Reassure me Off-site is going to be great!

[Mickeypooh99]

We love off site. We stay in a condo or townhouse. We only have 2 adults and 2 kids so onsite is an option for us, but we want seperate bedrooms for the kids. We love Windsor Hills. It is part of our vacation. We pick a home that is decorated nice. The kids rooms are Disney, there are Disney touches throughout the home. It feels more Disney than the rooms at Disney! It is very quick to get to Disney from Winsor Hills. The Magic Kingdom does take a bit longer than other parks.

I love having my own car, and we would rent one even if staying onsite. I love having coffee and breakfast in my pajamas. No walking to the cafeteria in the morning. The kids can get their own breakfast. We get 2 or 3 bathrooms making if faster to get ready in the morning. Many offsite places have free wireless internet. We do lots of other things in the area. Universal, mini golf, etc.

We stay for 10 to 14 days each time. I could never stay in a tiny hotel room with kids for that long. DH and I stayed onsite before we had kids. Since we had the boys we have always stayed offsite.

One really funny thing is after we stayed at Windsor Hills for the first time, my youngest DS (5 at the time) decided he wanted his bedroom at home exactly like the one at WH. So we went through a lot of trouble contacting the owner, finding out the name of the paint, bedding, etc. We then searched the internet to find all the same things which of course had been discountinued. We managed to get most of it on ebay and other places. So now his room looks just like a room in WH.

 

[maxsdad18]

I am staying offsite in about 10 days. Only going for 3 nights. I am staying at a friends timeshare called Legacy Dunes in Kissimme. Is anyone familliar with this place? I am most concerned with driving at night. It looks to be very close to WDW.

Thanks.

 

[torinsmom]

I, too, think the time thing is a myth. We stayed at Pop several times and thought we would love the buses, no hassle, right? Well, we spent an average of 20 minutes waiting for a bus before one came and was not filled before we could get on. And don't even get me started on waiting when the parks close! We waited 45 minutes at the MK and 30 minutes at Epcot and then had to stand. That was the last trip we used WDW transportation. We stayed at Pop again for free dining and drove. Much better experience for us! We were much more frustrated at the beginning and the end of our day.

One thing---if you are looking at off-site condos or houses, pick one that has 2 or more routes you could take to get to Disney property. Usually, I-4 is the most direct, but if it is rush hour morning or afternoon, it should be avoided.

If we go to Disney again, we will be renting a house or condo. We were seduced by the Dark Side this summer, and I don't know if Disney will ever get us back!

Marsha

 

[disneysteve]

I, too, think the time thing is a myth. We stayed at Pop several times and thought we would love the buses, no hassle, right? Well, we spent an average of 20 minutes waiting for a bus before one came and was not filled before we could get on. And don't even get me started on waiting when the parks close! We waited 45 minutes at the MK and 30 minutes at Epcot and then had to stand. That was the last trip we used WDW transportation.

I just had this very conversation with someone last night. I mentioned that we were going to Disney next month and we stay offsite. She asked about transportation and I told her it really isn't any longer than staying onsite. She then told me about their last trip. They stayed at Caribbean Beach and she said invariably, they got to a bus stop just as the bus they needed had pulled away and then waited at least 20 minutes for the next one. She said using Disney transport was really the worst thing about the trip and they'd never do it again. She was very intrigued by my tales of staying offsite and said she will definitely ask me for advice when it is time to plan their next trip.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

Please reassure me that we will be great and enjoy ourselves offsite. We are a family of 5 (dh, myself, and kids will be 10, 7, and 3 1/2) when we go in Sept. 2010. So, as you probably know that limits us greatly in terms of resorts.

When we first decided to start planning a month ago, I had it in my mind that we would stay on Disney. (Stayed offsite with 2 younger ones once before at Windsor Palms and had a nice stay. Didn't enjoy the site ammenities as we were at Disney WOrld and visiting family in Orlando too.) So, as I started looking and found out about the room options, I am very disappointed in our limited choices. Plus, I reaaaaaally wanted Disney All-Star Movies as it just SCREAMS Disney to me. I think the kids would love it.

We got lots of feedback that it will be really crowded especially with the free dining and that turned DH off tons and me some as well.

Fastforward and now DH wants to look offsite. I agree that we want to be very financially responsible with the gifts God has given us. That said, we refuse to pay Deluxe prices and would end up paying that by reserving 2 moderates. SIGH

I truly think I would be okay with off-site. I just need to change my mindset.

We are looking at townhomes in Windsor Hills. SO, please reassure me!

Thanks.

I can tell you I was like you 10 years ago and once I stopped staying in the park I NEVER looked back.

Here are some good timeshares that can be checked into. Marriott Cypress Harbour and Grand Vista. Trust me once you have a kitchen two baths and a couple of bedrooms as well as a living/diningroom and washer/drier the Disney experience in a small value or moderate room cannot come in a close second.

 

[The Hendies]

We usually stay of site at our condo. I think one reason the condo works for us, besides the extra space, laundry facilities and amazing amenities, is that we tend to go to Florida 'off season' (if there is and off season!). We don't mind not having EMH, because we really can see and do everything we want within the regular park hours. Frankly, using our own (rental) vehicle, we usually get from one park to another faster than the Disney transportation would take us.
You'll be fine off site!

 

[Lisa P.]

We stayed at cheap offsite motels in the early years and LOVED onsite after that, never wanted to dare another offsite stay. After we started vacationing at the better timeshares in other parts of the country though, we tried an offsite timeshare stay near WDW. These days, we'll typically pair an offsite week in a deluxe timeshare condo with a night or two onsite at the end of our trip. Occasionally, we still trade our timeshares into a DVC condo week. But it's the space, privacy, comforts, amenities and resort feel of a high-end timeshare that makes it for us - not whether it's managed by Disney or not. Unfortunately, the cost of staying in a 1BR or 2BR DVC condo (even renting points from a member) is higher than it's worth, IMO, for most of the year. So we would not pay that to stay onsite if we didn't trade into DVC sometimes.

We do enjoy the special theming and pools at DVC resorts. The better offsite timeshare resorts may or may not have that but they do offer better Guest Services (assisting with both Disney and offsite dinner shows, restaurant reservations and attraction admission tickets), more TV channels, free internet access, larger condo rooms with dining tables that seat everyone (can't do it in most DVC 2BRs) and plenty of room to walk around past an extended sleeper sofa in most of the LRs (tough in DVC's smaller LRs).

We generally plan our time a little differently when we're staying onsite vs. offsite. DVC stays tend to include more days at the WDW parks but more meals eaten in our condo, prepared ourselves. On offsite stays, we can usually afford more restaurant meals and boat rentals (i.e., pampering) and we switch a day or two over to Universal and/or Sea World and/or area state parks - love the FL wildlife. These vacations do have a somewhat different feel from all-Disney-all-the-time (which can get tiresome to us, as frequent visitors, especially for my DH). And we usually relax more offsite so we finish those trips more refreshed. Either way though, onsite or off, we have a great time.

With lots of experience, both onsite and offsite, I can readily agree with those who've said that it can take an extra 10 minutes or so to get to the MK from offsite timeshares than from onsite timeshares. But driving from nearby offsite resorts (or onsite, for that matter) is generally faster than using WDW bus transit for everywhere else - theme parks, water parks, DD and other resorts. Again, it's not the onsite vs. offsite thing but where precisely you're located and which park or area is your destination.

Consider that anywhere you stay onsite, you're only really close to one or two of the parks or none at all. There will always be at least two parks to which non-drivers will take a bus, which means a walk to the bus stop, a wait for the bus, possible standing while on the bus and the whole thing in reverse at the end of a long day (standing to wait when you're tired, to boot). Unless we need to split up, we prefer to drive rather than use Disney shuttles. WDW is so spread out that driving from nearby offsite resorts is not much different from driving from most onsite resorts. We also actually enjoy the monorail ride around Seven Seas Lagoon and we miss it when taking Disney buses to the MK.

Enjoy your offsite vacation. Try not to compare constantly but see it as something a little different, an adventure that you may even end up liking more than your earlier Disney trips. You never know. HTH.

 

[Junebugwv]

We have stayed at Vistana, Orange Lake, Silver Lake, Hilton Grand Vacation Club and Cypress Pointe. With 5 kids, the bedrooms and extra bathrooms and amenities were wonderful! Now with only 2 kids at home, we have stayed onsite at values, mods and deluxe as well as the FW cabins and Shades of Green.

This Sept will be our first exchanging our timeshare for Beach Club villas. We could only find a 1 br available, whereas we could get a 3 br at a timeshare condo. After this we will go back to offsite for the timeshare and onsite if we make more than one trip in the year.

I think you will be quite happy with your choice offsite.

 

[myjourney]

For many years we stayed offsite because I couldn't afford Disney. About 3 or 4 years ago I discovered I could rent DVC points and stay at a Disney Delux resort for about $100 a night Sunday through Thursday. I now stay at SSR or AK and love it.

 

[zigzagzerr]

We've stayed offsite at Floridays Resort the last two years and we've loved it! It was mostly out of necessity- as w/you we have 3 kids, but we love the extra space, and the full kitchen to have some home cooked meals. Being able to do laundry has let us pack lighter and save on luggage fees too! (One checked bag for 5 of us.)

Hey that's where we're staying in August! I decided I didn't want to be crammed into the Disney resorts during free dining -- I think it will be much more relaxed. Glad to hear that you like it!

 

[dyna]

Even with jut DH an I we usually rent a 2 bed/2bath condo or townhouse. I put my stuff in 2nd bed an shower in 2nd bath both of us can shower an get ready at same time without falling all over each other. DH sleeps more hours than I do it gives me a place to be awake while he is sleeping. I'd rather fix us a hot quick breakfast than have cereal in room every morning which is what we did at disney resorts. We LOVE our washer an dryer in unit an don't have to pack as many clothes. We have the option of eating offsite if we want. When we went in June TGIFridays had buy 1 entree get 1 free deal going we did that a couple times. Olive Garden we ate off the lunch menu not the soup an salad but a regular meal saved about 5.00 for each dinner plus got 2 more meals off it by addin a veggie that I'd picked up when we went grocery shopping. Arbys was also right by us we could walk there had the reg roast beefs 5 for $5.00 got 2 meals off that plus a snack. We can usually find a nice 2bed/2bath for about $60 a night including taxes an all fees.

We are going back in Oct an Dec during free dining staying offsite both times We have done free dining along with stayin onsite many times. Free dining took to much park time for us to really enjoy it. We ate more food than we needed just because it was there an free thank god I was smart enough to avoid buffets.

I don't miss being crammed in that hotel room or crammed on that cattle car disney transportation has really went down hill the past couple of years. By riding harley down from Indiana we can use the motorcycle parking at all the parks an usually closer to the gate than what the buses drops us off at. Very VERy quick drive back to condo usually no more than 15 mins even from the MK