Unfair :(

[kamik86]

To never have waited more than 10 minutes? You would have to always hit the busses practically perfectly. Lol, good luck with that! I've waited everywhere from 2 to 100 minutes over the course of 25 years staying on site at least one week a year.

Perhaps she has only gone a few times and been really lucky. But I don't know many who would say they've never waited more than 10 minutes. Even Disney would never give those numbers.

Even if you have three buses lined up they take at least 5 to lad. Especially if there are ecvs. When mom has hers we tend to just drive because it is quicker to walk to the parking lot and get back to our resort. Usually bwv or akv.

I have definitely had trips where we didn't wait more then 10-15 min for a bus. Generally it just means we didn't go to DTD and got lucky on times. DTD is generally the only one that takes more then 20.

But I have also had trips where 3-4 times were much longer. which is a statistical anomaly as well.

 

[Granny square]

I have definitely had trips where we didn't wait more then 10-15 min for a bus. Generally it just means we didn't go to DTD and got lucky on times. DTD is generally the only one that takes more then 20. But I have also had trips where 3-4 times were much longer. which is a statistical anomaly as well.

True. Unless you have an ecv. Then all bets are off!

 

[wisblue]

Over the years, we have taken hundreds of Disney buses. They generally say that they run about every 20 minutes and, based on our experience, that seems about right. Sometimes it comes right when you get to the stop, and sometimes you see the bus pulling out as you approach the stop, and then you end up waiting about 20 minutes.

Sure, we have had worst cases when we have waited longer (and I agree that DTD is the worst), but an average of about 10 minutes seems about right.

Before DME we rented a car mainly to use as airport transportation, but sometimes we would use it around the resort. Now we only rent a car if we are planning to go offsite, and then only for the days we need one. If I am sitting on a bench waiting for a bus I can think about the money I am saving by not renting a car. If renting a car costs $30 a day and I have to wait a total of 30 minutes to get buses in a day, I am essentially making $60 an hour for sitting and relaxing.

 

[KatieCharlotte]

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.

We also take our kids camping, though we use two small tents on one site. Technically, we could camp at WDW but I have a hard time paying $100/night (high season) and not even getting the quiet nature experience we love about camping. We'd be happy to stay in All Star with preteen DS camping out on the floor, but that's not allowed. Hotels in general have gotten more strict about this because of fire codes. Although I know families who just sneak the extra kid/s in, that won't work at Disney.

I think most of us understand that we are fortunate to have the means to travel, regardless our budgets, and that FP+ is so minor in the bigger picture of life, but if we didn't talk about this here, where else could we, since our friends and families don't care and have no clue what we're talking about?

 

[Granny square]

Over the years, we have taken hundreds of Disney buses. They generally say that they run about every 20 minutes and, based on our experience, that seems about right. Sometimes it comes right when you get to the stop, and sometimes you see the bus pulling out as you approach the stop, and then you end up waiting about 20 minutes. Sure, we have had worst cases when we have waited longer (and I agree that DTD is the worst), but an average of about 10 minutes seems about right. Before DME we rented a car mainly to use as airport transportation, but sometimes we would use it around the resort. Now we only rent a car if we are planning to go offsite, and then only for the days we need one. If I am sitting on a bench waiting for a bus I can think about the money I am saving by not renting a car. If renting a car costs $30 a day and I have to wait a total of 30 minutes to get buses in a day, I am essentially making $60 an hour for sitting and relaxing.

True. We drive or Priceline a $10 a day vehicle

It all just depends on what one likes best. We don't stay on property for the busses. Others love them. We stay onsite because I adore the akl. I love everything there. Other resorts are pretty and some are fun so when we can't get akv we will settle for others. Lol and some people adore the "others". Thankfully we are all different!


My only comment was that it was pretty rare to never have had to wait more than 10 minutes.

 

[skriegerjr]

What you're missing is they ARE paying the same price

I'm staying at my house or a hotel in Orlando area
you are staying at The Grand Floridian

How much are you paying for a 5 day Park Hopper?
How much am I paying for a 5 Day Park Hopper?


end of discussion

You absolutely are paying the same for the actual admission tickets.

But you absolutely are NOT paying Disney the same amount of money. Not even close. And let's face it, that's what Disney cares about. Making money.

End of Discussion.

 

[nugov2]

You absolutely are paying the same for the actual admission tickets.

But you absolutely are NOT paying Disney the same amount of money. Not even close. And let's face it, that's what Disney cares about. Making money.

End of Discussion.

You cannot measure what a person spends at WDW on or off site alone. I can stay off site and eat every single meal at WDW off the dinning plan maybe costing me more. Shop just as much. Pay for perks like cruises, rent bikes, play in the arcades etc all staying off site. So just b/c you sleep there does not mean you spend more there.

 

[maxiesmom]

You cannot measure what a person spends at WDW on or off site alone. I can stay off site and eat every single meal at WDW off the dinning plan maybe costing me more. Shop just as much. Pay for perks like cruises, rent bikes, play in the arcades etc all staying off site. So just b/c you sleep there does not mean you spend more there.

No, but if you stay on site you are giving them more money up front, which makes them very happy.

 

[BayouMickey]

You cannot measure what a person spends at WDW on or off site alone. I can stay off site and eat every single meal at WDW off the dinning plan maybe costing me more. Shop just as much. Pay for perks like cruises, rent bikes, play in the arcades etc all staying off site. So just b/c you sleep there does not mean you spend more there.

But realistically, you don't do most of that unless you are staying on site.

 

[butterflygirl812]

No, but if you stay on site you are giving them more money up front, which makes them very happy.

Right.

And I'm making a generalized statement here, so take it as such, but the basic Disney vacation consists of three things: park tickets, food, and lodging. Any additional purchases are total bonus in Disneys pocket. But for those three things, you better believe Disney is going to try and get their guests to give them ALL that money rather than have offsite guests, or guests dining elsewhere. What's wrong with Disney offering incentives to people who are willing to put all their vacation money into Disney?

 

[Angel Ariel]

But realistically, you don't do most of that unless you are staying on site.

I don't know about any other offsiters, but I eat all of my meals on property, without the dining plan (as SoG guests aren't eligible), shop just as much as I would shop if I were onsite, buy extras (like MNSSHP tickets, tours, F&W festival event tickets). We don't rent a car..we either use Disney transport or SoG transport. Once we're at the hotel, we're there and we don't leave..just as though we were onsite guests. Disney just can't decide if we truly count as onsite guests or not.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

But realistically, you don't do most of that unless you are staying on site.

I can't help but think the offsiters spend even MORE money on the non-accommodations stuff (food, souvenirs, rentals, etc.), because they have so much more spending cash from the money saved by staying off Disney property. In my example alone, there was almost $2500 saved vs. similar accommodations at Disney. That's a lot of spending cash.

 

[pilferk]

Yes, you are right......we would have hated your vacations!!!!

And for us, its not "kids", just one. Though I am not sure how you interpreted that I would "die" if we had to spend the night in the same room ? No, I said he would rather not go. We have the same family philosophy as you do....if we go somewhere, we ALL go somewhere. Which is why we bought at the Vistana . It meets OUR family's needs. We enjoy our own space. We enjoy the upscale amenities. We enjoy privacy. We enjoy the resort. We don't enjoy one-room accommodations. We don't enjoy the Disney buses. We don't enjoy the dining plan. But all that said, I don't expect other families to value the exact same things we do .

Hold on...just sec...only because I'm a numbers geek.

You quote a room rate in a previous post of $120 at Vistana. Are you getting that by costing out your timeshare costs or using an owners discounted rate?

Because that sort of makes the comparison a little wonky.

Oh, and I'm with you: I don't camp, either. And we like LOTS of space. Largely why we bought AKV DVC.

 

[BayouMickey]

I can't help but think the offsiters spend even MORE money on the non-accommodations stuff (food, souvenirs, rentals, etc.), because they have so much more spending cash from the money saved by staying off Disney property. In my example alone, there was almost $2500 saved vs. similar accommodations at Disney. That's a lot of spending cash.

I don't think that's necessarily true, I have in the past stayed offsite, and I find I spend just as much on souvenirs and food as I have onsite. But I'm with children, and we all know children don't differentiate costs lol.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Hold on...just sec...only because I'm a numbers geek.

You quote a room rate in a previous post of $120 at Vistana. Are you getting that by costing out your timeshare costs or using an owners discounted rate?

Because that sort of makes the comparison a little wonky.

Oh, and I'm with you: I don't camp, either. And we like LOTS of space. Largely why we bought AKV DVC.

Nope, we did not become owners until September of this year (AFTER our August 2013 trip). We purchased there after we came home because we fell in love with the resort during that stay.

Our accomodations were booked through Jetblue. A regular "hotel" add-on to our airfare, so even though it was a timeshare property, we still had daily housekeeping and all the other perks of a hotel.

Maintenance fees on our SVR units are $830 per unit (per year). So roughly the same cost for us going forward....$118.57 per night.

 

[pilferk]

I can't help but think the offsiters spend even MORE money on the non-accommodations stuff (food, souvenirs, rentals, etc.), because they have so much more spending cash from the money saved by staying off Disney property. In my example alone, there was almost $2500 saved vs. similar accommodations at Disney. That's a lot of spending cash.

But, really...how much overpriced plastic can you buy? $2500 is a nice chunk of change, but if I were "saving it", I doubt I'd be willing (or able) to find THAT much "other stuff" to use it for.

We can float lots of different anomalies, but...lets be honest. The most likely scenario is: Disney is getting more revenue off of the on site guest. And likely making more profit.

Because, if Disney didn't see that was true, in all their financial analysis..they wouldn't build more hotels. They wouldn't add room capacity. And, likely, they'd stop operating their hotels altogether and sell the unit off to someone(s) else.

Are there scenarios where it's NOT true? Sure, there are individual off site guests who will end up putting more in Disney's coffers than one specific individual on-site guest. But I think, logically, it's hard to get to a space where the homogenized GROUP of off site guests puts more revenue, en masse, into the coffers than onsite guests do.

 

[Jeslynb]

The main issue for me is, having booked many months before I became aware of FP+, I didn't have the option of factoring that into my decision about where to stay. Had I known about it, we might have booked on-site. Might.

I'm not too jazzed, however, to learn about this change a month before my trip, when it's too late to take advantage even if I wanted to. True, life isn't fair, but my trip to WDW isn't "life", it's a business transaction. And if WDW's business practices are viewed as unfair, well, that's bad business. If I sandbagged my own customers this way, my company wouldn't be where it is today.

The secondary issue for me is that I don't like the idea of planning out all my FPs in advance. Our children's likes and dislikes change from visit to visit and we generally don't even like to decide which park we're going to until the night before. We like to wander around and get FP based on desire/need of the moment.

If what we're left with is stand-by only for every ride unless we not only stay on site but also plan our days out in advance, it's a disincentive to return for us and, I imagine, for others. It's difficult to see how this won't hurt Disney's bottom line, but I'm sure they know what they're doing.

And to be fair, we're probably not typical "Disney People" in terms of our level of interest, and maybe it makes sense to try to squeeze more money out of the more devoted fans by encouraging on-site hotel use and to treat the day-trippers as somewhat expendable.

In any event, I'm just glad we're going off-season first week in December, before they've fully launched this program.

 

[pilferk]

Nope, we did not become owners until September of this year (AFTER our August 2013 trip). We purchased there after we came home because we fell in love with the resort during that stay.

Our accomodations were booked through Jetblue. A regular "hotel" add-on to our airfare, so even though it was a timeshare property, we still had daily housekeeping and all the other perks of a hotel.

Maintenance fees on our SVR units are $830 per unit (per year). So roughly the same cost for us going forward....$118.57 per night.

Thanks! Again, numbers geek thing. Just wanted to make sure we were all jumping off the same platform.

 

[BeerMe]

We just spent a month offsite and the only FP that was an issue was Soarin, and we even got that a few times. No big deal IMO and when FP+ is completely rolled out things will return to normal.

 

[Granny square]

We just spent a month offsite and the only FP that was an issue was Soarin, and we even got that a few times. No big deal IMO and when FP+ is completely rolled out things will return to normal.

That is great news. We almost ditched the condo offsite and took the $225 loss (2 bedrooms for a week) to a studio at okw, rental $720. I feel really lucky thought that we were there in January, on site and will go again next year probably back on site. I do feel bad for those that are worrying and only get to go once. I would probably be fretting too.

While I understand that conversations morph this one has made a pretty big leap! Since I believe that in the end fp+ won't be just a onsite perk.

I do find the argument interesting that tickets cost the same so should have the same privileges though. Onsite folks already have the right to enter early and stay late on certain days. Same tickets, just a perk.

As far as spending as much when staying offsite...no way do we spend as much. One of the perks of offsite are better food options. Disney's are average at best since "free dining" reared its ugly head.