What am I sacrificing staying off site?

[kline1]

My family has been to WDW 3times - all onsite at moderates. Now I am considering staying off-site because we would like to include US, IOA & Sea World. What will we be giving up? Anyone with experience on this please share. Also what might be a good pick as an off site choice. Thanks!!!

 

[jesse]

I think the biggies are early entry and e-nights. We usually go in January, it seems if you get there at rope drop on non-ee mornings, it's just about the same as going to ee mornings during more crowded times.

 

[glo]

kline1 ! agree with the poster above about what you might be missing out. We have stayed off-site 13 out of 16 times. We stay wherever we have to, to get us to Disney. I would rater stay on-site than off, but if I can't then off-site it is.

The only time I would definitely reccommend on is if you were going at an extremely busy time like Christmas or New years, so that you are atleast gauranteed entry to a park.

 

[Planogirl]

We stayed offsite last year and I didn't really have a big problem with it. The biggest headache was the traffic jams at night especially since we were staying in Kissimmee. Also, for some reason I had no trouble driving to the Disney parks in the morning but I usually went the wrong way in the evening. We started joking to the melody of Hotel California "welcome to the Disney Resort, you can arrive but you can never leave." It was actually my fault but it was funny.

I prefer an offsite when we want to do some non-Disney parks. Next year I am planning to do a non-Disney trip (if I can force myself to stay away! )

 

[thefatman]

I agree, we always go in on the Osceloa Parkway (traffic free), but finding it on the way out it is always dificult, its normally sharing a slip road with somewhere else, and seems to have a low priority in the signing system, so you end up back on the dreaded 192. Its taken us several attempt to get landmarks sorted out as to when to switch lanes etc.
Which of course we forget the next year !!!

I now own a home in Orlando but before we always stayed off site ( I Drive) and enjoyed the huge savings we made compared to a few early or late entrys.
And listening to some of the bus problems my 18 mins from house to parking lots seems quite resonable, and we get to sit down and don't have to wait in line.

 

[magicbound]

I had a big belly laugh at that..we were singing the same tune last March...no problems gettting there in the AM, but after the 4th night of driving in circles DH gave up getting frustrated & just told the kids it was one more way Disney kept you interested! Then he started singing that song!

 

[mainey-mouse]

Well, we just got back from doing both - first timers with kids 4 and 7.

We stayed 5 nights at Tropical Palms in Kisimmme and 2 nights at PO-Riverside.

We enjoyed our offsite accoms alot because we had a cabin with 2 bedrooms and full kitchen. The atmosphere was very calm and relaxing. The total time to the MK parking lot was 15 minutes, and we never encountered any traffic. The trams/monorail added another 15-20 minutes to the actual time to MK gates and we thought might be a hassle worth avoiding.

We really liked PO-RS and found the atmosphere really really nice. I've never seen a hotel done up like that one was - the grounds I mean. We tried the buses, and they were ok . Took about half an hour to get to the bus, wait for one, then get to the MK gates (actual drive time was 17 mins). It was nice to avoid the trams and monorail. It wasn't nice waiting for the bus, or standing, or sitting with our kids on our laps on a crowded bus. Also not nice carrying them back to the hotel room from the bus stop when they fell asleep on the bus after the fireworks.

Transportation wise - six of one, half dozen of the other. If you stay somewhere reasonably close, I can't imagine you are going to feel that driving in is more hassle than bussing it from Disney (to MK that is). I really can' t imagine it matters at all somewhere like AK, where you just park and walk to the gates. Disney itself is so big, it seems to take as long to drive between resorts and parks as it does from offsite.

We don't consider Early Entry a vacation option (thats our regular life) so we didn't miss it. E nights are something we would probably use if the option was available.

Atmosphere wise - we found returing to some privacy and comfortable space at the end of the day nicer than going back to the hustle and bustle of a Disney Resort. The parks were enough of that. The imagination at the DR was something to see - the first couple hours. After that, it wore off.

Overall - we stayed the 2 days at PO to see what it was all about. It really is something the way Disney does those hotels. I can sure see how people who've never stayded offsite, or only stayed offsite in other (cheaper) hotel rooms would think staying at Disney make a great difference. But our final opinion - having tried the offsite option with the suite comfort factor - a Disney Hotel Room is a nice place to visit, wouldn't want to spend a week there.

After a DR, I would be disappointed with some regular old hotel room in a regular old hotel, I'm sure. So pick yourself a nice suite location close to the parks, and see what a Disney moderate doesn't give you. I'd recommend checking www.hotelkingdom.com for places such as Vistana Resorts, Vistana Villages, Caribe Royal, Holiday Inn Family Suites (if you have young kids). These places typically get good reviews on this board, and using hotelkingdom will get you into them for definitely less than the rack rate at a Disney Moderate. If you are at all the outdoorsy type - also check out our pick (after considering all of those others) - Tropical Palms (www.tropicalpalms.com). Nice comfortable clean cabins. LOTS of space compared to a hotel room. Kids liked the cabins more than PO. I thought they'd be sold on PO's pools, but apparently a sleeping loft and lizzards to chase are more attractive.

 

[Super Mom]

We are splitting our stay between an on-site and an off-site hotel. We will be doing USF, IOA, and SeaWorld while we are off-site before moving to Swan/Dolphin for our Disney stay. We love the Disney experience; EE mornings, E-night, we even like Disney transportation. We did not, however, want to pay for all of these perks while we are doing non-Disney attractions.

 

[thefatman]

Its this bus waiting, over crowding and the walking to/from that Disney have to get better on site.
Looking at some of the above posts I,m glad I,m in my car and 18 mins later just 10 steps into my home, we control the temperature, frequency and everyone gets a seat, favorite toys, drinks, snacks and generally gets to kick back and relax,
oh and the driver is such pleasant company !!!

 

[mainey-mouse]

You said it thefatman. I just don't get the "Disney buses are a perk worth paying extra to stay onsite for" idea. Seems like a classic case of The Emporer's New Clothes syndrome to me. Although I'm happy millions go for it - or those park parking lots would be even bigger and more unweildly than they already are.

 

[Fantasia_]

He he he! Too funny! But it's true! I don't know what it is about disney, but when it's time to go, it seems like you get stuck in disney. We had that experience in '94. "You can check in anytime you want...but you can never leave!" We were fine getting there in AM, but when it's time to go, we can't seem to get out!

 

[Ecdubfan]

We like to split our time in Orlando, staying onsite during our Disney days and off-site the rest of the time. Benefits of staying onsite are: ability to charge park purchases to your room account, bus transportation, free parking at the parks (Saves $6 or $7 a day), park passes are encoded on room key, early entry and ee night, and the overall magic our kids feel. Once we are done with our disney time, though, it is off-site for us.

 

[baileybrad]

reference is a classic. When you do stay off-site, it is really helpful if you are staying somewhere you can utilize the 535 and 536 highways and avoid most of 192. Once you learn your way around the area, it is fairly easy to get around. But as others have said, during the busy times, it could be more problematic. We stay on Disney property most of the time but we rarely use the buses, choosing to drive ourselves to an from the parks most of the time.

 

[thefatman]

Originally posted by Ecdubfan
We like to split our time in Orlando, staying onsite during our Disney days and off-site the rest of the time. Benefits of staying onsite are: ability to charge park purchases to your room account, bus transportation, free parking at the parks (Saves $6 or $7 a day), park passes are encoded on room key, early entry and ee night, and the overall magic our kids feel. Once we are done with our disney time, though, it is off-site for us.

Ecdubfan this isn't a personal attck its just I thought your summing up was very clear. Thank You

Disney build quality hotels but once your in your room you could be anywhere.
Chargeing stuff to your room, is that any quicker than paying by credit card? and means yet more lines of hotel bill to scroll thru at check out.
Buses seem to be very efficient thru to very late and crowded, and you could still face a long walk to your room, (not much fun with tired kids) I could not accept this inconsistancy for the priemium you pay on site.

One park tickets the same as another, they slot in the gate!.

I don't think our kids miss any magic, they get to the parks excited and leave asleep in our own car, in their own seats !.

Parkings free on annual passes, and the difference between staying on / off is a lot more than $7 day so your still saving staying off.

The EE days and nights are the ONE true difference that on site gives, if you feel this is worth the premium then fine, having done both I just feel I'd be better spending the money on the kids rather than an overloaded transportation system and hotel rooms that you only sleep in. Of course by spending the savings on the kids Disney gets it all any ways !!!

 

[deena]

over the years because when were are down we visit places other than Disney also such as Universal and Sea World along with doing other smaller attractions in Orlando.

Also, the hotel that we generally stay at is less than 5 miles from the maingate so we are there before we know it; also right next to more dining and shopping options which has been a plus.

At the end of the day we just catch the tram to the car within a few minutes and then we are off to the hotel while seemingly most people that I have talked to as well as read about are still waiting on buses at stops to get back to the onsite hotels.

Also, we don't have to worry about any cramped conditions of the buses during certain times especially at closing due to driving a rental.

Also, I can relate to what others said before about spending time at WDW on vacation while in the midst of constant crowds along with the nonstop busy and wired atmosphere of the parks.

It's so wonderful to return back to a nice suite or larger size room that is a haven where the whole family can really "spread out" in addition to having some relaxing downtime from the fast pace and for much less money too/more amenities (which makes it even more awesome!)