any one stayed off Disney property and saved?

tractorm3

tractorm3

Active Member
my gf and I are planning our next trip and here is what we usually do, fly in, magical express, meal plan, at the carribean beach.

does any one save that much money by staying offsite? we dont want to have to rent a car.

just thinking we would loose the EMH, magical express, meal plan, and the buses.
 
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SAV

SAV

Well-Known Member
Woozles944 said:
freedom of travel to and from the parks are definite bonuses [ /QUOTE]

To call waiting and relying on Disney transportation as "Freedom" is a little far fetched interpretation of things. Having my own rental car to get into and go anytime I want = freedom. Waiting for a bus schedule is not. Is that freedom worth the cost of a rental car? To us it always is. Others maybe not.

The Free Dining is the biggie. That is why we decided to stay on-site this time. It ended up costing us the same as I was going to pay off-site, even with discounts. Granted, I am giving up a 1br suite for a regular Value room, but the DW wanted to give it a shot so we did.

Last thing, A rental car is not required for an off-site stay. Most of the hotels offer free shuttles to and from the parks. Is it as convenient as Disney Transport? No. But it is "free". You could use Mears Transport to get you from the airport to the hotel and back for around $90 give or take.
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W

Woozles944

New Member
OK "freedom" may no be the best word, but my though was in comparision to some of the previous posts regarding only a few trips to the parks when staying at offsite hotels. Regarding waiting for the Disney busses: We have normally had good luck with fairly short times waiting for a bus, but we do try to get to the parks at opening. It seems that the additional time spent catching and riding the parking lot tram/monorail/ferry boat, to get to the gate eats up a good chunk of the bus wait time (except at Epcot where you loose it again in the walk to the gate from the bus stops). When we stay to park close we do so fully expecting to wait for several busses, but that is something we expect, so it is not soo difficult.

But this discussion is getting off topic. My main point is like a few others have pointed out, that if you are careful you can stay onsite for very little more than offsite and in my opinion the benefits you gain more than make up for it. If we could reasonably drive to Orlando, that could change things.

BTW, our 9r old son feels that EMH are very important. Here's the short story: His school is having an auction and one of the items that will be up for bid is a timeshare in Orlando. My DW and I were discussing how much we might be willing to bid on the timeshare. While we were talking my son interrupted and pointed out that we would not be able to do EMH, so maybe it would not be a good idea. We both laughed.
 
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mouselvrmom

mouselvrmom

Well-Known Member
I agree with Woozles944 that there is a certain feeling of "freedom" in using disney transportation. Yes, you have to wait on buses and spend more time getting to the park than if you drove yourself. I know lots of people find this to be a big pain to have to wait on the buses.

We, however, do feel that we are not required to drive ourselves or pay for parking which allows us certain freedom. Also, we don't ever have to worry about where we are going or how we're going to get there. We can just sit back and let Disney do the driving. That way we never have to let the magic leave us. I think that is the "freedom" that Disney transportation provides us.
 
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G

gettingsmaller

New Member
Back in 2005, we got a condo off of eBay for $299 for a week. It was a very nice place right by Disney. We were going to have a rental, anyway. Also, we carried in frozen gatorade and granola bars. I think it was about as cheaply as you can do Disney without going to timeshare presentations for free tickets.

Then, in 2007, we went with free dining. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! Don't underestimate the value of stopping to eat a decent meal and recharge the batteries.

Yes, I am sure we saved money, but we're now sold on staying onsite and getting dining.

Getting back to the saving money... The circumstances can be so different and make a big difference. If you have APs and you drive to WDW, you've eliminated two big costs (parking, renting a car) associated with staying offsite. However, if you fly to MCO, by the time you factor in a car, gas, parking, etc., it can really come out pretty close to staying onsite--except with onsite, you save yourself those hassles.

A lot of the UK folks come for 2-3 weeks, and I can see how you'd want a rental house or something for that time period. When you get to that level of accommodations, offsite is really going to beat Disney soundly in the $$ department.
 
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