Onsite: Is it worth it?

[GeneralTso]

It's always a yes from me when asking if it's best to stay on site.
You just can't duplicate that vibe off site. Just can't.
Plus, the perks of being on site. Have a blast!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Thoughts, suggestions? Is it worth the $350 and extra hassle of moving mid-trip with a family of 7 to stay on-site part of our trip?

I read you r follow up - that you booked an onsite room already, and will save $. I'll still attempt to address this question a bit. In large part, the answer will be subjective. Either way there are pros and cons.

If I were in your shoes, I'd probably keep the rental car for the duration. for me, it would be worth the PoM, especially with a large family. I've been to WDW many times in small and large groups, and with a larger group, having a car comes in handy. In a pinch, taking the car to get around can mean the difference between being on time for dinner or being late. Since you are also swapping hotels, you will also be able to leave part of your luggage in the car.

I've done many split stays. when we change hotels, we put the clean clothes in one bag, and the laundry in another. Then the bag with the laundry stays in the car. We use like a 13-gallon trash bag as a hamper, and that makes it easy to shove the laundry in a suitcase. Just a regular bag can be squashed down easily. It doesn't have to be a space bag to partly act like a space bag, just don't completely knot it off.

In some cases, getting to the parks from an offsite location can be faster than using WDW transportation. In other cases, staying onsite is faster/easier. the timing of the WDW transportation is variable. Part of the value is how much you like driving over not-driving, and how much you like waiting on transportation over having control (driving).

And the other intangible is how much you are excited to be staying onsite. Or how much you like the offsite location/features. Some folks love being able to do laundry, others hate it. Some love to prep their own food, others hate it. We often do split stays because the change of scenery is nice. And then of course, there's the pandemic to consider right now as another wild variable. One trick to split stays, I find, is not to unpack too much. (not putting stuff in drawers. We just open the suitcase, lay it out that way, and take an outfit to wear each day. Laundry goes in a bag.

OH- one BIG factor in moving- it is very easy to leave behind a charging cable. On check out day- as soon as you unplug your electronics (last morning)- pack the cable. they are tiny and back, easy to forget, and a pain to lose mid-trip.

 

[Albee]

You should stay onsite whole trip. Take the magical express from airport. No car rental or Uber. Or consider renting dvc, Disney Vacation Club, thru a resale business, DVC store is one. Then you could cook & do laundry. We love the magical express as do not have to drive. Traffic is horrendous there. It may be around the same $ or more but you get a more roomier area & better pools. You should take a look. Or look at WDW info & weigh some options.

 

[GoofyDad_4427]

It's always a yes from me when asking if it's best to stay on site.
You just can't duplicate that vibe off site. Just can't.
Plus, the perks of being on site. Have a blast!

I think the main reason this is asked is that the "perks of being on site" are extremely minimal compared to what they used to be.

 

[PixieLily]

If you plan on being in the parks for the vast majority of your time there, on-site is better. Even with the Plague Related Changes to everything, it’s still less of a hassle than trying to come in from off-site.

you can’t be certain Uber/Lyft will ever be available, timely or reasonable. At least with on site, you have the internal system to rely on

I agree.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

We always rented a car..
So parking fees/ resort fees at offsite with the added expense of paying parking at Disney.

 

[footballmouse]

Thanks for your thoughts, everyone. We decided to just go for it and transfer mid-trip to stay on-site. We found a great Hotwire deal for Pop Century that is going to actually save us money. Also, FYI, for anyone interested, when I spoke with someone from Disney on the phone, they told me that it wouldn't be a problem for us to use Magical Express after dropping off our rental car. She gave me the number to call and said we would just need to call and set it up after dropping off the car.

How does the Hotwire site work? I didn't think you could see what hotel you are choosing, am I doing something wrong?

 

[loswest]

How does the Hotwire site work? I didn't think you could see what hotel you are choosing, am I doing something wrong?

You can't see which hotel you are getting but you can get a pretty good idea by minimizing your search to hotels in the Disney-Bonnet Creek area and requiring that they have a hotel shuttle and getting info from others who have done it before. There's no guarantee that you'll get the right hotel and your reservation is non-refundable so you have to take that into account. I learned about how to use Hotwire for Disney deals on another forum. These are the two blog posts I used to help me figure things out:

https://touringplans.com/blog/2021/02/09/hotwire-deals-for-march/
https://touringplans.com/blog/2021/01/09/hotwire-last-minute-january-deals/
Also, the price increases if you include more than 2 people per room. From what I learned in another discussion forum, this is a Hotwire thing not a Disney thing because Disney doesn't change their rates based on occupancy. They charge the same amount whether you have two or four people in the room. But, it will mean making phone calls to Hotwire and then having Hotwire call the Disney wholesale desk to add the additional people. I made our reservation with Hotwire for three adults in two rooms (2 adults in one room + 1 adult in the other) and then called Hotwire to have them add four children (two per room). The Hotwire CS rep first told me it wasn't possible to add people after booking but I had read the experiences of another person who had done exactly this the day before so I explained that to her. She called the hotel (Disney wholesale desk) and they added the children.

It was a little nerve-wracking because I've never used Hotwire before and wasn't sure how adding the children would work between Hotwire and Disney. It took 1.5 hours on the phone with the Hotwire rep (Disney wholesale phone line told her it was going to be a 25 min. wait but it ended up being 50 min.) but it saved us $500 so it was worth it to me. The Hotwire CS rep was fantastic and super friendly and helpful, but I know another person didn't have quite as friendly of a rep when she contacted them the first time. She used the chat feature on the Hotwire site instead of calling but I don't think that makes a difference. It's more just luck who answers the phone/chat. She was still able to add her children and get it worked out.

In the Hotwire confirmation email you receive two confirmation #s. One for Hotwire and one (or additional if you have more than one room) for the hotel. The hotel confirmation # is the one you use to connect to your MDE account.

This is what Pop Century looked like when I booked it:

 

[Albee]

Couldn't you call disney direct & add them? Just wondering

 

[Albee]

I have called the airlines direct to make a change & used a 3rd party originally to book. This may make it easier. I have no idea

 

[loswest]

Couldn't you call disney direct & add them? Just wondering

It's possible. Since this was my first time using Hot wire and even the first time staying onsite at all I was following the directing of others who have done it before.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

How does the Hotwire site work? I didn't think you could see what hotel you are choosing, am I doing something wrong?

https://www.disboards.com/threads/priceline-express-deals.3598657/I know you got help but keep an eye on this thread

 

[goofyernmost]

It certainly isn't worth it to me. I like getting away from the overload for a few hours and coming back in refreshed the next morning. I also love to think about how much money I have saved by staying offsite and having more choices of things to do and places to eat. (No reservations necessary)

 

[Magical2017]

For your family it sounds like it is worth it for the transportation options.

I do not see the value any longer for our family since we have moved to one bedroom units. We booked a one bedroom suite at the nearby Wyndham Bonnet Creek. We had a car and had to pay to park at the Disney parks. (We would have had to pay to part at the Disney resorts if we stayed onsite, as we are not DVC). We still saved over $3K by staying off property and had a wonderful time. I felt it was more magical to have a second, weeklong vacation than to stay onsite.

 

[wings91]

Not anymore, all the perks are gone.

 

[jimmymc]

Thanks for your thoughts, everyone. We decided to just go for it and transfer mid-trip to stay on-site. We found a great Hotwire deal for Pop Century that is going to actually save us money. Also, FYI, for anyone interested, when I spoke with someone from Disney on the phone, they told me that it wouldn't be a problem for us to use Magical Express after dropping off our rental car. She gave me the number to call and said we would just need to call and set it up after dropping off the car.

Pop is a great choice!