Trying to decide between off site and on

[hugabearjo]

I am a single Mom of 3 kids who is trying to pinch pennies yet, not wish I hadn't.

I currently have reservations off site and at the POR, the difference being about $225 for the 5 days we are there. I could come up with the difference but, there is a thousand other places it could and maybe should go.

That being said does anyone have any advice on the advantages of one vs. the other, so I can weigh the money spent? We have been to Disneyland and stayed off site and had a great time. We are a family that is up early to hit the parks and don't come back until they close. We aren't nappers might take a dip in the pool but, plain is probably a treat as we don't get to go to one very often at home.

Thanks for the pros and cons. I think I will post this on the Disney resort board as well to try to get the other opinion.

Thanks-

Keep smiling

 

[midge dionne]

We will be staying off-site this year for 2 BIG reasons. First is cost. We will be paying $42-$49 a night for a 640 sq ft suite for 9 days vs almost $400 for 5 days and we wll have a full kitchen for whatever meals we eat in especially breakfast. There is no Disney Magic but, we have stayed on-site brfore and know what we are missing. I'd rather stay longer off-site.

 

[Lewisc]

Disney transportation is great, off site shuttle buses are poor. If you stay offsite plan on driving to the parks and paying for parking.

Offsite you'll get a lot more for your money. You'll have easier access to less expensive places to eat. NO QUESTION OFFSITE WILL WORK well for you.

 

[spiceycat]

Offsite has it advantages - much cheaper to stay at, cheaper places to eat - but be carefully - I stayed at Laquinta and we almost ate there - but on the way to DD - we decided to eat at PC - guess what their hamburger was cheaper than Laquinta.......

so now what the prices are before you decide to eat off-site on the basic that it will be cheaper.

you can get discount much cheaper for off-site hotels and restuarants than on-site.

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disney magic is pretty wonderful - here are its benefits

the extra magic hour - especially if you can get up early and go to the parks.

E-nights - if they ever return

you can charge to your room key at all the other WDW resorts and theme parks -

items you buy can be delivery to the gift shop at your resort - you don't have to take them with you - or remember to get them on your way out of the parks.

all the activities at the resort - boating, swimming, golf, tennis, basketball, movies, shuttleboard etc

WDW can help with locating a person to baby sit your children (if necessary) or a person to take the children to the park (if one of your kids get sick and you have to stay with him/her - but the others can still enjoy the parks)

WDW transportation can be beat - as has been say - made sure you include a rental car in your calculations if you stay off-site - or you might be seeing more of Kissimmee/Orlando/Lake buena Vista that you actually even though about.

better yet - drive then you can really save money and stay off-site....

 

[MK Familystone]

Hi HUGABEARJO!
On your thread you didn't say the following:
Age of the children.
Number of times the children have visited WDW.
Would you be interested ina Suite Resort like HIFS?
The difference in staying at a WDW resort with 3 children is the difference inthe food bill.
Staying at a free breakfast Resort would fuel the family without costing you too much.
the savings on breakfast for three could be the difference in renting a full size car vs WDW trans but you still have to get from the airport to the Property.
More info on your travel arrangements will help the FINE MEMBERS of the Disboards substance to digest and come up with alternatives for your budget.
"ENJOY!!!"
"the magic HAPPENS!!!"

 

[hugabearjo]

Thanks guys.

I have 3 boys, 13,11,9. I looked at the HFIS (did I do that right?) and they are the same price that I will pay at the POR.

I have ressies at Hampton Inn Lake Buena VIsta vs. POR.

I do plan to rent a car because we are staying off site first so that we can visit Universal, Sea World and the Kennedy Space Center. So transportation is taken care of.

Thanks for all the information,

Keep Smiling

 

[hugabearjo]

Oh I forgot. This is our first trip to WDW we have been to DIsneyland several times as we live on the West Coast. The Hampton Inn does have a breakfast and that isn't even figured in the cost difference.

Thanks again

 

[disneymania]

We have always stayed onsite & twice at POFQ. Last time there my DH decided, never again. It is just too small for the 5 of us & when kids went down at night, we had to sit in corner & whisper. We are planning to go again in 2005 & just called CR yesterday to see if we could swing a suite onsite. There is no way we could justify spending that much!!!! We are definitely staying offsite at someplace that has more room & a kitchen on our next trip. If your kids are older & don't need naps, you are renting a car anyways, I don't think it will be a big deal at all. One of the trips we stayed at Hyatt Grand Cyprus for half of the trip and it was kind of nice to get away from all of the hustle & bustle after a long busy day in the parks. I also liked having a car to come & go as we pleased. Seems like we are always running to the bus stop because bus we need is pulling away as we approach or standing in a long long to wait for the next bus to come. I would think that especially since you are doing some fun offsite things as well, you won't even miss the onsiteness.
Have a great trip!!!

 

[disneysteve]

You didn't say how much you were paying at Hampton Inn. It is very possible that you could get more spacious accomodations for the same price. With 3 boys, it would be nice to have more than one room as 4 people in a hotel room gets a bit cramped.

Since you will have your own car, have you considered renting a condo? You could get a 2-bedroom condo for as little as $65/nite and a 3-bedroom for $85 or $90/nite.

Just something to think about. Then you would have more space, a full kitchen, more than 1 tv, 2 bathrooms, a washer and dryer, etc.

Steve

 

[marybet]

I have been to WDW twice and stayed off site both times. The first time it was just me and DH. I originally thought we would stay on site, but after finding the DIS and doing some research I decided off site would be better. Two of the main reasons were how big the resorts are, I did not want to have a 10 min. walk to the food court for breakfast, and we weren't planning to spend alot of time at the resort. I picked the Courtyard in DTD (now the Holiday Inn). It was great, had great transportation and we also had the extra Magic hour, that was Sept. 2001 and now I think only the Hilton offers the extra Magic hour.

Last May we went with my DH's son, his wife and the two grandchildren, 9 and 10. We rented a Villa. Had 3 bathrooms, made getting ready really easy, 4 bedrooms, a full kitchen, so we did breakfast everyday, and a private screened pool. It was great. We drove to the parks everyday and it was not a problem. Of course we were there at a non peak time so it wasn't crowded. The grandchildren loved the pool and it was right outside the door.

My DH and I are going again in April and we are staying off site. Got a great deal on hotwire.com, the Doubletree Club for $44 a night. Now we could afford to stay on site but I just can't see spending all that extra money. I would hate waiting for the bus, and after reading alot of trip reports I think that could be a problem. We would not use the pool. I have made us PS's at all the resort restaurants and feel that is a much better use of the extra money.

I know alot of people think on site is the only way to go but I have found the Disney Magic without being on site. I think you have to look at all the advantages and disavantages, make a list, and see what is right for you and your children.

 

[tink2dw]

I can tell you that being cramped in a small room on-site has no Disney Magic attached to it.

We stay off site in a kidsuite at HIFS and it was full of space and Disney Magic!!

I think you can find Disney Magic anywhere you stay it is a state of mind. Not dollars spent for onsite!!

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Originally posted by disneymania
...just called CR yesterday to see if we could swing a suite onsite. There is no way we could justify spending that much!!!!

Oh my! That would be a very expensive way to go.
If you want a multiple bedroom villa on WDW property, may I suggest a Disney Vacation Club Resort? They have studios, one, two, and three bedroom villas.
No, they certainly are not cheap, but they are generally much less than an on-site suite.
There are also the mini-homes (can't remember exactly what they call them) at Fort Wilderness, which I believe are even more reasonable.

--Just another option! Have fun...

MG

 

[snoopy]

We have always stayed onsite & twice at POFQ. Last time there my DH decided, never again. It is just too small for the 5 of us & when kids went down at night, we had to sit in corner & whisper. We are planning to go again in 2005 & just called CR yesterday to see if we could swing a suite onsite. There is no way we could justify spending that much!!!!

This describes us as well. Staying on property is not an affordable option for us because we need more room to spread out and even the deluxe resorts don't offer much in the way of space.

What we like to do is stay onsite for 2 or 3 nights, then offsite for the remainder of the trip. Its really magical to stay on WDW property, just for the ambiance alone. No one does it like Disney (actually, though, Universal hotels are pretty great too!). We usually stay at the Swan or Dolphin and have also had great stays at the Poly, All Stars and POR. But we've learned that after 2 or 3 days, its time to go offsite. It works for us, and our budget.

 

[disneymom3]

We usually stay offsite, but this last trip stayed onsite. I honestly cannot tell you one single thing that was a benefit of being onsite. Oh yeah, we were at the Poly so going to the MK on the monorail was a big perk! However, we ourselves would never be able to afford to stay there, so there ya go!

I hated having to use the buses. For instance on the AK early entry day, we got out to the bus stop at 7:20. Waited for almost half an hour and when the bus came all the seats were full from the stop at the Contemporary so there was standing room only. I was just missing having a car to go and get in and drive ourselves. And at park closing--yikes!! No thank you!

Plus we were all in the same room and had to pay $10 extra for a tiny little fridge instead of having two bedrooms, a full kitchen with all dishes and appliances, a living room, washer and dryer and two bathrooms. We also like going to other Orlando stuff and going to the beach as well as staying at a nice villa resort which always have fun pools.

I can see the idea of spending a few nights onsite, but I think it would get to be too much for us for the whole trip. It's nice to leave and decompress for awhile. Of course, I also have little kids (2, 3, and 7) so that may be part of it, but it seems to me that the bigger they get, the more space we need.

 

[Hillbeans]

I know it may be a hassle, but I would almost think about a "split stay" also. Even though you're there for less than a week, maybe the first 3 night off-site and last 2 nights on-site would be a good way for you to test the waters.

We've done split stays with each of our WDW area visits, and don't mind the packing up aspect of it. If you don't have a car, that's a little harder and more costly.

We just stayed 7 nights off-site with our 3 yo, and found plusses and minuses of staying off-site. The hotels we stayed at were huge convention type places that seemed very large and too business oriented for us. We went to Dinner at Ohana and wished we had stayed there. We did stay at the AKL for 3 nights last trip and we definitely didn't have the same "Disney Magic" staying off-site.

That being said, having the 3 kids may justify that by you staying off-site, you'll be more comfortable and will probably spend less money on food and gifts. At the Marriott, we had a balcony and were able to use it at night when our DS went to sleep, however we were all so tired we didn't make it up very late ourselves.

 

[PattiPB]

If I'm reading you right, you have three boys of roller coaster age, and are visiting UO as well as WDW, one month from now, at a hot and busy time.

I'd stay offsite for WDW to save money and spread out. Use FP and avoid the EE park.

Then I'd move onsite for the last two nights or so at UO Loew's hotels. The HR and PB can accommodate 5 people, and the FOTL can't be beat!

JMO~