Second guessing free dining for Windsor Hills

[2Pirates2Princesses]

Out of curiosity I looked at a couple different vacation home rental websites that offer houses/townhouses at Windsor Hills and that has nevertheless caused me to second guess our vacation plans. We are booked to stay at AS Music in a family suite under the free dining promotion for seven nights in late August. We could probably get away with spending close to the same amount total by renting a 3 bedroom townhouse at WH (if we get a good minivan rental deal) than staying in an AS Music family suite with free dining. I know it is like comparing apples to oranges and that there are pros and cons with both options. But with four young children, I am concerned that staying in a modestly sized two room hotel suite for a whole week will get old really fast as well as waiting on buses and all of us eating at food courts or restaurants multiple times everyday. I know my kids would waste so much food; and we could probably plan to do just a few Disney resort/character meals if we were to rent a house. The amenities of a vacation home (space, privacy, multiple bedrooms, full kitchen, private pool, washer and dryer) are starting to look so much more alluring to me (with my four kids in mind) than the theming and action at a Disney resort. Multiple people have suggested I consider renting DVC points; but I looked into that and renting points for a 2 bedroom DVC (we would exceed the occupancy allowed for a studio or one bedroom unit) for the week we want would cost close to 3X more what it would cost us to rent a 3 bedroom townhouse at Windsor Hills! This is such a quandary for me right now....I don't know what the best choice is. This would be our first WDW trip and we probably won't go again for another few years, so having that onsite full immersion would be nice but I am thinking that may be overrated. I know that logistically we won't be able to spend more than 5-6 hours at a time in the parks anyway; and we definitely need to have downtime in the evenings and at least one non park day, so a vacation house would be really nice for those reasons. This is so difficult! Decisions, decisions!!

 

[Upatnoon]

Also take a look at getting a 3 bedroom at Wyndham Bonnet Creek. The benefit of Bonnet Creek would be that they have pretty good bus service to the parks, which would be a good backup to having a van. Also, it has more of a resort feel than Windsor and it is located within the Disney gates, so you never seem to "leave" Disney. Either way, with 2 little ones, I think you are better off having the space. You may actually have a little "vacation" yourself with the room to spread out and relax.

 

[At World's End]

I guess it just depends on what you value during your vacation. There are those who will only stay onsite because of the "magic." There are others, like myself, who would never want to be cooped up for a week, even in a family suite. I like for my son to get a good nap without the rest of us tiptoeing around for a couple of hours. I like being able to throw in a load of laundry at the end of the day. I like having a king size bed. And cold drinks from my fridge. Eating breakfast in my PJs. And parking right in front of my condo. And coming and going without having to wait in line for a bus. I could go on and on.

We priced out the free dining package compared to offsite and it actually came out a little cheaper to stay onsite. But I would gladly pay an extra $15/day for the luxury of all of the above amenities. They make my vacation much more enjoyable than any amount of Disney "magic."

I bet that price-wise, even if you had to rent two compact cars and pay twice the parking, you would still come out pretty close to staying onsite.

 

[princessmorgan]

We have the same problem, but we have never stayed off site before. This year we are finally trying it. Last year we fit our family of 5 in just one regular value room! It was doable, but we moved to the Poly which was like luxury for us. That was still only one room. This year we tried a 1 BR at AKV and we loved the extra space. However now we are a family of 6 and my parents are coming with us and a 2 BR villa is just crazy expensive.

Anyway my point from all this rambling is that we originally booked 2 rooms at Pop with Free Dining. We love Pop and we love free dining. We've been there, done that. But honestly, with the ages of our kids all they wanted to do was character meals. They are fun, but it still was painful to sit through a table service meal with them every night. Plus DH and I wanted to try other restaurants since they were "free." But by the time we got the kids their meals and situated, they were done and we hadn't eaten yet, and then we rushed to eat something. It was a waste of food with all the desserts and everyone having their own meal. We are going to try Bonnet Creek. I was debating between Bonnet Creek and Windsor Hills. The things that pushed me over were the option of having a shuttle. I can take the little ones for a nap while DH stays with the older ones at a park. Also my kids like the resort feel. They like staying in a hotel, but this hotel happens to have 3 BRs and a washer/dryer and a kitchen! Windsor Hills just felt like being at home, but at Disney. They look nice, but BC was a better fit for my family. Anyway I'm excited to try it out!

 

[tmac]

I agree that you can't beat staying offsite. A few years ago, we split up our vacation with a few days offsite in a townhouse and a few days at a Deluxe Disney Resort. After being in the townhouse, we felt so crammed in the hotel! Our kids really wanted to go back to the townhouse. They loved having a lot of space, multiple TV's and their own pool! We stayed at Windsor Hills, and I have to disagree with the post above that it is not like a resort. They have a very large pool with a waterslide, a movie theater (where you can chose your own movie and view it the movie theater), a game room, fitness center, playgrounds, basketball/volleyball/tennis courts. I don't know what else constitutes a resort! I've sent you a private message with the website of the place that we stayed. I forgot to mention - the 2 best things about staying offsite - the laundry and definitely much cheaper than staying onsite!

 

[reenie1]

We've stayed at Windsor Hills several times and love it! With little kids, it was the only way for us to go to Disney and still have a relaxing vacation. This year we are staying onsite for free dining, but with only two kids and them being older now, it will work out well for us. Off-site would still be my preference overall, though!

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

But honestly, with the ages of our kids all they wanted to do was character meals. They are fun, but it still was painful to sit through a table service meal with them every night. Plus DH and I wanted to try other restaurants since they were "free." But by the time we got the kids their meals and situated, they were done and we hadn't eaten yet, and then we rushed to eat something. It was a waste of food with all the desserts and everyone having their own meal.

That is what I am afraid of, having to shuffle around to get our four kids situated for both the daily counterservice and table service meals and having to rush to eat and not really enjoy our food or the ambience of the restaurant. I think if you have "been there done that" with staying onsite there isn't that sense that you are "missing something" by getting a vacation rental. I think if we were doing a shorter trip, like maybe three nights or something, staying in hotel room suite wouldn't be so bad; but for us it may not be practical for an entire week, especially since we definitely know we want down time in the evenings and one non park day to just sleep in and let the kids splash in the pool without rushing to get to a park or ADR. Again, it's like comparing apples to oranges, I know there are pluses and minuses with both. We are at the point where we are taking a second look at things and thinking of what is most realistic and practical so that this can be a fun vacation for everyone. We do plan on going back to Orlando a few years after this first trip to see the MK expansion, Sea World, and Universal. Maybe since we only plan to do one or two days at WDW at that time we can try the new AofA resort family suites for just a couple nights as opposed to a whole week. By then, the kids will be older and more self sufficient in the food courts and restaurants.

 

[Purseval]

Also take a look at getting a 3 bedroom at Wyndham Bonnet Creek. The benefit of Bonnet Creek would be that they have pretty good bus service to the parks, which would be a good backup to having a van.

Being at Bonnet Creek with no transportation and no DDP would involve a lot of good planning. Easily doable for for an experienced traveler but this is their first trip. If you take that route make sure you're a good organizer and ask a lot of questions in the forums.

And yes, staying onsite is vastly overrated, especially with young children. When my grown children were young children they did a survey of young children and Disney which found that the favorite part of their WDW experience was the hotel swimming pool. Those results have never changed, survey after survey year after year.

 

[Upatnoon]

Being at Bonnet Creek with no transportation and no DDP would involve a lot of good planning. Easily doable for for an experienced traveler but this is their first trip. If you take that route make sure you're a good organizer and ask a lot of questions in the forums.

And yes, staying onsite is vastly overrated, especially with young children. When my grown children were young children they did a survey of young children and Disney which found that the favorite part of their WDW experience was the hotel swimming pool. Those results have never changed, survey after survey year after year.

What I mean about the bus service at Bonnet Creek wasn't that it would replace having a car or van, but that if some of the family wanted to stay at the parks while the little ones nap, they could do that and then take the bus back if they wanted. It gives you an additional option so everyone in the group doesn't always have to go together.

 

[princessmorgan]

It seems that I had the same experience with you

I don't think we're the only ones. So did you stay offsite? After this thread, I'm starting to doubt my decision. I'm one of those habitual resort changers/indecisve people. Even though I've done it before, we still had a fantastic time! Were we cramped? Yes. Did I swear many times we were not doing this again? Yes. But then I'm back to planning another trip It's the fear of the unknown. I just have to accept that off site or on, we're going to have fun. It's Disney!

 

[twoplustwins]

We also had the same experience. We did the free dining (the kids wanted the character meals). We were a legal six at POR. It was very cramped. We had a great time and really liked POR, but we are staying at Bonnet Creek next time. I was won over by the size, location, full kitchen, and washer and dryer. We drive to WDW, but we can use the BC transportation if we want.
It will be cheaper for us to stay at Bonnet Creek than any discount WDW can offer us, whether it be FD, room discount, or kids free. We will also be buying our tickets from Undercover Tourist.
We do not do EMH, so that is not an issue for us.

Good luck in deciding!!

 

[kathy884]

We typically stay in an offsite condo vs. onsite, especially if we are staying a week or longer. For a short stay I think a hotel is fine, but I really prefer a condo for anything more than four nights. We love the extra space, kitchen (It's so nice to have breakfast and some lunches in, especially if you have kids that are picky eaters), washer and dryer, and condo resort ammenities. Our kids like the condo resorts so much that we only do three theme park days on a week long trip and spend other days swimming, playing tennis, etc. and maybe doing a small mini attraction in the area (Gatorland, Titanic attraction, mini golf). This makes for a relaxing, economical Orlando trip for us. It's just not fun for me to have to eat out every meal -- so free dining deals have never had a big appeal. I love some dinners out, but not every meal.

In 2007 we stayed at Port Orleans Riverside for four nights (freebie accomodations as my husband was attending a conference at the Contemporary -- room there were all full and overflow was at Port Orleans Riverside, but we did an offsite condo resort for a few days before and a few days after. I have to say that I really preferred the offsite condo days. It didn't seem any farther to drive to the theme park from there as from these farther away onsite places. Food, souviners, everything just a few mile out of the world is way less expensive too.

Like others have said, though, Orlando is a great time whereever you stay and we've done it lots of ways -- camping, onsite hotel, offsite hotel, offsite condo, offsite house, etc.

People on this board rather than the Disney resort board are probably going to favor offsite more, so you may want to look on that board too for those who prefer onsite Disney and see what they have to say.

 

[Lucky4me]

We've stayed both on site and off.
We would pick a multi bedroom condo/house over staying in two value rooms any day.
The convenience/relaxation factor is the main reason. Putting the kids down to sleep at night while the adults stay up to relax, have a drink, play cards, soak in the hot tub, is awesome. Private time for Mom and Dad is always a plus. In our family, it seems someone gets sick at least a day or two. Having the separate bedroom so the sick person can rest while everyone else can keep vacationing is priceless. Having the full kitchen for breakfasts, lunches and snacks is priceless.
We come home from vacation still liking each other. Priceless!

We tried Windsor Hills last month and loved it. The security, pretty grounds, the pool, clubhouse, games room, movie theater, little store (that wasn't outrageously over priced) and the kind employees there made our week. The fact it was ten minutes to Disney World/ twenty to Universal, was a bonus. Paying $135 a night for a six bedroom, 3000 sq ft house was great.

We prefer to plan meals on the fly. Having two ADRs a day is too restrictive. For us, eating is not the main attraction. The parks are.

The only time I wouldn't take a rental condo/home over on site, is if I'm going with just one other person. Then, a hotel room is fine!

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

After a couple days of pondering this issue we just decided to keep things the way they are and stick with our package. It will be our first family visit to WDW and we don't want to feel like we've "missed something" . I know I could be wrong and am probably falling into the hype, but we also don't want the extra concerns of renting a vehicle, hauling car seats and booster seats on the airplane, grocery shopping, and going through the process of renting a place right now for our first trip to WDW. I know we will probably start to feel cramped after a few days in the ASMU family suite and we will probably long for our own washer and dryer and other amenities we would have in a vacation house, but we are only going to be at Disney for seven days that will most likely go by fast with all we want to see and do. I am certain that when we go back to Orlando a few years down the road to do Sea World and Universal, we will only spend a couple days at Disney so it will make sense to rent a condo/house offsite at that time, plus the kids will be older, bigger, and will probably want the privacy and separate sleeping areas that we would get with a condo/house rental. We can probably get away with staying onsite in a family suite now while the kids are still young and venture offsite for future Orlando trips. At that point we can say "been there done that" with the whole issue and not second guess ourselves again!

 

[princessmorgan]

I think you made a good decision! Have fun!

 

[gigi1313]

have you considered a cabin at wilderness lodge? you have more space than ASMu suite, you have the full kitchen, deck, washer/dryer(?) and still have the onsite magic and free dining...

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

We did look into the cabins at Fort Wilderness but they are actually smaller than the family suite at AS Music (500 sq ft vs 520 sq ft) and they are much more expensive per night than the family suite. I also don't think we want to incur the expense of renting a golf cart for the week (a lot of people say this is necessary to get around the resort) as well as the fact that we wouldn't get a second bathroom or a queen size bed in the cabins either. As you can see I've looked into quite a few options; but thank you for your feedback

 

[FayeW]

I'm just going to throw this out there: you can't miss what you never had. Your first trip is an excellent time to stay offsite, because the kids will be so excited just to be at WDW they won't care where they stay!

I only have two children, teenagers now. They were 7 & 9 for our first trip. We have never stayed onsite because the 4 of us in one room for 7 days does NOT = Magic! We stayed offsite by using an auction from skyauction.com Saved us so much money our "once in a lifetime" trip turned into 4...

We used skyauction certificates for the first 3 trips, and the last trip 2 yrs ago we splurged and rented a 3 bdrm condo at Windsor Hills. We worked with a fantastic rental company and I wouldn't hesitate to use them again. We loved our condo and if there are any trips to Orlando in the future, we will use them again.

With 4 kids, you will have a lot more flexibility with your own transportation, and the breakfasts and coffee in pyjamas alone would be enough for me to stay offsite.

 

[2Pirates2Princesses]

I'm just going to throw this out there: you can't miss what you never had. Your first trip is an excellent time to stay offsite, because the kids will be so excited just to be at WDW they won't care where they stay! I only have two children, teenagers now. They were 7 & 9 for our first trip. We have never stayed onsite because the 4 of us in one room for 7 days does NOT = Magic! With 4 kids, you will have a lot more flexibility with your own transportation, and the breakfasts and coffee in pyjamas alone would be enough for me to stay offsite.

These are good points and are all things I have considered. For me, it is going back and forth about the convenience & full immersion of being onsite vs. the flexibility & comfort of getting a vacation rental offsite. Even though we are sticking with our package for now (as the convenience factor is the biggest draw for us), we haven't completely abandoned the idea of renting a condo offsite. I guess as we get closer to our vacation things will work out the way they are meant to (which is why I always like to have a plan 'A' and a plan 'B').