would we be better off...

[tngal]

If we booked a package or would it be cheaper to stay off property and pay for our food out of pocket? We are planning to go the first full wk in march and are trying to figure out which would be easier on the pocketbook

Lisa

 

[TiggerStac]

depends... you could hit free dining depending on your arrival date. Do you need tickets as well or do you have them?

 

[tngal]

depends... you could hit free dining depending on your arrival date. Do you need tickets as well or do you have them?

we will need tickets as well.....is there a free dining promotion during march 5-9, 2012? how would i find out?

thanks!

Lisa

 

[poober25]

Even w/ free dining we have always found it much cheaper (and more comfortable) to stay offsite. We always get a condo through a discount site, pack a lot of snacks and eat 1, sometimes 2 meals in the parks a day w/ 1 or 2 meals total being "splurge" meals. I was not at all impressed w/ the food quality in the parks during our last trip (Oct. 2-9). It is the only time (total of about 20 trips) I have ever been disappointed in the overall quality of food.

 

[kim929]

Yes there is, I believe you have to check in by the 6th

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

The best way to know is to do your homework with how you expect to vacation.

Look up menus to calculate approximate food costs. Price the hotel. Price all the bits and pieces that come with the package al a carte. Be realistic. If you don't like eating all TS meals--then research accordingly.

Only then, you will know.

I am contemplating dining the next time we go--only because we have some known "pricey meals" and to save my husband's anxiety, pre-paying for dining might be better. (He will agree, knowing all costs--but then hates paying that check.) We don't do packages as we have DVC and once upon a time were Florida residents. But since we still have DVC, no packages.

 

[dizluvah]

Just wanted to mention - If you decide to stay offsite - be sure and budget for parking each day at the parks - its been awhile since I've been - I think it was $12 or $14 daily to park.

Not trying to dissuade you from offsite - we do offsite often just want you to be sure to consider all expenses in your budget.

I find it much cheaper to eat offsite - also we like to hit restaurants - even chains - that we don't have at home -

only you can decide what will make your vacation enjoyable -
some people only stay onsite - they love disney bus transportation - they don't want to drive on vacation

we like to have a rental car and enjoy eating outside of Disney property

 

[tngal]

Thank you to everyone for your responses! You've brought a lot of ideas to mind and some things i havent thought to include

Lisa

 

[TiggerStac]

free dining is available, as long as you check in between 3/3 & 3/8. You pay rack rate on your room, so depending on where you stay, FD is sometimes the best option.

 

[neatokimmo]

If we booked a package or would it be cheaper to stay off property and pay for our food out of pocket? We are planning to go the first full wk in march and are trying to figure out which would be easier on the pocketbook

Lisa

First hi, I know people in Ducktown! lol

Second, how many people do you have? If you are going for the first time, you will spend a lot of time in the parks. A room on site would be very convenient. You park the car once and they transport you to the parks.

Values are what, about $100 a night? It is really easy to spend $10 pp for a counter service meal. So that brings the "cost" of the room down to $60 if there are 2 adults (add in kids and it is a deal you can't in a value). Then parking 12/14? brings the room "down" to $48. Let's not even get into buying the $15 meals with cokes that are more like 17-18 (so you can split it and free up credits for breakfast) or the fact you have a couple of snacks throw in there.

For me, value + free dining is the way to go. I lived in Orlando for awhile, there is some insane driving going on. Because I am the one stuck driving everywhere, riding that bus really adds to my trip.

 

[tngal]

First hi, I know people in Ducktown! lol

Second, how many people do you have? If you are going for the first time, you will spend a lot of time in the parks. A room on site would be very convenient. You park the car once and they transport you to the parks.

Values are what, about $100 a night? It is really easy to spend $10 pp for a counter service meal. So that brings the "cost" of the room down to $60 if there are 2 adults (add in kids and it is a deal you can't in a value). Then parking 12/14? brings the room "down" to $48. Let's not even get into buying the $15 meals with cokes that are more like 17-18 (so you can split it and free up credits for breakfast) or the fact you have a couple of snacks throw in there.

For me, value + free dining is the way to go. I lived in Orlando for awhile, there is some insane driving going on. Because I am the one stuck driving everywhere, riding that bus really adds to my trip.

Omg!!! I am shocked lol. Most people look at me like i have 3 heads when i tell them where i'm from!

This will be our very 1st time for all of us, there will be 4 of us: My DH, Myself, dd14 and dd8. We were looking at going march 5-9 mainly so we could take advantage of the free dining. We had originally looked at the wk of spring break for my dd's march 19-23 and found that time of March was extremely crowded and the first wk was much less crowded. Thank you for your advice!!

 

[prncess674]

Another thing to consider is will your family tolerate staying in a teeny tiny value room. Shoving 4 people into less than 300 square feet for a week can lead to a lot of family stress.

Others quote not having to use their car as a "pro" of staying onsite. When on vacation I am not a fan of taking standing room only busses with other people's children crying, so you also have to look at what others call a "pro" is actually one in your book.

 

[neatokimmo]

Omg!!! I am shocked lol. Most people look at me like i have 3 heads when i tell them where i'm from!

This will be our very 1st time for all of us, there will be 4 of us: My DH, Myself, dd14 and dd8. We were looking at going march 5-9 mainly so we could take advantage of the free dining. We had originally looked at the wk of spring break for my dd's march 19-23 and found that time of March was extremely crowded and the first wk was much less crowded. Thank you for your advice!!

Funny, my friend Laura has lived there her whole life.

Think of it this way, if you do Sat to Sat (like what some of the vacation homes rent) it breaks down like this:

Pop room, quick service & upgrading your DD8 to 10 so she can have better food is $2122.

7 days of food. Quick math, $10 pp per meal. $80 = $560
tickets = 1117 (offsite tickets are $20 cheaper because of DD8's ticket. I can explain in a PM if you need.)
parking - $98
snack credits - $60? Even if you just use them for drinks
--------------------------
$287 for 7 nights room.

I've never had bus issues at Disney. But is seems others have so you have to take that into account. The POP rooms are small, but so are a lot of rooms in that price range (and I don't know your price range, values/free dining are the cheapest combo). If it is your first trip, I can't see you spending a lot of time in the room. There is a lot to see and do!

 

[sukhakuli]

Our cheapest trip was our offsite trip. But we were on a very, very tight budget and didn't have kids. We got a super deal on the hotel, it was only 30 bucks a night. And Disney was running a great military ticket promo, I think dh's ticket was free and mine was discounted. And then we ate a lot of sandwiches in the room, and hit a $3 buffet by the hotel. There were a lot of travel deals then because it was right after sept 11, and people weren't traveling much. We also got some amazing deals when we went to NYC to see the ball drop on NYE's. Our hotel, a Days Inn around the corner from Time Square, was only 80 a night, on New Year's!

The hotel had a shuttle to and from the parks, but that ended up being a bust, so we paid for parking (the first night we were there, the bus didn't show up for pick up, so an entire bus full of people were stranded in the lot for 2 hours until another hotel bus drove by at 1 am and took us to our hotel just to be nice). Parking was less then, though. I want to say 10 bucks a day. We didn't buy any food or drinks at the parks at all, and I think we each only got one T-shirt. Disney was fun, of course, but I wouldn't travel like that unless I really had to. But in this case, off site is definitely cheaper. The hotel wasn't nice, I got really tired of cold sandwiches and that crappy buffet, and tired of not eating in the parks and only drinking water. But at least we got to go.

 

[tngal]

Funny, my friend Laura has lived there her whole life.

Think of it this way, if you do Sat to Sat (like what some of the vacation homes rent) it breaks down like this:

Pop room, quick service & upgrading your DD8 to 10 so she can have better food is $2122.

7 days of food. Quick math, $10 pp per meal. $80 = $560
tickets = 1117 (offsite tickets are $20 cheaper because of DD8's ticket. I can explain in a PM if you need.)
parking - $98
snack credits - $60? Even if you just use them for drinks
--------------------------
$287 for 7 nights room.

I've never had bus issues at Disney. But is seems others have so you have to take that into account. The POP rooms are small, but so are a lot of rooms in that price range (and I don't know your price range, values/free dining are the cheapest combo). If it is your first trip, I can't see you spending a lot of time in the room. There is a lot to see and do!

Small rooms don't bother us, as long as i have somewhere to lay down when im ready for bed, i don't care lol. In fact, we live in a double wide, so we are not used to massive amounts of space. i don't plan on spending a lot of time in the room anyway, as you mentioned, after all, i've tried for 3 years to get this trip going and something has tripped it up everytime. I'm bound and determined to do it this time lol. plus, who knows if and when we will get to go back! We've been on a disney cruise and im sure the staterooms are smaller and we were fine in those. MY oldest dd is special needs and has been doing really well in school and has asked for this for 3 years and nothing else, so that makes me even more determined to go. my youngest is doing well in school this year as well and this would be a great reward to her for that!! As far as buses, well if i don't have to drive and/or navigate there, im for it!!



Lisa

 

[wishing4PA]

I don't think I'd ever stay off site with DH, unless we were just not getting him tickets at all. On site was much more convenient for us since 1/2 day in a park was more than enough for him. DD4 and I could take a later bus back.
That won't apply if your family is more in sync with each other when it comes to park time, though.

Regardless, if you can handle the value sized room (we did, but there were just 3 of us, and I shared a bed with DD4), and especially if you can get the free dining, IMHO on site would be much more fun. I think (there have been some postings that this may change??) the value resorts still don't have fridges, though, so either add in the cost to rent one from Disney, join a fridge swap, bring your own, or live without.

 

[Pembo]

We love our condo offsite and for $99/nt we had 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, full kitchen and laundry. We are cereal breakfast people and loved having snacks on hand. We found that driving to the parks saved us a lot of time over the buses and parking was easy and convenient. I was worried that parking at the TTC and taking the boat/monorail to MK would be a hassle but I was pleasantly surprised. Also we take afternoon breaks and always found a GREAT parking spot when we returned.

We are not big eaters so the Dining Plan is too much food for us. We did have the QSDP once and while it was nice to not worry about money and food, we only saved about $100 over paying OOP.

I buy Disney gift cards in advance to use to pay for meals in the parks that way we don't have to carry cash.

That said, I stayed onsite for 10 visits before we ventured offsite. I never thought I would like it. I can say that staying offsite is a different vacation experience than being in the middle of the magic. Not good or bad, just different. However it was a lot less expensive for us and more relaxing.

 

[BubMunkeyBles]

We like both. I prefer onsite if it costs the same as off though. I just booked offsite for $400/week in 1BR condo. I could have stayed on site for about the same price, but I like the full kitchen so we will save a lot in money. As Disney's food quality goes down (or all their counterservice food looks the same) the condo is really appealing food wise. We own DVC (we are out of points though now). We love dining plan though. We like it all. But if its a first trip I would say stay on site with free dining. Less hassle.

 

[stitchlovestink]

Small rooms don't bother us, as long as i have somewhere to lay down when im ready for bed, i don't care lol. In fact, we live in a double wide, so we are not used to massive amounts of space. i don't plan on spending a lot of time in the room anyway, as you mentioned, after all, i've tried for 3 years to get this trip going and something has tripped it up everytime. I'm bound and determined to do it this time lol. plus, who knows if and when we will get to go back! We've been on a disney cruise and im sure the staterooms are smaller and we were fine in those. MY oldest dd is special needs and has been doing really well in school and has asked for this for 3 years and nothing else, so that makes me even more determined to go. my youngest is doing well in school this year as well and this would be a great reward to her for that!! As far as buses, well if i don't have to drive and/or navigate there, im for it!!

Lisa

Bolding is mine....
If you managed well on a Disney cruise cabin, you will do just FINE in a POP room! They are bigger than a cruise cabin!!
And regarding the buses...you can have experiences all over the spectrum on the same trip! Just don't let one screaming kid taint your opinion that the bus is ALWAYS going to be that way. 98.5% of our bus trips are decent if not pleasurable

I don't think I'd ever stay off site with DH, unless we were just not getting him tickets at all. On site was much more convenient for us since 1/2 day in a park was more than enough for him. DD4 and I could take a later bus back.
That won't apply if your family is more in sync with each other when it comes to park time, though.

Regardless, if you can handle the value sized room (we did, but there were just 3 of us, and I shared a bed with DD4), and especially if you can get the free dining, IMHO on site would be much more fun. I think (there have been some postings that this may change??) the value resorts still don't have fridges, though, so either add in the cost to rent one from Disney, join a fridge swap, bring your own, or live without.

Until I read this post I totally didn't even think about that side of staying off property!! There are lots of times during our trip where we will separate because someone is tired and wants to go back to the room and nap and the other(s) will choose to continue to tour. That wouldn't be possible staying off property unless they come back to get you. But then that gets WAY to complicated if there's an emergency (I have some health issues).


Now those things said... We like the flexibility of onsite. We love Magical express (we fly) and having our luggage delivered. We LOVE extra magic hours!! I'm on vacay myself! I don't need a kitchen, washer/dryer! BUT that is me. It depends on how you see your vacation. And I think if when you truly run the numbers on the cost....when you pay for parking, the rental car, the cost of gas to drive off property to eat, consider the time lost (that could've been spent in the parks) either driving/ eating or cooking off property... you're going to have a hard time convincing me you are really saving a SiGNiFICANT amount of $$$. JMHO But again it depends completely on what you are looking for in your vacation. Best of Luck with your decision and better yet have a wonderful trip.

 

[tngal]

I don't think a screaming kid would bother me either...i've been in several situations with screaming kids (used to work in a hospital) and most of the time I am just glad it is not mine! My oldest dd, used to have horrible meltdowns, so i guess that sort of makes me sympathetic toward the parent. I know what they must feel like and that people can be quite rude when its not their kid. With my physical disabilities, even though they are minor compared to others, I am thinking it will definitely be better to stay on-site.

Thanks to everyone again for all your help and great advice!!

Lisa