On-Site or (Free) Off-Site Resort with Infant?

[BadgerGirl84]

My husband and I are really leaning towards taking our daughter (currently 6 weeks) to WDW when she is 4 months in November.

I've posted a couple threads on the logistics of traveling with an infant--thank you so much to those who responded.

Question: Should we stay for free at a Hilton hotel or pay to stay on-site?

We are now thinking about our resort stay. I was a frequent traveler for work up until 2 weeks before I delivered, so I have a lot of Hilton points. We could stay for free at the Doubletree Suites at Downtown Disney or the Hilton at Downtown Disney...both of which would give us a lot of room, a microwave and fridge, free breakfast and both hotels take part in the Downtown Disney resort shuttle system which goes to the parks every 30 minutes. We'd also have a rental car if we stayed there.

OR...we could stay at a moderate resort with either the room discount or free dining...not sure which we would pick yet. Benefits would be no rental car to pay for and Disney transportation. Con is cost, obviously, plus less space and no fridge or microwave.

We've stayed both on and off site and we enjoy both...staying off site allows us to go more frequently and we don't miss "the magic" staying off site.

Is staying at a moderate really all that more convenient with an infant than an offsite resort? I'm just not sure it's worth the extra cost. Now staying somewhere like the Contemporary would be awesome, since we'd be able to walk to the MK and be on the monorail....but the price to stay there for a week is through the roof, in my opinion.

I'm favoring off-site and DH is favoring on-site. What do you think?

 

[irky416]

We took out almost 4 month old in July and we stayed offsite, but we stayed in a condo in Windsor Hills. (Haha, sorry, that isn't either of your options!) I loved it and wouldn't do it any other way.

Here's the main reasons why:
1. We were not planning on going commando in the parks and planned on a lot of down time in the hotel. We didn't want to be cramped in a small hotel room.
2. Our DD was still not great about sitting while we ate and wasn't on a schedule for her sleeping/eating. We wanted to have the freedom to be able to eat at home/have snacks available in case we couldn't make it out. This actually worked out great for us!
3. Because we were planning on spending so much time at the hotel, we wanted her to have her own room. It was so nice to be able to put her to bed for the night and not have to go to bed ourselves or try to be quiet so we wouldn't bother her. We are lucky and she sleeps for 12 hours, but that would have been terrible for us to be quiet that long or risk waking her up, especially when she first went down or early in the morning.
4. We had our own pool at the condo, so after she went to bed, my husband and I could go for a swim. We had a monitor with us, so we could hear her, and it gave us something nice to do at night since we were leaving the parks early.
5. It was nice having the rental car because we didn't have to wait in line for the buses or try to maneuver breaking down the stroller with all the stuff we had and the baby because we could just throw all that stuff in the trunk after she was in the carseat.

If you're open to another option, it might be something to consider. Sorry if that didn't help!

 

[Angel Ariel]

I'm favoring off-site and DH is favoring on-site. What do you think?

I think it depends on how you plan to tour. Are you going to do afternoon breaks? If so, I would probably stay on site as I would think that the amount of time you would save would be quite a lot.

If you're not going to do afternoon breaks and off site is better for your budget overall, then go with that.

We stay at SoG, so we are on site and close, but we still didn't really do a midday break when DD was 8 months old. She slept in her stroller very well - we just used chip clips to clip a thin receiving blanket across the front (keeping the sides open for airflow) to allow DD to relax and not concentrate on all the commotion around her. Once she was out, she was down for a bit and we just went and did our thing. If we were going back to the room for naps, though, I would not have wanted to be off site!

 

[Happyjen27]

Free off site!

I've never done disney with an infant, but I think that once they are done at the parks, they might be done for the day. I don't know if you'll be napping and then returning.

I think later, when your infant is a toddler or preschooler, onsite might be good because then you might take a mid-day break and then go back to the parks.

I think you should ask this question on the Orlando board too, because most of them are veterans of off site visits and will offer a great perspective.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

I would go free off-site for this trip. The rental car gives you more flexibility with eating and so forth--some infants are great nappers, others not so much. I would do on-site when she's older.

If you do sit-down meals, go in with the expectation that you'll take turns eating, and/or eat one-handed. Because of that, I wouldn't do a lot of on-site TS meals. When we went with a 6mo, I spent a lot of time nursing while watching my family eat--good times, ha ha.

I also found that our son did way better in a baby sling than a stroller. We had a stroller with us, but our then 3yo mostly used it, while DH did most of the infant wearing. The little guy could look around at a good height, but then when he got tired, we could pull up the sling a bit, to shield his face from distractions so he could nap. We were even able to take him on some rides in the sling--not the coasters, of course, but the mellower rides were no problem.

 

[Autumnslight]

I took my son to Disney World when he was seven months old. I'd DEFINITELY go with off site, for the following reasons:

Cost - On site, if you do the "free" dining plan, you'll pay a ton more. Unless you do a lot of ADRs and table service, you likely won't get enough out of the dining plan to make up for the cost different. And with an infant, I wouldn't want to be tied down to a ton of specific ADRs, and spend that much time sitting in restaurants. If it was the quick-service dining plan, then maybe, but definitely not the regular or deluxe.

Rental car - I would never want to do Disney transportation with a baby and a stroller again. Lots of people do it and are fine with it, but I absolutely hated it. Plus, if you need diapers, rash cream, baby Tylenol, or something, you can easily drive to Walmart or Target, and not be stuck paying increased resort prices for that kind of stuff.

Fridge/Microwave - I almost consider these a must for an infant. Depending on how you're feeding, you may need the fridge. And the microwave is great for using microwave sterilization bags for bottle or pump parts.

Breaks/naps - Infants are usually so portable and can nap almost anywhere in a stroller or sling, so going back to your room for a mid day break probably wouldn't be 100% necessary, unless you wanted to. I'd save the on site for when you have a toddler who really needs a mid day nap at the resort.