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

[newmouse2008]

I vote for Buena Vista Suites!!!! you can get a 2nd night for $59!!! Here is a link with the info.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/Resorts/bvsuites/index.htm

 

[Missyrose]

I find myself torn every time I go to Disney. I really, really, REALLY want to stay onsite, but the extra space and cheaper prices keep pulling me offsite.

To the OP, I know the cost of the two dinners brings your offsite budget closer to what it would cost to stay onsite, but do those numbers include a dining plan or how much it would cost to eat ALL your meals onsite as well?

 

[myhoney]

I find myself torn every time I go to Disney. I really, really, REALLY want to stay onsite, but the extra space and cheaper prices keep pulling me offsite.

To the OP, I know the cost of the two dinners brings your offsite budget closer to what it would cost to stay onsite, but do those numbers include a dining plan or how much it would cost to eat ALL your meals onsite as well?

We were estimating $3500 staying offsite, with eating 2 dinners on. To stay onsite with dining plan was going to be $4000, so the $500, while a lot of money, wasn't so much compared to eating out all the time and feeling on vacation.

We now have a room only ressie at POFQ ($1129) and a room at Buena Vista Suites ($499.50, with car $189 = $689.50). We don't have to make a decision til early October, so I can wait to see what promotions come out. The dining plan was costing us $781, and when I checked the menus for our ADRs, we were coming out just about to $780 oop. We aren't big dessert people, so we decided to pay oop and get apps, or alcohol, or an extra snack during the day instead of dessert at lunch and dinner. We'll see how it shakes out. I'm still leaning toward off, but I have to convince DH (not too hard, usually!)

The $500 difference on just sleeping is different to us than $500 on meals, if that makes sense. And to me, I'd rather spend that money on MNSSHP tix, or even better, Christmas, as that will be around the corner from our trip!

 

[Brian Noble]

I find myself torn every time I go to Disney. I really, really, REALLY want to stay onsite, but the extra space and cheaper prices keep pulling me offsite.

Stay onsite, have a reasonable amount of space, or spend a reasonable amount of money: pick two.

do those numbers include a dining plan or how much it would cost to eat ALL your meals onsite as well?

We have never, not once, spent as much just eating what, when and where we wanted as the appropriate dining plan would cost. Usually, we have one or two meals fewer than one per night. Sometimes, we have one or two more, but not enough to justify the deluxe plan. Once, we had just the right number, but enough of them were less expensive that we still would not have saved anything on the plan.

 

[Missyrose]

We have never, not once, spent as much just eating what, when and where we wanted as the appropriate dining plan would cost. Usually, we have one or two meals fewer than one per night. Sometimes, we have one or two more, but not enough to justify the deluxe plan. Once, we had just the right number, but enough of them were less expensive that we still would not have saved anything on the plan.

Trust me, I wasn't advocating the dining plan (even when I do finally make an onsite stay, I can't imagine getting the dining plan -- it doesn't seem to save anyone money).

I was just trying to make sure OP was comparing apples to apples b/c it seemed like they were saying the offsite accommodations (and utilizing the kitchen) + 2 onsite dinners almost equaled the price of staying onsite. But that equation doesn't take into account paying for all your meals because you no longer have a kitchen to eat your meals out of the Disney bubble.

It sounds like the OP was factoring in adding the dining plan, so if her numbers work out, that's great!

 

[HeatherC]

Look into Wyndham Bonnet Creek. Gorgeous resort "onsite", but not owned by Disney. You can rent a two bedroom 1200 sq ft. villa for far less than a basic room at a Disney deluxe resort. We pay about $120 a night including all taxes.

 

[sksjasams]

We chose to stay onsite for our first and only trip (so far). I wanted to just enjoy disney without worrying about driving around orlando trying to find things. Plus were were only doing disney. We loved being onsite. We got a room only AAA discount and paid for meals OOP. We stayed in a preferred room at POP(only 3 of us). We were close to the main building/food court and buses. It was an easy breezy vacation. I also loved the hotel aspect of it...room all tidied and beds made when we came back after parks, picking up food at the food court and taking it to room to relax and rest, little surprises houskeeping left for DS. Loved it!

Now when we return, we plan on also visiting Universal, Legoland and maybe Seaworld, so we will definitely have a car, and plan on staying off site.

That being said, I would still recommend staying onsite for your first trip

Enjoy your trip!

 

[mikehn]

This is your first family trip. Stay onsite and be done with it. You can revisit this debate on your next trip.

 

[Brian Noble]

This is your first family trip. Stay onsite and be done with it. You can revisit this debate on your next trip.

Because...why, exactly?

Our first trip (first several, actually) were offsite. When we finally stayed onsite (in a villa at OKW) we found it to be slightly anticipointing. It was fun, we enjoyed it, and we've stayed there twice more since then, but it was not head-and-shoulders better than one of the top-shelf offsite resorts. Indeed, we found OKW to be pretty comparable to Bonnet Creek in terms of how much we enjoyed our overall vacation. On the other hand, we did like VWL a little bit more. But, unless you can get an exchange in, VWL is at least 3x the price of Bonnet Creek, and it was nicer, but it was not three-times-the-cost nicer.

 

[shalom]

Stay onsite and be done with it. You can revisit this debate on your next trip.

Because...why, exactly?

Seconding that "Why, exactly?" I know people who stayed onsite their first trip and regretted it -- some of whom never went back again. And others who hated it the first time but found out about renting a nice offsite house or condo and now enjoy WDW. Thing is, some people enjoy WDW for more than a day or so only if they can get away from it.

Disney is a high-energy place, and the Disney resorts reflect that, IMHO. There's a lot of audial and visual stimulation, a lot of stuff going on, a lot of people coming through. Some people love that onsite energy; others love it for a while, but are very happy to get away from it at night or for breaks.

Disney rooms are also not what a lot of people expect. I've seen a lot of people in the Disney Resort section say this or that Disney resort has "huge" rooms -- I was shocked when I looked up the room sizes, because they're actually below average for the rooms we've stayed in elsewhere. I think it depends on what kind of places you've stayed and perhaps what part of the country you've most traveled (Disney room sizes are on par with a lot of vacation areas in the east -- "ocean view" sized, if you will). Point is, if someone considers offsite ahead of time, they're much less likely to end up experiencing a miserable first time squished in tiny rooms feeling trapped with Disney dining as their only food option.

Which can make a huge difference in enjoying WDW if that sort of thing matters to you. Even if someone decides onsite is their best choice, odds are they'll have a better idea of what they're actually getting if they look into offsite options as well. It's one thing to go in knowing that "Disney deluxe" does not mean deluxe as it's defined in the real world -- it's another thing to walk into a room you've heard described as "huge" and discover it's on par with the Super 8 in Grandma's hometown, only at five times the price.

 

[disneyavonohio]

In the last few years we have stayed on-site and off-site.

Last stay on-site was at Animal Kingdom and Caribbean Beach, split stay. Off-Site was at Windsor Hills in a 4 BR house with pool.

Time to get to parks was much faster staying off site. It takes 30 seconds to walk out your door and get into the car. At CBR it took us 10 to 15 minutes just to get to the bus stop, then an additional 5 to 20 minutes waiting for the bus. We gave up on taking the busses back after the 2nd day, we took a taxi at night--having two sleeping children and a stroller and trying to stand on a crowded bus is just NOT "magical"

The amount of room is not even a comparison. It was so nice having a lot of room to relax. Having our own room, while the kids slept in their room was GREAT!

Resort feel--Windsor Hills had a nice pool area, but we were pretty far from it and only used it once--we had our own pool right out the back door that the kids loved. CBR had the best "resort" feel to us. But it sure was a lot of walking.

I can see reasons for saying both on and off site, but I don't want to see people make the decision to stay on-site because others are saying using Disney's transportation is a reason to stay on-site (unless you are staying in a mono-rail resort, then it may be more convenient, but the price shoots up even more). It isn't. Driving around Disney is VERY VERY easy.

To me value for money spent, off-site is the way to go. Our next trip will be Windors Hills again or Wyndam Bonnet Creek.

 

[dtum]

We always thought we had to stay on-site, but after a trip with three families---the logistics became a nightmare for us and the price of three rooms on-site was crazy! That's when we decided on WH. Four-bed, 4-bath house. It was so nice and relaxing, we will never go back to the shoebox rooms at Disney. Walking out of our patio door and right into the pool was wonderful--kids loved it. Not sure why everyone complains about cooking and cleaning. It's not that hard to load a dishwasher and with three families we all pitched in. Grilled out for several meals and that was also great and very relaxing--the family time of eating at the house was so much better than disney dining. Having our own washer/dryer eliminated the need to wait in a laundromat at the resorts. We did laundry several times during the week, put it in and left for a day of fun. There's really not much other "cleaning." We ate lunch at the park, but breakfast was always at the house. Also went to Sweet Tomatoes several times on our off days (because we love the place). I know it's all personal preference, but having done both now-we will never go back to on-site. I think if it was just DH and I we would go WBC, but with the whole family it's a pool house. WH this past trip and looking at EI next trip. House has a great game room that DS and SIL really want.

http://puffsvacationhome.com/index.html

Maybe instead of you changing to on-site, your family should consider switching to off-site