stay with disney or not?

[MICKEY88]

I agree with checking out vacation rental homes, if you choose to stay offsite..there are a lot of terrific homes close to WDW..some are disney themed..including mickey shaped jacuzzi, and pools.......some have a view of the fireworks...it all depends on personal preference...if either option was the only way to go..the other options would cease to exist...


gather info on both and decide what works best for you....

 

[Texowl2]

In our minds, it comes down to 2 questions:

1) Will you be getting up early enough to take advantage of early entry?

2) What can you afford?

If your answer to one is yes (and that is certainly our recommendation), stay onsite. Early entry is worth the extra you pay to stay on site as well as possible access to E-Ride nights. The disney hotels are very expensive and very nice hotels for much less are available in Kissimmee, which is closer than some of the Disney hotels to some of the parks.

If you stay onsite, in our minds, there are only two ways to go. If you can afford it, stay at one of the MK monorail hotels, since they make transportation very convenient with the Poly the best. Otherwise stay at one of the All Stars, which is much less expensive, but gets you the early entry.

We go to Disney to be able to experience their very unique attractions at the parks and we like to maximize our ability and money in doing so.

Finally, we always rent a car as it makes Orlando very convenient and Orlando is probably the cheapest rental car market in the country. With effort and some planning, you can get a great deal and offsetting taxi fare puts a big dent in its incremental cost.

 

[Lesley]

I vote on-site if you're staying at a moderate or deluxe resort. But I much prefer the downtown disney hotels (not disney owned but on site) to the so-called value resorts. When we stayed there I really felt ripped off for what I paid...and we had a discounted rate! We've stayed at the Wyndham Palace twice and its wonderful. Of course, we got it through Priceline for less than the cost of a "value" resort...but there are other hotels in the DTD hotel area that have rates that are fairly comparable. They don't have decorations like the value resorts, but the rooms are much larger and the location is actually more convenient to everything.

Actually I'd pack a tent and stay at Fort Wilderness before I'd stay at a value resort again.....and the campground is truly wonderful. But my preferred accomodations are DVC villas!

 

[jimmytammy]

I love your car!! You just gave me some ideas, and that aint good!!

 

[kidpluto]

I would definetly saty on site because i feel that if you go to disney you have to have the whole experience during every second of the day, from 12 in the morning to 12 the next day. Although I have never stayed offsite I don't every want to try because I love disney too much.