Onsite Resort or Offsite Hotel?

[rmreiman]

My family and I will be traveling by car to Disneyworld in September for approximately 5 days/6 nights. Our children will then be 2 and 4 years old (just turning). I am debating on whether or not to stay on or offsite. We would prefer to have a 1-bedroom to facilitate naps for the youngest and a kitchen or kitchenette. I don't think that we will actually go to Disney every day and when we do it will likely be to the Magic Kingdom. Any advice regarding accommodations would be greatly appreciated.

 

[kapoof]

I am a huge on site person for a few reasons. It will be so much easier on you and your family. Disney is huge...on site there will be less travel time. Disney atmosphere you and your kids will really enjoy...and awesome pools for down time. The resorts have grab and go food options making meals very easy, and could take the place of a kitchen. The villas at Disney resort will have kitchens though if you prefer. Disney resorts are truly a huge part of vacation whilst at Disney. I stayed off site once and will never make that mistake again.

 

[DizDaD7]

As you can see in my signature we did all different types. the first type we did was renting a house in kissimmee ,although this saved a ton of money I believe it was like 775 dollars for 9 of us to stay in the house. it just doesn't give you the same Disney feel that u get from staying on property. Plus u never have to drive. If you need to save money then thiz is one sure way of doing it. Just me personally i love the true Disney experience u get while staying onsite.

 

[DizDaD7]

I am a huge on site person for a few reasons. It will be so much easier on you and your family. Disney is huge...on site there will be less travel time. Disney atmosphere you and your kids will really enjoy...and awesome pools for down time. The resorts have grab and go food options making meals very easy, and could take the place of a kitchen. The villas at Disney resort will have kitchens though if you prefer. Disney resorts are truly a huge part of vacation whilst at Disney. I stayed off site once and will never make that mistake again.

DITTO.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

We hate staying off site. We have only done it for 1 night on 2 trips and it was a huge hassle. I certainly wouldn't do it with children.

Have you thought about renting DVC points and staying in a DVC resort? DH and I did that in January and it was really nice, we had a 1 bedroom at the Boardwalk Villas and it was alot less than a Value resort and you can still have the dining plan if you plan to use it. It has a full kitchen and a King bed in the bedroom, huge bathroom, pull out sofa. It was like a very small apartment.

 

[rmreiman]

Indeed, ideally if we stay onsite we are hoping to rent points! What service did you use?

 

[summermac]

WDW is the only place I will suck it up and pay the premium of staying onsite. We stayed offsite once and yeah, never again.

 

[DizDaD7]

What premium? Its no where near as expensive as people think it is. Just gotta do your homework. Also about dvc renting remember you get no ddp. U have to pay for it. FD usually always js available and dkws it save a ton of $$.

 

[rafiki14]

To really, truly, enjoy Disney. Stay onsite.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

Indeed, ideally if we stay onsite we are hoping to rent points! What service did you use?

I didn't use a service, I found someone on the DVC board and followed the procedure to make sure I verified that he was good to use and I highly recommend him, however he is currently out of points until the first of the year, but I am sure there are alot of others over there that are just as reliable.

 

[PrincessSuzanne]

What premium? Its no where near as expensive as people think it is. Just gotta do your homework. Also about dvc renting remember you get no ddp. U have to pay for it. FD usually always js available and dkws it save a ton of $$.

You can get the DDP, but no, you can't get free dining, but that isn't always beneficial to everyone, it certainly isn't to us, because we use the military tickets.

With DVC, you are getting Deluxe accommodations for a value price. It is certainly less expensive to rent points than to stay in a suite at the value resorts, and connecting rooms isn't a guarantee.

 

[sharadoc]

I would never rent DVC points person to person, but that's just me. There are services that are a little better, but usually their price to rent is equivalent to a room discount.

All-Star Music family suites are nice, depending on when you go, you can get them for $199 a night, less with a discount if it's available. They have a nice little kitchenette with a microwave and fridge.

How would you want to sleep? Will the 2 year old sleep in a bed or pack n play? Will you want the kids in the same room with you to sleep or are you okay leaving them in a separate room?

The atmosphere and activies are great for little ones, it's very colorful and festive.

Otherwise, you could get two rooms at a value. Every other option would be a single room until you get to a 1 BR villa, which runs retail anywhere from $400 to $600 a night.

Your other option would be Hilton Bonnet Creek which is within the Disney resort borders. There is a huge discussion thread about it over on the Orlando Hotels thread. You can get that for under $150 a night for a 1 BR with a full kitchen.

Because you have a car, you have a lot of options, but having a bus if one child needs to go back to the room and the other one feels fine gives you options so everyone doesn't have to leave at once.

 

[shalom]

I am debating on whether or not to stay on or offsite.

Here, you'll mostly get people saying you'll miss out on the magic if you don't stay onsite. If you post to the "Orlando Attractions" board, most people there will recommend you stay offsite.

You say you're not doing WDW every day; do you plan on doing other stuff in the Orlando area? The monorail resorts and Wilderness Lodge are terrific if you're going to spend most of your time at the Magic Kingdom, but if you're going to be going offsite to do stuff they're kind of a pain, because they're way at the back of the resort and it's 10-20 minutes driving before you even get out of WDW.

What premium? Its no where near as expensive as people think it is.

Depending on the deals going, staying onsite can be a better deal for people wanting a single room. Staying offsite is usually the better deal for those who need two rooms or more; I have yet to see any deal that makes Disney the cheaper option for us. Renting points always costs more than twice as much for a 1 BR as a 2 BR in a nice resort offsite. And that's at resorts with snazzier water amenities than any DVC offers (if I liked sandy pools instead of lazy rivers, that would be less true). So staying offsite gets me a bigger unit for less than half as much.

Which makes Disney look pretty expensive. Whether it's worth it is a different issue, of course. I tend to think it is, sometimes; hubby's less convinced.

 

[DizDaD7]

Here, you'll mostly get people saying you'll miss out on the magic if you don't stay onsite. If you post to the "Orlando Attractions" board, most people there will recommend you stay offsite.

You say you're not doing WDW every day; do you plan on doing other stuff in the Orlando area? The monorail resorts and Wilderness Lodge are terrific if you're going to spend most of your time at the Magic Kingdom, but if you're going to be going offsite to do stuff they're kind of a pain, because they're way at the back of the resort and it's 10-20 minutes driving before you even get out of WDW.



Depending on the deals going, staying onsite can be a better deal for people wanting a single room. Staying offsite is usually the better deal for those who need two rooms or more; I have yet to see any deal that makes Disney the cheaper option for us. Renting points always costs more than twice as much for a 1 BR as a 2 BR in a nice resort offsite. And that's at resorts with snazzier water amenities than any DVC offers (if I liked sandy pools instead of lazy rivers, that would be less true). So staying offsite gets me a bigger unit for less than half as much.

Which makes Disney look pretty expensive. Whether it's worth it is a different issue, of course. I tend to think it is, sometimes; hubby's less convinced.

I realize staying off site is qay cheaper. I did it with my in laws yrs ago for 775 for 9 of us. What I'm saying is by just doing some research n homework Disney is cheaper than a whole lot of other vacations. The most we ever paid was thiz past trip in nov. We had 9 day myw passes,DP, POR - magnolia mansion, & airfare all for $3800. How can someone complain about it being so expensive when it costs 2000 just to rent a dumpy place down the shore. Lol

 

[jujube]

We've done both onsite and off and had great trips. I'm not one who feels that you have to be onsite in order to have a wonderful trip. We're DVC members and I would not hesitate to stay at Wyndham Bonnet Creek. You can get a 2 bd with full kitchen for about $100/night- check out the thread on the Orlando Hotels board. That's where you can find companies to rent pts for the price I posted above. Even if you went directly through Wyndham, you'd still pay about $229 for a 1 bd which is still much cheaper than WDW. It's located right near the Carribbean Beach resort.
I'm booking there for Thanksgiving to save DVC pts for our family vacation.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

If you pick the right off-site resort/hotel, you will be fine either way. Look at the Orlando Hotel board before picking out a resort. I've also had great vacations staying at the hotels listed on Mousesavers.

I've stayed on-site and off and had great trips both times.

On my upcoming trip, my husband and I will probably do a split stay. 4 nights at a DVC studio and 3 nights off-site. We like visiting Universal Studios or Discovery Cove and we have some restaurants OUTSIDE of Disney that we absolutely love.

 

[shell8558]

We have stayed onsite several times and this will be our first offsite visit. The reason being- I have a 14 month old nephew that will be joining us and we want the space, kitchen, and washer/dryer. We got a fablous rate at Wyndam Bonnet Creek for a 3 bedroom. We went through vacation strategy and Humiria was wonderful. (They also have listings on vrbo.) With it so close to CBR, I'm hoping I won't notice much of a difference. The pools and lazy river are a big draw for my kids also! Good luck!

 

[shalom]

How can someone complain about it being so expensive when it costs 2000 just to rent a dumpy place down the shore. Lol

Different basis for comparison, I guess. Might make a difference when people go; we're off season by nature. If we pick the beach that means late summer or early fall; still warm, everything's still open, but no crowds. We can get a nice oceanfront 2 BR that sleeps 6 for under $100/night; we get two of them and bring someone along to stay with our extra kid and it's still just $200 a night for 2 2BR units (would be cheaper yet if the second one was just oceanview 2 BR or a 1 BR). So while I can't speak as to peak season, compared to the other places we go offseason, staying onsite at WDW always looks pricey.

 

[DizDaD7]

I see I see. I didn't want it to sound like I was comin down on some people. It's just that I'm such a Disney Nut, After going for my 1st time on my honeymoon, The bug got me. & it got me good. I wouldn't think of staying offsite ever again...& at least for the nxt 44 years I won't have to,Cause as of last Nov. We are happy to call SaratogaSprings, our home away from home...