Parent: what age to "splurge" and stay onsite?

[Summer2018]

WDW is very different from DLR (this is the Disneyland board so I am assuming the OP question was regarding DLR hotels). We would never stay off-site at WDW but same cannot be said DLR. The motels across the street are as close (some are even closer) than the DLR hotels. The DLR hotels do not have the bubble the WDW resorts do, they are really just hotels w/o the amount of space found at WDW resorts.

Oops!

 

[emmybee]

A similar conversation can be had about when to take one's kids to DL. We started going as a family when my girl was 2 1/2. I laughingly told many naysayers that I could care less whether she remembered these Disney trips or not, it was all about me! Watching her little face react to the Disney magic was worth it, every time. Same for our hotel stays. We have stayed off-site, but my husband and I agree that it's our preference to stay on-site for all our future trips. It's mainly for our own comfort, and whatever little annoyances we wish to avoid from off-site stays. My daughter may not remember the details, but I sure do!

 

[az4boys]

Hotel choice is based on what we as adults want and can afford. It’s not for our son.

As a kid I remember well loving ANY hotel. Give me a motel 6 square of a pool and I was happy as a clam. I watched my son at 6 looooove a Ramada rectangular pool in AZ as much as he’d loved the DLH pool.

Kids might remember, they might not. Adults might remember or not. I barely remember my honeymoon. Should i not have gone?

Stay where the adults want to stay. The kids will love wherever you go.

This almost made me laugh out loud - literally. My kids loved the Desert Inn and Suites pool, possibly the worst motel pool we've gone to. It didn't matter. It was a pool and we were on vacation.

 

[smartlabelprint]

For me, it’s about comfort and convenience. DD was 7 on our first trip to WDW. We stayed at CBR. We didn’t like it there, so our next 2 trips were at All Stars Music. At that time, value worked for our budget, but once we could afford to stay deluxe, we have become accustomed to it. If we really needed to travel on a tighter budget, we would go back to value again. At no time have we considered staying off-site. Staying onsite keeps you in that magical bubble.
The one trip that we spent a week in WDW then went to Universal, the magical bubble popped. We may as well have gone home.
The value resorts offer low prices while retaining the magic and convenience of never leaving WDW.

Disneyland doesn’t have a value option or I may stay at it. But it’d have to be a 5 min walk like the bwppi.

 

[smartlabelprint]

A similar conversation can be had about when to take one's kids to DL. We started going as a family when my girl was 2 1/2. I laughingly told many naysayers that I could care less whether she remembered these Disney trips or not, it was all about me! Watching her little face react to the Disney magic was worth it, every time. Same for our hotel stays. We have stayed off-site, but my husband and I agree that it's our preference to stay on-site for all our future trips. It's mainly for our own comfort, and whatever little annoyances we wish to avoid from off-site stays. My daughter may not remember the details, but I sure do!

Totally!! We went to dL as a couple annually before kids. Ours were infant and 19 mos when we first took them. Lol

 

[smartlabelprint]

This almost made me laugh out loud - literally. My kids loved the Desert Inn and Suites pool, possibly the worst motel pool we've gone to. It didn't matter. It was a pool and we were on vacation.

I think it is the worst motel pool. Hahaha! Kids.

 

[MonocularVision]

The funniest part of the discussions I see in this board revolve around hotel pools. A hotel pool has never factored into a hotel stay for me or my wife and I am not sure we have ever even gone in a hotel pool. Of course, being born and raised in AZ, pools are a pretty normal thing for us.

 

[az4boys]

The funniest part of the discussions I see in this board revolve around hotel pools. A hotel pool has never factored into a hotel stay for me or my wife and I am not sure we have ever even gone in a hotel pool. Of course, being born and raised in AZ, pools are a pretty normal thing for us.

We are in AZ too and we don't have a pool. My kids think we are the only family in the neighborhood without a pool. They may be right, but I don't want a pool. Hence, a pool on vacation is a huge deal!

 

[Shanti]

Everytime I have a trip I feel like I need to be onsite but wondering if I should wait until my kids are old enough to remember! Right now I have a 5 & 2 year old. With naps in the afternoon and early bed times (8:30ish) I love getting into the park early. Also love the convenience w the strollers to be close. DLH also has a great slide for small kids. And the Mickey wake up calls! Thinking when my kids are a bit older it may be easier to stay offsite? No strollers and we can stay up later? Or is it more special when they are older and can remember more- pls advise!

I recommend it when the kids are 8 and 11. They'll remember it, but not be too jaded to enjoy it.

 

[JVivlemore]

I’ve done both and with kids at various ages and the experience for them was the same on site or off. Sure the DL hotels are themed but the kids don’t remember that due to the park experience being so great. I think it is helpful if you have a little one that needs naps though because that saves you walking (although the DL hotel is so far the Holiday Inn Express I stayed at was either the same distance or closer to the main gates plus offered a nice free hot breakfast). Where the DL hotels are nice IMO is that you can buy stuff in the park and have it sent to your room saving you from carrying around all the toys and merch. That was a huge plus with my boys who wanted light sabers and other things. Half the time we slept in too late to even get to the park for the Magic hour so that wasn’t a big enough perk for me.

 

[tink89]

We just came back from staying on site for the first time ever. DD is 9 and she very very much loved it. She does not remember the trips we took when she was 3 or 6. she remembers last year when she was 8 and i am sure she will remember this trip. She loved the pool at the hotel and how you can just walk over to DTD.

For us it was very easy to just go back to the hotel and use the pool or go grab something to eat and either hang in DTD or go shopping. I had always wanted to stay on site at least once and I am glad that i did it at this age for her and not when she was younger.

 

[blue888]

We stayed at PPH with a 4, 2 and baby. We loved it. My kids loved the view of California Adventure from the window. Just this Christmas we stayed at DLH with 8, 6, 4 and 2 year old plus extended family. Once again we loved it. I'm not sure how much my kids will remember. But I will remember everything. I love seeing the magic in their eyes when they find the hidden mickeys, the extra surprises left in the room, sitting in the tea cups in the lobby, watching the fireworks from the lounge. We love staying onsite now. We would love to try the Grand Californian to compare the 3.

I think when kids are young, the Disney hotels are really awesome. Especially since we take a lot of breaks from the parks. When they are older, they may want to be in the park all day, so maybe then it would be better to stay offsite. But these two times we used the on site amenities a ton!

 

[DizMe]

I think maybe the response of the kids is somewhat tied to the response of the parents. If the parent doesn't seem impressed, pays little attention, or gives off the vibe that the hotel is overpriced, the kids are probably going to be less enthusiastic/pay less attention to it. My kids LOVE the resort hotels and prefer them by far, but I suspect that has a lot to do with the fact that I do, too .

 

[Rabb it]

My son is 27 and we haven't done it yet.
So I'll let you know when we hit that age!

Lol!

 

[MonocularVision]

We are in AZ too and we don't have a pool. My kids think we are the only family in the neighborhood without a pool. They may be right, but I don't want a pool. Hence, a pool on vacation is a huge deal!

We don’t have one either but there are so many opportunities to swim, I am pretty sure our kids would be upset if we went swimming while we were on a Disneyland vacation. Lol.

 

[ktlm]

It really just depends on what you can afford. I wouldn't worry about what the kids will remember- I would just think about what YOU will remember watching how much fun they are having, and what they enjoy now. We are WDW vets who have gone to DLR every year for the last 8 years. Being WDW vets, we like being in the Disney bubble. We like the DLH because we never leave Disney property. We walk to the parks through DTD.

DD was 2 on her first Disney (WDW) trip and she still has specific memories from that trip even though she is 11 now and has been to WDW every year since except 2017, and has been to DLR every summer for the last 8 years. She was 4 on her first DLR trip and we stayed at DLH. This was before the room and pool renovation and she still has distinct memories of (and talks about how she misses) the Neverland pool. She also remembers some room details like the Sneezy tissue boxes and the Mickey hand lamps. I will never forget that the morning we were checking out and working on getting luggage etc. in the car, she was watching cartoons in the lobby and I was talking to DH who was dealing with the suitcases and when I turned around and she and Goofy were laying across a footstool watching cartoons together. We have been lucky enough to run into him in the DLH lobby at some point every time we have stayed there.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

A similar conversation can be had about when to take one's kids to DL. We started going as a family when my girl was 2 1/2. I laughingly told many naysayers that I could care less whether she remembered these Disney trips or not, it was all about me! Watching her little face react to the Disney magic was worth it, every time. Same for our hotel stays. We have stayed off-site, but my husband and I agree that it's our preference to stay on-site for all our future trips. It's mainly for our own comfort, and whatever little annoyances we wish to avoid from off-site stays. My daughter may not remember the details, but I sure do!

100 times yes to this. My son's first Disney experience was at 21 months (WDW) and he won't remember it but I will never forget! I know I'll cherish all of our priceless Disney memories for the rest of our life. I loved our quick two-night stay at the DLH in the fall (he was about 2.5). I know he won't remember but it was really wonderful for me.

 

[taaren]

Fair warning: if you take your kids while they are young they will want to keep on staying onsite, so you probably will want to save for later if the choice is now vs in a few years.
We've owned DVC since DS11 was 2, but stay off-site for about half of our trips since we only have enough points for a few trips a year and like to do extra weekends when we have APs every other year. When we stay off-site he asks why and looks longingly at the Grand (as do I), though he understands even with DVC its much more reasonable to stay elsewhere, just forgets.
If we didn't own DVC I would have waited til the kids were 5-ish or proficient swimmers as that is one of the best selling points of the resorts to me. The kids don't care if the pool is great, but the time factor in getting to the pool from the parks then going back is a huge factor as well as getting tired feet to the room easily, both mine and theirs.