First remember, the convienece of Disney Transportation isn't all it's cracked up to be if you're not staying at a Monorail resort. Sometimes you can wait up to 30 minutes to get a bus-- then be on the bus for an additional 30 minutes. That's alot of travel time.
Also, the hotel is $400.00-- parking is $7.00 a day. Even for 7 days thats only $49.00-- opposed to $400.00.
Meals and food offsite is definetly cheaper.
There is however, something, special about a Disney resort.
We usually don't stay on site-- for the cost factor. I would love to each time. However, Allstars hotels for us, just seem too small for the cost. So, to stay at a mod or deluxe, well we'd only be able to do 1 trip every 3 yrs or so. Instead of the 1-2 trips a year. I don't feel that any trip, regardless of where we stayed, has lacked the Disney Magic!!
We truly stick to a budget ALL the way. On our trip last week-- we came home with $1.52!! For real. That was after I paid for airport parking and tipped the skycap. You wanna talk about budgeting to the penny. We've been enough-- that I know what we will spend each time. (I did have a $300.00 buffer in my bank account for emergencies-- but didn't want to touch it so it wasn't included in my spending budget).
You really need to do what will overall make you happy. There really is no right or wrong answer. Each persons personal tastes are so different.
As for the Westgate-- it has such a bad reputation because of their high pressure timeshare sales. That isn't a factor here. IF you are going to stay though-- make sure which one it is. The new one-- looks absolutely gorgeous!!
Also, the hotel is $400.00-- parking is $7.00 a day. Even for 7 days thats only $49.00-- opposed to $400.00.
Meals and food offsite is definetly cheaper.
There is however, something, special about a Disney resort.
We usually don't stay on site-- for the cost factor. I would love to each time. However, Allstars hotels for us, just seem too small for the cost. So, to stay at a mod or deluxe, well we'd only be able to do 1 trip every 3 yrs or so. Instead of the 1-2 trips a year. I don't feel that any trip, regardless of where we stayed, has lacked the Disney Magic!!
We truly stick to a budget ALL the way. On our trip last week-- we came home with $1.52!! For real. That was after I paid for airport parking and tipped the skycap. You wanna talk about budgeting to the penny. We've been enough-- that I know what we will spend each time. (I did have a $300.00 buffer in my bank account for emergencies-- but didn't want to touch it so it wasn't included in my spending budget).
You really need to do what will overall make you happy. There really is no right or wrong answer. Each persons personal tastes are so different.
As for the Westgate-- it has such a bad reputation because of their high pressure timeshare sales. That isn't a factor here. IF you are going to stay though-- make sure which one it is. The new one-- looks absolutely gorgeous!!
