Unfair :(

[Planogirl]

Keep calm and carry on because...

There's a great big beautiful tomorrow....



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For real.

I can't believe that people are now arguing the merits of onsite versus offsite. People stay where they want to and no one is really wrong IMO.

I personally believe that Disney would be stupid to not give offsite visitors access to FP+. Those people are just as capable of shopping and dining so why wouldn't Disney want them out of lines too? It's only logical. \

Geesh, I honestly believe that if I said that the sky was blue someone else would tell me it's orange and then people would argue the relative merits of blue and orange skies.

 

[Magpie]

You wouldn't? I wouldn't but then I don't care for Pop.

I love Pop! But driving my rental car over just to be there would feel... wrong, somehow. It feels like home, but only when it actually IS home, if that makes sense.

Besides, I like decorating my room window for the holidays.

 

[Planogirl]

I love Pop! But driving my rental car over just to be there would feel... wrong, somehow. It feels like home, but only when it actually IS home, if that makes sense.

Besides, I like decorating my room window for the holidays.

We did take the buses to see AoA last year so we weren't far. It's adorable just not our thing.

 

[Postal68]

I love Pop! But driving my rental car over just to be there would feel... wrong, somehow. It feels like home, but only when it actually IS home, if that makes sense.

Besides, I like decorating my room window for the holidays.

you can decorate your windows at a rental house too. And have more windows to decorate.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

I can't believe that people are now arguing the merits of onsite versus offsite. People stay where they want to and no one is really wrong IMO.

I am not arguing the merits, but I will debate the cost issue when its raised.

I have already wholly acknowledged the perks (for some folks) of staying onsite. Not having to drive. The ability to prepay their dining. But in our case, it hasn't ever come even remotely close to being cheaper (even with a rental car and the associated extra costs factored in, which is usually the onsite justification for where the savings will be found).

 

[Don Disney]

If you are looking for comparable (apples to apples) accommodations outside of Disney vs. on Disney property, then even with the cost of a rental car, you won't save money by staying onsite.

We had a two bedroom, two bathroom villa for the last week of August at SVR. Total cost was $120 per night. Our 8-night total was $960.

Same time frame....a similar unit at Disney (two bed/two bath) at Saratoga Springs has a rack rate, with tax, of $695 per night.

http://www.mousesavers.com/2014-saratoga-springs-room-rates-season-dates/#rates

Let's say I luck in on a 35% off deal. That brings the cost down to $486.50 per night, or $3892 for the same 8 nights.

That leaves us $2932 ahead. The rental vehicle was $290 taxes in (and that was a Jeep Grand Cherokee.....a full size car was half that). Gas? Let's say $100, just to be on the high side (we didn't even use $100, and that was with a round trip to Cocoa Beach and some other side trips, but its an easy number to use). Then let's deduct another $120 for parking ($15 a day x 8 days). No additional cost to get to and from the airport, as the rental car will do that nicely.

We're still $2422 ahead. If my numbers are off anywhere, feel free to correct me.

The only way you can get cheaper is to downgrade all the way down to a value level resort at 260 square feet. Then you can't compare a the two bedroom villa to the value level room, because its not an equal comparison. In that case, you should start comparing the price of the Disney value to, say......the Best Western Lake Buena Vista (definitely nothing more elaborate).

Even saying "well, staying offsite you can't get the dining plan, and the dining plan saves us money!", you could break it down like this.

For our family of 3, over 8 days, an offsite stay is $302.75 cheaper PER NIGHT even after the rental vehicle, parking and gas are all calculated inn. That's $100 per person, per day. I can't imagine the dining plan would save us $100 per person each and every day of our stay.

And remember....all these figures are assuming a 35% discount. That's a lofty assumption!

That sounds about right to me. We are debating on/off right now,and I have to say,I think we'll keep our money in our pockets instead of "giving"it away staying on-site;In fact,unless we get a decent discount,MOST of our trips accomodations WILL be off-site;and if they screw up FP enough we'll go to the"Darkside"instead.

 

[nugov2]

I suppose, but I probably wouldn't bother lurking around the Pop at night if I wasn't actually staying there.

Well I didn't lurk around that particular resort. I was just pointing out you can if you want. The only value I actually checked out was AOA b/c I thought the kids would like the themes. We hung out at WL, POR, Poly, CR and GF. Some of the activities we paid for others were free. We also didn't ride the buses either. The WDW transportation doesn't appeal to me, but again was just stating if that's what floats your boat you can ride the transportation until your hearts content

My point is always in the on site/ off site debates is that there really are a lot of people who stay off site for no other reason than space. Like I said earlier WDW can upcharge and I will pay gladly and still drive off site every time we stay until they have something much larger than what they offer. I am not familiar with renting DVC points, but do know you can get a 3bdrm through there from the time I have spent on here, so I may consider that in the future(though not sure I'd give up the perk of a private pool). For my family when we travel we need a large house if we a staying for a day or two. I don't feel compelled to do laundry, cook, clean etc. Just spread out and enjoy my drink pool side at night while the kids are sleeping. That is a vacation to me.

I am sure WDW will offer FP for the off site guests just not as many as for on site. I personally would gladly pay for FP. I don't think it is unfair that they give more to each level of on site guest. Just hoping they offer a similar program that Universal now offers where you can buy as many as the top tier WDW on site guest if that is what you would like to do.

 

[Sur]

No kidding. Can't complain that you don't get a steak dinner when you pay for a Happy Meal, lol.

I don't think Walt would have wanted a separation between the wealthy and those that are not. We just booked our FP+ and won't be taking advantage of the double dip.... read so much about the possibility of it, and never realized (I know, duh) that it was shutting others out.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Does staying at a Disney resort cost that much more than offsite?

I just checked and value resorts start at $90 a night.

I can tell you that during the past 2 vacations I have priced out the value resorts compared to SoG, and SoG was cheaper in both instances. And in the second instance, not only was SoG's room rate alone cheaper, but it also included a free breakfast buffet for 2 adults and 2 kids.

 

[amg35]

I don't think Walt would have wanted a separation between the wealthy and those that are not. We just booked our FP+ and won't be taking advantage of the double dip.... read so much about the possibility of it, and never realized (I know, duh) that it was shutting others out.

um, staying onsite does not equate to one being wealthy, I can promise you.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I totally agree.

IMO kudos to Disney for doing something for the guests that stay onsite as onsite perks are lacking quite a bit but rates keep getting higher. And in my opinion this sells (it sells to me).

Again, FP+ is only an onsite perk during this *testing* phase. Disney has already announced that ALL guests will have access to FP+ as it is included in theme park admission.

 

[butterflygirl812]

um, staying onsite does not equate to one being wealthy, I can promise you.

I can also vouch for this.

 

[ShayBells]

I can also vouch for this.

Me too.

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[Mrs. Ciz]

I don't find this Unfair at all, but rather a perk of staying on site.
I pay the extra money and I am grateful for the perk.
Nobody said life was always fair.

Bingo!

Please re-read the following post!

I don't understand why this is continuously debated. Yes right now the rollout is for onsite guests however disney has made it clear that FP+ WILL be available for onsite AND offsite equally once the rollout is complete. I've stayed both on and off site and enjoy both for different reasons. However, if I or anyone else chooses to stay onsite bc we like the magic we feel at the resorts Disney has not decided that entitles us to FP+ while those offsite are stuck with long standby lines. One of the few parts they've disclosed and stayed consistent with is that FP+ will continue to work like old FP w the exception that anyone w a ticket (not a disney onsite guest...just a park ticket) can book FP+ online in advance of their visit. All disney is doing with FP+ is moving it to online vs paper. Because of the potential difficulties with it during a rollout they are just doing it in stages so the system and CMs are not overwhelmed (anymore than they already are)! But ultimately ALL disney park guests will have equal access to FP+.
Now onsite guests will get magic bands which off site guests will likely have to purchase...but that is not tied to using FP+! That is completely different story!

Great job explaining the difference between an onsite perk and a regular feature of your park ticket ahill004.

 

[Granny square]

Again. Many of us love Disney transportation. I have never waited more than 10 minutes for a bus/boat/monorail ever.

A statistical anomaly considering most busses run every 29 minutes.

 

[ShayBells]

A statistical anomaly considering most busses run every 29 minutes.

It's luck. I must get so **** on in regular life that those pesky leprechauns decide to throw some my way at disney and I seem to always walk up right when a bus is pulling up. It never fails. I'm like a magnet to them. Come with me you'll never wait for another bus again.

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[Granny square]

1 king sized bed, 1 queen size pull out sofa, 500 more square feet of room, washer/dryer, full kitchen, whirlpool tub? A decent amount but it's worth every dime.

we agree most trips.

Had we known of the current crazy when we originally started planning this trip we might have planned to follow our usual akv trips. Bit we were supposed to have extras. They had to change plans due to a pregnancy so the trip will be just three of us. I'll miss the lodge, love the space, not miss the busses, etc.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

OP, please read this. It may help you.

I just read in another thread that a person with an offsite visit planned decided to book an extra night, her first night, in a Disney Value hotel. She already had 5 day UCT tickets. She got magic bands and the ability to book FP+ for 5 days over a 14 day window. It did not matter that she was not staying on Disney property the whole 14 days. They have already returned from their trip and things went perfectly. Just an FYI.

 

[Disneyholic]

I think what many of the onsiters fail to realize is that onsite doesn't work for some of us, either. I wouldn't get my teen son to go to Orlando at all if we had to squeeze into one room when it came time for bed.

I had to laugh when I read this. Your kids would have hated my childhood vacations. We were a family of 6 (Mom, Dad, 3 older brothers and me, the only girl) We traveled quite a bit and Dad wouldn't get more than one room. I shared a bed with M&D and the 3 boys shared the other. We didn't die and we had some very memorable vacations over the years that we couldn't have afforded if we didn't bunk up. There was no option of staying home either. If the family went somewhere, everyone went. I wish I could thank my parents for all the fun vacations we had, but alas, they gone.

Took our kids camping all over and heaven forbid, we all slept in a small tent. We were such BAD parents. My kids still talk about the great vacations we had. Had we stayed in hotels we could never have been able to go to even a 10th of the places we visited.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

I had to laugh when I read this. Your kids would have hated my childhood vacations. We were a family of 6 (Mom, Dad, 3 older brothers and me, the only girl) We traveled quite a bit and Dad wouldn't get more than one room. I shared a bed with M&D and the 3 boys shared the other. We didn't die and we had some very memorable vacations over the years that we couldn't have afforded if we didn't bunk up. There was no option of staying home either. If the family went somewhere, everyone went. I wish I could thank my parents for all the fun vacations we had, but alas, they gone.

Took our kids camping all over and heaven forbid, we all slept in a small tent. We were such BAD parents. My kids still talk about the great vacations we had. Had we stayed in hotels we could never have been able to go to even a 10th of the places we visited.

I stayed at the Poly with my parents and both siblings in ONE ROOM in the 80s. We had a great time, and 25 years later, we still talk about that trip.