For $1,000 less I could....

[DiSnEyF@n]

I just booked 5 nights at the Cabins with the QS free dining totalling about $4200 for my family of 6 with 6 day park hoppers.

For $1000 less I could stay 7 nights outside of Disney at Lake Beuna Vista Condos in a 2 bedroom condo with a full kitchen and I even factored in paying for parking ($20 a day), a car rental and $300 for food from the food store.

What would you do??????? I am torn as to what we should. HELP!

The only thing making me want to stay at the Cabins is that we won't have to drive, but I have also heard that transportation in and out of the Cabins is not easy. We will have a 9 month old, 3.5 year old and 15yo and 18yo. Lugging a double stroller on all those buses is making my husband cringe lol

 

[Jess G]

I say save $500 I stead of a thousand and do half on site half offsite ! Stay offsite first. Keep the car though your stay at the cabins!

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

I say save $500 I stead of a thousand and do half on site half offsite ! Stay offsite first. Keep the car though your stay at the cabins!

I tried to do that like do 3 nights offsite and 4 nights onsite, but the Free Dining minimum night stay is 5 nights...

 

[ninjaprincesst]

I found it's not all about saving money. I would never stay offsite again, it's just not worth it. You spend too much time driving parking riding trams, you give up extra magic hours and now you give up fastpasses,I have seen several people say if you are not staying onsite you might as well count on no Pandora fast pass. The last time we stayed offsite I vowed never ever again.

 

[BigRedDad]

There are VERY easy ways to get around FPs and stay offsite. You can book a 1-night throwaway reservation at Fort Wilderness for the cheapest campsite and book FPs for 2 days. I did that, able to get ALL the FPs we would not be able to get at the 30-day mark. Now, I went from $1219 to $1304 for the 2-weeks. We now get EMH at AK and Epcot. We have FPs for Flights of Passage, KS at night, EE, Soarin, FEA. The unexpected advantage of booking the dummy reservation is the system allowed me to book 5 additional days of FPs prior to the dummy reservation. That let me get all of the other FPs we wanted for all parks. It amounted to $12 per day to get the FPs at the 60-day mark. Not sure if it is a glitch or not. Maybe it is an AP benefit.

As for driving to parks, there is only 1 park that will be faster by Disney transportation and that is Magic Kingdom. EVERY other park is much faster by car. Onsite guests will argue that, but I will bet money that I can get there faster in my own car instead of Disney buses to Epcot, DHS, AK, TL, BB, and DS. If you don't believe me, document your times. Start the timer when you leave your room and stop it at the turnstile. Then, start it at the turnstile and when you get back to your room. It will be about 40-45 minutes each way. For me, it is about 20 minutes (not counting MK). We count the tram/monorail/ferry as rides so we get that added bonus. For MK, we just leave 15 minutes earlier. Seriously, if you want to know how much time is wasted on Disney transportation, document it. It will be shocking at how horrible it is. The last time we relied on Disney transportation at POR we lost 14-hours in 3 days (all documented after Day 1 waits for MK). We were compensated by Disney because I documented it. After Day 3, we used POFQ, walked back to POR, and the times were back to what I considered normal but still not nearly as close to my own car.

 

[Figgy1]

There are VERY easy ways to get around FPs and stay offsite. You can book a 1-night throwaway reservation at Fort Wilderness for the cheapest campsite and book FPs for 2 days. I did that, able to get ALL the FPs we would not be able to get at the 30-day mark. Now, I went from $1219 to $1304 for the 2-weeks. We now get EMH at AK and Epcot. We have FPs for Flights of Passage, KS at night, EE, Soarin, FEA. The unexpected advantage of booking the dummy reservation is the system allowed me to book 5 additional days of FPs prior to the dummy reservation. That let me get all of the other FPs we wanted for all parks. It amounted to $12 per day to get the FPs at the 60-day mark. Not sure if it is a glitch or not. Maybe it is an AP benefit.

As for driving to parks, there is only 1 park that will be faster by Disney transportation and that is Magic Kingdom. EVERY other park is much faster by car. Onsite guests will argue that, but I will bet money that I can get there faster in my own car instead of Disney buses to Epcot, DHS, AK, TL, BB, and DS. If you don't believe me, document your times. Start the timer when you leave your room and stop it at the turnstile. Then, start it at the turnstile and when you get back to your room. It will be about 40-45 minutes each way. For me, it is about 20 minutes (not counting MK). We count the tram/monorail/ferry as rides so we get that added bonus. For MK, we just leave 15 minutes earlier. Seriously, if you want to know how much time is wasted on Disney transportation, document it. It will be shocking at how horrible it is. The last time we relied on Disney transportation at POR we lost 14-hours in 3 days (all documented after Day 1 waits for MK). We were compensated by Disney because I documented it. After Day 3, we used POFQ, walked back to POR, and the times were back to what I considered normal but still not nearly as close to my own car.

The walk from TTC to the MK is quite pleasant in the early morning

 

[King Racoon 77]

There are VERY easy ways to get around FPs and stay offsite. You can book a 1-night throwaway reservation at Fort Wilderness for the cheapest campsite and book FPs for 2 days. I did that, able to get ALL the FPs we would not be able to get at the 30-day mark. Now, I went from $1219 to $1304 for the 2-weeks. We now get EMH at AK and Epcot. We have FPs for Flights of Passage, KS at night, EE, Soarin, FEA. The unexpected advantage of booking the dummy reservation is the system allowed me to book 5 additional days of FPs prior to the dummy reservation. That let me get all of the other FPs we wanted for all parks. It amounted to $12 per day to get the FPs at the 60-day mark. Not sure if it is a glitch or not. Maybe it is an AP benefit.

As for driving to parks, there is only 1 park that will be faster by Disney transportation and that is Magic Kingdom. EVERY other park is much faster by car. Onsite guests will argue that, but I will bet money that I can get there faster in my own car instead of Disney buses to Epcot, DHS, AK, TL, BB, and DS. If you don't believe me, document your times. Start the timer when you leave your room and stop it at the turnstile. Then, start it at the turnstile and when you get back to your room. It will be about 40-45 minutes each way. For me, it is about 20 minutes (not counting MK). We count the tram/monorail/ferry as rides so we get that added bonus. For MK, we just leave 15 minutes earlier. Seriously, if you want to know how much time is wasted on Disney transportation, document it. It will be shocking at how horrible it is. The last time we relied on Disney transportation at POR we lost 14-hours in 3 days (all documented after Day 1 waits for MK). We were compensated by Disney because I documented it. After Day 3, we used POFQ, walked back to POR, and the times were back to what I considered normal but still not nearly as close to my own car.

It helps if you tip the bus driver ... it speeds up the journey

 

[BigRedDad]

It helps if you tip the bus driver ... it speeds up the journey

If you think so. It does not speed up the time it takes for the bus to get to you. That is where the real delays are. After you see 3 POFQ buses leave MK with almost no one on it and over 100 people now waiting for POR, when bus #4 shows up for POFQ, you hop on it. Still beat the guy behind me in line by almost 30 minutes. That included the walk from POFQ to POR. It was a 90 minute wait at about 2PM from MK to POR.

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

I found it's not all about saving money. I would never stay offsite again, it's just not worth it. You spend too much time driving parking riding trams, you give up extra magic hours and now you give up fastpasses,I have seen several people say if you are not staying onsite you might as well count on no Pandora fast pass. The last time we stayed offsite I vowed never ever again.

I totally get this, but with 2 little ones in tow, I know we won't be taking advantage of EMH this trip. Staying out late is not fun with a 3 y/o and 9 month old. That's another reason that I'm like maybe we just stay this one time offsite.... Maybe when it's all said and done I'll say the same thing as you that we'll never stay offsite again....

 

[King Racoon 77]

If you think so. It does not speed up the time it takes for the bus to get to you. That is where the real delays are. After you see 3 POFQ buses leave MK with almost no one on it and over 100 people now waiting for POR, when bus #4 shows up for POFQ, you hop on it. Still beat the guy behind me in line by almost 30 minutes. That included the walk from POFQ to POR. It was a 90 minute wait at about 2PM from MK to POR.

Well obviously you are not tipping the driver enough. With the right "donation" they will switch over to an out of service sign and take you striaght there bypassing all the other stops.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

There are VERY easy ways to get around FPs and stay offsite. You can book a 1-night throwaway reservation at Fort Wilderness for the cheapest campsite and book FPs for 2 days. I did that, able to get ALL the FPs we would not be able to get at the 30-day mark. Now, I went from $1219 to $1304 for the 2-weeks. We now get EMH at AK and Epcot. We have FPs for Flights of Passage, KS at night, EE, Soarin, FEA. The unexpected advantage of booking the dummy reservation is the system allowed me to book 5 additional days of FPs prior to the dummy reservation. That let me get all of the other FPs we wanted for all parks. It amounted to $12 per day to get the FPs at the 60-day mark. Not sure if it is a glitch or not. Maybe it is an AP benefit.

As for driving to parks, there is only 1 park that will be faster by Disney transportation and that is Magic Kingdom. EVERY other park is much faster by car. Onsite guests will argue that, but I will bet money that I can get there faster in my own car instead of Disney buses to Epcot, DHS, AK, TL, BB, and DS. If you don't believe me, document your times. Start the timer when you leave your room and stop it at the turnstile. Then, start it at the turnstile and when you get back to your room. It will be about 40-45 minutes each way. For me, it is about 20 minutes (not counting MK). We count the tram/monorail/ferry as rides so we get that added bonus. For MK, we just leave 15 minutes earlier. Seriously, if you want to know how much time is wasted on Disney transportation, document it. It will be shocking at how horrible it is. The last time we relied on Disney transportation at POR we lost 14-hours in 3 days (all documented after Day 1 waits for MK). We were compensated by Disney because I documented it. After Day 3, we used POFQ, walked back to POR, and the times were back to what I considered normal but still not nearly as close to my own car.

That's remarkably dishonest. You proud of yourself?

 

[Nemo14]

I totally get this, but with 2 little ones in tow, I know we won't be taking advantage of EMH this trip. Staying out late is not fun with a 3 y/o and 9 month old. That's another reason that I'm like maybe we just stay this one time offsite.... Maybe when it's all said and done I'll say the same thing as you that we'll never stay offsite again....

I say go for the off-site experience, but I'm a big fan of staying off-site anyway. My only concern would be that your teenagers might want to stay in the parks later than you and the younger kids, but that would not be worth the extra $$ to me.

 

[BigRedDad]

That's remarkably dishonest. You proud of yourself?

What's dishonest? Nothing I have done is dishonest. Everything I have done is within the realm of what Disney allows. And yes, I am proud.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

What's dishonest? Nothing I have done is dishonest. Everything I have done is within the realm of what Disney allows. And yes, I am proud.

Deliberately exploiting a flawed system for your own benefit is childish and tacky. Disney doesn't "allow it," they just haven't designed a way to prevent it. It's not Disney you're screwing over, it's actual real guests who are paying a premium for access to those Fastpasses that you have no right to.

 

[BigRedDad]

Then maybe they should stop firing US IT workers that could correct and stop offshoring it. The FP window is open on my MDE, so I am going to reserve my FPs all while saving $1,000's vs Disney resort prices for equivalent accommodations.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Then maybe they should stop firing US IT workers that could correct and stop offshoring it. The FP window is open on my MDE, so I am going to reserve my FPs all while saving $1,000's vs Disney resort prices for equivalent accommodations.

What? What does any of that have to do with "There are VERY easy ways to get around FPs and stay offsite. You can book a 1-night throwaway reservation at Fort Wilderness for the cheapest campsite and book FPs for 2 days. I did that, able to get ALL the FPs we would not be able to get at the 30-day mark."

I'll at least give you credit that it sounds like you keep your dummy reservation rather than cancelling it after you make your FP reservations. Though I imagine the idea hadn't occurred to you until I'm pointing it out and now you'll do just that.

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

Can't we all just get along.

 

[21stamps]

That's remarkably dishonest. You proud of yourself?

Last year when I was looking at pre-cruise options, I actually thought it would be fun to camp for two nights. Fort wilderness was sold out of all campsites.
Then I started reading all of the people online who actually book campsites just because they're staying offsite.. to get on site benefits. I don't know if that caused the time I was looking at to be full, but it really shouldn't happen. There are people who actually want to camp.

 

[21stamps]

OP, if the money is important to you, and you think you'll be more comfortable with that extra bathrooms and bedrooms, definitely make that switch

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

Just for the record I usually stay at the Swan and Dolphin and book my FPs at the 30 day mark and never have an issue getting what I want. I think it's bc it's the end of August... Just saying.

 

[DiSnEyF@n]

Last year when I was looking at pre-cruise options, I actually thought it would be fun to camp for two nights. Fort wilderness was sold out of all campsites.
Then I started reading all of the people online who actually book campsites just because they're staying offsite.. to get on site benefits. I don't know if that caused the time I was looking at to be full, but it really shouldn't happen. There are people who actually want to camp.