on site or offsite ?

[princessjodiebo]

having ordered the new orlando giude i got thinking about our trip - i know its not for 2 years but i like to plan a lot to help the time go quicker

we went for 2 weeks this time at pofq and stayed onsite the whole time apart from a trip to the mall once !

we dont drive and i didnt have the confidence to try buses this time round (silly but true) but after going to dtd have realised how easy it would be

this time we could possibly go for a bit longer as we are tied to august but i am wondering where the best place to stay is

the kids want to do universal and seaworld plus kennedy and i am wondering if we would be better on i-drive ??

i know we could eat out cheaply and the lynx and i-ride links are good but then i think of disney and free dining and i really am confused

any thoughts would be much appreciated !!

 

[2Tiggies]

Price up both, factor in food and transport to the offsite and compare them.

If they are close enough and you want to spend some time at Disney, could you do a split stay, starting with onsite (to get your park tickets as soon as you arrive) and then going offsite?

I am an onsite enthusiast and you couldn't pay me to stay offsite, but if I were to do Universal and Seaworld, staying at Disney makes no sense, even with a car.

 

[princessjodiebo]

i would prefer the disney option and just get buses to universal and seaworld

my main thing about offsite is that even though it may work out cheaper if we hit a wall at the parks its going to be a long journey back to our room



definately going to start crunching the numbers !!!

 

[2Tiggies]

i would prefer the disney option and just get buses to universal and seaworld

my main thing about offsite is that even though it may work out cheaper if we hit a wall at the parks its going to be a long journey back to our room



definately going to start crunching the numbers !!!

I didn't intend for you to stay offsite and do Disney - or at Disney and do 'offsite'. While public transport is an option and you can certainly get around cheaply if you so wish, to me, taking buses and taxis is something for the odd outing and not a way to structure your trip. We are all looking at budget but practicality can end up costing you in another area so I hear you on this one.

I am not sure if it is about to expire or still has a few days, but if you were to consider a value resort, US still had free dining for next year and the value includes QSDP (you need a moderate to get it on the UK site). That is a great value, especially as soon as you have more than 2 people in a room.

If it were me, I would work out how many days I want to do offsite, how many days I am going for, deduct the offsite from the total and then see how much time you have left at Disney. If you have 10 or less Disney days it may be better to book through the US, do a value with Free Dining for the 10 or less days and then hop offsite and do ALL your offsite things at the end.

 

[2Tiggies]

Sorry, disregard the comment above about the current US free dining offer for now. I totally forgot you mention in your opening post that it is not for next year.

 

[princessjodiebo]

well unfortunately as we went majorly overboard this year and have 2 big birthdays this year dds 13th and ds's 10th plus brothers wedding next year means it has to be 2013

my mum said i shouldnt see it as a trip back to disney but a trip back to orlando but after finding our pics of us at tuskers and a pofq map i really dont know if i could do it lol

this is going to probably be the last trip we take as a family to orlando as dd will be nearly 16 when we go !!

am going to keep researching then next year when prices come out make a decision

bet you are excited about 18 days lee - will you stay onsite the whole time ??

lovin the new ticker

 

[2Tiggies]

Yes, all onsite. We are so spoilt by onsite. I have only ever stayed at Disney resorts and basically, if we cant afford onsite, we delay the trip til we can. Simple as that We are doing POFQ again. I think that is officially our home resort now. Had I waited for the next year, Easter as intended it was going to be a split stay at POFQ and the Poly but we couldn't wait

We were going to do 16 but by leaving 2 days earlier we saved a packet on flights which more than paid for 2 more nights plus a couple of hundred ££ left over vs going 16 nights and leaving on the weekend.

 

[Pegasus928]

Those that know me on here know that I prefer to stay offsite in a private villa - though that is not a decision based on anything other than the fact that we don't like staying in hotels. We have never stayed onsite so really cant suggest which way you should do it.
We are, however, thinking of next year and are looking at ALL possibilites. This is ranging from all offsite to all onsite and maybe even a mix of the 2 - but the deciding factor will be cost (depending on the level of difference of course)
What I am finding though is it isn't a simple case of 'Onsite = £X and Offsite = £X' There is so much more to it than that. For example I have priced up staying at OKW for 4 of us and have the figure - which includes the free DDP, but there is no way that we would go all that way and only ever eat in Disney. There are far too many fantastic restaurants on I-Drive alone for us to miss out. So straight away we have to had £X onto the quote Disney gives us to take that into account. The same is true of our off site figure. If this figure comes in at nearly £1000 cheaper than staying onsite we have to try and work out if we would spend that much over a 2 week period on food alone. But then - hang on - surely we should deduct the figure we have previously added onto Disneys quote as we would plan on eating at those places anyway - which makes the price difference even greater, and we also have to factor in places on Disney that we would like to try so maybe that may actuall yeven itself out.
It's no wonder I have had a headache for the last 3 days - and 4am is not the time to be trying to work all this out
Anyway needless to say I have a lot of figuring out to do - and the clock is ticking

 

[queendisney]

If you are not going to drive then personally I would def not stay off site. Lets face it you know you are going to do a lot of Disney again and although the hotels on I-drive may have free transport to the parks it often just takes you there in the morning and has, if you are lucky, a couple of pick up times during the day.(often the last pick up is before the park closes as well and you end up sitting on the parking lot ground waiting for it as they don't have bus stops like WDW transport, been there done that..) Not sure in August if you will want to be out from morning to night in that heat without some sort of break! At least staying on site its no problem going back to the resort for a kip or a swim! I would just look out for the free DDP when it comes up for 2013 and stay on site. You can pick up a Mears shuttle to Universal and the Lynx drops you outside the parking lot at Seaworld for next to no money. You can also catch the Lynx direct to the Florida Mall at DTD and the TTC plus its also very easy to get to both premium outlets at either end of I-Drive by Lynx bus.
You need to ask yourself how long will you really need at Universal Resort to make it worth while with the upheaval of doing a split stay.
Enjoy your planning.

 

[princessjodiebo]

the problem is the whole disney experience has really spoilt us - i am a terrible panicker over budget and spending money and at least when we were at pofq i knew we had food paid for so everything else was just to spend

add on the lovely dining choices disney has to offer which would mean i would defiantely have to book and pay which as we know in certain restaurants can cost a fortune plus i know when we first went we stayed on i drive and the battle for a bus at the end of the day was horrendous ! i know it might be quieter in august but the thought of getting to a park at midday and then having to stay til maybe 11 with no break and having to pay for all food makes me wonder ..............

the only problem i might have is we really want to do kennedy - i know there is a transport option but not sure where i would have to go to get it ??

 

[disneyholic family]

we much prefer staying onsite at disney.

however, when doing universal, we stay at universal (to get front of the line privileges).

in those few years we've done universal, we've started at one of the universal hotels for the first 2 days and then switched to a disney resort for the rest of the holiday...

and for eating onsite at disney, the best way to go is during free dining....very good value for money..

and the best value for free dining is when OKW/SSR are offered at 42% discount....

 

[princessjodiebo]

i was thinking of doing 10 days disney then 4 days universal but then i wouldnt get magical express so would obviously have to factor in the cost of taxis or shuttles to and from airport and between hotel

am glad im not going til 2013 its a minefield !!!

 

[2Tiggies]

the problem is the whole disney experience has really spoilt us - i am a terrible panicker over budget and spending money and at least when we were at pofq i knew we had food paid for so everything else was just to spend

add on the lovely dining choices disney has to offer which would mean i would defiantely have to book and pay which as we know in certain restaurants can cost a fortune plus i know when we first went we stayed on i drive and the battle for a bus at the end of the day was horrendous ! i know it might be quieter in august but the thought of getting to a park at midday and then having to stay til maybe 11 with no break and having to pay for all food makes me wonder ..............

the only problem i might have is we really want to do kennedy - i know there is a transport option but not sure where i would have to go to get it ??

I hear you on the onsite dilemma. Spoilt rotten? I can totally relate to that! I have some thoughts but will need to wait until later on before replying properly on here. Meantime I am sure some of our lovely DISers will offer you some more great advice

 

[princessjodiebo]

thankyou lee !! will look forward to catching up later x

as my husband has just said if we are this confused with the help of the disboards imagine how confused we would be without !!

 

[2Tiggies]

thankyou lee !! will look forward to catching up later x

as my husband has just said if we are this confused with the help of the disboards imagine how confused we would be without !!

Actually, you woulld be less confused without DISboards as you would have fewer options But you have 10 times the chance of finding something you like and that suits your needs and wishes with more alternatives suggested

 

[queendisney]

You will be able to book a tour if you wanted to go to Kennedy. Here's one site which offers transport and admission. Last time when we stayed at POR we had to make our way to The Cirque du soleil at DTD for pick-up, but I do know that they also pick up at other locations in WDW and all over Orlando.

http://www.orlando-ticket-deals.co.uk


There are loads of other sites you can use.