Worth staying offsite?

[snowwite]

If I was looking at off site and driving myself, I would have to add in the fact that you are paying for parking at the parks, and potentially at your off-site location.

We rented a 5 bedroom house with a pool and lanai for $2k for 9 days. It’s way cheaper for us.

 

[snowwite]

The most offsite I will ever get anymore is Swan & Dolphin tbh. Obviously it depends on your priorities. I'm religious about midday breaks, and I go enough that the resorts are as important to me as park time if not more. I enjoy the theming, pools, food, amenities, etc of the Disney resorts.

But I'm at the point where if I was forced to stay truly offsite I would honestly rather stay home. Transportation is honestly the biggest reason why, besides just being in the bubble being important to me. My last true offsite stay was at the Sheraton Vistana in 2016 (it was not up to me since I wasn't paying) and the stress of driving home at night from MK ruined my whole day and made me vow never again. Yes rideshare exists and I use it at times even staying at Disney resorts but the drop off points are not always ideal and surge pricing can get crazy after park close. Disney transportation isn't perfect but I'm used to the quirks of public transit at home and it's a fantastic system for as much volume they get.

My parents took us to vistana vacation villas in 1977!

 

[snowwite]

We do both. Our offsite go to is Wyndham Bonnet Creek. Its offsite but still kind of in the bubble and we can drive to each park at our leisure and leave midday for breaks.

We prefer onsite. As we have matured its onsite or Swan and Dolphin. We don't mind paying for the convenience.

I don’t like the added “resort fee “ Swan tacked on last time.

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

Try the Disney Springs hotels. We have stayed many times at the Doubletree and Hilton. The location is very good. They are both walking distance to Disney Springs which is really a plus not having to try to drive there. They have good reliable bus transportation. The prices are lower than the Disney resorts plus if you have Hilton Honors you can earn or use points. The DoubleTree is great for a family up to 6 persons and is a suite. It has a microwave and small sink , counter and table to eat.

 

[Dakota731]

It depends on the hotel. We stayed off site twice and had a great experience once and a not so the nice the second. All I can say is read the online reviews!

 

[Christine caine]

I have stayed twice onsite but very expensive. I have done the offsite hotels right by Disney Springs and we stay at the Wyndham Garden Lake Buena Vista Disney Springs. We love it since it has connecting rooms for my kids and grandkids to have their own area but come and visit my room anytime. Also they have an amazing pool with lots to do for the kids. They also have laundry facilities so we don't have to pack as much. It isn't too bad for bus transportation we just get to the first park then use the Disney monorail or other transportation to get yo other parks. We arr going for our 5th time mid Sept. I hope weather is going to be good.
We always take a mid day break back at hotel and let kids and parents chill then head back for evening fun.

 

[DCLMP]

I'm cool with off site. I last stayed on site at CBR in 2019 and it was nice, but what the rooms cost these days is unreal, and we are a family of 5 so we cannot stay at certain properties. One day I would like to stay at a place like the Poly, but can't come to terms with the spending on top of 5 park tickets, plus food, airfare.... gets crazy fast.

I really like condo type places with separate bedrooms, in-room laundry and kitchen so I can cook some meals, pack less and go home with clean laundry, and I much prefer driving over taking a Disney bus. So off site doesn't bother me at all. They are both nice but I would prefer to be able to go to WDW once a year or two and stay offsite than not be able to affford to go at all because I can't pay so much for a room.

Different strokes for different folks.

Have you stayed at the Margarita Ville Condos? Those look nice.

 

[firefly_ris]

Have you stayed at the Margarita Ville Condos? Those look nice.

I haven't but they do look cool! We are heading down at the end of January and staying at Sheraton Vistana Resort this time in a 2 bedroom; I haven't been to this property before. It's part of my husband's work retreat so will see how it is. We will need to check rates at Margaritaville when it's just our family sometime.

 

[pooch]

Going 9/20 and staying at Marriott Grande Vista. This is our favorite resort in the Orlando area. Even with the new $25 parking fee, our king room is only $125 per night.

 

[Cfabar1]

If you're going to have a car anyways, or don't mind catching an uber/paying for it, offsite can have tremendous advantages... especially at great properties such as Evermore or the Hyatt...

 

[maxiesmom]

Have stayed off site, but not for many years. As I get a little older I'm all about convenience. I don't want to drive and deal with the traffic, especially as I may have one or two adult beverages during my day. My go to resort lately has been the Swan. No off site resort can compare--being able to walk to either Epcot or the Studios in under 15 minutes. Multiple great restaurants. Plus the added Disney resort perks of booking LLs and the evening extra magic hours only deluxe resorts get.

As far as any resort fees go--yes the Swan has them. As do many off site resorts. You really need to look at what you are booking and make sure you take that into account no matter if you are staying on or off site.

 

[PatsGirl]

The last two years I've stayed at Wyndham Bonnet Creek and loved it. Easy for a few adults to UBER to Disney Springs and/or the parks for cheap $$. Two bedrooms, two baths, great pools. That said, it was adults only, no need for an afternoon break and happy to eat out of the parks for dinner/drinks to places we could UBER. A rental car worked well for a few days one of the visits when a friend visited from coastal FL. Next planned trip is 4 adults, 3 yo, 5 mo old. While I think the space of a 2/2 condo would work best, we may need to separate...someone taking the baby back to the hotel or a couple of us going back for a mid-day break and returning to the park for evening fun. Staying off-site would become more complicated than worth the savings I think. But the savings is a huge difference from the AoA family suites that I've booked instead.

 

[LAS2AMS]

Yes it is worth it. We usually stay at a motor lodge style chain hotel near the main enterance. We just got back from an 8-night stay booked through Priceline; after we receive our cash back, we will have spent less than $400. That’s eight nights, for less than two at the All Stars. It’s an older hotel but it received a top-down renovation in the late 2010s. The rooms are clean, modern (TVs have Roku so you can log into your own account, or enjoy free HBO Max) and have a microwave and oversized fridge. Housekeeping is every three nights but they will do towels and trash daily. The hotel also has a free hot breakfast that’s fairly decent.

Most every chain restaurant - drive through and sit down - is within a 5-minute, as is a relatively new Publix, Super Target and Walmart. MK, Epcot and HS were within 12-15 minute drive, AK was about 5. You could get to our room to the parks, way faster than Disney transport to most hotels.

I get that this forum is homogenized and most members have inhaled too much Pixie Dust, but I know that hand breaded, fresh never frozen tenders from Raising Canes, Chick-fil-A, etc. beat the frozen Sysco heat-and-serve tenders Diseny serves. Yes, if I’m captive I’ll enjoy them but if I have choices I will not.

For context, here’s what we spent:

Airfare: $100 total. JetBlue had some $25 flights for its 25th anniversary and we snagged LAS-MCO-LAS for $25 each way (two of us went). We live just south of Disneyland and rented a car to get us to and from LAS (it’s a really easy four hour drive if you’re not fighting traffic). That cost us about $120 including fuel (we requested and received a hybrid both ways). Cheaper than parking near LAX for the week.

Hotel: less than $400 total, after cash back.

Rental car: $110 total, after cash back, for an SUV from Economy Car Rental. It’s offsite, but the shuttle arrived quickly and it’s en route to WDW so it didn’t set us back much time & we saved the airport taxes/ fees. We spent $5 for tolls (got the Central Florida pass) and about $30 in gas (10.5 gallons).

Food.: we averaged less than $50 total per day. We went to Red Lobster, Outback, Texas Roadhouse, Golden Corral, Chick-Fil-a, McD’s, Zaxby’s, etc. all of these had a coupon (BOGO at Red Lobster, free sandwhich from Chick-Fil-A). At Disney we did Sebastian’s, Whispering Canyon Cafe, Trail’s End, nachos from Poly, etc. we got cut fruit, drinks and other snacks from Walmart. No alcohol.

Parking: $35 for park days.

We had an absolute wonderful vacation. I feel bad for those who think that a wonderful WDW vacation requires club rooms at deluxe hotels, premium dining, VIP tours, etc.

 

[Cfabar1]

Bonnet Creek is a lovely area. Very convenient to parks.

 

[Darcy03231]

If it's just two of us going we stay onsite. If the whole family is going (10+) we stay off-site and rent a big house with a pool and a couple of mini-vans. We usually stay in Kissimmee.