Suites with closest drive time to Disney/benefits on off property??

[catwub]

Can anyone tell me which suites, at least two bedrooms, outside of Disney are closest? Another poster made a very good point, their condo was five minutes from Disney, the gate. But if you are actually talking about getting there, parking, taking the shuttle and getting into the park, specifically Magic Kingdom, you are really looking at about 45 minutes. We are really interested in staying off-site this time because of the room, but we also love the closeness of staying on-site.....please help. AND, if anyone can give me some pros and cons of off property versus on property, I would really appreciate it!!! There will be four of us, two adults, one 11 yr old dd and one 6 yr old dd. Thank you!!!

Catwub

 

[spiceycat]

both Cypress Pointe & Sheraton Vistana are close to WDW on the DTD side.
so are Byran's Spanish Cove (not alot to do here), Grand Beach - these are all timeshares.

on AK side - there is Silver Lake.

also almost in WDW is Wynham Bonnett Creek - it is between CRB/Pop and 536.

 

[scanmom]

when we stayed at Cypress Point, it took us about 20 minutes to get into MK. That is including tram, monorail and entry gates. Never 45 minutes, but maybe we were just lucky and hit it right. The pool at CP is graet, and the condos are very nice..as nice as a disney moderate, only ALOT bigger. The obvious benefits are lower price and more space. I really enjoy staying in a condo, and cannot afford the on site options.

 

[crazelion]

Doubetree Suites at DTD I thinks has 2 bedroom suites.

 

[Lucky'sMom]

Right outside the Disney gates are also: Marriott Sabal and Royal Palms and Sheraton Vistana Resort. Just another 5 mins away are Sheraton Vistana Villages, Marriott's Cypress Harbour, Marriott's Horizons and Marriott's Grand Vista. I have stayed on and off site many times and think that the "die hard" on-site people never factor in the time they spend WAITING for the buses to come. We have "just missed" the bus to the park we wanted to go to and waited 20 mins for the next one. When I stay off-site in these gorgeous villas, I control my arrival and departure times, and think that many times my commute is shorter than many on-siters.

 

[yecats]

I have to agree with the above poster as I stay onsite many times but if you just missed the bus to the park your going to then your going to find easily that you've got a wait of at least 15 mins not to mention the drive time as well (basically MK and AK are the furthest out so even onsite can have a wait/drive time to those parks in the 25 min. range easily). I haven't stayed at any of the offsite condo places but I have driven passed them and as stated there are several above that are 5 to 10 minutes from disney property and if adding in drivetime/parking/shuttle to MK or AK you are looking at 30 to 40 minutes easily before being inside of the park. Now if your staying at Silver Lake you'll easily be in AK within 15 minutes (it's not even a mile outside of AK) but it is farther away from MK so say 25-30 mins by the time your foot is inside of MK.

I would also suggest if your not renting a condo then staying at DTD Doubletree suites will probably work and if your willing to put out around $180 a night then All Stars Family Suites on property may work for you as well (queen in one room and 2 doubles in 2nd room). Have you considered renting DVC points for either 2 studios or even splitting cost of renting 2 bedroom for your stay. I have done this in the past and loved my stays at OKW and BWV and don't regret a thing. There are plenty of options to consider.

 

[garmich]

Can anyone tell me which suites, at least two bedrooms, outside of Disney are closest? Another poster made a very good point, their condo was five minutes from Disney, the gate. But if you are actually talking about getting there, parking, taking the shuttle and getting into the park, specifically Magic Kingdom, you are really looking at about 45 minutes. We are really interested in staying off-site this time because of the room, but we also love the closeness of staying on-site.....please help. AND, if anyone can give me some pros and cons of off property versus on property, I would really appreciate it!!! There will be four of us, two adults, one 11 yr old dd and one 6 yr old dd. Thank you!!!

Catwub

The Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort is probably the closest to WDW. The resort is located between Pop Century and Downtown Disney. There are 1-BR, 2-BR, 3-BR and 4-BR suites all with full kitchens, balconies and whirlpool baths in the master bedroom. The 2-BR and up all have 2 bathrooms or more (the 4-BR has 4 bathrooms!). There are 2 outdoor pools (maybe 3?), 3 hot tubs, a lazy river, miniature golf, and daily activities for children and adults. From some of the units you will be able to view the fireworks at EPCOT. Be aware, this IS a timeshare resort, and you will be offered an incentive to take a tour of the resort.

 

[ntsammy5]

It has always amazed me how much people tout the benefits of staying on site. We have made 32 trips to WDW, 30 on site and 2 off site and I must say that the off site trips were the most relaxing and IMO at least as good as staying on site. That may be because we've been so often that we don't look for the same things.

For instance, travel time. With the exception of MK, travel times are about the same unless you are staying in an Epcot or monorail resort. MK is a little longer but of no significance.

EMH. We never use the morning hours and more and rarely use evening. Many advise not going to EMH parks at any rate, so what is the attraction? I must admit, being in MK at 2AM can be a blast though.

Off site is cheaper, more room, more amenities and is at least as luxurious compared to deluxe and offers many more dining options at lower cost.

DME -- OK I miss that.

All-in-all staying off site can save us thousands per trip. Our November trip is off site again. Will we stay at a Disney resort again? Of course, just not every time.

 

[swilphil]

The Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort is probably the closest to WDW. The resort is located between Pop Century and Downtown Disney. There are 1-BR, 2-BR, 3-BR and 4-BR suites all with full kitchens, balconies and whirlpool baths in the master bedroom. The 2-BR and up all have 2 bathrooms or more (the 4-BR has 4 bathrooms!). There are 2 outdoor pools (maybe 3?), 3 hot tubs, a lazy river, miniature golf, and daily activities for children and adults. From some of the units you will be able to view the fireworks at EPCOT. Be aware, this IS a timeshare resort, and you will be offered an incentive to take a tour of the resort.

We stayed there and it's actually INSIDE the Disney gates-- right next to Disney's Carribean Beach Resort.

We declined the timeshare presentation once, and they never bothered us about it again.

 

[smphbear]

We stayed at Cypress Pointe last June. We are going back in two weeks. My DH loved how quickly we could get to and from the parks. He insisted that we go back there this year. He did not want to talk about looking at other timeshares to stay in.

We left for the Magic Kingdom at around 8:15. We were through security and the turnstiles by 8:40 at the latest. On an extra magic morning, we were headed to MK for the Keys to the Kingdom Tour. We left at 7:45. Even with technical difficulties that kept us sitting on the monorail for over 10 minutes, we were in City Hall by 8:20.

We could get to the other parks in about 10 minutes. We were amazed at how fast we could get there.

On a side note, my friend was staying at Pop the same week we were there. She called me one morning to see where we were. We were already at AK while she was still waiting for the bus.

 

[MiaSRN62]

when we stayed at Cypress Point, it took us about 20 minutes to get into MK. That is including tram, monorail and entry gates. Never 45 minutes, but maybe we were just lucky and hit it right.

I think you did get lucky. We have stayed at the Vistana resort since 1994 (every year but one---1996). I can honestly say it's taking on average, from the time you go through the MK parking lot gates, follow the cars around to your parking spot, walk over to the tram spot, ride that to the monorail and sometimes just miss it and have to wait, then getting into the park turnstile. I'd say 30-40 min on average. If you did all that in 20, you hit at a very good time. Leaving the MK at park closing, it's taken over an hour to get back to our car.

IMHO, this is the perk of staying on disney property (because we do both consistantly). Avoiding the herding of the guests at park closing is worth it's weight in gold. Using the disney busses (or boat if we stay at WL) is so much easier. We get back to our hotel in half the time. The MK is the one park, where I feel being onsite is an asset and I've done both on and off for many years annually (sometime 3-4 times a year). Everyone has their own opinions and own unique experiences, but in over 40 trips to WDW, my experiences have been it's better onsite for the MK hand's down.

That said, Vistana is very close to the DD/Marketplace entrance. If you know how to navigate the roads inside wdw (as we now do after so many trips), this is the way we prefer. If you leave Vistana and go down I4, Epcot is probably the closest/quickest park you can get to (I've clocked it in 6-7 min) by the time we park the car in the parking lot. Getting into Epcot isn't nearly as time consuming as the MK.