Pros & Cons of Staying on or off resort?

[UberGoofy]

My family and I are looking to go to Disney World for 7 days (March 28th-April 4th), we are going to be getting the 5 day water park fun & more tickets but I was just wondering exactly what are the pros and cons of staying on the resort vs staying off the resort. I have found a very nice condo we could rent for the same time frame that would save us around $1700 over staying at a Disney All Star Resort. Thanks for any help or advice you can provide.

 

[soniam]

Advanced booking of Fastpass+, 60 days versus 30 days. That can be a big deal during a busy time. Are you talking about March/April this year? Advanced booking of dining reservations. Everyone can book 180 days in advance. However, if you stay onsite, you get to book 180 days +10, so your entire vacation. Otherwise, you will have to book one day at a time, 180 days out each day. Transportation. It's usually a lot more convenient to get to/from the parks, and the transportation/parking is free. You will probably need to rent a car offsite. It's not necessary to rent one onsite; however, a lot of people do. Disney provides transportation for free from/to the airport for onsite guests. If you wanted to do the dining plan, you would have to book an onsite package. If the parks hit capacity, which depends up on if that is Easter week or not, then onsite guests are rarely blocked park entrance. Plus, there is a priceless/intangible feeling to staying in the World, aka the Disney bubble.

EDIT: I just saw your sig and realize that you are going this year. You will be arriving the day after Easter. That week is usually really busy. I don't know if the parks actually hit closing capacity at that time or not, but it's likely. It may be more likely for Fri-Sun though. I don't know.

 

[siskaren]

Staying off property, you can't take advantage of EMH, you wouldn't be able to book FP until you're 30 days out, and you would definitely want to rent a car, in which case you'd have to pay for parking, unless you have an AP. (Although renting a car and paying for parking would still leave you with a big savings over All Star.) I'm curious though as to how you're saving $1700 on a 7 night trip unless you were going to book 2 rooms at All Star, because that's a savings of over $240 a night.

 

[patster734]

Are you driving or flying into Orlando?

 

[UberGoofy]

We will be driving from Ga. to DW so no need to rent a car. We would have to get 3 different rooms because its actually 3 families going (Room1=2adults+2kids, Room2=2adults+2kids, &Room3=3adults). we have looked into getting a Disney villa but they are just more than we want to spend on somewhere that we would basically just be sleeping at. My family and I(2adults+2kids) have went before and stayed on resort and actually gotten a AAA VIP parking pass off ebay that let us park very close to the parks but I cant seem to find any on ebay right now. We would like to stay on resort but it would also be very nice to save that money and spend it souvenirs and other experiences.

 

[mshanson3121]

My family and I are looking to go to Disney World for 7 days (March 28th-April 4th), we are going to be getting the 5 day water park fun & more tickets but I was just wondering exactly what are the pros and cons of staying on the resort vs staying off the resort. I have found a very nice condo we could rent for the same time frame that would save us around $1700 over staying at a Disney All Star Resort. Thanks for any help or advice you can provide.

For $1700, there is no convenience that on site offers that is worth it, IMO. The main conveniences of on-site are:

- not having to drive to parks (I'd rather have my own wheels and be on my own schedule anyways)
- being able to get free MBs (not worth it financially)
- Magical Express service (which is moot if you have your own car, or are renting a car)
- advance fast pass booking (there are ways around this, look up the Throwaway room thread)
- free parking (again, not worth it financially, and a throwaway room will get you 2 days of free parking anyways)
- EMH (this is the one that you'll lose, but again, for $1700... But again, Throwaway room if planned well will get you 1-2 days worth of EMH)

Another perk to off-site: you save a huge amount of money on food if you make your own. You can make your own breakfasts, lunches and suppers, pack snacks for the parks etc... We saved a huge amount of money this way. Also, while I get the idea of being immersed in the magic, as I've said on here before, to me there is nothing magical about sharing a single hotel room with my family for 7+ days. We rented a 4 bedroom house that had a private 24' pool for a fraction of the cost of a Disney value hotel room. We loved it - no having to lug ourselves and towels etc... down to a busy, noisy, public resort pool, instead we could just open our sliding door and jump in whenever we wanted - before breakfast, afternoon, in the evening, when the kids were in bed, you name it. It was great to even just be able to lay out on the lounge chairs and relax. Kids got to have their own bedroom, which offered us privacy in the evening, we were able to stay up, watch tv, go play a game of pool or air hockey (the house also had a games room), it was soooo nice to unwind and relax and leave that "park" feeling behind. And in the mornings when we wanted to go - we went, no waiting for a bus or monorail. Thanks to the HUGE amount of money we saved on lodging and dining by staying off-site, we were able to spend some of that money on extra experiences that we otherwise would not have been able to afford - like BBB, CRT, HDDR etc...

 

[gwb]

Sorry to tell you but there are no more AAA pass parking. And as app has pointed out you are going at a very busy time and the risk of park closin due to crowds is high. The money savings is 1 thing but it doesn't offset the benefits of staying on site. Besides other points that have been brought up is small but very conveinent items you get staying onsite, such as when you make a purchase in the parks you can have the item sent to your resort.
Here's a link to help you decide http://allears.net/acc/onoff.htm

 

[UberGoofy]

we would be one of the very first people at rope drop every morning and we would stay all day so the parks closing cause of capacity isn't a concern. i understand we would have to pay for parking at the main parks but would we have to pay for parking at the water parks as well?

 

[Chelley00]

I'm a huge fan of staying offsite. But we go in October. During spring break (Easter) or any other busy time, I'd spend the money to stay onsite.

 

[mshanson3121]

Sorry to tell you but there are no more AAA pass parking. And as app has pointed out you are going at a very busy time and the risk of park closin due to crowds is high. The money savings is 1 thing but it doesn't offset the benefits of staying on site. Besides other points that have been brought up is small but very conveinent items you get staying onsite, such as when you make a purchase in the parks you can have the item sent to your resort.
Here's a link to help you decide http://allears.net/acc/onoff.htm

While they won't send it to your resort, they will hold purchases for off-site guests as well, so you don't have to lug it around the park. You just pick it up at guest relations on your way out. Easy peasy. Certainly not a perk worth $1700, lol.

we would be one of the very first people at rope drop every morning and we would stay all day so the parks closing cause of capacity isn't a concern. i understand we would have to pay for parking at the main parks but would we have to pay for parking at the water parks as well?

Parking is free at the water parks.

 

[ReluctantDisaholic]

For us, while I do like the 60 days instead of 30, and the transportation, and shipping things to my resort, and charging to my room, the main reason we only do onsite is the magic - the feeling we have when we're in our Disney bubble is why we don't do off-site. We drove instead of flying on our last trip, and just the side trip to Walmart on our way in was enough to let me know that off-site isn't for us.

 

[patster734]

In this case, I'd vote for staying off property. The benefits of staying on property at an All-Star isn't worth the $1700, imo.

 

[siskaren]

In this case, I'd vote for staying off property. The benefits of staying on property at an All-Star isn't worth the $1700, imo.

I agree, especially when the group is big enough to need three rooms, and there's no guarantee that any two of them would be connecting, or that any of the three would even be close together.

 

[Travis B]

I'm a huge fan of staying on-property but in this case off-property sounds like a better option. $1700 is a huge price difference, and as noted, you'll save even more by taking care of some meals offsite as well. I like to stay on property for DME, internal transportation, ease of breaks during the day, etc. It doesn't sound like you'll use any of these things, so you might as well save the cash and stay off-site. Maybe save the on-site stay for a trip with your immediate family only?

 

[dashofsunshine]

We go every year during one of the busiest times (F&G festival), and we always stay off site. Always. The monetary savings is just too enormous for us to spend a fortune more just for early fast passes and the monorail/buses.

We have never been denied entry to the park due to capacity, we always get every ADR and fastpass that we desire. Seriously. $1700 is a ton of money. Stay off site! I would

 

[Baptist]

Your savings is $1,700, but that is over 3 rooms and 11 people. I would look at it as $566 per room/family. Is staying onsite worth an additional $566?

You mentioned that you would be the first at rope drop and stay until park closes. That indicates to me that you would be the type of family that would take advantage of EMHs. This is worth something, especially at a busy time.

Since it's a busy time, advance bookings of fast passes is important. This has value.

For me, having someone drive you home after a full day at the parks is priceless. Although the bus system is not perfect, it's not that bad.

I realize it's easy for me to spend your money, but I would vote for onsite stays. Either way, I hope you have a magical time! Enjoy!

 

[Aurora0427]

Your savings is $1,700, but that is over 3 rooms and 11 people. I would look at it as $566 per room/family. Is staying onsite worth an additional $566?

Enjoy!

This is a good point- are you personally saving $1700, or is that $1700 divided among 3 families?

 

[Sue M]

We will be driving from Ga. to DW so no need to rent a car. We would have to get 3 different rooms because its actually 3 families going (Room1=2adults+2kids, Room2=2adults+2kids, &Room3=3adults). we have looked into getting a Disney villa but they are just more than we want to spend on somewhere that we would basically just be sleeping at. My family and I(2adults+2kids) have went before and stayed on resort and actually gotten a AAA VIP parking pass off ebay that let us park very close to the parks but I cant seem to find any on ebay right now. We would like to stay on resort but it would also be very nice to save that money and spend it souvenirs and other experiences.

With multiple families going, the main perk for you, IMO, is staying onsite with Disney transportation, unless each family has their own car in your offsite place.
Staying off site and sharing transportation, everyone has to decide what time they want to get there, and leave.

If you're onsite, people are free to decide when they want to come and go. If someone wants a sleep in morning or leave early having Disney transportation makes that easy.
For me, I like to take a mid day break then go back to the parks later. Offsite would make that difficult.

 

[nkereina]

Another benefit to some is the ability to add a dining plan if staying onsite. Some people like to have their food budget included, and the dining plan allows for that. Or, of course, the free dining promotion when it's offered.

We prefer to stay onsite to utilize transportation. No worries if we have a beer or two at Disney Springs, and if we want to take a mid-day break and come back at night, it's easy and quick enough to do that.

 

[Aurora0427]

With multiple families going, the main perk for you, IMO, is staying onsite with Disney transportation, unless each family has their own car in your offsite place.
Staying off site and sharing transportation, everyone has to decide what time they want to get there, and leave.

If you're onsite, people are free to decide when they want to come and go. If someone wants a sleep in morning or leave early having Disney transportation makes that easy.
For me, I like to take a mid day break then go back to the parks later. Offsite would make that difficult.

THIS IS AN EXCELLENT POINT!!!!!!