your take - staying on, but think I want to be off!

[myhoney]

Posted this on resorts, would like off-siter's take on it!

so confused! For our first family trip, we were staying offsite (private 4 bdr pool home, $590 week). Inlaws are going part of trip and staying onsite. They want to do a fancy dinner at Cali Grill one night. We had planned to do one meal with our kids onsite. The cost of both onsite dinners negated any significant savings to being offsite!

DH and I decided that for a few hundred dollars more, it was worth staying on, eating everything onsite, and feeling like we were on vacation, and not worrying about doing dishes or going to the grocery store. We cancelled the pool home. But we are paying rack at POFQ (we must have two queens) and I really want a discount. I don't need it to go, but I always like to get a deal!

However, I still want space! When I look at pictures of those rooms, I remember why I wanted offsite in the first place! The Buena Vista suites seems like too good a deal, and gives us some breathing room with a 4 year old and a 6 year old. Everyone says we won't be in the room enough to care, but I don't even see enough space to store 4 suitcases! And, the buses worry me - I'm convinced I can get around just as fast in my rental car as I can waiting for a bus and then waiting to be delivered to my resort!

We will still eat lunch and dinner at Disney. So, why should I stay onsite? What perk/great feature am I forgetting about?

 

[princess&her4princes]

Posted this on resorts, would like off-siter's take on it!

so confused! For our first family trip, we were staying offsite (private 4 bdr pool home, $590 week). Inlaws are going part of trip and staying onsite. They want to do a fancy dinner at Cali Grill one night. We had planned to do one meal with our kids onsite. The cost of both onsite dinners negated any significant savings to being offsite!

DH and I decided that for a few hundred dollars more, it was worth staying on, eating everything onsite, and feeling like we were on vacation, and not worrying about doing dishes or going to the grocery store. We cancelled the pool home. But we are paying rack at POFQ (we must have two queens) and I really want a discount. I don't need it to go, but I always like to get a deal!

However, I still want space! When I look at pictures of those rooms, I remember why I wanted offsite in the first place! The Buena Vista suites seems like too good a deal, and gives us some breathing room with a 4 year old and a 6 year old. Everyone says we won't be in the room enough to care, but I don't even see enough space to store 4 suitcases! And, the buses worry me - I'm convinced I can get around just as fast in my rental car as I can waiting for a bus and then waiting to be delivered to my resort!

We will still eat lunch and dinner at Disney. So, why should I stay onsite? What perk/great feature am I forgetting about?

We ALWAYS go back and forth on this, as well. We've priced both ,but always find it's only a couple hundred more to stay on site, not rent a car and to fully experience all that Disney has to offer. The EMH, dining, the transportation. We've never had an issue with buses, we find it easier to just pack for the day and jump on the bus, enjoy the a/c, chat with other families and not worry about driving. We never spend enough time in our room to worry about the space (but I so get it! we are a family of 5 and the suitcases do take up a ton of space!), but I do unpack and pile suitcases on top of the "closet" area and it works. We only shower and sleep there, so it's never a big deal. That being said, we are staying at ASMu family suites this next trip, for the extra space and so that everyone has their own bed!

For your 1st trip as a family, I think (and hope!) you'll be happy to stay on site...enjoy the music, the smells and the downtime of not cooking/cleaning/driving while on vacation! Have fun!!

 

[figmentswife]

It sounds like you and I are in the in same mind set....I also need some help trying to decide what to do. I have never stayed on property and want the real vacation feel, not having to cook, but I want a bigger room b\c my husband stays up late, and I get up early. I also don't mind driving myself.

I did book Buena Vista Suites for our October stay (from mousesavers.com) and we are staying 7 nights for only $588 (that's with tax) there are no resort fees or parking fees either. I did not have to put a deposit on the room, and I can cancel up to 3 days before we go.

I am not willing to pay the Disney prices at rake rates, but I am willing to spend more then I am to stay at at least a mod. on property.

Have you called Disney to see if there was a pin code under your name??? Or have you thought about the family suite at the value resort?

Sorry I am not much help, I am still trying to decide what to do myself.

 

[figmentswife]

We are in the same boat.....I am staying off property and I am fine with it, unless Disney offers a really good discount. Have you called to see if there was a discount under your name?? This may help you make a choice.

Most people say it's the "magic", but b\c I have never stayed on property, I can't say.

 

[myhoney]

I just booked the mousesavers deal at Buena Vista Suites. I also have room only booked at Disney, so I can wait until early October to make a decision! DH just wants to stay onsite and be done with it, but I'm still undecided. We aren't doing the dining plan, because it was coming out to be the same price as if we paid out of pocket, so I want the flexibility to order what I want when I want (no dessert at lunch). As DH says, we are more dinner and drinks kind of people than dinner and dessert. I hope Disney comes out with some great deals on mods!

 

[wdw4rfam]

We go back and forth every trip because we now have the dreaded "family of 5". I can tell you- after staying on site sooo many times, staying offsite does NOT feel like the same trip. Buena Vista Suites is nice, but right next to the road and feels like a motel to me (again, MY OPINION). At Disney, you are wisked away from everything, and just feel like your in another world- no motels, freeways, resturants, JUST DISNEY!!! We are stuck with POR now untill our youngest gets too big for the trundle, and we are forced to Deluxe. Not that its bad- but we keep looking at these offsites, and seeing how much room we'd have...but then realize that we LOVE the dining plan. We have evrything paid for when we leave home, and the kids love the character meals. I would NEVER go offsite again.

 

[razorbackfan22]

Having done both on and offsite, I am truly converted to the offsite experience.

The extra room available at offsite accommodations and the value is wonderful and with a 4 year old and 6 year old, you might want some space to chill with your DH. The crazy contortions that people go through for adult time in Disney hotels is mind-boggling to me. For me, is not a fun, relaxing way to spend the vacation.

If you have a rental car, you should be great on getting around WDW. Be sure to download the GPS file from Mousesavers, if you take your GPS (http://www.mousesavers.com/gps.html).

Now onto the argument that you need to be immersed in the Disney experience and that you are only in your hotel room to sleep and shower. If you are only in your room to sleep and shower, why pay the high Disney prices? The immersion experience is nice, but so is eating some meals offsite, free breakfast, space and seeing the gates when entering each morning.

I've stayed at WL, Poly-2, GF, AKL, SoG, BC, POR, and POFQ. I've also stayed at Sheraton Vistana and Wyndham Bonnet Creek. I have great memories from all my trips, but my pocketbook and sanity really loves offsite now.

Good luck!

 

[Brian Noble]

You can have three things in your WDW vacation lodging:

1: Be onsite.
2: Have reasonable amount of space and lots of amenities.
3: Pay a reasonable price.

In general, you can only have two of these three. So, you have to decide which of the two you are most willing to give up. About half of my trips are onsite in a DVC Villa, and about half off in a condo, town home, or pool home. They really aren't that different. We eat the same way, visit the parks the same amount of time, don't really use EMH either way, do about the same stuff. The biggest difference for me is the availability of transportation, but even then I drive myself most places onsite.

But, other people will find the differences between onsite more important. So, those folks will either give up space/amenities, or spend more money. It's really up to you.

I don't get this part:

The cost of both onsite dinners negated any significant savings to being offsite!

You would have eaten those meals either way. With the dining plan, there is some savings, but even Disney at their most optimistic says "up to 20% savings". That might make the difference between onsite at a Value or Moderate and offsite in a condo, but it won't make up the difference between onsite in a DVC villa and offsite in a condo---not even close.

you are only in your hotel room to sleep and shower.

I think most people say this because hotel rooms aren't really good for anything else. We make significant use of our condo/villa, whether onsite or off. We appreciate the couches, comfy chairs, nice private balconies, and the blender! It is also nice for the kids (and, ahem, the adults) to have some private space to which they can retreat after a day of "togetherness." But, we are not open-to-close-in-the-parks sorts of people.

 

[saysay]

I have only stayed at the Wyndham Bonnet Creek 3 times and the Swan 1 time...so never truly done the onsite thing.

Do I have magical times when there.... YES. We have always had the need for 2nd bathroom - except the time I stayed at the swan, so that prices us out of the Disney resorts. We don't do commando and do like very minimal downtime, so we do hang out in the room and having the extra space is priceless for me....I can lay down in a quiet bedroom while everyone else is up and about.

What I don't like about offsite is it would be nice to do a dining plan, but the full out plan is honestly more food than we eat in a day, so its never swayed us to staying onsite. It would be great to have the budget for food paid for.

My husband does not like being at the mercy of the buses, he likes to drive to the parks. Now if it were just me, I hate driving, so don't mind the buses at all. Loved the boat at the Swan to Epcot and DHS.

We had dinner at 1900PF last trip and I will say, hearing the the band in the lobby playing disney tunes was really nice.

For us, we do several trips a year not only disney. The Disney trip is NOT the big all out trip 0 we save our $$ on that one to do some other trips. The conveniences at a Disney resort for our family aren't worth it....but that is not saying I wouldn't love to stay at the Poly or GF or WL.

I am sure there are some magical things I have missed, but to me I would rather have the $$ for something else. I have done the math both pretrip and post trip and we just save alot by staying offsite and not doing DDP...and I don't cook at all while we are on vacation, maybe one night of frozen pizza and bagged salads....but to me that is nothing.

 

[myhoney]

You would have eaten those meals either way. With the dining plan, there is some savings, but even Disney at their most optimistic says "up to 20% savings". That might make the difference between onsite at a Value or Moderate and offsite in a condo, but it won't make up the difference between onsite in a DVC villa and offsite in a condo---not even close.

Originally, we were only doing one onsite meal, expecting it to be at Epcot with the inlaws. They decided to do Cali Grill for the family meal, which is expensive, and not Disney enough for our dinner with the kids. That prompted us to consider a second dinner onsite. When the two dinners were added with grocery shopping for the week, we decided the few hundred more was worth not cooking and cleaning up after ourselves.

The dining plan is not a savings for us - we come out almost to the penny based on where we are going, and I'd rather order drinks over dessert! so, we are paying oop, and we got tickets from UT before the price hike. We have a car reserved for $189/wk. I think I'd rather use the difference in money to do MNSSHP, or something like that.

 

[dmgrife]

I love staying on Disney. When we needed a break we just hopped on the bus and headed back to our room. If someone was napping we would go to the pool or I would take the boat to downtown Disney. Which you would be able to do from your hotel. Its very relaxing. You will also get the extra hours in the morning and night for staying on the disney property. We used ours almost everyday.

 

[JimMIA]

And, the buses worry me - I'm convinced I can get around just as fast in my rental car as I can waiting for a bus and then waiting to be delivered to my resort!

As long as you are staying in the general WDW area, I think you can. I know from Wyndham Bonnet Creek I can be parked at any theme park in 15 minutes...usually less.

The only park where Disney buses may be the same or quicker is MK, because the buses drop you right at MK, rather than TTC across the lake.

 

[JimMIA]

You might want to look at a middle-of-the road option -- renting a DVC villa from an owner.

The DIS has a DVC Rent/Trade Board and here's a link: http://www.disboards.com/forumdisplay.php?f=29 (you have to be logged in to view the board)

Before you do anything else, read the sticky on that board called "How to use this board" That will give you tons of information about renting.

At the top of that page, you will see a link to the DVC points charts. Looking there will tell you how many points you need to rent for a particular type of villa during a particular season. Points generally rent for $10-12 per point, which tends to be WAY less than Disney mod or deluxe prices.

You'll also see stickies for David's DVC Rentals (DIS screen name daddio). David generally rents points for $13 per point. You pay up front, but he withholds 1/2 the money from the owner until you check in as protection for you. People who use his service give him great reviews.

 

[Kat&Dom]

I think that if you are booking into a pool house or condo then off-site is the way to go.

If you are going to be staying in a hotel room, then on-site wins.

I have stayed at Sheraton Vistana, Grand Beach Resort, Cypress Pointe Grand Villas which were about 10 minutes of driving to get to Disney. I love having the freedom of my own vehicle and don't mind driving. The other advantage to having a car is being able to shop at the Disney Outlet store - it is incredible the savings. My friend bought her daughter a stuffed unicorn for $3.99 that was indentical to the one for sale in the park for $20.99. We also bought T-shirts for $2.99-$5.99 as opposed to the park where they were $20-$30. You will save a lot on Disney soveniors if you shop at the Outlet store. I had given my son $20 to spend - he bought 3 items and still had $8 left over - you can't do that in the gift shops in the park.

When we stayed on-site at All Stars Music, it felt like forever to me waiting for the bus to pick us up. It took probably 30 minutes to get from Magic Kingdom back to All-Star then it was a long hike to our room at the Rock Inn. It was also a long hike to the food court to get something to eat and to swim at the main pool. I also found that everyone has to walk by the swimming pool to get to their rooms which didn't make pool time as relaxing to us.

We stayed at All-Stars for 2 nights then moved to Cypress Pointe Grand Villas - wow - that move was like heaven. We had a huge 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom condo with a large living room, dining room and kitchen. We could park right outside our entrance, walk only 30 feet into our condo then head out and there was a wonderful and quiet pool with a huge hot tub. I find with all the walking at Disney that a hot tub is wonderful to soak the bones in and All Stars did not have a hot tub at all.

For us, we enjoy relaxing at our resort as much as we enjoy doing the parks. I can only handle so much of the heat and crowds so having a nice quiet resort to relax at is awesome. And having a full kitchen to make a snack or even just have cold drinks is fabulous. And all the condos we have stayed in have a king bed and the second bedroom usually has twin beds so it works great for a family.

Whatever you decide to do, I am sure you will have a wonderful vacation.

 

[figmentswife]

I thought of another place for you to look into and I HIGHLY recommend the area...minutes from Disney.

Go to VRBO.com and search for kissimmee, then windsor hills. It is a wonderful resort less then 2 miles from Disney gates. We stayed there 2 years ago when 10 of us went and stayed in a 6 bedroom house with private pool for less then 1500 for a week.

We loved everything about it, kitchen, washer/dryer, pool, large house. However I did find that I didn't make it back to the parks in the evenings, but I think that is b\c we really pushed ourselves until about 4pm everyday when we should have left by 2pm to rest and go back (which we will do this trip)

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I am not a fan of Disney hotels I think OP hit the nail on the head. The prices are HIGH and the rooms are SMALL (and really sub par once you get boyond "gee look how cute". Yes the theme is"cute" but the mods and values have outside corridors and very limited service!)

I know I can get from the LBV to a lot of the parks faster in my car then on a Disney bus (I have timed it ) I think a suite or villa would give you a lot more space to spread out and relax.

 

[Planogirl]

I like offsite and onsite. It just depends on what you're looking for.

If you don't want much room and have no intention of driving onsite can be good. Otherwise, offsite is so much better IMO and usually what we go for now.

 

[CTFAMILYLUVSDISNEY]

I think there are pros and cons with both offsite and onsite. Our last trip was offsite in a 4 bdrm pool home in Windsor Palms and we loved having the extra room the house offered. This time we are staying in a 3 bdrm condo in Windsor Hills. Because our children are now 17 and 10 the small hotel room and one bathroom are too difficult and unfortunately Disney room prices do not allow us the luxury of booking 2 rooms.

Onsite is great because you do have the use of Disney transportation - we always stayed at POFQ so the boat to DTD was great. The buses were fine going to the parks in the morning but a nightmare coming back at night.

It's also nice having your own kitchen - as I get older I realize how much I get tired of eating out meal after meal while on vacation. It's nice to be able to stock "your" kitchen with some healthy options like fruit and yogurt for breakfasts and snacks.

I think it all depends on what you are looking for. Ultimately your vacation is what you make of it - after all you're at Disney and, I feel, the magic is the same on or off site

Have a great trip

 

[softballmom3]

First and foremost it is your vacation so just sort through all of our "advice" and decide what is best for your family.

We have stayed both onsite and offsite. Offsite-then onsite--then offsite-- you see the pattern. This last time we decided offsite due to having teenage girls and both they and I wanted more space.

We stayed in Windsor Hills this past October and while it was very nice there we all agreed we would rather be onsite. Loved using transportation system, convenience, etc.

Con for us to staying onsite is Disney food just isn't all that great and we definitely had better food offsite.

There's just something magical about onsite .

 

[Belle5]

We have taken 26 family trips to the world (not including our honeymoon and childhood trips). We have stayed at a combinations of two rooms on-site (values, moderates and deluxes) and off-site , Hyatt Grand Cypress, Sheraton Safari, buena vista suites, Embassy Suites,The Marriott World Center, Homewood Suites, Grand Beach, Vistana Villages, etc., etc.


The only really nice off-site trip was when we stayed at Vistana Villages when it was fairly new. Having a beautiful, roomy villa with gorgeous grounds and a great pool goes a LONG way to making up for not having the magic 24/7. BUT...it is a totally DIFFERENT kind of vacation. Vistana, in particular, was a pretty far drive from WDW...so it was a less Disney intensive vacation (that's not a bad thing if you have gone many times). I LOVED having a washer and dryer in the room!!! I liked the pool...though I don't think it was heated (didn't matter, it was hot outside) and it was just full of frogs! I don't believe there were life guards...

Onsite--yes, unless you go with DVC...it's less roomy. BUT, the grounds are so beautiful (except for the values). The walk to the food court is lovely, full of Disney magic with little sounds of nature piped in--in some areas. I love the access to the shops and food courts. Due to medical reasons, we always rent a car, but as our children have gotten older, we have really appreciated that they can have independence with the Disney bus/transportation system. We find the rooms to be very well thought out therefore the small amount of space is efficient. We use the lobbies extensively as places to hang out on the couches and visit (in place of doing so in a villa). I remember while staying at WL, the cousins would take their board games down to the lobby and play there! We have had three injuries take place on vacation where we were SOOOO glad to be on property! My stepdad could no longer walk after hurting himself. Disney arranged for him to have an scooter delivered to his room at CSR. Because he was on property he was totally able to continue vacationing as the Disney buses would transport him on the scooter. We often wondered what would happen if he had been off-property. I think he would have been stuck at his resort. During our last WDW vacation in February, DH became injured due to something breaking. Disney was so wonderful to us. They restaurant where the injury occurred called our resort and made sure DH was taken care of and they did little things because we were onsite guests that would not have been possible had we been offsite.

Not everyone's situation is the same. People are at different "places" in their WDW vacation experience. If you have never been onsite (especially at a moderate or up) staying at a Kissimmee Holiday Inn might just be the vacation of a lifetime for you. That's ok! Some people have worn out the onsite thing and have been to WDW so often that getting out and away from it is more the relaxation they need at this point in their vacationing experience.

As for our family, I toy with staying at WBC for our next vacation just because I do think it offers luxury, space, a great pool and proximity to WDW. My kids are saying NO WAY! They have gone as far to say that they would rather wait another year if it means staying onsite. In the end, DH and I will listen to them but make the call on whether or not to stay at WBC or a couple of rooms onsite. Cost will be a big factor. It almost always is!