Staying off-site

[DawnM]

Okay, you got my attention. Where can you stay for $50/night?

We often pay less that that. We use SkyAuction, eBay, and VRBO. We pay around $250-$300 per week, including taxes, or roughly $35-$40/night. All of them require a weekend to weekend stay (check in varies Fri, Sat, or Sun)

We have been using SkyAuction for 10 years now and have only had one place we didn't like and won't go back to (Westgate property.)

The last 3 years we have stayed at Regal Palms because we can get a 4 bedroom place. Just a hint, their 3 bedroom places are just the same layout as their 4 bedroom but the 4th bedroom is listed as a bonus room or den or something and just has a pull out sofa instead of an actual bed, so it is roughly the same and the door closes for privacy. The 3 bedrooms are middle units and the 4 bedroom listings are all end units.

 

[Alesia]

Okay, you got my attention. Where can you stay for $50/night?

We stayed here: https://www.homeaway.com/vacation-r...yid_text_o_loth&utm_campaign=VRBOOwnerInquiry

The price has gone up since we stayed there, but it's still a fantastic value. You can find a great deal if you look. Literally 45 seconds of searching resulted in this: https://www.homeaway.com/search/flo...9/minNightlyPrice/0/maxNightlyPrice/75?view=l

 

[momto4obkids]

I use skyauction quite often.

This time for our trip Nov.26- Dec.3 I ended up getting a 3 bedroom at Cypress Pointe for $320 total.

 

[DawnM]

I use skyauction quite often.

This time for our trip Nov.26- Dec.3 I ended up getting a 3 bedroom at Cypress Pointe for $320 total.

Have you stayed at this location before? We stayed for 2 weeks once. It was ok, but the walls were a bit thin. The people next door got up at 4am, probably to catch a flight, and were so loud packing up and even vacuuming.......ugh! Hopefully you will have quiet neighbors. We requested the top floor to avoid the noise, but still had it.

 

[Shmily1]

I posted this on another board but wanted to get input from here also. I'm sure most everyone will side with my DH on this one but I wanted to see what you had to say nonetheless:

Maybe I feel an unreasonable amount of loyalty to Disney but the thought of going to WDW and NOT stating on property makes my heart hurt a little. I'm not sure when our next trip will be (2017 at the earliest) but recently DH has really started pushing the idea of not staying at a Disney resort for our next trip. I think he's a little bent out of shape at the recent litany of price increases and that's coloring his perception a bit, but there is also the reality that the next time we go we will have a 10yo that we will be paying adult prices for and 3yo that we have not had to pay for to this point (and just so I don't leave him out, our DS that we will still be able to pay kids rates for) so we're looking at double the price of our last trip just bc of changes in our fam. I've looked and OF COURSE we can go and stay off-site and pay less but I just hate the idea of not staying on thr resort property. Anyone else been in this predicament and have insight?

I've done both and much prefer to stay onsite. I stayed offsite most recently in November when I booked a trip the day before arriving and there weren't any rooms "onsite" so we stayed at DS. Here's why:

• Transportation- I don't like having to find my way to the resort/rental after being so tired. I'd much rather catch the bus and let them navigate that problem.
• No parking fees-I hate paying $20 a day for parking at the parks and most offsite hotels now also charge parking.
• No resort fees-Resort fees are ridiculous and rampant everywhere right now. Just add that crap in the cost of the resort and don't charge me for it when I get there!
• Dining plan-We don't always get the dining plan but it is super convenient and I love having it all paid for before I get there. It's just easier and I don't have to think about paying while there.
• EMH-I love evening EMH. That's extra time for me to do anything. Even if it's just shop or get in that one more attraction, that's my extra time and I love it!!
• MagicBands/KTTW-either way, it was everything I need to keep up with. I didn't have a resort key, a park ticket, debit/credit cards, etc. Just hang on to one thing and be done. Super easy.

To me, the convenience of these things totally makes it worth the extra to stay onsite. I'll pay the difference to have them.

 

[disneyseniors]

Hi OP, I understand your situation completely. It's just my husband and me, and I am the one looking at offsite.
We have stayed onsite for several years now and loved it! We love the atmosphere, walking the paths at our resort soaking it all in. We also love the ME and the convenience of putting our luggage onto the plane and forgetting about it til we get to our resort where it is delivered to us. We also are in the minority here and like the buses. We use them all the time at a resort where everyone complains about the bus system. We have stayed there 4 times and never had to wait for a bus over 15 minutes; 10 minutes being normal.
We don't find it difficult to get away from the hustle and bustle of the parks at all. We go to our resort in the afternoon and rest, sometimes around a quiet pool with hardly anyone in it.
We love the Disney bubble, for now! I know I sound like a Disney rep, but that's not the case.

On the other hand, since all the new charges, changes, etc, we are sadly considering staying offsite. We have researched and found we can find a 2 br condo with fireworks view for the price of one day at WDW!!! Wow, were our eyes opened. However, we have to weight that against renting a car, parking, driving to the parks and parking, getting to the front gate, etc, etc.

My husband doesn't like to drive while on vacation, esp in Florida. To him that is a big perk to staying onsite.
I don't want to cook while on vacation, even a little breakfast. So that's a reason to love onsite.

We are still weighing each side against the other. But we will probably stay onsite one more time to see just how much the changes affect us.
I guess it's a personal thing; what you like to do and how you like to do it.

Good luck and have fun; after all, it is Disney!

 

[momto4obkids]

Have you stayed at this location before? We stayed for 2 weeks once. It was ok, but the walls were a bit thin. The people next door got up at 4am, probably to catch a flight, and were so loud packing up and even vacuuming.......ugh! Hopefully you will have quiet neighbors. We requested the top floor to avoid the noise, but still had it.

We've never stayed here. We bring box fans to drown out noises, so hopefully that will help. lol

It seems to get pretty good reviews though.

We have stayed at Summer Bay, Silver Lake and Celebration World Resort so far.

 

[HM]

Staying offsite really isn't as awful as you assume.We stayed onsite at least once a year for many years starting in 1999.
We started staying offsite a few years ago, when onsite prices started looking ridiculous to us.
We've stayed in some great timeshare resorts with great pools and amenities and you still feel like the vacation is special.
Travel to property if very easy.

 

[DnA2010]

We've only stayed offsite, but have only done one big trip with sister, BIL and mom, and then a few pre-post cruise nights here and there.
I really want to try onsite, due to the hype on Dis, but I don't know if that will happen because:
1. We are from the west coast so our trip generally won't be just Disney- we will want to do Universal, DC, hockey game if on etc, so will need a car anways
2. I can't see us doing the dining plan as much as I'd love to- we share meals a lot, don't order non-alcoholic drinks other than water, so doesn't really make sense
3. Our condo that had 3 bedrooms, kitchen, laundry etc was like $60/night, super close to the parks- when we return to WDW we would prob need at least 3 rooms and I can't see being able to talk the rest of the group into going to a hotel room from having a condo.
4. Extra bathrooms
5. I'm nervous that it won't live up to the hype kinda like our Disney Cruise experience- while we loved loved loved our cruise on the Fantasy, to us it wasn't worth double the cost of our cruises on RCL. I wonder if staying on site would be the same- I keep reading about how things aren't what they used to be.

I think perhaps if we end up going sometime with just our family, we may try it, but our group tends to include my mom and sister's family.
We are also used to DL and staying offsite, so don't really "get" the onsite thing (haven't not stayed onsite before)

 

[sdoll]

I love threads like this. We stayed onsite the first couple of visits and we too loved the Disney bubble. We loved the busing even when our kids were little. Then my sister bought a time share at Wyndham Bonnet Creek and changed our whole way of thinking. We went with them one time and became hooked. Before going offsite we always hated when it was nap time or bedtime and we weren't quite ready to sleep. Or waking up in the middle of the night to use the restroom only to panic that you would wake a sleeping kid.. In the time share the kids have their own room. We have a kitchen, a washer and dryer etc. We have done dinner both ways eating out for our meals or cooking in our room. I refuse to buy lunchables at home so when we go to the parks I buy them and the kids are in heaven. My Dh and I will either pack or buy counter service. So for us it works to stay offsite. The grounds at Bonnet Creek are beautiful too we enjoy walking around the lake. I swear i could be a sales rep for them i love it there so much. I am fortunate that we can usually buy points off my sister but when we can't I buy them from different sellers. I have been very successful buying off of Ebay. I don't think i would be as happy staying in a regular hotel offsite but renting a timeshare is perfect for our family. My advise is give it a try and go in with an open mind. I should add that we were upset when my sister convinced us to try her timeshare we thought we would hate it. We love it!

 

[Praying Colonel]

We stay onsite about half the time now. Generally we prefer it if we have a shorter stay. For example, DW, DS & I did a DCL cruise in Jan and did a day before and after at the parks. We stayed onsite for that. But if we're going to be there for a week or more, those 250-300 square feet WDW hotel rooms starts feeling pretty small. It's nice to have more room (and more rooms) to spread out.

 

[MamaBelle4]

I've never stayed onsite and am looking forward to my first onsite stay in January.

However, we stayed in Lake Buena Vista Resort and Spa. It was right offsite, so close. The room was beautiful. We stayed in a 3 bedroom, double master bath with jacuzzi tubs, 3 bathrooms overall, fully equipped kitchen and laundry facilities for 6 nights for under 900. There were 8 of us and we had plenty of room. And the pool was awesome, the kids loved it!

I want to try staying in the "bubble", but if it isn't as fantastic as I truly believe it will be, we will probably go back there. It was a wonderful stay. Seriously cannot recommend enough.

 

[DawnM]

We've never stayed here. We bring box fans to drown out noises, so hopefully that will help. lol

It seems to get pretty good reviews though.

We have stayed at Summer Bay, Silver Lake and Celebration World Resort so far.

Thankfully it was only that one morning that it was really bad. And we did have white noise machines, but those can only drown out so much.

 

[Darcy03231]

I've done both. If only 2 of us are traveling and its a shorter trip we stay on-site. If there are more than 2 of us or a longer trip (more than a week) we stay off-site in a private pool home. We're all adults now and we've found that we're much more comfortable staying off-site with more room. Another big factor is the food. We noticed a big difference in the quality of WDW dining on our last trip. Staying off-site with a car affords us better food options than staying on-site.

Last summer there were 6 of us (8 on the weekends) and we were there for 10 days. We stayed in a Disney themed 4 bedroom/2 bathroom private pool home for $100/night inclusive of all taxes and fees.
'

 

[HappyHappy]

Thank you all for your reply. Now I am addicted to viewing Home Away, VRBO etc. I had a perfect one picked out but the owner called me and said he is selling so couldn't commit as far out as we were looking to book. Oh well. When at first you don't succeed... Thanks again. This is fun!!

 

[FINFAN]

I suggest a split stay, 3 nights on -site and 7 off , if you can swing 10 days. Hit the parks all you can during first 3 nights, then on the day you switch resorts enjoy the pool , just relax. Best of both worlds. Heck we did 1 night on site, a week at Windsor Hills (had a crazy great rate of $199 for a 2/2/ condo for the week) and 1 night back on-site the last time we went. Worked out great ! I will add tho, our DD had an AP at the time which covered our parking during the off site part.

 

[kydisneyfans]

We've done both, and ultimately decided to buy a resale DVC in 2013 to get the best of both worlds. Skyauction is great to get nice condos for a good price. Add in the price of a rental car, fuel, and parking fees and the cost savings isn't as great as it looks. Now we just book anywhere from a studio(for 2-3 of us) to a 2 bedroom if we take the family and have plenty of room while onsite. We use wegoshop for groceries or get the dining plan. We like the convenience and the fact we can go for however long we want without driving a car. I definitely can see both side of the coin, our preference is onsite.

 

[buzz2400]

It is usually myself and my son and we always stayed onsite. One year I decided to stay at windsor hills. We loved it. However, with free dining we started to stay onsite again. In 2017 we are going again but with son's girlfriend so we will definitely stay at windsor hills. I love that you don't have to walk a mile to get food or to park like you do when you stay onsite (we always use our car and not the bus). It was also nice to go to your own room and be alone. I will miss the free dining but with the kitchen, I am going to buy cold cuts and bring sandwiches to the parks (won't have to wait in long lines to get food either). I don't like the idea that I won't be able to get fastpass until 30 days before instead of 60 but will make the best of it since this will be my last trip for a long time.

 

[dizzy daisy]

Like others here, we've done both. OP, what's your hesitation? I ask because I had one main issue.

The one thing I had the hardest time letting go of mentally was the transportation. I find WDW transportation so darn easy I was worried it would feel like a chore driving to/from the parks. I was worried that somehow we'd be missing out on some WDW magic. I grew up in CA, spent a whole lot of time at Disneyland and we always drove. So when we'd leave the parks we'd get right in to traffic, stress, etc. There always seemed to be congestion, or an accident slowing things down and a 'fend for yourself' attitude somewhere along the route, lol. It just seemed to underscore that the day was over and that we were out of our Disney bubble. I just didn't want to do that at WDW too when the resort transport was so 'dreamy' in comparison.

Turned out driving ourselves at WDW was a breeze and my worries were unfounded! It was nice to get in the car, crank up the air and laugh about our day. We were fortunate to not hit any major traffic as it was Easter. That's not to say it was easier or harder than the resort buses, but we found that sort of *instant* time out of the crowds pretty nice (surprisingly) and because of where we stayed we didn't have to drive along a lot of 'city' streets so our Disney bubble didn't burst like at the end of a DL day

Happy planning!

 

[angierae]

I'm looking at a split stay for our next big trip, because we really enjoyed Universal and there's other stuff in the area we'd like to do. I can see doing four or five nights on property and then moving off-property to do other stuff. Not sure.

Right now I'm trying to talk myself out of a weekend birthday trip this fall, because we went to Universal this year instead of the big fall trip I had planned, so now it feels like I should just do what I'd planned to do, and wait for a lot of the stuff at DHS to finish and then take a big trip again.

But this fall will be 3 years since we've been to Disney, which is the longest I've gone since our first trip in 2010, and I feel it calling me home...