Staying offsite?

[Bethany10]

We're looking at maybe coming down in October of 21, but DH is waffling over the cost. We have seasonal AP's and I'm hoping to get more than one trip out of them in 2021 as we will likely let them expire after this round.

Plans are firm to stay on site in June, but I'm looking at what might be tolerable for us budget wise if we planned a shorter stay that's (gasp) less Universal centric. I'm sure Orlando is chock a block with condo's any Recommendations?

Admin, my apologies if this is the wrong place to post this. I didn't want to post in the hotel subforum as it's not hotel related. Please let me know where It needs to go if it needs to move. thanks.

 

[macraven]

You are fine here!

 

[Alynw]

I always stay offsite and luv it. U would be amazed at what u can rent for a fraction of the cost. I rent a 3 bed 2 bath home with private heated pool and 2 car garage for $100 night, located 5 min from disney and 15 from UO. I use flipkey for the most part, there are others but they seem to charge nonrefundable insurance fees as where flipkey has a refundable deposit. If u fly southwest, u can also find some really good deals on places to stay through them as well.

 

[Lynne G]

I know many stay at the Sheraton Vistana Resort, they have villas, with kitchens and laundry inside the villa, and they are nicely decorated, and a short drive to Universal and the other parks. They also have pools to use, and is a pretty resort. You can sometimes get deals for them, so look for that. Check out the Orlando Hotels and Attractions main titled thread on the Dis, as many discuss different hotels and homes around Disney and Universal that may help you decide.

 

[CyndiLooWho]

We are Wyndham owners, so we never stay onsite. We absolutely still enjoy our vacations, but we save money eating off the reservation and really love having separate bed and baths from the kids.

I would absolutely go for it if I was you.

 

[cschaaf]

We've used VRBO to stay in Orlando a few times - for Disney trips. We usually need two hotel rooms which adds up fast.

Have you looked at the AP rates for Endless Summer or Cabana Bay? They look to be in the $80-90 range for the October dates - that's tough to beat.

 

[Bethany10]

Have you looked at the AP rates for Endless Summer or Cabana Bay? They look to be in the $80-90 range for the October dates - that's tough to beat.

I ❤ Cabana Bay, so it pains me to look into other options. I've only priced 2 family suites, vs the 2 bedroom suite at CB. Your comment leads me to want to price 2 regular rooms, especially for a shorter stay. That could be a nice sweet spot for us in that we're on property but it's enough space.

 

[cfoxga]

Onsite vs offsite is a very personal decision. It really depends on how you use the resorts.

At Disney, we stayed once at Animal Kingdom Lodge and rented houses. At Universal, we've only stayed onsite. The value resorts in Universal are fairly comparable in price to office, especially at the new ones. I see prices as low at $75 per night for 1 bedroom and $100 per night for 2 bedroom with the APH rates.

Not having to drive a car while on vacation is a big deal for me. My mindset changes and I just seem to relax more. The Universal bubble has enough to keep us fully engaged for 3-4 nights before it is time to leave.

 

[georgina]

I'm often onsite at Universal, but have had several combined Disney/Uni trips when I was offsite closer to Disney. My last offsite stay was at Grande resorts by Diamond, which I got really cheap through Orbitz, and it's on Palm Parkway so a really easy drive to Universal, avoiding I4. Vistana is nice too. I was going to use a free Marriott certificate to try out the Residence Inn near Universal in Oct, but not sure I'm going on that trip.

 

[Bethany10]

Not having to drive a car while on vacation is a big deal for me. My mindset changes and I just seem to relax more. The Universal bubble has enough to keep us fully engaged for 3-4 nights before it is time to leave.

I completely get it, not cooking for me is a HUGE deal. I wanted the kitchenette and microwave when we went down last year as I knew we'd use the extra room, but having everyone look at me and go what's for dinner mom after a long day in the parks is NOT my idea of vacation. My concern with a house/condo is that's exactly what would happen as we'd have a full kitchen and "it's cheaper" to cook. Yes it is, but there's an emotional/physical cost I'm not willing to pay while on this kind of vacation.

 

[cschaaf]

I completely get it, not cooking for me is a HUGE deal. I wanted the kitchenette and microwave when we went down last year as I knew we'd use the extra room, but having everyone look at me and go what's for dinner mom after a long day in the parks is NOT my idea of vacation. My concern with a house/condo is that's exactly what would happen as we'd have a full kitchen and "it's cheaper" to cook. Yes it is, but there's an emotional/physical cost I'm not willing to pay while on this kind of vacation.

Ha, right! Every time we rent a house anywhere, we go with the best intentions of cooking at least some of our own meals. Then, when we get there, it's like we look for any little excuse to not do so "Look at this spatula! It's red! I can't be expected to cook with a red spatula! Let's just go out to eat tonight... but tomorrow, we'll make our own dinner."

I ❤ Cabana Bay, so it pains me to look into other options. I've only priced 2 family suites, vs the 2 bedroom suite at CB. Your comment leads me to want to price 2 regular rooms, especially for a shorter stay. That could be a nice sweet spot for us in that we're on property but it's enough space.

On our last trip, we had all 3 adult daughters (early 20s) + 1 brought her GF. We had one night at CB with one standard room for us, and one family suite for the girls. That worked fine. We moved to RPR for a few nights with 2 standard rooms and they made it work.

 

[RamblingMad]

I like staying onsite. The hotel quality is pretty good given the price. I also like staying at the Hyatt, but the last time I went it wasn’t in that great of shape.

 

[andieb0602]

Ha, right! Every time we rent a house anywhere, we go with the best intentions of cooking at least some of our own meals. Then, when we get there, it's like we look for any little excuse to not do so "Look at this spatula! It's red! I can't be expected to cook with a red spatula! Let's just go out to eat tonight... but tomorrow, we'll make our own dinner."

Lol! Our last Disney-only trip we stayed at Bonnet Creek. We *loved* the condo and the amount of space, and brought a bunch of groceries with us. We did really well by eating breakfast in the condo, and we even went back to the room once or twice and ate sandwiches for lunch, but I could *not* make myself cook dinner. I did manage to heat up pre-cooked taco meat for dinner one night but another night we wound up debating what we wanted to eat for over an hour and then waited another hour and fifteen minutes for pizza to be delivered. Never mind that it would have been faster to just cook the bleeping dinner!

 

[CyndiLooWho]

Lol! Our last Disney-only trip we stayed at Bonnet Creek. We *loved* the condo and the amount of space, and brought a bunch of groceries with us. We did really well by eating breakfast in the condo, and we even went back to the room once or twice and ate sandwiches for lunch, but I could *not* make myself cook dinner. I did manage to heat up pre-cooked taco meat for dinner one night but another night we wound up debating what we wanted to eat for over an hour and then waited another hour and fifteen minutes for pizza to be delivered. Never mind that it would have been faster to just cook the bleeping dinner!

LOVE LOVE LOVE Wyndham Bonnet Creek. I've stayed there 6x in the last 12 years and have 2 more stays booked in Dec and Jan. It's an amazing resort.

 

[andieb0602]

LOVE LOVE LOVE Wyndham Bonnet Creek. I've stayed there 6x in the last 12 years and have 2 more stays booked in Dec and Jan. It's an amazing resort.

Yes! We talked many times about having a vacation there and not even going into the parks.

 

[Alynw]

I completely get it, not cooking for me is a HUGE deal. I wanted the kitchenette and microwave when we went down last year as I knew we'd use the extra room, but having everyone look at me and go what's for dinner mom after a long day in the parks is NOT my idea of vacation. My concern with a house/condo is that's exactly what would happen as we'd have a full kitchen and "it's cheaper" to cook. Yes it is, but there's an emotional/physical cost I'm not willing to pay while on this kind of vacation.

Our very first trip, we had the ideal that cooking would save alot of money and grilling out would be fun. Once we got there, first thing we did was run to Walmart to get consumables and food. We spent $250 on groceries alone. Needless to say, turned out to be a bad ideal, when we left we threw out $200 in groceries. Was a lesson learned, when ur on vacation nobody wants to have to cook and clean after a day at the parks. We have since figured out how to save money on eating out and still not cooking big dinners. What works for us, we buy quick easy eats for breakfast only, things like eggs, pop tarts, toast, cereal, lunch meats, heat n serve platters and we will eat a good breakfast before we leave. Then we just buy small quick snacks for lunch so we save money on eating out breakfast and lunch. So ur concerns about cooking are spot on.

 

[tony67]

Ive stayed off site a few times at the various Sheraton\Marriott etc.. condos and they are a great value no doubt.
In the end though - I prefer the convenience of being on site and being able to go back to the room for an hour or two in the middle of the day, take a shower and go back out. When you pay to park you cant leave and come back. As for the shuttle buses they often took forever and were packed. Typically they are shared by more then one resort - so it was just not worth it in the end.

The thing about being on property - you are sort of stuck on property. Ive been wanting to check out things around Universal and its just too much hassle. My last three trips I was planning to check out Vault 5421 - it's a post apocalyptic craft beer bar in the back of a comic book store - I still have not made it over. Hopefully its still there when I get back to Orlando.

 

[martikus]

At Disney off-site is fine. We prefer driving ourselves to parks anyways. Don’t feel much advantage anymore to stay onsite.

universal so different since everything so close. We will only stay at one of the resorts that offers free EPs as once you do universal that way no turning back. We love walking or taking boats to the parks. And it’s so close and easy to return for a couple hour break or pool time.

 

[Alynw]

Ive stayed off site a few times at the various Sheraton\Marriott etc.. condos and they are a great value no doubt.
In the end though - I prefer the convenience of being on site and being able to go back to the room for an hour or two in the middle of the day, take a shower and go back out. When you pay to park you cant leave and come back. As for the shuttle buses they often took forever and were packed. Typically they are shared by more then one resort - so it was just not worth it in the end.

The thing about being on property - you are sort of stuck on property. Ive been wanting to check out things around Universal and its just too much hassle. My last three trips I was planning to check out Vault 5421 - it's a post apocalyptic craft beer bar in the back of a comic book store - I still have not made it over. Hopefully its still there when I get back to Orlando.

Actually, if u pay to park u can leave and come back as many times as u like at no additional cost. U can even go to other parks and it doesn't cost anything extra, u just show receipt from ur original parking fee. Once u pay for parking at any park, u are free to go and park at any of the parks until the last park closes at no extra cost.

 

[tony67]

At Disney off-site is fine. We prefer driving ourselves to parks anyways. Don’t feel much advantage anymore to stay onsite.

universal so different since everything so close. We will only stay at one of the resorts that offers free EPs as once you do universal that way no turning back. We love walking or taking boats to the parks. And it’s so close and easy to return for a couple hour break or pool time.

I dont do Disney anymore but with the whole fastpass thing I'd probably stay on property. the few times I did it the whole getting back and forth was just a lot of hassle. I found the buses at Caribbean Beach or Coronado to be very efficient

Actually, if u pay to park u can leave and come back as many times as u like at no additional cost. U can even go to other parks and it doesn't cost anything extra, u just show receipt from ur original parking fee. Once u pay for parking at any park, u are free to go and park at any of the parks until the last park closes at no extra cost.

Did not know that with Universal. i still find the whole back and forth time sink to be too much - but if I had a big family with me I'd probably do offsite at a multi room condo set up.

Ive also seen some vlogs recently of the themed houses off site and those look pretty cool