Question - How would you rather do DLP?

[Lisa_C]

Right. Here's a little debate to gather different points of view on the onsite/offsite way of doing things. No right or wrongs here, just different opinions of how you like to visit Disney as my own opinion has changed *blame my Pirate!)
So here's mine.
I've always stayed onsite. Travelled by Eurostar. Used shareholder discount for meals and planned well ahead for budget. Kids saved their birthday money and it would be around 18 month to two years between trips. But travel only costs us £200, never paid more than £600 (doesnt sound much on paper but took me ages to save as it was always August!) for accomodation (sometimes 3 nights sometimes 4) for 2 adults one child, usual budget of ¬500 per trip.
Main reasons were : not being able to drive so travel very limited. Always went with family and friends to share childcare as I was a single Mum and on tight budget.
Now things have changed! Since being with my Fiancé, we have Dream annual passes and I made my first offsite trip for four nights. My Pirate has been working near there which funded the family passes (kids have fantasy) and he's able to visit areas to see the hotels and check they are safe. We found getting to the station took around 15 mins but there is a chinese restaurant and fab supermarket (4 bottles of REAL coke for ¬3 euros or so) in the district and train was 4 mins.
I've always lived in the Disney bubble but found this trip to be an eye opener. We saved so much on the hotel (we have a train pass) that we ate in fab places, relaxed more in the mornings (I'm usually military style EMH) but still managed to do everything plus get engaged!!
We have another trip booked (Munchkin and I are going by day coach next week) next week and my Pirate is driving home with us this time. I'm so looking forward to trying a different hotel too!! With October and December already paid for with accomodation and just one crossing left to book, the trips with AP's are becoming addictive! Having passes and driving over (I'm extremely near Folkestone) and extremely cheap hotels for upto four of us, is taking over my way of Disney thinking! The cost is hidden away from me, though if we saved everthing in two years we could probably do the Disney Hotel with it....
So my question is really, would you rather go once every few years and stay in say, the DLH and go all out spending, or would you go a few times a year on AP's and budget accomodation or have you no preference??
(Please respect others points of view, these are opinions only)

 

[DLPdaft]

I do onsite or offsite, I'm not fussed which, as long as the price is inside my budget.

I can't imagine ever paying DLH prices, so within my budget and go at least once a year is my preference . I live too far away from Folkestone/London/Ashford to do day trips.

 

[HappyPanda]

I've never stayed offsite but would definitely not rule it out for future visits.

With us, we tend to vist just once (or if we are REALLY lucky twice) a year. So I'm happy to pay that little bit extra to get my onsite stay. If we were looking at going more often then I would definitely get an AP and then stay offsite!

 

[Happy Tappy]

I love the themes of the onsite hotels but you're paying a huge premium.

We've generally stayed on-site during off peak and off-site during on-peak!

Off-peak you can get B&B rates for the Cheyenne at around £60 a night. This is a fair price.

In the summer I can get the Ibis budget for £55 a night compared to the Cheyenne at around £200.

I never understand the love for SL, NPB & HNY. They're ridiculously over-priced for what are really dated facilities. Hopefully the refurbs will improve that. I can't wait to check out the new NPB rooms.

 

[addverbaan]

We have stayed on and off site and I have to say my preference is always for on-site. Time wise, we are not ever really able to go more then twice year, and we normally do one visit in a budget hotel and one in the DLH. - I know we are very lucky to be able to do this. If we had less money I would definatley stay off-site in a budget hotel - not a problem at all. And I guess when my DS is older and we are no longer still restricted to school holidays, we will probably go more often and would be more likely to stay offsite with AP's.


Of course my next trip is in Castle Club in october by my big 40 - but I have been saving for this for 1.5 years by cutting back on take away coffee, stopped buying magazines and saving all my 2 and 5 euros's in a sealed tin, plus asking for money for birthdays and xmas and saving this too.

So given the choice always onsite for us but if my only choice was off-site or not at all, I would go off site no problem

 

[LunaMini]

For me it has to be onsite too. I absolutely love the whole buzz of Disney and have never wanted to leave the area once on site.
I've only stayed off site once and this was when I was 7 and went on a coach trip organised by a diner lady at my school. This wasn't a pleasant experience due to time restrictions etc. I guess if I was offered the chance to go, but it involved staying off site, I would of course go.

As much as I would love to go more often, it's not really financially viable for me, so personally I would rather save up and go every other year and have a fantastic trip, staying where I want, buying all I want and eating what I want.

 

[IndigoCrunch]

We've always stayed onsite but then have never travelled in peak times so it's been affordable. My ds starts school next year so we will be restricted to the school holidays and I suspect that offsite will suddenly become a lot more attractive!!

 

[Lisa_C]

Loving these - I think that a lot has to do with our past experiences - I had a bad offsite trip run by a coach company 5 years ago and vowed never again.....now I'm about to do tge second of four trips this year because the last one made up for it, because my Pirate knew how to maje it good!
I still love onsite, but we found a trip to the Sequioa and loads of ice from one of their machines to make our drinks cold, was great for nearly two hour sit down LOL!!

 

[Ms Poppins]

I think it all depends on your circumstances. We only manage DLP once a year, due to a variety of reasons.

The cost of travel for us is quite big, whether flying, driving to Ashford and taking Eurostar or Eurotunnel, which involves a full day driving each way, with 2 hotels nights to add on, so the outlay to even get there could easily be another family's entire budget

Also, our DLP holiday is our main holiday each year. Again, for a variety of reasons I can't go away for a two week beach holiday (not that I really want to anyway) so 3 or 4 days at DLP is perfect for us

With both those in mind (travel costs and the fact that it's a main holiday) we choose to stay on-site. We also choose a more expensive hotel, usually HNY because again we want (what we consider) nice surroundings, not to have to leave the resort, not to have to go on buses etc. I like being able to go back to the hotel during the day and it not taking ages. I like doing EMH and then having a relaxed breakfast. I like having a swim in summer.

I also like that I'm in a hotel and don't want a 'home away from home' where I'll end up making lunches/cleaning etc. So we enjoy eating in Walt's or where ever we fancy and try not to worry too much about cost.

We learned very quickly after our first couple of visits that even counter service is expensive at DLP, so we are prepared for that now and just accept it. It's only for a few days, so we budget for meals like this.

So that's why we always stay on site

However....if I lived in the south of England, close enough to drive or catch a cheap eurostar deal, then I'd definitely have annual passes and try to visit at least 4 times a year, to see each season. I would then be very happy to stay off-site and would no doubt chuck loads of food and drinks in the back of the car too. I'd be happy to eat away from the parks or at our hotel/apartment and spend my entire time in the parks.

In the future if it came down to not going at all or staying off-site, then I wouldn't hesitate in staying off-site. But, if my budget allows it for now, then on-site will always be my first choice

 

[MickeysFavouriteGirl]

We always stay on site but this year we drove for the 1st time, it was ok but 8hrs each way and we were exhausted. Also we stayed at the premiere class on our last night to maximize park tickets and we'll never stay there again! So next time its longer on site and eurostar! We don't use the shuttles (nightmare with pushchair!) So we like to be within walking distance.

 

[MickeysFavouriteGirl]

PS if it transpires we need to buy APs with this ebookers deal I can see next year being costly! I'd love to go whilst the Halloween decorations are out and maybe for new year plus we could fit in another the following March before the passes expire (not that I've thought about it much, oops!!)

 

[Jules1212]

I will completely contradict myself here! I love good value for money and our trip last year where we used Sky vouchers, cheap tickets and an offsite apartment was fab. So easy to stock up on fresh croissants and pain au chocolat for breakfast and snacks for the park at Val D'Europe. I looked at how much onsite in SF or Cheyenne was and really could not see how the huge difference in price was worth it.

March this year we stayed in DCR and it was great. I thought the kids would think themselves a bit grown up for Disney and that it would be our last trip so not worth getting AP's (I always think they tend to start paying for themselves from the 2nd visit). Of course, this is kind of inbetween onsite and off! It was fine, but I would not pay any more than we did to stay there.

And the kids then told us that they still love going and when can we go again! They are coming up for 15 and 13. As Christmas has lost all of it's magic and sparkle for me since we lost a couple of family members, I very much wanted to go over for the Xmas season (we have to come back for Xmas or my pooor MIL will be on her own), so booked as close to Xmas as I could and the deal of 2 nights plus 2 free lured me into booking the DLH! Plus it being so close at a cold time of year.

I have booked for just me and the rest will get their AP's - I am justifying it by not asking for any Xmas or birthday presents (my birthday is 12th December). I think that will be our only visit there though! I do have the feeling that I will not enjoy it as much as others due to a lack of 'value for money' though.

Once DH,DS and DD have their AP's we were due to go offsite again next Spring and for me to get an AP, but I have booked the SF on the 'Deal of the Century' thread.

So for us, we go with whatever represents decent value for money to us. We are lucky in that we drive there but would be forever going over if we lived in Kent!

 

[Jonjo]

I would like to stay off site just for the experience and to save on the hotel costs, but DW is a Disney bubble girl and only wants to stay at on-site Disney hotels.

We also enjoy going off season and I'm always looking out for a flash sale to help keep costs down as we tend to now go for five or six night trips so we don't have to rush around the parks and take our time and relax. It is a holiday after all. Plus we think nothing of spending three hours having lunch these days.

We are also great fans of the Eurostar. Fpr us it's the only way to travel to the magic.

 

[dlpSteve]

After 13 trips staying on-site we did our first off-site trip this past May and will probably never do on site again. The price difference for our 5 day trip was £825, and having Disney wallpaper and a Disney store in my hotel is not worth that. I love Disneyland Paris, but the cost has risen so much in recent years that I no longer feel like staying on site is good value for money, especially with the decrease in entertainment.

Plus our apartment off site gave us two rooms to sleep in and a kitchen to have whatever we wanted for breakfast, whenever we wanted it and prepare lunches for the day too. It was also nice for Denise to have a coffee when she got up - not a coffee or tea drinker myself but for her it was a nice change.

Staying off site with APs we can get 2-3 holidays to DLP for the price of one staying on site holiday at the Santa Fe - that's a no brainer for us.

 

[Danauk]

If you had asked me this question 6 months ago I would have given a very different answer to my thoughts now.

All my previous Disney holidays (DLP, WDW and DL) have all been stays in deluxe on site hotels. Any previous off site DLP trips have just been for the day whilst the main stay of the trip had been in the centre of Paris. But having just got back in the early hours of this morning from my 1st off site trip I am now a convert to this. A while ago we realized the value of annual passes and how they would allow us to have many trips this year if we stayed off site as opposed to 1 on site stay in a hotel where I no longer feel I get value for money. We always drive across anyway so transport is not a problem.

For this trip we chose an apartment off site which, if we timed the trains correctly, was actually quicker to get back to than our walks through the village to the hotel New York. In staying off site we are still able to stay in a good standard hotel, but for a fraction of the price. This means more trips, which allows us to visit several times a year with different friends and family members. We have a trip booked for Halloween with my parents, New Years Eve for just the 2 of us, plus plans for at least 2 more trips before the AP's expire (and a trip to renew them on!). I still felt in the Disney bubble this trip, we ate at Inventions in the Disneyland Hotel and went for a drink in the Fantasia Bar one evening after we had left the park. I actually spent more time in the parks this trip than I would have normally.

So to answer the question I would now rather stay off site and have several trips a year as opposed to 1 on site stay. But that is just for DLP. When I return to WDW and DL I will be back on site again!

 

[Lisa_C]

Staying off site with APs we can get 2-3 holidays to DLP for the price of one staying on site holiday at the Santa Fe - that's a no brainer for us.

This is now my view too

 

[MickeysFavouriteGirl]

I've never been able to find offsite cheaper, maybe I'm looking in the wrong place!

 

[dlpSteve]

I've never been able to find offsite cheaper, maybe I'm looking in the wrong place!

I didn't, until I looked at Val d'Europe apartments, APs and driving. Take into account that for us we can only go at peak times because Lucas is in school, so I'm comparing it against some pretty hefty on site prices.

 

[Ms Poppins]

I'm sure if we lived closer, we'd do the off site too. Maybe I just need to relocate to Paris!

 

[MickeysFavouriteGirl]

I didn't, until I looked at Val d'Europe apartments, APs and driving. Take into account that for us we can only go at peak times because Lucas is in school, so I'm comparing it against some pretty hefty on site prices.

We drove this year, its just too far for us - nearly 500 miles each way. Took us 2 days to get over the tiredness. And after our 'experience' of staying at the premiere classe, we're both put off going out of the Disney bubble again.