Thinking of switching to off-site ...

[Lisa BC]

I really dislike being crammed into a hotel room, although the family suite would resolve that cramped feeling.

We have stayed onsite and offsite, and we prefer offsite. If I stay onsite, I rent points from a DVC owner and stay at OKW. And, we'll take our car to all the parks except MK.

Yes it is true that it can be a pain leaving the MK when you drive vrs taking the bus. But I've waited just as long in the bus lines at MK. We'd personally rather keep moving rather than standing in line, KWIM? When you stay offsite you get to park right at your door... rather than walking a pretty good distance to your hotel room from the bus stop. Most people report that the commute from Windsor Hills to Epcot (in the gates) is about 10 minutes.

We like the pool in our back yard too... no hiking to the pool. Plus your pool is heated much warmer offsite. Also, $600 is good start on the vacation fund for your next trip too. btw, we prefer to eat offsite as well. We are completely happy with Cracker Barrel, Bob Evans and Mimi's Cafe for basic meals... and there are great upscale choices offsite too that offer better value than WDW.

We like having breakfast in, rather than standing in line at the food court. It takes less effort and less time to make an egg sandwich at the condo than walking to the food court and standing in line IMHO.

If you don't mind the hassle of packing and unpacking you might try a split stay this time. Just to get a feel for the differences.

In the end, everyone is right. You'll have a great time no matter if you stay on or offsite.

Good luck!

Lisa

 

[KayR]

You have received a lot of good advice here.

I will add my 2c to the pot too! We usually always stay offsite. Love the space, kitchen, pool out back etc... Last trip we had a day where we could not get into the vacation rental. We decided to try staying on-site. Chose a moderate resort (Caribbean Beach). We wanted to see what the magic was that everyone talked about.

Well, we discovered that we loved having the space of the vacation home. Did not like being in one room all together, no kitchen, no real fridge. Not being able to have breakfast in our PJs if we wanted.

We also decided to try the evening EMH at Epcot. We could see the Epcot ball from the resort. When we asked how long the shuttle would take, we decided to take our car and drive to EPCOT. The shuttle would have taken 45-50 minutes. The car journey took much less than that.

Perhaps if we stayed in one of the villas in WDW, and used our car we would have enjoyed it more. But at several hundred dollars per day to rent a villa onsite, we would rather save that money and put it toward nice meals etc.

There are those people who just love staying onsite, but that is just not us. Our little trip reminded us that we are just not hotel people, not as a family! Perhaps when it is just the two of us again, hotels may be more bearable.

As someone mentioned, the tram ride, the ferry/monorail are the first (and last) rides of the day for us and our kids. The magic for us is when we see the Disney road signs and realize that we will soon be there. The magic is also being able to leave Disney and the crowds of people and have some quiet time to ourselves, usually in the pool with a nice cold drink!

Perhaps you have to try onsite to see if you like it. What ever you decide you will have a great time!

-Kay

 

[MiaSRN62]

KayR says id not like being in one room all together, no kitchen, no real fridge. Not being able to have breakfast in our PJs if we wanted.

Kay, the OP is specifically staying in the AS Music suites. The kitchen is pretty decent (has a small refrig which is larger than the smallest size they make and a good amount of counter space/storage). This is their description :
Each suite will sleep up to 6, plus one child in a Pak-n-Play crib. The master bedroom and family room have a 27" flat screen TV as well as high speed internet access. There is a queen bed (sleeps 2), full-size pullout sofa (sleeps 2), convertible ottoman and chair sleeper (sleeps 2). The kitchenette will have a microwave and small refrigerator (4.3 cubic feet) plus a coffeemaker. There are two full bathrooms.Here is more info and photos : http://www.allearsnet.com/acc/g_asuites.htm

I'm not sure how many people will be staying in this room---if it's only 3-4, I don't think they'll feel cramped and they can eat breakfast in their jammies since they have a microwave, coffeemaker and frig. They also get two FULL bathrooms in this suite which makes it even nicer. I actually feel disney needs to make more accomodations like this onsite.

KayR says :We also decided to try the evening EMH at Epcot. We could see the Epcot ball from the resort. When we asked how long the shuttle would take, we decided to take our car and drive to EPCOT. The shuttle would have taken 45-50 minutes. The car journey took much less than that.

This is very odd ? I stayed at the CBR in Dec '06 and used the disney bus to Epcot. It wasn't more than a 15 drive (add wait time and maybe 25 min tops). Drops you right off near the entrance. I can't imagine it taking 50 minutes. Even with longer wait times, the longest it would take would be 30 min. Not sure who gave you that info but it's pretty off. Sorry you received incorrect info Kay. I was at the CBR from Dec 1-5 last year and used the busses to get to the four major parks. We only used our car for restaurant dining and DD. We never had any problems with the busses & our resort was sold out that weekend.

There are those people who just love staying onsite, but that is just not us.

I totally agree with you here Kay. It is a very personal feel and experience for everyone. We happen to love being onsite (but stay offsite as well). Disney just doesn't feel the same to us offsite. But some like this.


But with the OP.....since she is in a larger room with microwave/frig/coffeemaker, I think she'll have a more flexible trip than if she were to stay in just a regular AS Music room. She can shop at the food court and stock up on breakfast items to keep in the frig or cook in the microwave. Most of the food courts have pudding, fruit/cheese, fruit and yougurt, cereal/bananas etc to take back to the room. So she can use these items for breakfast or late night snacks. She could also pack some microwavable oatmeal or similar from home to cook in her room, among anything other quick fix food items.

One last thought and I know others would not see the benefits of this, but with younger children, I know many find the Disney resorts (particularily the AS's and POP) very bright and colorful. Most kids love the larger than life icons. The unique themeing adds to our vacation experience and I know my kids loved the Music resort when they were younger. They didn't want to leave.
Here's a photo I had scanned on to my computer from way back in 2002 during our stay at the Music (my kids just loved walking around and checking everything out) :

 

[yasuern]

Here is a nice family who rents out their properties at Windsor Hills at reasonable rates.



http://www.vacationcentralflorida.com/clickhereforrates.html


It's nice to have extra room after a day at te parks especially with a young one.




Sue

 

[MotherOf2Princesses]

Here is a nice family who rents out their properties at Windsor Hills at reasonable rates.



http://www.vacationcentralflorida.com/clickhereforrates.html


It's nice to have extra room after a day at te parks especially with a young one.



I just checked out their 3br condo. Really nice. I like that fact that they had Disney framed art on the walls. It adds to that Disney feel. I wanted a townhouse for our stay so that we could swim and I choose the unit I did because it had a Mickey themed room and bath for the kids. As a matter of fact my daughter picked where we would be staying. And she decided off site just so she could stay in that room and have a private pool. She picked off site instead of on site because she likes haveing the extra space. She's only 6.
And I am glad we have stayed on site. We've done the hotel thing both moderate and deluxe. And rented points to stay on site at OKW. So now we're trying off site.

 

[MotherOf2Princesses]

mommy2aprincess4, not to make things difficult with your decision but have you checked out the Windsor Hills palyground. It looks awesome. Its a castle.
Amd many WH homes have a Disney theme room for the kids.

If I were to stay on site for the first time and use to being in a condo I too would choose the value suite. They look nice. To me they have the same look as the show Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Either way you and your little one will have a great time.

 

[Princess_Michelle]

I agree with Spicey.
Since your dd is so young, most likely you'll be visiting MK alot. I'm all for both on and offsite as we do both, but I can honestly say, when comparing the two for ease of getting in and out of the MK, onsite wins hand-down. It can easily take up to 45 min more to get in and out of the MK with a car. Also, I don't think the ME shuttle from the airport was long at all. Also, being able to take advantage of Extra Magic Hour is a nice onsite perk.

I don't find this to be a factor any more than the time you'd spend in the car driving from an offsite location to the parks.

Obviously though, you can't beat the size of a condo. This is where your offsite choice wins.

That is a good chunk of money and you did say you really liked the homes on the site. Though I've never stayed there, if you adore the look of these homes, I doubt the AS Suites would impress you as much based on privacy/size/amenities. So when staying onsite vs staying in a private home, you really are going to get different experiences based on accomodations alone. But you have to factor in the onsite perks and judge how important they will be to you. We find free parking, free use of busses to parks, EMH, package delivery to your resort all invaluable onsite perks. We also love the ease and convenience of the food courts. Some dont find these important at all.

Not sure if this is your first visit or not, but if it is, I'd go with onsite. I most certainly understand the benefits of larger offsite accomodations too----but for us, onsite is our preference. Good luck with your decision.

I'm sorry, I don't agree with any of her reccommendations, not to be mean, or anything, I just had the opposite experiences.....

*I found it MUCH easier to get in and out of MK, in all the parks really, in a car.

* We spent HUGE amounts of time waiting in line for buses, but we were in and out of the parks, lickity split, in our car.

* You save so much money staying off site that $11 for parking isn't anything.

* We found EMH to be very crowded. We avoided them this year, and it made a huge difference in crowd levels.

* I found I spent less money on souvies w/o package delivery. Again, you could EASILY put the money you saved from staying off site and pay for all your items to be shipped home while you're at the store, and then you don't have to pack it...that's what we did.

Again, PP, PLEASE don't take this as a personal attack, I mean no harm....

I've been pimpin' around my On-Site vs. Off-site Trip Report to help answer these questions, I did a lot of detailing this off-site trip vs. previous on-site trips SO, here it is....

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1611826

 

[Lisa P.]

$600 would pay a lot toward wonderful character meals and other fun dining! Or it could bring the cost of your Disney theme park tickets down to "reasonable." LOL! We don't mind riding the Disney buses (unless it's hot and crowded with people who need showers!) But standing to wait in a long line to get onto a standing-room-only bus at the end of a tiring day is the worst! And the bus ride between the All Stars and the MK is probably the longest bus ride on property. Since those are the places you expect to stay/visit the most, this would be a no-brainer to me.

Offsite with a car would win for us, hands-down! Bring a Disney CD for the ride to the parks and leave a pillow in the back seat for your DD. Bring a soft-sided cooler bag with partly frozen drinks and snacks out to the car when you are returning to the parks for the evening, after a midday break. You'll appreciate it being there when you get back into the car at night.

As much as we enjoy the theme parks, we also prefer the pleasant break from the Disney marketing machine when we want to wind down. The luxury of a real condo with more amenities than we've found in any hotel suite is nice too: a real dining area, a real living room, master bath jacuzzi and inroom washer/dryer - heaven. We run a small load before going to bed (alternating lights & darks, every other night) and turn it into the dryer in the morning. It's so easy when it's right in your room. We are able to pack only 4 days of clothes and return home with CLEAN stuff!

No one has mentioned the other issue with the All Stars. When I stayed there once, it was filled with groups of high school cheerleaders. Many groups of youths book blocks of rooms throughout the year, at the All Stars and Pop, because it's cheapest onsite and transportation is included. They seem to have a ball and that's great... unless you are trying to nap or sleep at night and they are running outside your room/window, shouting cheers, or playing mischievous practical jokes on one another by knocking on doors at 1 am... and knock on yours instead.

Yes, kids love the place... I don't blame them one bit... but if you are choosing it (family suite at Disney value hotel) because you want convenience with privacy and good sleep, I wouldn't pay extra for a stay at All Stars or Pop, when you could spend that money on other extras and be more confident of having privacy and a good night's sleep in an offsite condo or vacation home.

To me, it may make more sense to stay in the All Stars suite than an offsite condo...
IF you thought you might spend more time at the parks closer to this hotel than MK (looong bus ride both ways )
IF you won't have a car (that's a big one!) and/or
IF you had a travel group that's likely to want to split up often so you'd really need the buses more.

Otherwise, I agree completely with Princess_Michelle. JMHO. Hope whatever you decide works well for you!

 

[MiaSRN62]

I'm sorry, I don't agree with any of her reccommendations, not to be mean, or anything, I just had the opposite experiences.....

You're not being mean Princess_Michelle. You are entitled to your opinion. We can most certainly agree to disagree. We happen to find EMH an invaluable perk and fret when we stay offsite and can't use it. We LOVE the package delivery----love not having to always drive everywhere, etc. The bus rides, on average, depending on where you stay are about 15-25 min one-way. It can take the exact same amount of time or more to drive from an offsite resort. And what I love about disney transportation is, if one person wants to go back for a nap or doesn't feel well, the whole family/party doesn't have to leave. That person can just hop on the bus back to the disney resort. One year, my youngest was really sick while at MGM. My dh was able to take her back to POR on the bus, while I stayed in the park with my other two kids and mil. Same thing happened another year we were staying offsite, and everyone had to leave the park. Now that I have teens, my kids can come and go as they wish to and from the parks. If my oldest wants to sleep in until noon he can do that and meet up with us in the park. We're not all dependent on eachother's moods/schedules. I'm sure not everyone would find this a perk but we do big-time. My kids love the EMH ! We've gotten to the MK in the morning (90 min before offsiters are permitted in) and got to ride all the major rides with little or no wait time. During the busy summer months, if not for EMH, we might not even venture into the parks. My kids say they love the 90 min or 2-3 hours in the evening when it's just onsite guests. That's when we get to go on most of the rides without 90 min waits. For me....this is all stuff I can't put a monetary amount on. The vacation experience is better for it.
I guess I'm just an "onsite" person at heart

I'm sure the OP will decide what is right for her.

 

[dougsmom98]

$600 is a lot of savings. I haven't stayed onsite because we can't afford to. Someday it would be nice to try it, but like I said $600 is a lot of money. I am not sure which tickets you are purchasing but for three of you, you could probably take that money and turn your tickets into 10 day hopper water parks and more tickets no expiration and ensure that you will have a couple more trips worth of park tickets waiting for you. If you have never stayed on site, you will not know what you are missing and your vacation will still be as magical as ever. Good luck with your choice.

 

[gqchicago]

I sometimes suggest for first timers that you spend 2-3 days onsite and then spend 5 or so offsite, then you get the best of both worlds, and you can decide which you prefer for future visits yourself! Rarely do we see an after report like princess_michelle's though, which I found to mirror our experiences exactly!! Staying in a hotel room for us with 2 small kids is an absolutely miserable, awful experience never to be repeated again! LOL Tried it once in the Wisconsin Dells and had the worst vacation experience we've ever had, and it had nothing to do with the accomodations, it was just a one room space doesn't work well for a family. The following year my DW convinced me to stay offsite (over my loud protests mind you! I INSISTED we stay onsite, and I wanted to go high end too, and I told her "I don't care what it costs!"). Somehow she still convinced me, and we ended up having the nicest place we've probably ever vacationed in at WHR, and our best vacation experience, actually, anywhere, of all of the places we've been. We feel like those staying small hotel rooms really are missing something, they seem to not "get it"....I guess if you're loaded rich and can afford a king suite at the Grand Floridian every single trip I'd do that too! hehe...but for the rest of us...well..it just makes no sense!

We actually met a couple who did this for the same reasons as us...and they spent over $6k on lodging alone, I almost choked on my burrito (we were dining in Epcot Mexico!). We figured we can take 2-3 whole TRIPS to WDW for the same price they spent just on housing alone...to me, that's "Magic"! While they're home paying off the credit cards still a year later, we're back there on our 2nd, 3rd trip, doing it again! I'd rather live it live than re-live the memories in our photo albums.

 

[englishteacha]

We do the condo route. The condo where we've stayed is about a 10 minute drive into WDW. This last trip, we ate out a lot-never "cooked" a meal in the condo-but we did get cereal and milk and OJ for breakfasts. How great was it to sit at "my" kitchen table in my jammies, eating my Cheerios! We had 2 bathrooms for 2 people...I never had to wait to shower or use the facilities! We live in a 2 bedroom, 1 bath house and rented a 3 bedroom condo with 2 bathrooms. We felt so spoiled! The cost? $415 for the week! We couldn't stay onsite in a value resort off season for that. I admit to getting a steal on the condo, but even at the owner's regular prices, it was much, much cheaper than onsite. Someday I'll stay onsite, but for now I'm very content with my offsite homes.

 

[lovindonald]

I would switch. You might be surprised how much you like staying off site. I had a friend who just stayed at ASM in July and she was shocked at how dirty it was. She hated every minute of it. I prefer off site since you can see and do so much more and don't spend your time riding on the buses, especially at the end of the day when they are packed! No thank you. I thought I would forever be an onsite girl. I have found that I get a much better rate for a much better hotel or suite that is just around the corner and I get the freedom of coming and going as I please and not waiting around for a crowded bus that takes forever. Those buses are not for me!

 

[MiaSRN62]

lovindonald says :You might be surprised how much you like staying off site. I prefer off site since you can see and do so much more and don't spend your time riding on the buses,

Even when we stay onsite, we rent a car and do lots of stuff offsite. Lots of onsiters rent cars as evidensed by the parking lots at the disney hotels.

lovindonald says :I had a friend who just stayed at ASM in July and she was shocked at how dirty it was.

Any place (offsite or onsite) can be dirty. I have read countless trip reports about dirty rooms from both offsiters and onsite guests. I've stayed at the ASMusic and never had a dirty room though I believe it does happen same as with offsite hotels.

lovindonald says : I get the freedom of coming and going as I please and not waiting around for a crowded bus that takes forever. Those buses are not for me!

Just because one stays onsite does not mean you have to use the busses. You can drive to the parks (alot do). So you can still get onsite perks and avoid the busses if that is the problem.

Just a few differing opinons.........I do agree with lovindonald in that you can most likely find cheaper/larger offsite rooms, but I don't necessarily agree with the other above comments. I mean I understand how some would not like the disney busses (understandable because everyone is different and has different vacation preferences) but to use that as an excuse to not stay onsite isn't a strong argument imho. Because we stay onsite and still rent a car. We go back and forth between the busses/boats/monorails to using our car. So I can definitely see staying offsite for more space or less money......but not because you can't do other things or dislike the busses. Lots of onsiters rent cars. So there can definitely be freedom to come and go as you please.