Thread for People staying off site

[Candleshoe]

Agree to disagree. I don't see much Disney talk over there.

Ditto. Discussion about FPs, and MBs, and eating while staying offsite. How long it takes to get to the parks. Best ways to get to parks.

AND if they'd move this to that (proper!) forum, there'd be even more.

 

[robinb]

This thread is being driven even more off-topic by posts debating if the thread is off-topic or not. It feels a bit intentional. *sigh*

Another TPAS hint from me ...

Valet parking is just a couple dollars more than paying to park in one of the theme park parking lots. You may valet and then take WDW transportation to any Disney park and stay as long as you like. Like theme park parking, it has in and out privileges. For instance, you may valet park at the Contemporary, go into the MK, pick up your car and go "home" for a rest and valet park at another resort (like the Boardwalk) when you return the same day on the same receipt.

 

[dioxide45]

Agree to disagree. I don't see much Disney talk over there.

Nor do I, and that is where I post the most. I really like the off site forum. It provides a lot of great information about offsite hotels and restaurants. Not so much about touring Disney. I do fee that strategy about booking FPs and other such fits this forum well, why does it matter where the person is staying. What if someone is a Florida resident with an SP? Do they have to post their questions over on the "off site" forum. I use quotes because no where in the name or description is it called off site. These questions about FPs are related directly to Disney.

 

[itchin2go]

My advice would be - if you've never stayed offsite before and you're worried about parking (I was ...), don't! It's so much easier than I thought it would be. I find it to be preferable to taking Disney transportation and I've done both. With GPS systems, it's just not hard to get around and even easier to park (though MK does involve that pesky TTC). I thought breaking midday would no longer be a possibility once we stayed offsite. Granted, we stay close, but we find it just as easy to take a midday break now that we stay offsite.

 

[crusoe2]

I agree about being able to take breaks when staying offsite - still entirely do-able. We've been staying at Windsor Hills all week. Left MK one day about 4:00, came back to the townhouse for naps and dinner, freshened up and went back to MK to use some late-night fastpasses. Caught the fireworks and a low wait time for Seven Dwarfs ride, grabbed a late-night snack at Cosmic Ray's and did a little shopping as we made our way out of the park. It was a really nice way to end our day. And it didn't take any longer to get back and forth than it would have if we'd been onsite. As a matter of fact, our experience has been that taking the buses back and forth to the onsite resorts is more time-consuming than driving ourselves - even from our offsite accommodations. When we drive ourselves (whether onsite or not), we usually get there faster cause there's no downtime waiting on a bus or being stuck on a bus that has to make additional stops.

 

[gunderda]

We are staying at the Wyndham Bonnet Creek in a few weeks. We are doing MK on a wednesday and I plan to be there at rope drop (only cause I have an ADR that was suppose to be PRE opening and is now not.)
I also want to stay until it closes (actually later because I want to see the goodnight kiss).

I'm sure it will be a plan as we go type of day but do you think it's wise to maybe take a mid-day break? We also have an ADR at Kona for 5:20 so I was kinda thinking we'd leave the park around 1, hang out at the hotel, nap, swim whatever and then head to Kona OR head back to TTC and take the monorail to kona so that we don't have to deal with parking our car twice since we'll be going back to MK after Kona.
I'm just not sure what to expect in terms of traffic to and from MK at those times of the day.

 

[itchin2go]

We are staying at the Wyndham Bonnet Creek in a few weeks. We are doing MK on a wednesday and I plan to be there at rope drop (only cause I have an ADR that was suppose to be PRE opening and is now not.)
I also want to stay until it closes (actually later because I want to see the goodnight kiss).

I'm sure it will be a plan as we go type of day but do you think it's wise to maybe take a mid-day break? We also have an ADR at Kona for 5:20 so I was kinda thinking we'd leave the park around 1, hang out at the hotel, nap, swim whatever and then head to Kona OR head back to TTC and take the monorail to kona so that we don't have to deal with parking our car twice since we'll be going back to MK after Kona.
I'm just not sure what to expect in terms of traffic to and from MK at those times of the day.

I have not found traffic to be a particular concern. We always break, but you can play it by ear and let the family decide when they're ready to leave.

 

[robinb]

I have not found traffic to be a particular concern. We always break, but you can play it by ear and let the family decide when they're ready to leave.

The traffic around WBC is a piece of cake, south of WDW around 192 isn't bad either but the traffic east on I-4 (directionally north) can be horrible. My DD has to go to swim practice while on vacation and it took us over an hour to get from WDW up to the YMCA at Sand Lake Road and International Drive.

 

[jamnmom]

I, too, am very pleased that this thread started. I hope it is kept here. We have stayed off and on site over the past 10 years. Both have GREAT advantages and disadvantages. In November, we will be on Disney Cruise for one week; followed by 9 days in the parks - off site (at my Vacation Ownership resort). We will be in the parks during Thanksgiving week (our 'normal' time to visit). The most difficult thing that we are facing (now that we are in our 180 day window for ADRs) is getting the dining reservations that we want. Those 'onsiters' have been booking everything up for the past 10 days and my window has just opened. We will face similar situations when it comes to our FP+ plans. We are ready to do a lot of flexible planning; but know we need to keep our park locations set for a few of the days due to the dining reservations that I HAVE been able to get. Still really hoping for a BOG on one of our MK days!!

We also 'normally' spend more than 10 days in the parks, so I always purchase APs and this gets us free parking and other discounts at shops and restaurants. (We also plan one additional trip within that year's time; so WELL worth the upgrade!!) This year, we probably won't be doing the AP. I haven't yet calculated the cost diff for 9 day tix + parking vs APs and free parking to see if it will be worth it.

We rent a car and I find the driving quite easy; even when crowded. There are many directional signs to keep you on track as you leave any of the parks. I admit that I have gotten off track a few times; but it was my fault...never because of other drivers or lack of signage.

 

[Planogirl]

Traffic on I-4 and International Drive can be brutal but most other places aren't too bad. We stayed at Caribe Royale during our last trip and it was so easy to drive out of WDW and almost right up to our resort.

 

[jormom1030]

I just had to go five pages into the "offsite" section to get to any topic that has to do with anything discussed on this thread. I like this thread. We are leaving on Friday. I am super excited.

 

[goofyernmost]

I think that the fact that this thread is still here, is a good indication that it belongs here. That is only sensible. Even though the folks are staying offsite, it doesn't mean that how they have to relate to WDW specifically are not important and they shouldn't be jumbled in with everything available in the Orlando/Kissimmee area. I'm glad it's still here as well and since after 44 trips to WDW, I have only stayed onsite once... I do have a pretty good idea how offsite, as it relates to WDW, works.

 

[sdsatl]

This thread is being driven even more off-topic by posts debating if the thread is off-topic or not. It feels a bit intentional. *sigh*

Another TPAS hint from me ...

Valet parking is just a couple dollars more than paying to park in one of the theme park parking lots. You may valet and then take WDW transportation to any Disney park and stay as long as you like. Like theme park parking, it has in and out privileges. For instance, you may valet park at the Contemporary, go into the MK, pick up your car and go "home" for a rest and valet park at another resort (like the Boardwalk) when you return the same day on the same receipt.

What a great tip! We were planning meals at our favorite nearby resorts anyway. Is Disney cool with this? I've only ever visited resorts to eat/tour, so never valet. I'd much rather pay a little more to park at a resort than the lots.

 

[danny1649]

I was hoping to start a discussion geared toward people visiting Disney World as their primary focus, but not staying on Disney Property.
We can talk about any thing Disney that one has to make decisions about when staying off site but doing something Disney most days.
Example, Magic Bands. To buy or not to buy. Managing Fp, MM and group split ups with or without bands. I have plenty of other things to talk about that off site guests would be concerned with more than onsite. I'm new to Dis Boards so forgive me if this already exists!

We welcome questions from all folks doesn't matter where you are staying. Danny

 

[ParrotBill]

I'm glad this is a separate thread! We're staying off-site and are definitely renting a car to get around. We weren't planning on doing Magic Bands, but I read that if we do Memory Maker, ride pics are only included if you have the bands. Is this true? Also, do we ALL need MBs? We'll be a party of 6 (3 generations) and thinking of splitting the cost of MM. If so, how does this work with maybe only having one MB?

You are right, somebody needs to be wearing a MB to register ride pictures... make it the person who registers the Memory Maker so the pictures appear in that user's MDE account.. easier that way. Be aware, though, that MB detection is not perfect. We missed about 20% of our ride pictures even though all our party members were wearing MBs. If persons other than the MM main person is wearing a MB, then they must set their MDE account to share pictures with the MM person.

 

[ParrotBill]

Relative to the taxi discussion, head over to the transportation board for more, and consider using Uber which is seeming to cost about half the Mears taxi rates.

 

[mom4fun]

Is it necessary during a busy spring break time to book one night on site to get the 60 day out fast passes or if we just do rope drop and 30 day out fast passes, would we still get to ride the popular rides?

 

[ParrotBill]

Hard to say as we've only seen 2 spring breaks under the new system. The first one was not bad but I think advance FP reserving had not really taken hold - there was a LOT of same day FP with long Kiosk lines when we visited last year at that time. Need some to say how this year went but in recent months popular attractions book up.

 

[jamnmom]

YAY!!! We got our BOG reservation for our LAST day in the parks this November!!! I had to get up at 5am (CT) to log on and get it; but I was finally able to get one. Considering there was only ONE time that came up as available, even at 'opening' for 180 days ADRs, it confirms that there were LOTS of reservations for Lunch already booked by those staying onsite over the past 10+ days. I'm glad that I stuck to it. I really didn't want to spend the next 5.5 months playing with the system and hoping to get lucky by grabbing someone else's cancellation. As much as I LOVE planning our WDW vacations, I have better things to do with my days than stalk the dining website for however long it may take to get the ONE reservation that I'm missing for these 9 days. Anyway....LOVING that I don't have to worry about it now!! TIP: For those hard to get reservations, you really DO need to be online at 6am(ET) 180 days before you want to dine. In all the times I've made dining reservations over the years (onsite and offsite), this is the first time I've actually had to use that strategy. HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY in this house today!!

 

[Happiest mommy]

I am really enjoying the info on this thread hope it stays