So we have never been to WDW. I am planning a trip for September and currently have a reservation at an on-site property. I started looking at off site properties though and found this. We are a family of 5 (2 adults, 3 children) and will be driving to WDW. I am having a hard time knowing what to do, but just requested a quote from Vacation Strategies that seems too good to be true. Am I missing something? Are there resort fees or parking fees that are not included in the quote I was sent? I know I would have to pay parking at WDW. I'm just struggling to know what the best thing to do is. I hear lots of people say they would NEVER stay off site, but this resort looks beautiful.
We started visiting WDW for our honeymoon in 1994 and have been visiting pretty much annually, if not more, since then. Over the years we've stayed at pretty close to every resort on property and were DVC owners for about 8 years...so we were definitely on-site-ers. Then we visited in the fall of 2014 and stayed at Old Key West, so we had a rental car for convenience. We kept driving by the Bonnet Creek entrance and I recalled seeing these "loooooove Bonnet Creek" threads. So when we got home I clicked into the thread to learn more, read about the loooooove, and booked our first WBC stay for November 2015. We're about to return tomorrow if that tells you anything! We, too, were shocked at the prices and felt like it was too good to be true, but it really is that good. Having stayed at DVC villas and also traveling with our RV, we really value having communal space and a kitchen. Sitting around for relaxation time on a couple of hotel beds is just not my favorite way to relax - I want a separate space with a couch and a coffee table, and access to an outside seating area. It just is so much more relaxing to me!
Since you're driving already, the transportation thing really just comes down to the parking at the parks. I do like the Disney busses for convenience, but driving around the property is easy and saves time and frustration at times.
One take-away that I feel is a little overblown is the FP+ booking. On site you can book at 60 days, off site is 30 days. For both of these trips I haven't had a problem getting fastpasses for what we were looking for. The only thing we didn't get before and didn't get this time is the 7DMT. In November we just did standby for 45 minutes, not a biggie. We'll see if we even want to do it this time. But really, this aspect hasn't been a problem. Actually, in November I booked our FP+ about 2 weeks out because it was an adults trip and the couple we traveled with didn't have their park tickets until that time.
Another thing is dining - on site books at 190 days, where off site is 180. Again, not a big deal. In fact, I've had decent luck booking things and changing our minds just the week before since so many people book extras and drop reservations as their trips get close.
