on-site vs off-site

[Blair]

could anyone give me their views about staying in the park vs out. I plan on taking my family to WDW this coming June. I have heard that transportation can be a problem outside. We are planning on staying at a value resortand flying down from KY. Kids are 6 and 10 and don't figure we will be in the room that much but to sleep.

 

[PrincessCandaceMarie]

Staying on site is the best in my opinion...you have that true Disney feel, the sipper cups rock, the EMH is a blast, and not having to deal with driving after running all over during the day and having the luxury of walking on a transport and being driven back to your resort is the best! Also, you can have the flexibility of park hopping and not worrying or remembering where you've parked at....and don't forget how awesome the WDW pools are!

 

[CheapMom]

We just paid $55 for ASMO and it was the best spent $$$ of our entire trip. My 2 year old was absolutely enchanted by Andy's room and would wake up each morning (thanks to Mickey and Stitch's wake up call) and he would run to the door begging to get out saying "Buzz, Buzz,..." He wanted to run out to see Buzz. Loved having Mickey waffles for breakfast and just enjoyed being in the middle of Disney 24/7.

 

[disneymom3]

We have mainly stayed offsite adn we like it better. Driving and parking have never been an issue and we enjoy the flexibilty of having our own car and being able to go to other restaurants etc. Much cheaper overall. And it's a really exciting feeling for us of driving under the WDW gateway across the road. Sort of a fun morning arrival each day.

Plus we rent one of the villas in the area so have a living room, kitchen and two bedrooms. Of course, we have three kids so we wouldn't be able to stay in a value resort. For the $55 a night that the other poster mentioned, that would be way better than what we have to pay onsite. For us the villas are way cheaper as the most we have ever paid was about $85 per night.

 

[disneyatl]

Personally I would only stay onsite. With the discount codes available you can stay onsite at a decent rate. True offsite you can stay at a hotel with more room (i.e. suites) at a better rate but the magic of Disney is everywhere on site. We've never had a problem with the bus transporation. My entire family agrees, anytime we go to Disney, we are staying at a Disney resort.

 

[disneysteve]

We greatly prefer offsite. We like the extra space and DD having her own bedroom. We all sleep better that way. We also like having a refrigerator, freezer and kitchen (even though we rarely cook). We like having a living room to relax in at nite rather than having just a bed. We like having more than one bathroom.

Driving is no big deal to us. Last trip, we were less than 3 miles from our resort to AK or MGM. You could stay onsite and be farther away than that.

On that last trip, we had a 2-bedroom, 2-bath condo (timeshare) for about $37/nite. Disney can't compete with that.

 

[PrincessDadx2]

Depends on what you value for your vacation. We have done both and it depends on what you want.

If it was a choice between the econolodge and a value resort I would go with the value. I think the best value from onsite is at the low end. You get Disney service for a small premium vs. off site cheap motels.

If you want space then a timeshare or house offer much better value for the money than on site resorts.

We spend most nights in our timeshare. Some considerations:

Space- We prefer having 1100 sf with a full kitchen and WD. We like to cook to save money and do laundry to save packing and going home with dirty clothes. I also do not consider it a vacation unless I have a king sized bed behind locked doors where I can snuggle with Wuv Tigger

Transportation- We have annual passes so parking is free. Some people claim driving is confusing, but it is much easier than my daily commute. We are never more than a 15 minute drive from the parking lot and probably beat bus transportation if you have to wait for more than 2 buses. I did enjoy walking from the Contemporary resort, but you pay a big premium for that.

EMH- Many people plan to avoid EMH days. I think the benefit is overated, but the new evening hours may tip the scale back towards onsite. If we want early we book a PS in the park prior to opening time and it seems to serve the same purpose.

Magic- Very subjective. Magic to me is going 4 weeks in nicer accomodations for the cost of one week at a deluxe resort. We find the magic at the parks. Some things are nice like wakeup calls, bedtime stories, cartoons in the lobby, etc. but most can be replaced for a fraction of the cost.

I do feel that some resorts are worth staying at because they are unique. I really loved AKL and will go back again. It was just so cool sitting on my balcony watching the animals while drinking my morning coffee. I also did CR because I always wanted to stay where the train went through. The MK view of the castle changing colors was spectacular. We are trying WL for 2 nights next month. These experiences are nice, but not cheap. You would probably have to pay me to spend a week in a 260sf hotel room with my kids - no magic there regardless of the location.

 

[WillCAD]

Onsite is really nice, especialy if you are the type that hates to drive on vacation.

But to me, since I prefer to have my own car and don't mind driving myself, onsite is not "worth" it. I pay the extra money to stay onsite when I want to splurge, but since I don't use the Disney busses to get from my resort to the parks in the morning, I don't mind staying offsite at all, especially if I can get twice the room at half the price.

Everyone should try to stay onsite at least once, but make no mistake: onsite is a luxury, not a nessesity.

Offsite hotels, however, have shuttle busses (provided by local companies) that run on set schedules and much farther apart than the Disney busses. If you stay offsite, rent a car!

 

[LovePug]

We've stayed offsite on all but one of our trips (the last one in Nov.). We've always stayed offsite because we travel with our Pug. I always thought that I'd be onsite in a minute if WDW had a pet friendly resort, but I actually have re-thought that stance. After staying onsite (FtW Campground) on our last trip, it truly hit me how much more money I spent overall. Not on the accommodations, but in food . We normally stay offsite, in a suite, for about $80/night and receive a free breakfast buffet to start our day. The hotel also has a free Manager's reception Sun-Thurs that serves a quick meal and drinks for free. We also have a full kitchen (well, no oven, but a stove). We actually never used the stove (didn't want to cook on vacation), but the full sized refrigerator was put to good use. I just spent a ton more money staying onsite without that free breakfast buffet, than I normally do.

We drive though, so getting to the parks was no problem (very easy to get there and minutes away from the parks). I don't know if I'd want to be offsite if I didn't have a car and can't say how good the shuttles were, but it seemed as if they were always in the parking lot at the hotel. If you stay offsite and don't have a car, I'd call the hotel directly and asked them about the bus schedule to/from the parks and get specifics .

 

[NMW]

We love staying on site. Friends of ours went the 3rd week in June last year and stayed off site at the Holiday Inn Kids suite place and said the drive into the parks, especially MK, stunk. They stayed off site in October the previous year and said the drive in and out of the parks wasn't as bad. I think with going in June, I'd at least look into staying on site. We have only ever stayed on site and loved it so much we became DVC members this year for the extra space, the fridge, washer&dryer. In addition to the hotels, you could also look into renting points from a DVC member on the rent/trade board. There are studios, 1 bdrm, and 2 bdrm villas onsite at beautiful resorts. Plus, you could cook meals at the villas. Good luck!

 

[PattiPB]

We have done both, and at every level. We have stayed in cheap motels (never again), expensive hotels, stayed with family, rented a small house, rented a huge house, stayed Value, stayed Moderate, stayed Deluxe and stayed BWV 1 bedroom! The only thing left is camping, which ain't gonna happen!! LOL!!!

Where we stay depends on many factors besides price, including length of trip, how many park days are planned, are we traveling with family, and (most important) time of year. In high season, EMH is a HUGE consideration. We just returned last week from a two-week trip, and didn't wait in a single line at WDW or UO (stayed offsite in a 6-bedroom house), so EMH wouldn't have mattered to us. We were able to cover everything between 9 and 6 pm.

HOWEVER, with this new early and late magic hour starting in January, staying onsite just became way more valuable year-round, IMHO. Hope it stays!

 

[NMW]

LovePug, I LOVE the photo of your dog! Very, very cute dog.

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

We've always enjoyed staying onsite but now that the children are getting older (DD14 & DS12), it's becoming harder to share a single room with them. DH has to bunk with DS and the child is almost as active in his sleep as he is when awake! For future vacations, we'll either have to get 2 rooms onsite or opt for a 2-bedroom suite offsite, just so we can all get a decent night's sleep! But, I would prefer to stay onsite for the many reasons already stated by other DISers.

 

[Amirah95]

With my family I prefer to stay offsite. If I go without my family then onsite. We are a family of three and we need two bathrooms, three televisions, the great amount of closet space and a kitchen while on vacation. We don't do well in hotel rooms at all. That one TV thing gets us all in bad moods. I like the fact that I can go into my bedroom away from them and the noise to take a nap. Some people say, "well, you don't stay in your room much so staying in a room at All Star shouldn't be a problem" but on our off days we do (to lay around and chill out) and we take advantage of the offsite resort activities, Orlando and I like to cook my breakfast in a kitchen instead of eating breakfast bars and donuts. We also enjoy the in room washer and dryer...the dining room to eat dinner and the spacious living room to kick back. My DD9 thinks it's cool stay offsite because it gets her excited about going back to Disney for another day. I think in 2006 we're going to be back offsite again but it's OK with me. After our DD is all grown up (and grows out of Disney--she wants to go to Jamaica next year instead...yikes) then DH and I will stay onsite together since it will be the two of us. I can't imagine staying onsite in a hotel room for seven days straight with our DD.

 

[Shelby5514]

Both have their advantages. We've stayed onsite in Mods, and offsite in a 3BR rental and also at a Downtown Disney hotel(I consider this offsite even though its not). We prefer to stay onsite when your at the resort you still feel like your at Disney World. When we were offsite we felt like we were in Any City, USA.
Having the Disney transportation is wonderful, especially if you plan on going back to the room mid day or to park hop. I found that when we drove to the parks we were much more stressed to do everything because we wanted to make the most of our day. Having the option of taking a break helped us enjoy the parks cause we knew if we wanted to go back to the room for a nap or a swim we could always come back later and finish up.
With only having 2 kids I think that a value would be fine for you if all you plan on doing is sleeping there...however don't forget Disney has wonderful pools!
Good Luck!

 

[disneysteve]

Having the option of taking a break helped us enjoy the parks cause we knew if we wanted to go back to the room for a nap or a swim we could always come back later and finish up.

Are you saying you can't do this if you stay offsite, because that certainly isn't true. We stay offsite and almost always take a break by early afternoon and go back to the room, rest, shower and go back to the parks later. That is just as easy to do offsite as onsite, IMO, as long as you aren't staying really far away.

Many people who aren't Disney regulars don't realize how big Disney property really is. You can be onsite and still be miles away from your destination. There are numerous offsite hotels that are actually closer to the parks than some of the onsite hotels. Last month, we stayed in Kissimmee. We were within 3 miles of AK and MGM, a little farther to MK and EC. It certainly wasn't tough to travel 3 miles to get back to our room for a rest.

 

[Sandyincanada]

Its all in whats important to you. We stay offsite in a condo because we want the space and choices. The kids get their own room, we can go to bed at different times, I can have a decent breakfast in my PJ's, we have room to sprawl out it in the evening. For us, the thought of all of us sharing one room with 2 beds is horrifying, lol. We have yet to find driving a hassle and dh hates buses. We go to other parks and attractions as well as restaurants other than at DW. Our kids are teens so we prefer not to be around so many little kids once we leave the parks. We stay at resorts so the pool areas are great. The only way we would stay onsite now is to rent points from a DVCer but when I checked it out for the 10 days we are going to be there, it would cost around 2000!! Forget that, lol. It already costs us that in flights just to get there, lol.

I'm sure you'll be happy with either decision.

 

[Shelby5514]

Are you saying you can't do this if you stay offsite, because that certainly isn't true.

Nope, just saying that it's "easier" for us to just hop on a bus and head back to the room, then hop back to the parks later. If we had to actually drive back and forth we probably wouldn't do it. But yes, I know it can be done.
Sorry for not being clear on this.

 

[MsMulan]

We have mainly stayed offsite adn we like it better. Driving and parking have never been an issue and we enjoy the flexibilty of having our own car and being able to go to other restaurants etc. Much cheaper overall. And it's a really exciting feeling for us of driving under the WDW gateway across the road. Sort of a fun morning arrival each day.

Plus we rent one of the villas in the area so have a living room, kitchen and two bedrooms. Of course, we have three kids so we wouldn't be able to stay in a value resort. For the $55 a night that the other poster mentioned, that would be way better than what we have to pay onsite. For us the villas are way cheaper as the most we have ever paid was about $85 per night.

Where do you usually stay off-site? Is the $85 a discounted rate? If so, where did you get it?
Thanks

 

[disneymom3]

We have stayed at Vistana resort and Vistana Villages as either time share exchanges through a family member or weeks we have won on SkyAuction. We have also stayed at several places through Hotel Kingdom. The $85 a night was on Hotel Kingdom at Cypress Pointe, just up the road from the Crossroads shopping center. It was a two bedroom two bath, full kitchen, living room, the whole deal.

Our favorite is Vistana Resort. (By far!!) Check out the Orlando Hotels and Attractions board here on the DIS for offsite resort reviews and tons of info.