Staying onsite still worth it?

[SnackyStacky]

The first time I went, I stayed off site. It was nice, but I didn't like having to say goodbye to Disney World each night.

The last time I went, I stayed in a Downtown Disney resort, and LOVED it!!!

For my trip in September, we looked at prices for the Grosvernor. It was $74/night before taxes, which was pretty comparable to what I was finding elsewhere. I believe with taxes, it came to about $99/night.

But then, we managed to book a room at POR for $84/night INCLUDING all taxes and fees.

Basically, if you look hard enough, and long enough, you can find some on property rooms cheaper or only a few dollars more than offsite!

Check out www.onlinevacationmall.com That's where we got our room. If you click on hotel only vacations, you can find some GREAT rates. The package we picked had the option of getting travel protection, a rental car, passes not only to Disney but Universal, Sea World, Busch Gardens, and a SLEW of other attractions, and most of them are unbeatable rates.

 

[starshine73]

Onsite is definitely the only choice for us! Why? Number one, we hate to drive! This means we don't have to rent a car, and we never get lost. The package shipping to your room is great too. You can charge things to your room card if you link your credit card to it. I tend to have more stamina than DH and I can keep going while he goes back to the room to nap. Like someone else posted, it was kind of nice on our last trip to sleep in a bit and not worry about early entry. Not that I don't really want it back!! But it was early December and we didn't really need it. Never tried Enights but hoping to this October! And the best part about staying onsite is you don't have to leave WDW until your vacation is really over.

 

[jwwi]

Onsite. Why? The clean bright rooms, the castmembers, the hidden mickey's. No EE, sleep later, enjoy the resort. Being surrounded by many others who feel the same way you do about WDW.

 

[MLAinVA]

Onsite always!!! We have stayed at the GF, SOG (many times), BWI, BWV, the bungalos at Disney Village, CSR, and one time on "hotel row". Even though those hotels are on Disney property, we still missed the magic and were really sorry that we made that choice. If I can't find or afford a Disney room, we'll probably stay home.

 

[Ilove8Trax]

YES! It is worth it! Because of obvious Disney Magic. If you believe in it, you'll feel it.

 

[Mymatisse]

I haven't stayed onsite yet. In fact, I'm planning to stay at POR in September and am very much looking forward to it. However, I can say this. I stayed at the Courtyard Marriot in Downtown Disney last January and it was Great! It was a nice compromise-- a great location, transportation to all the parks, a decent room, without having to pay Disney Prices!

There is no doubt that I am going to LOVE POR from all that I've read, but if I wasn't getting such a great deal I would definately look to staying off site (maybe on hotel plaza blvd.) before I would shell out money for an All Star resort.

 

[Ajax]

My wife couldn't get her mom & sisters to spring for an on-site resort in February for a four day trip. So they stayed at a hotel whose name escapes me in Kissimee.
She told me she'll never do it again, and felt as if she had been punished for not clapping during Peter Pan.

 

[JonHM]

One more vote for onsite - it is a *completely* different experience staying onsite - utterly immersive and magical - at least at the moderates and up. Not knocking All Stars, just haven't stayed in them, so can't comment on the experience. But every other time we have stayed onsite, it has been unbelievable. From the time you arrive and check in to the time that you leave for the airport on your last day, you are utterly engulfed in Walt Disney World - I don't care how nice the hotel room off grounds, even one for hundreds of dollars a night, I would stay on site instead. And being able to go to a park for a few hours, go back to the resort to rest and then back out to the parks all without dealing with traffic is just wonderful. Early entry will probably be back in *some* form before your next trip. I would do some hunting into what kind of bargains you could dig up at a moderate. Port Orleans French Quarter is very nice, and I've heard very good things about Coronado Springs as well.

 

[mikesmom]

I agree with the poster that said it's hard to take a nice break and come back. By the time you walk out of the park, get to your car, drive out of the lot, and drive to your hotel, it's plain too much work to do it all over again to come back. It can take a full hour just to get to even a close hotel. We took several trips and stayed offsite before deciding to try onsite about 3 years ago. It was a truly amazing improvement to the quality of the vacation just to head back to a Disney hotel for a break.

We were there 2 weeks ago and while we did stay onsite we did venture out a few times for groceries and 'cause members of our group wanted a mall trip. Traffic is HORRENDOUS right now. I've always felt traffic was bad in the Orlando area but this was beyond belief. I-4, 192, you name it - they were all congested, had construction, closed lanes, closed exits - it was a complete nightmare any time we ventured out. It didn't seem to matter what time of day or night it was - the traffic was always a snarled mess. The very thought of trying to deal with that at the end of the day when you're already tired is just awful.

 

[jiminyfan]

I have to agree witht the oters, we did the off-site thing a few times to save money or if the trip was planned around other things thatn Disney. We did two off-site disney trips and neither felt as magical or special as theon-site ones. It jsut didn't feel like a "DISNEY" trip having to leave the resort at night, fight traffic and etc.

We will always stay on-site for the Disney portion of our trip.

 

[nwdisgal]

I like the landscaping and the resort feel for staying on site. Unfortunately, once you drive out of WDW, you are hit with strip malls and the glare of I-4 and the other busy roads in that area. I've stayed both on-site and off-site and prefer on-site by a long shot. Our room offsite was much larger at half the price, but we also enjoyed (?) a view of I-4. That bugged me enough to offset any gains from room size. I wouldn't do it again. Also, I noticed a difference in room cleanliness between Disney and the offsites. I missed the happy, smiling faces and the activities on site.

 

[Gail T AGAIN]

I just got back, I did stay on property but to be honest if you rent a car it is just as good to stay off property. the perks at Disney are gone, hopefully they will come back some day. Just like life things go in circles, so at some point I bet they will.

 

[disdaddy]

i love being on-site because you're surrounded by the disney environment (and generally can ignore the outside world). in addition, if you have little kids, you generally can't beat disney transport (especially the monorails)!

 

[BeckyV]

We stayed offsite only once at a timeshare and then checked into OKW. We had a three bedroom and only at two bedroom at OKW. The difference was between night and day. And the timeshare was a top of the line Gold Crown Property. Last New Years we switched resorts from BWV to VWL. We thought we would go offsite to eat during the wait to check in. My Hubby says never again. I will never get him offsite again. He loves going and parking the truck and never moving it. Disney is just different. The whole atmosphere is Disney. I just returned from two days at DVC's Hilton Head Resort and then checked into a Marriott for a week in a two bedroom timeshare. I had no doubts about my recent add-on to DVC Hilton Head. It had that Disney magic just like the other resorts. We love Disney and became DVC members at BWV, VWL, and HH. They are all home to us and nothing compares. Why do you think the number one timeshare group on the web www.tug2.net names Boardwalk as one of the top timeshares in the world while Orlando is full of first class timeshares?