OnSite Accomodations

[lfw]

We are planning our first trip to Disney for end-Feb, and had planned to stay offsite at Amerisuites, however, someone suggested to me that if we stay on site, the price includes entry to the parks for the whole length of your stay. Is this true, or does it depend on the type of package you buy? If this is the case, it may actually be less expensive to stay on site then to pay for the accomodations/tickets seperately. Please help!

 

[A Mickeyfan]

It all depends on the package you purchase. Some have the pass's included but you are paying for them!. It is cheaper to stay off site & purchase the pass's seperate. Or an alternative could be... buy an Annual Pass, which will give you unlimited admission for one year & very good discounts on the rooms. You need to sit down and do your figures. The most expensive way to go is the on-site with pass's included package. Hope this helps....

 

[Chance's Mom]

It is almost never cheaper to buy a package from Disney. Check out the descriptions of types of admission media and prices at www.wdwig.com.

The length of stay passes you are referring to are the most expensive type of admission to the parks.

I have found that it is much cheaper to buy Park Hoppers (or even an annual pass). If you have days left over on your Park Hopper, they never expire!

You can also get hotel discounts, depending on the time of year, by having an AP.

 

[figment27]

are on Disney property but are not Disneyowned. However, you are able to purchase length of stay passes at the
Disney owned shops located in the DTD hotel lobbies.

FYI Park Hopper passes with flex features, or annual passes (unless they are premium annual Passes), do not include admission to Disney Quest. So if your plans include visiting DQ, you will have to pay admission there. visiting Disney Quest will cost you the price of admssion., which is approx. $30. for an adult without any discounts applied

I know this difficult choice, I am weighing all the options also. We are travelling with our DD, 21 y.o., and DS, 18 years old. I know both will want to visit PI and DQ several times so I have decided to purchase the LOS passes and stay either at a Disney resrot or a DTD hotel, the only places you are able to purchase the LOS passes.

Thanks to the help/advice of tihs board, I am NOT purchasing a package because I think it is less expensive to purchase each component individually.
I may use DreamRes for booking the hotel room. Check it out on Main page here.
Figment

 

[Lanshark]

I've been going for 20 years and have never found a package that is cheaper then what I can arrange my self. I have a DC card and also AAA. If I stay onsite the DC offers great discounts. If not I check AAA. Passes are, IMO, much cheaper to buy yourself based on your needs. We buy annual and then schedule our next vacation before they expire.

 

[Lisa P.]

...someone suggested to me that if we stay on site, the price includes entry to the parks for the whole length of your stay. ...If this is the case, it may actually be less expensive to stay on site then to pay for the accomodations/tickets seperately. Please help!

It sounds as though you are comparing the higher room rate for onsite with the lower room rate offsite and asking whether the difference in price exists to provide park admissions.

Sadly, it does not.

There are packages out there, which include park admissions, with your room either onsite or offsite. In both cases, they are usually more expensive than paying for each aspect of the trip individually. And an onsite room/admissions package will always be much more expensive than an offsite room/admissions package, when comparing similar onsite/offsite hotels.

Disney's onsite rooms are generally quite a bit more expensive than comparable rooms offsite. Onsite hotels do provide transportation to each of the Disney parks on a frequent basis (every 20 minutes or so). They are themed attractively.

Offsite comparable rooms will be cheaper. Offsite hotels will sometimes include one or two scheduled shuttle opportunities per day - perhaps to Sea World, Universal and/or Disney theme parks (sometimes to a central location, like TTC). Some also include food, perhaps breakfast or kids-eat-free in their restaurants. Certain additional offerings (golf & other sports, kids' clubs & crafts, gift shop, equipment rentals, etc.) may be less expensive or even free at offsite hotels & resorts. Then there is often the ability to upgrade the quality of your room to a more luxurious room or villa, for less than the price of a similar value or moderate onsite room. Hope this helps.

 

[lfw]

Thanks so much for all the replies. The person who gave me this info is not what I consider a "reliable source" and I have been doing lots of research, mostly on this board. I was pretty sure the discounted prices I was seeing for the value resorts didn't include admission, but thought it best to double check. As of this past Feb, I could get a package for 2 adult/2 kids, return airfare, car, and accomodations at Amerisuites for $2600 incl tax (CDN). With the Cdn ticket special, buy 1, get 1 half price, we should be looking at about $1200 for 7 day park hoppers. When the airlines and hotels release prices for Feb- March, I will check for the separate prices, but although we live in our nation's capital, it is not one of the more popular spots for airlines, there are very few charters running out of here, and regular flights cost a lot more than flying out of Montreal or Toronto. This particular package was a charter direct from Ottawa so if prices don't go nuts this winter, it will probably be our best bet. Thanks for all your help!