What would you do if someone offered you a free place to stay?

[harmon54]

I was originally planning a trip for Feb 2012 for DD birthday and dreaming of possibly adding on a cruise portion. We would stay onsite because of the transfers etc. I usually end up finding some sort of deal.

We recently got offered to stay offsite for free for a week in October 2011. Although I think it would be fun to do Mickeys Halloween, I am thinking that we will spend almost as much staying for free off site as staying onsite with a kids play free or free dine deal. I have thought about investing in season passes and going both times but seems kinda close together.

So basically my question is would you take the free room - and is it really a good deal with the extra costs of tickets, food , parking etc.

Would you go twice so close together and if so do we get the season passes?

 

[leadfootlevi]

extra costs of tickets, food , parking etc.

1) The tickets won't cost anything extra. Unless you're talking the kids play free deal, but that's not guaranteed to be offered when you go in 2012.

2) Food doesn't have to cost extra (I'm assuming by extra you mean more than the dining plan). There are several ways to save money on food (eat offsite, bring snacks/lunch, eat breakfast in your room, share meals...)

3) Parking is $14/day. Way less than the cost of a hotel room.

You will have to figure in the cost of a rental car. That may or may not be extra compared to what you were planning.

If someone offered me a free place to stay I'd jump all over it!

 

[StuckInKS]

It would depend. With 5 tickets to buy (and soon 6 & 7,) somewhere to stay is the cheapest part of our expenses. We also spend a ton of money on food ($100 for 2 CS or $200 for a CS & TS, plus 4 slushes, 4 pastries, 1 funnel cake, 1 ice cream cookie sandwich, 2 popcorns and sometimes a bag of candied almonds per day when at MK. We snack less in other parks.)

So, if there were a Kids Free or Free Dining promo at the same time, then we might spend MORE just as much to stay off-site in our "free" place to stay.
The cost of 2 adult, 4 child tickets for 4 days is $1,384.50. On the other hand, we can get 2 value rooms with 2 adult tickets for 3 nights for $1,190. All the kids tickets would be free. So, we are basically getting two free value rooms and a $194.50 discount on our park tickets. When our youngest turns 3 (assuming they have Kids Free with the same rules) our discount will be greater (by at least $220, using today's prices.)

From there the savings continue since there is no need to rent a car, plus we will get perks like EMH. We'd save another $35 per day by getting the QSDP, plus free mugs which we normally wouldn't buy. Or we could save $90 per day with the DDP.

I spend a lot of time thinking about this stuff (if you couldn't tell ) For us, some promotions trump "free" or even very cheap off-site accommodations by hundreds of dollars.

 

[Jrabbit910]

my experience: We took a trip in 2008 & friends of ours gave us thier time share OFF property for free & I went w/ an open mind, & still thought its Disney I will be fine! I hated it! LOL! my DH told me that it was the only time he saw me nasty in WDW Dont get me wrong the time share was beautiful & it was sooo close to AK but for me it just wasnt the same. I like the feeling of being immersed in Disney.

Honestly do whatever works for your family & your budget! or you can always draw sticks!

 

[harmon54]

Thanks for the response- that is my concern as well that we will accept the "free" place to stay and end up paying more than staying onsite. But I have read others say that staying offsite is less expensive.....

It is a timeshare- so no daily cleaning service (would realy miss the character towels and our Mickey getting into mischief- we had a great cleaning staff during our last stay and our son still talks about it) but we would have the kitchenette so maybe could save on some meals- however, I have a 5- 3- and 1 year old so we would like to do some character meals...

The larger problem is it is family offering it and wanting to go at that time. I am not sure if I should just accept and try to spend wisely (then hope we have enough for a Feb trip as well), turn down the room if a good onsite offer comes along (I do have a PIN for a room discount currently) but still go during this time and just stay onsite, or turn it down altogether and go in Feb as planned.

Any thoughts on the value of getting the season pass? Thanks

 

[THERESA522]

Wait 'til next week and see if free dining's offered - that may help you make up your mind.

Also, with AP's, keep in mind that if you do take advantage of a package deal, like FD or Kid's stay & place, you're required to buy, I think, 2 days of tix for everyone in your party.

You really have to do the math. Get on the website and price out all scenarios.

 

[5boyz]

my experience: We took a trip in 2008 & friends of ours gave us thier time share OFF property for free & I went w/ an open mind, & still thought its Disney I will be fine! I hated it! LOL! my DH told me that it was the only time he saw me nasty in WDW Dont get me wrong the time share was beautiful & it was sooo close to AK but for me it just wasnt the same. I like the feeling of being immersed in Disney.

Honestly do whatever works for your family & your budget! or you can always draw sticks!

Same here!!! We stayed at Bonnet Creek and it was beautiful but not Disney, I would have a hard time with this one...would have to do alot of figuring out....

 

[susanm]

i would have to crunch the numbers... transportation, food, tickets, parking, food... what would the extra trip cost?

would that take a big bite out of the next trip and make the next trip a budget cruncher? i like to go with enough $$ to not have to pinch money (ei eating a counter meal when i really want le cellier).. thats what would make up my mind

 

[maxiesmom]

i would have to crunch the numbers... transportation, food, tickets, parking, food... what would the extra trip cost?

would that take a big bite out of the next trip and make the next trip a budget cruncher? i like to go with enough $$ to not have to pinch money (ei eating a counter meal when i really want le cellier).. thats what would make up my mind

Ditto. I have no problem staying off site, and have done so on many occasions. I would all come down to how much (if anything) I would save, and would it be enough to compensate for not being able to hop on a Disney bus and go wherever I wanted to go.

To save $100 I probably wouldn't stay off site. To save $700 I probably would.

 

[loganpaulsmom]

my cousin owns house in one of those gated communities right in Kissimmee.. I have been offered to use her house multiple times.. I have never taken her up on it because I LOVE staying in the park.. There is just something different about really being part of the "world" as opposed to staying offsite.. The money that I spend to stay onsite is so much more worth it, in my opinion..