant - Lots of good places to grab something to eat, check out groupon or other sites for coupon and deals before you come. Sweet Tomatoes normally has some kind of good coupons, the last one I can think of was 4 for 25.00 which included a drink. Olive Garden and O' Charley's are 2 of our fav's for take out. Big portions that are easily split up.
Check out DTD restaurants Earl of Sandwich has really good sandwiches for a great price. You might want to check out some of the on-site resort so head over at meal time, and enjoy checking everything out, and taking a break from the parks, and getting some different offerings than in the parks. POFQ and POR have really good counter services options as well as the Poly.

 

[IndianaMouse]

Take your own wash cloths. I've rented from 2 owners who thought that a sufficient amount of wash clothes for a 4 bedroom home was 6. Now I don't know about you, but 4 of us can use 6 wash clothes every day. Not only do I not want to do laundry every day, I really don't want to wash my face with cloths that dozens of people have washed their butt with. I'm not a germaphobe by any stretch of the imagination but that is one area where I draw the line.

 

[Disneyland1084]

I live in Orlando, so here's a few things to be prepared for.

T
Research your offsite resort - My friends got all kind of surprises, they found out that parking at there offsite resort was 20.00 a day ( 140.00 for the week), another surprise that there was a daily charge for Wi-Fi was 10.00 a day( 70.00 for the week) and the 2 biggest surprise was that cleaning of the unit was not included with the price listed on line with 4 kids daily cleaning is necessary so that was 200.00 for the week, nor was the resort fee that was added to the bill at check out, which was about 50.00( 350.00 for the week) extra dollars a day to the bill. So 140 + 70 + 200 +350 = 760.00 extra that they spent. She said with all that and the rental car and gas they could have done 2 moderates room and used magical express and got free dinning, for what the ended up paying. I am not trying to change your mind about saying off site, I am just saying check the fine print before you commit .

Wait, are you saying the price of the hotel doesn't include daily maid service? If true, that's B########!

 

[dealia]

Get an entertainment book for the area. There are discounts for dinning and non disney activities. Orlando Magic Card. We bring lunches or snacks into the park.

 

[LovesTimone]

Wait, are you saying the price of the hotel doesn't include daily maid service? If true, that's B########!

They stayed in a townhouse/apartment style setting, not a standard hotel or resort setting. Sorta like a time share type of apartment setting.

 

[Disneyland1084]

They stayed in a townhouse/apartment style setting, not a standard hotel or resort setting. Sorta like a time share type of apartment setting.

Oh ok.

 

[4under4]

The one time we stayed offsite we rented a house with a pool very close to AK. We took mid-day breaks fairly often (we brought our that trip dogs, so at least one of us had to go let them out by mid-afternoon), and found it wasn't a problem at all to go and come back. As someone already said, the buses are really not that fast.

 

[LovesTimone]

Take your own wash cloths. I've rented from 2 owners who thought that a sufficient amount of wash clothes for a 4 bedroom home was 6. Now I don't know about you, but 4 of us can use 6 wash clothes every day. Not only do I not want to do laundry every day, I really don't want to wash my face with cloths that dozens of people have washed their butt with. I'm not a germaphobe by any stretch of the imagination but that is one area where I draw the line.

 

[theyoungs07]

We bring our own crockpot...we like to use one and some houses don't have one or at least one big enough for us.

We are lamenting the loss of diamond parking, this trip will be our first without it.

If we are not eating in the park for breakfast, our kids are perfectly happy eating dry cereal/granola bars...etc on the drive to the parks...because DISNEY!

Remember that there is a WalMart somewhere near you so don't freak out if you forgot something.

 

[Candleshoe]

there is a WalMart somewhere near you

or four Walmarts
and couple of Super Targets
and Publix galore!

 

[HdnMickeyGrl]

If you are doing breakfast at a resort you can only park for a particular window (I want to say it's two hours). BUT if you valet park at the resort you can park all day. Not sure if valet parking has increased but last year it was cheaper to valet park than park in the parking lot at the parks. Most of our table service meals are breakfast so we used valet parking for those and saved a few bucks.

You can also bring in anything you want into the parks. Water, food, anything! (well not weapons....) But anyway.... if you are staying in a condo, take advantage of that big fridge. Buy a bunch of bottled water from one of the aforementioned Walmarts/Targets and bring in a bunch of water each morning. It won't work for all day unless you bring in a cooler but that can save you a few bucks and usually get you halfway through the day.

If you are using Google Maps or some other such mapping device to give you directions to the parks, those time estimates are for parking space to parking lot. Plan on additional time to slowly drive through said lot, find a parking space, walk or get on a tram and if you are going to the Magic Kingdom, get on a monorail or boat. Add at least 15 to 30 minutes to the trip estimate (you might walk up just as the monorail or boat is heading off) This is especially important for park breakfast ressies. You can cut it a little closer with resort ressies (especially if you valet park)

As others have said, it is a much longer trip from the park to offsite locations. When the condo says 5 miles or 5 minutes to Disney... they mean 5 minutes until you are going through a gate. You've been to WDW before according to your siggy so you know how big the place is. Condo to gate is going to be a lot more than 5 miles or 5 minutes.

If you are staying in a condo make note of any imperfections (chipped tile in the kitchen, anything broken, holes in the furniture, etc...) and send a message to your rental manager or owner as soon as you get there so you don't get dinged for something you didn't do.