Perks of Staying Onsite

[Shughart]

We drive down from IL so we already have our car. Even with food, gas, hotel it's still cheaper than a flight for 4. We stay offsite. We've done both and I doubt I'll ever convince my husband to stay onsite again (first time was a large family trip which he'll never convince me to do again). There is something liberating about coming back to a 3 bedroom condo with a sectional after a long day at Disney instead of a cramped room with two queens. I don't need EMH, or busses. We navigate the parks just fine within normal hours and do just fine with our car. I don't mind paying parking and sometimes we even pay for (GASP) the premium parking. For those who love the theming, honestly I don't think you've ever looked into any off site locations. Lots of rental owners know why people are renting in the area and decorate accordingly. We always look for places with a Disney theme. We save quite a bit of money doing it that way (and by not wasting it on a dining plan either, though I know there isn't one right now). It makes our trip more affordable.

 

[DizneyFamof4]

For me the current benefit is DME (which we all know will be gone), on site transportation, location, theme/quality, and with DVC I find the pricing to still be reasonable.

That being said I think the Swan/Dolphin are becoming more and more attractive as you still get most of the benefits while saving vs a Deluxe (or even a moderate) and especially so if you can use points.

That being said renting DVC points directly I think will still be a great option for those who don't own DVC.

But even they are jumping in price, the favorite resorts are now renting at $20 a point and the Studio's are really the only category to rent to save $$ and then you lose a bed for a pullout sofa.

You need to make sure that you add all the costs of staying offsite and compare them to staying onsite. I think the biggest added expense is transportation.

Offsite expenses can include:
* car rental
* transportation from the airport
* parking fees at the resort
* resort fees
* transportation to the parks
* parking fees at the park

You can find nice, affordable places that will not charge you to park or charge you resort fees. You can also rent a nice condo through airbnb or VRBO for the cost of most hotels. You will still need to get to your offsite lodging and then to and from the parks.

But honestly, I think with only 3 nights the proximity of being onsite has an added value. You can cut costs by staying at a cheaper resort. You can also look into renting DVC points to stay in a studio villa.

For people that drive like us, the rental, airport, and park transportation are not an issue. In regards to resort fees, I constantly see specials where they wave the resort fees (which you will never see at WDW) and most offsite resorts have free self parking. The one time my DW and DD stayed offsite, they only had to worry about park parking fee, and the resort had a couple of restaurants, 2 coffee shops, mini golf, 2 or 3 pools, basketball/tennis courts and a bunch more amenities, plus the room was a suite with a fridge, microwave etc. and it was less than a value rack rate. This was 2 years ago and when I first told them that they were going to have to stay offsite, well let's just say I was not a very popular dad or husband. LOL! But once they got there and found how easy it was to go to the parks or eat at the WDW resorts, they had a great time and actually said that they would have no problem staying offsite. 5+ years ago, you would never have heard me say that we would even consider staying offsite, but times they are a changing. I totally agree with you about short trips, we will still just look at staying onsite.

 

[DizneyFamof4]

We drive down from IL so we already have our car. Even with food, gas, hotel it's still cheaper than a flight for 4. We stay offsite. We've done both and I doubt I'll ever convince my husband to stay onsite again (first time was a large family trip which he'll never convince me to do again). There is something liberating about coming back to a 3 bedroom condo with a sectional after a long day at Disney instead of a cramped room with two queens. I don't need EMH, or busses. We navigate the parks just fine within normal hours and do just fine with our car. I don't mind paying parking and sometimes we even pay for (GASP) the premium parking. For those who love the theming, honestly I don't think you've ever looked into any off site locations. Lots of rental owners know why people are renting in the area and decorate accordingly. We always look for places with a Disney theme. We save quite a bit of money doing it that way (and by not wasting it on a dining plan either, though I know there isn't one right now). It makes our trip more affordable.

This is a key statement, I found that a lot of the posters that say they would never stay offsite, has never stayed offsite. We were one of them, until my DW and DD did stay offsite. For us, EMH was huge, we loved evening EMH where we would leave MK at 2AM, and the miniscule 30 minutes early entry is nothing. Truthfully our family does not mind at all staying in a 2 queen room, and actually enjoy it. We have had some great and fun memories, because we were all in the same room. Also, we have never found the DDP to save us any $$ either

 

[nkereina]

As others have noted, worth and value is subjective so it depends on what's most important to you. For us ease of logistics and convenience is of the utmost importance. Time is essentially money at WDW when you consider how large the property is, how much there is to do, and how little vacation time we have to spend there. Being in close proximity on property adds intangible value for us and we're willing to pay more for that.

I do acknowledge on-site perks are far less than they used to be. The loss of DME is a big one for us because part of us enjoying the convenience/easy logistics the most was the fact that we could stroll down to DME, without having to lug our suitcases, and hop on the bus to our resort. Our vacation began at that moment as we entered the "bubble" to escape reality and real life responsibilities. I wouldn't say this is a deal breaker for us as far as staying on-site, but it does hurt.

 

[robinb]

But even they are jumping in price, the favorite resorts are now renting at $20 a point and the Studio's are really the only category to rent to save $$ and then you lose a bed for a pullout sofa.

The DVC market is depressed right now. There ae a lot of people who have a lot of left over points and who want to rent. I seem many people renting now in the $15-$16 range instead of the $20 range. Plus, any DVC member can book in August since it's in the 7 month window so it doesn't matter which resort they own. I also actually prefer the bed and pullout sofa setup over 2 beds. The pullout is closed and is a couch during the day leaving more room to walk around in the studio. Every once in a while I think about booking at OKW because it is the cheapest of all the DVC resorts and then I remember that it has 2 queen beds instead of a queen bed and a sofa.

 

[DizneyFamof4]

The couple of times we did DVC, no one liked sleeping on the pullout, not even my DD's. I ended up switching off and on with them, so for our family it's a big issue. It would be great if they do what they have been doing at the values, with the pull down wall bed. They have a regular queen mattress and is out of the way when put back up.

 

[Bobb_o]

The DVC market is depressed right now. There ae a lot of people who have a lot of left over points and who want to rent. I seem many people renting now in the $15-$16 range instead of the $20 range. Plus, any DVC member can book in August since it's in the 7 month window so it doesn't matter which resort they own. I also actually prefer the bed and pullout sofa setup over 2 beds. The pullout is closed and is a couch during the day leaving more room to walk around in the studio. Every once in a while I think about booking at OKW because it is the cheapest of all the DVC resorts and then I remember that it has 2 queen beds instead of a queen bed and a sofa.

This is right, $20 sounds like a price going through a broker. If you rent direct from an owner $15-$16 is very realistic.

 

[Jcruise86]

For theming, the bubble is the best! And the busses, boats and skyways make me feel like I'm on vacation. The Wilderness and Animal Kingdom Lodges are surrounded by landscaping that could not fit around the Grand Californian at the Disneyland Resort. And there was (is?) Cirque du Soleil, and the ability to rent little speedboats--which was the most fun thing we did during our last visit.

But for prices, the bubble makes me feel trapped, and makes me appreciate that at the Disneyland Resort I'm free to cross the street and leave Disney for more reasonable prices at restaurants like Mimi's & hotels too numerous to mention.

Forgive me for getting off track, especially in a WDW-centered group, but I believe some families would be better off coming out to California, going to the Disneyland Resort for two days, and while here visiting San Diego (with its great zoo & safari park 30 miles north in Escondido), or taking your middle school or high school kids on tours of UCLA or the Claremont Colleges. Visit a Getty Museum, or tour Sony, Warner Brothers or Paramount Studios if you love movies.

OR, if you can afford it, go to Disneyland Paris. (I suggest skipping the only bad Disney park in the world, the Studios park at Disneyland Paris, and I love the moderately priced Hotel Cheyenne.) Then explore Paris. We took a walking tour in English about the French Revolution that increased my daughter's interest in history.
Or go to to Tokyo Disneyland and spend a couple days at their outstanding parks, and explore Tokyo and maybe take a fast train to Kyoto.

I LOVE Walt Disney World and plan on returning, but please consider also visiting other Disney resorts & enriching your kids' imaginations even more. It's not really a small world, but it's wonderful and Disney resorts can be a gateway into Europe & Asia.

P.S. A Disney cruise we took to Alaska was our favorite family vacation of all time and despite having an inside cabin, we never felt like we were in coach. If I could re-do my daughter's childhood, we'd also take a Disney Cruise to Norway. Now that's off track!

 

[Maleficent_Hades]

we stay onsite cuz we love being in the disney bubble, and the transportation. i don't drive and my husband is a bus driver so he refuses to drive while on vacation, so having the disney transportation is a huge draw for us.