Offsite vs. On property

[SeattleTink]

I'm finally joining in on this discussion (long time lurker!)

We have been many times and have done everything from tent camping (that was 20+ years ago) to GCH.

For me what ever the budget allows that will get me to be in DL or CA is the right choice. The budget has grown over the years and has allowed us the last 2 visits to stay at DLH and GCH. We don't spend that much time at our hotel to justify the costs. And since we are taking 2 vacations this summer, decided to stay off site this year. I had originally made reservations at the Candy Cane Inn in a premium room but received an email from the Marrriot for a uber cheap online price at the Fairfield. So, we switched hotels and we are saving an additional $500! It was a no brainer. We can order lots of grocery's from Von's to make up for the free breakfast!

 

[DLR29]

I have always stayed offsite before, but this upcoming August trip I will be staying at DLH and I'm so excited for it. I'm also hoping to get an AP and bring my family for a trip in October staying at a really low AP rate at one of the onsite hotels.

 

[Husker Mickey]

We have always stayed off-site at DL. With the amount of money we save by staying off-site, we can come to DL more often. That is more than enough reason for me to stay across the street!!!

 

[chipndale16]

We've stayed on-site many times and always enjoy the Disney hotels a lot. However, the prices are so high and we can usually get a great discount at HoJo's (Entertainment Book or travel industry), so we prefer HoJo's. I can't say enough about the service we've gotten at HoJo's, the nice rooms and walking distance. I have 3 trips planned for later this year, and we will be staying at HoJo's on all 3 trips!

 

[annieb727]

We stay offsite - usually walking distance.
We've stayed at Desert Inn, Anaheim Plaza Hotel, Castle Inn & Suites.
I did get to stay at the DLH one trip - but I felt guilty not spending more time in the room - I was in the park all the time. Though I did get to enjoy the pool and hot tub a couple of nights.
Next month we're staying at the Extended Stay down on Katella - we'll either drive & park or take the city bus (which would be cheaper). I figure it will be fine since parks are open from 8am-midnight - we will NEED a break - and we have basically a full kitchen there - we'll save tons! Plus I got it on Priceline for $30/night!

 

[Eeyore76]

So cute!!

My hubby and I are going in November for our first trip together. Since it's an "extra-special" trip, we'll be staying at the DLH, and possibly the GCH, (if there are rooms...)

Since we bought AP's, I know we'll make it back to DL in probably Jan/Feb/or March, and I'll be okay w/staying at the HoJo, or something comparable....

 

[mlggator]

We have stayed at the DLH and GCH. GCH is by far my favorite, but it is soooo $$$$$. We are staying there again this trip (in 2 days!!!!!). I like staying on property, because I like to be completely immersed in Disney when I go (I think this may be a result of growing up in Florida and going to WDW).

I think I would have given Hojos a try this trip if the new pool had been complete. We have little kids, so an afternoon break from the parks with swimming at the pool is a big part of our trip. That means a nice fun pool for the kids within walking distance. The new Hojos pool looks like its going to be great and with their prices, I think that may be the way we go on the next trip. We will see how I like it then.

Michele

 

[DL4my2kids]

and we don't buy much in the way of souvenirs. My house already looks like a toys r us store so the kids get to pick usually one item each.

 

[only1mouse]

My friend and I make an annual trip and our first trip was offsite, as cheap as we could get. Then when AP prices were still reasonable, we decided to try the GCH - $169/night and we fell in love. We did try DLH and PP after GCH, but hearts are with GCH and have reservations during October this year - though we are paying considerably more than the original $169. To us it is well worth it since this is our special girls weekend (no kids, no husbands!!) Obviously my vote is for on-site

 

[LisainCalifornia]

We always stay onsite (either at the Disneyland Hotel or The Grand California)--but that is because for us the hotel experience is part of the vacation. Going to the park is wonderful, but the othe part of the the whole vacation feeling is staying at one of the Disneyland Hotels.

We go twice a year now, and stay for 3-4 nights.

Our next trip in December we will stay at the Grand Californian. When we were there last December we loved the atmosphere (they really have it down with the the Xmas decorations and cozy feeling in the hotel). That trip we were staying at the Disneyland Hotel, which was good too. We had a really good view of the massive Xmas tree that stands in Downtown Disney from our Dreams tower room.

 

[Amy&Dan]

I love onsite, the DLH is really my favorite Disney hotel, it has such special memories for my family, we've stayed there six times (GCH once and PP twice) but honestly, the prices are so high right now I can't justify it for our upcoming trip. I got the $74 ENT rate at the Hojo for four of our six nights and a ENT rate of something like $105 the other two nights. I am really excited, this is a last minute trip I wasn't even planning on taking and so far nobody in my family is complaining about not staying onsite!

I will miss the magic, the Mickey wake up calls and just the overall feel. But not enough to pay for them this time at least!

At WDW I would stay home before I'd stay offsite, but that's a whole different thing!

I think I read on miceage that Disney is supposedly building a couple of onsite hotels at the new Garden Walk area near DL, maybe those will be cheaper. Although logic would dictate that people will fill onsite Disney hotels in Disneyland even if they charge outrageous rates!

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

We prefer onsite, no place offsite has ever been able to compare when it comes to quality, magic feel, and service in our experience. So whenever we can swing it, we stay onsite for sure. We love the DLH, and the GCH. No comparison to anything offsite!

However since we like to go more often then what we could afford if we always stayed onsite, we will also stay across the street at the Tropicana. Which we like, and still have fabulous trips. But no, it's never the same as the magic onsite.

 

[kajcwman]

Well, put us in the very small minority (DISers anyway) who stay off site and shuttle to the parks. We've always stayed at the Residence Inn in Garden Grove. One nice thing about that site is having Target just across the street. We've never found the ART to be a major problem. Still, seeing those motels across the street from DLR reminds me of the signs I see on apartments/condos downtown: If you lived here you'd already be home.

 

[sunshinemummy]

When we booked our trip in April the onsite properties were 4 times more money. We just were not willing to pay that although we could have. We rented a car for our trip and just drove to Disney and parked, very easy to do. I can see the benefit of staying onsite but it's just not worth it, plus we wanted to do much more than just DL. We stayed two weeks and went to DL, Sea World, Universal, Hollywood, San Deigo, beaches, Knotts, etc....

From what I see on this board it seems the people who stay onsite are only coming for short visits and only doing DL and nothing else.