Age old question - onsite vs. offsite

[DarthVader]

So, I booked a timeshare vacation at the Sheraton Vistana in lake Buena Vista for my kids February Vacation of 2024. The cost about 300 dollars for the week, add in car rental, fees, and park tickets to WDW. We're looking at a 3,000 dollars (2,xxx of that amount is park tickets).

If I were to stay at the Port Orleans, AND if I Disney was able to take advantage of their promotion for XX percentage off, I'm looking at a cost of about 5,xxx for the room (at Port Olreans) including park tickets.

Buyers remorse? We've stay on property often, but times have changed, is it worth the added 2,000 dollars to stay on property. I think I have 24 hours to call RCI and cancel my reservation and get my money back,. Basically I have until 2:00pm today to pivot and do a complete 180 and spend more money.

My kids are not kids, they'll be 18 by next February, and they're planning a huge trip to Italy as part of their senior year. They're paying for it, though the odds are high I'll be kicking in a grand or two, hence my desire to have a very inexpensive Disney trip.

I don't know if I'm missing anything but these are the benefits to staying on site
1. early hours (not entirely sure we'd take full advantage)
2. That upper tier of fast passes (what ever they call it) where I can attempt to secure that at 7:00am as opposed to when the park opens
3. 60+10 ADRs

 

[jannerUK]

We are amazed at how much we are saving being off site, despite it being still quite expensive a holiday. As six adults I dread to think how much staying at the resorts - even POP - would be. So for context we are going for 21 days. A once in a lifetime trip for four of the party who have never been before. Yet we want to do things outside Disney such as; Cape C, Gatorland, Old Town & Celebration, Universal x3, Seaworld and much more. Even though Disney will take up 75% of our time the use of a car is essential and that is where staying off site benefits.
We are not phased by the lack of dining experiences WDW offers as we are content exploring the eateries out on ID and other places. We are also not overtly phased by missing out on the early access. Simply because we are there 21 days if we miss a ride on the first park visit we can always attempt to do it again - especially MK. We will probably invest in G+ in the last week for all four parks as it will be akin to the $15 we are seeing now rather than the heights of $30. So swings and roundabouts.

 

[jannerUK]

Was it too late for you in end? What did you do?

 

[DarthVader]

Was it too late for you in end? What did you do?

I'll be calling the time share later today. Its only 9:36am here.

I'm trying to get as much info as I can before I make any decision. My wife who has long pushed the off site resorts is asking to cancel and stay on property and that actually surprised me. For our week long stay, the delta appears to be at best 2,000 dollars, maybe 3,000.

Is it worth that - we'll be staying all week in the disney parks except for one trip to universal.

 

[jannerUK]

If staying on site and not purchasing a car and insurance and fuel....probably equates better to stay on site if its only £3000

 

[JIMINYCR]

Im a resort stay guy and cost isnt a factor for me because I budget and plan out exactly for what I want. Id rather be at POFQ and get the in the bubble feeling, use the Dis buses, boat to DS, food court and all other resort things. If its all about saving money then stay off site because the savings are substantial enough. If your kids dont mind the different feel of offsite, then save the bucks to be spent elsewhere. Comes down to how much of a difference the trip will feel to you doing it differently than what youve experienced before.

 

[mickeyfan202]

I have a couple thoughts as someone that has done both for many years.

Since your kids are older, staying onsite does have an advantage. If someone is cranky and wants to return the the hotel early, if someone is anixous to get the day going and is ready to get a head start at the park, if someone wants to explore something different onsite (take the skyliner for fun) for example, they can do so. Generally, we stayed together as a family. But every once in a while, people had different ideas about what to do. Staying onsite and having transportation included can be helpful.

Also, while driving within WDW is fairly easy, sometimes the thought of waking up and loading everyone into the car isn't an exciting way to start the day. Walking from the car to the gate and back again when tired isn't very magical. However, crammed on a crowed bus isn't either I guess.

We have stayed both on and offsite as a family. The Disney rooms are really tight for an entire family. I love the space in a condo. On the other hand, it is great being in the bubble.

It is just DD and I that visit WDW now. Currently, we always stay onsite. I am not opposed to staying offsite one day. If money is a concern and it is between no trip or offsite, I would stay offsite in a heartbeat. I don't cook on vacation, but having the kitchen is still helpful in a condo. But taking a mid day break and returning to the park, Springs, or elsewhere sometimes can feel draining. I do feel the "magic" more when staying onsite.

Maybe being in the bubble with your family before they leave for college would be a good choice. My kids and I are as close as ever. But college does change them - as it should - they grow and learn to be adults.

Whatever you choose will be fantastic. There are positves and negatives with each. Have a great trip whatever you decide. Once the decision is made, don't look back. Just enjoy dreaming about your trip.

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

We always stay onsite just for the convenience as mentioned previously. We don't like to drive in Florida, so it's a plus to use the WDW buses and boats. We budget for staying onsite as a goal. We like the feeling of being in the bubble the whole week.

It sounds like your wife wants to stay onsite too? I guess Iwould go with onsite.

 

[NelleBelle]

So we have have 2 boys, 19 and almost 17. This past summer we went for the oldest’s graduation from high school. Typically we stay on-site but DH, who is “frugal”, insisted that if he was going to come along, we were going to stay off-site. It turned out too big a big mistake, and HE admitted as much (and he never admits when he’s wrong)! I won’t get into the why the place we rented added to the negative experience. But a big part of why it would have benefitted us to be on-site would’ve been the following:
-our teen boys could’ve slept in and used WDW transportation to meet us in the parks (they’re used to getting up quite late in the summer, and it’s even worse when you come from the west coast)
-we wouldn’t have needed the added expense of renting a huge suburban to haul 5 of us around plus my mom‘s ECV
-we could’ve returned to the resort for naps! Or to swim in the afternoon! It was a pain to drive back to the rental (2 miles from WDW as the crow flies, maybe, but it took a good 30+ min to get to/from the rental)
-the nightmare called MK! Exiting MK at the end of the night when you are not on-site is pure hell. It probably took another 1.5 hrs to get back to the car waiting in the mass of humanity trying to get to the TTC! Nope, never will we do that again. In fact my boys refused to go back to MK the rest of the trip because of that.

For us, when we go as a family, we now realize what we need now that our kids are older, the adults are older and our touring style has definitely become more laid back. It makes more sense to be on-site vs off-site for us. We’ve tried it both ways and in the end, it’s not worth it, for us.

 

[mickeyfan202]

So, I booked a timeshare vacation at the Sheraton Vistana in lake Buena Vista for my kids February Vacation of 2024. The cost about 300 dollars for the week, add in car rental, fees, and park tickets to WDW. We're looking at a 3,000 dollars (2,xxx of that amount is park tickets).

If I were to stay at the Port Orleans, AND if I Disney was able to take advantage of their promotion for XX percentage off, I'm looking at a cost of about 5,xxx for the room (at Port Olreans) including park tickets.

Buyers remorse? We've stay on property often, but times have changed, is it worth the added 2,000 dollars to stay on property. I think I have 24 hours to call RCI and cancel my reservation and get my money back,. Basically I have until 2:00pm today to pivot and do a complete 180 and spend more money.

My kids are not kids, they'll be 18 by next February, and they're planning a huge trip to Italy as part of their senior year. They're paying for it, though the odds are high I'll be kicking in a grand or two, hence my desire to have a very inexpensive Disney trip.

I don't know if I'm missing anything but these are the benefits to staying on site
1. early hours (not entirely sure we'd take full advantage)
2. That upper tier of fast passes (what ever they call it) where I can attempt to secure that at 7:00am as opposed to when the park opens
3. 60+10 ADRs

What did you decide to do?

 

[Vacationeer]

I haven’t read all the resposes yet… but personally if I was considering to pay another $2k switch for onsite, then I’d at least want the skyliner.

Personally we find onsite worth it. It’s nice for everybody able to come and go as they please, which might work well for you and your 18yo’s.

 

[SamandplanningUK]

I think it all comes down to what you enjoy and what works for you as a family.
For us what helps make staying on site worth the extra is the transportation and the theming. We come from the UK and my husband has a job which involves hours of driving a day so to have the absolute luxury of not having to do that on holiday and being able to have a drink or two without worrying makes it special for him.
For me it's the immersion in the Disney bubble and for my kids it's the theming.

 

[esskay]

Theres no right answer to this.

Onsite
Pros: Better experience, easier transport, great customer service, 30min early entry
Con: Expensive as hell, small rooms, limited choice

Offsite
Pros: Larger properties, lots of options, significantly cheaper
Con: Requires taxis or car, miss out on perks, takes longer to get to parks


It boils down to working out if the pros outweigh the cons. Personally I stay on site most of the time, but we're at the tipping point where offsites looking about as equally appealing.

Once Epic opens I see very little reason to stay on site, at least not for the whole trip.