Staying off-site??

[Tammydc30]

Do you loose some of the magic? We need a bigger room. Can't afford the deluxe hotels at Disney. We are considering staying off-site. CONSIDERING! I don't want to loose any of the magic. Help! Any advice?

 

[littlewitch34]

My dad is renting a house in Haines City,FL in the Southern Dunes complex. It's magical for us because the house is nicer than our house at home!

 

[Chellymouse]

We stayed offsite once and haven't stayed offsite since. For us it was the hassle of having to drive, who was awake enough to drive, not being able to take a break during the day, ect. Many people say they drive around property anyway or just plan their days differently when they stay offsite, but we found it to be a real pain. Have you checked the DVC rent/trade boards? You may be able to get a super deal on a DVC villa on property.

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Have you thought about getting two "connecting" rooms rooms at one of the values or moderates? This way you get four double beds and two bathrooms. By connecting you can get directly from one room to the other without going outside or into a corridor.

 

[snowglobes]

Do you loose some of the magic? We need a bigger room. Can't afford the deluxe hotels at Disney. We are considering staying off-site. CONSIDERING! I don't want to loose any of the magic. Help! Any advice?

of course it's not as great as staying on site but we did that one year and it was super fun anyway. we had one of those budget hotels (dont remember the name) right near by. saved us a A LOT of money off the trip. give it a try

 

[aribelle]

Do you loose some of the magic? We need a bigger room. Can't afford the deluxe hotels at Disney. We are considering staying off-site. CONSIDERING! I don't want to loose any of the magic. Help! Any advice?

Nope, you won't lose any of the magic. And....since it's cheaper off site, you can stay longer....thereby getting MORE magic.

If your concern is the Disney theme aspect of a room, then there are plenty of offsite condos/houses that offer everything from a little theme maybe some wall art or bedspread/pillows, to ones that would put Disney itself to shame that have murals on the bedroom walls with all the trimmings. It all depends on what you want. Keep in mind, that the more theme, often the higher price. Though still less than a deluxe! But the ones that have the extreme theme stuff are usually about the same price per night as a moderate. Since I'm usually looking to save money I figure the kids have enough of that at home, a change is nice, lol.

 

[MickeyNicki]

I hope not! We are staying offsite next weekend, first time in 6 years. We turned in points for a free 2 night stay. A free offsite stay at WDW instead of staying home is magical to mee!

 

[spiceycat]

both can be fine in different ways.

no EMH - this means a lot to me - so even when staying offsite plan a night or two onsite for this.

No DME - so you need to provide your own transportation

no WDW buses - again some hotels provide transportation - but if you have your own you will be happier

no free parking - have an annual pass.

 

[Laura_Lewis]

Although it is just my DH & I and we could afford to stay on site, we choose to rent a house offsite instead. I love Disney, but at the end of the day, I want quiet to wind down. Hotel rooms can only provide so much quiet. In fact (my opinion only) some of the 'magic' was lost by being awoken at the GF at midnight by kids running down the hallway knocking on doors. We've stayed at PO (Dixie Landings at the time) and the only real 'Disney touch' was a Mickey Mouse phone in the room as I recall. The deluxe resorts have even less theming than the values and moderates. I should also mention that I love having the private pool and hot tub. I do have a full kitchen in the house we rent, I don't cook there, but it is convenient to have a microwave, etc.

As far as the driving part goes, even when have stayed on site, we still drive ourselves. We hate being at the mercy of the transportation system and it's crowds. Of course this is just my opinion, but offsite works for us.

 

[Chelley00]

You are going to hear people tell you both ways, but I can tell you we've only been once and we stayed offsite, and I doubt any of those onsite guests had any more of a magical vacation than we did. Just because we didn't sleep on pillows purchased by Disney doesn't mean we weren't "Immersed in the Magic" when we left WDW for the day. We were still in Orlando, and so close to Disney, and were at Disney all day long that my kids didn't care that we weren't squished into 2 little hotel rooms with a Mickey wake up call.

As someone else said, staying offsite allows us to stay longer so we get more magical days.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Do you loose some of the magic? We need a bigger room. Can't afford the deluxe hotels at Disney. We are considering staying off-site. CONSIDERING! I don't want to loose any of the magic. Help! Any advice?

We just rent two connecting rooms at either POP or All-Star Movies because we are a family of six. I do like to be submerged in the magic, but more importantly we really like to have the dining plan (saves us money with a family our size), we like the bus transportation, we like the extra magic hours, we like being able to charge things back to the room, we like being able to send packages we have bought back to the resort so we don't have to lug it around all day (or leave it, as my daughter has done in the past!), etc. All of those things are "magical" to me.

 

[Chelley00]

but more importantly we really like to have the dining plan (saves us money with a family our size),

Whenever I've run the numbers for our family of 6, staying offsite is still cheaper than 2 rooms at Pop with the dining plan, even with eating lunch and dinner in the parks everyday.

 

[wdhinn89]

We have stayed offsite at a condo many times. I liked it especially when my children were young. It was great to close their bedroom door and sit in the living room relaxing with my husband before we went to bed. It also was great not to disturb my family in the morning while I showered and they slept. Breakfasts were easy too, we went to the supermarket and picked up a few items along with water and snacks. Saved us alittle money.

I do like to stay onsite for shorter trips. We then utilize DME. But when we vacation 7 days or more it is nice to have a car and explore a little around Orlando and have all the extra room the condo provides.

The cost of the condo ran about $100 a night, a little more on weekends and was only 10 minutes from the park. It was great!

,

 

[tinytink22]

We stayed offsite in Feb and found quite nice everyone had their own room and washroom and the house had a inclosed pool and hot tub it also had a disney themed room. Also to get to Disney World it only took 5 minutes.

 

[D&DDisney]

You are going to hear people tell you both ways, but I can tell you we've only been once and we stayed offsite, and I doubt any of those onsite guests had any more of a magical vacation than we did. Just because we didn't sleep on pillows purchased by Disney doesn't mean we weren't "Immersed in the Magic" when we left WDW for the day. We were still in Orlando, and so close to Disney, and were at Disney all day long that my kids didn't care that we weren't squished into 2 little hotel rooms with a Mickey wake up call.

As someone else said, staying offsite allows us to stay longer so we get more magical days.

Same here. Stayed onsite once and was disappointed. Didn't live up to all the hype. Magic is what you make it.

 

[kydisneyfans]

For me the question is "Does the magic offset the money needed to obtain it?" After 2 onsite stays and 4 offsite, that answer to us is a big "NO".

I can get 3 times the room at a 1/3 of the cost offsite. Disney transport is mediocre at best, most of our wait times in the afternoon were longer than our drive back to the condo. It actually was easier to take breaks during the day and drive offsite than to stay onsite and use the busses.

As for meals, we usually do counter service on site, then do a sit down meal during down times during the week.

Having more than 1 bedroom is great, 2 TVs in the unit is great. A screened in patio is great, kids activities, and even a kitchen makes things even better.

An extra thousand dollars in my pocket in todays economy is more important than 100% Disney magic.

 

[Debbie-TN]

We love to stay off-site. I really like staying in the town of Kissimmee. It's so touristy. It is so nice to have your own car. At the end of the night you can go straight to you car instead of waiting with hundreds of others to cram onto a bus, possibly have to stand all the way back to the hotel, then walk all the way back to your room(probably the building in the very back). And don't get me started on transportation to other resorts for meals.

 

[turning40withMickey]

We stayed onsite last year. We have been to disney eight times since the birth of DS15. Always offsite until last year when we thought we would immerse ourselves in Disney and the dining plan, transportation, etc.
We got two rooms at POP, which was great. We have been spoiled by off site house/condo rentals, though, and even though we had two rooms with two bathrooms, we were still crowded. Offsite houses offer kitchens, living rooms, many tvs and bathrooms and space to get away from each other! For us, having a little seperation space makes the vacation even more magical. It was very nice to rely on Disney to transport us everywhere, we didnt rent a car, but you do have to wait around for busses....its all give and take. We LOVED the extra magic hours, but the meal plan was not a money saver for us. It was hard for us to eat that much food, though we did like trying out all the places we usually skip over when we have a car to eat off property. Every vacation is magical, don't set yourself up for disappointment. Both onsite and offsite have plusses and minuses, just plan to have a great time whichever you decide!

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

To me, the difference is when you are off-site, you are having an "Orlando vacation." When you are on-site, you are having a "Disney vacation."

 

[aribelle]

Whenever I've run the numbers for our family of 6, staying offsite is still cheaper than 2 rooms at Pop with the dining plan, even with eating lunch and dinner in the parks everyday.

Well, the difference is that you have 2 children whom Disney considers adults for the pricing on the dining plan. Paying $10 a day for your child to eat 2 meals and a snack is a bargain in the outside world. But...paying $38 for your 12 year old to pick at their plates like they do at home, is not a bargain. Especially when you add in the extra cost of the room(s) over what you'd be paying offsite.

I figure that I'm saving about $70 a day by staying offsite (not including all the other things like more space, private pool, kitchen, laundry). So I add that $70 into our food budget (the dining plan for us would be $114 a day). There is no way that the three of us could eat $184 of food every day.....we'll be hard pressed to do the $114 more than a couple of times. My girls aren't big eaters....the three of us tend to share 2 CS meals, and often we'll get an appetizer and 2 Ts meals to share. We rarely eat desserts at home, so while we'd probably eat them on the dining plan, it's not a must or even a want....if there is a particularly good dessert we'll just get one to share. Snacks we usually bring with us, again because we don't eat much sweets and other snacks are either hard to find, or boring....I can make popcorn at home. Though I do plan to try the stuffed pretzel's this time around, didn't know about them last time.

So it really comes down to having to do the math...and knowing your family and their eating habits. We have no trouble sharing food, we've always done that. But I know there are a lot of people who simply can't see sharing food, even if it means that food will be thrown away because the person ordering didn't finish. It's a matter of personal preferences. I prefer to not see food wasted, so it makes sharing more sensible to me. Others see sharing as somehow wrong or unappealing so they don't.

I wish there was a Junior dining plan for those that are over 10 but under 18.....most kids this age don't have the palate to want to eat the fancy meals that the adult TS price is based on. I also wish there were more middle age choices....my kids don't want to eat mac&cheese or hot dogs or chicken fingers every day either. But they aren't quite ready for some of the adult choices. That's where the CS comes in...we can enjoy something different from at home and yet not have too much to eat or cost to much.