Dang ! That Magic Bubble.

real mad hatter

real mad hatter

Well-Known Member
Hmmm. Lets see. Whilst shopping yesterday with the DW,we bumped into a friend of hers who has just returned from 2 weeks in Florida. ( They have been going for the past 8 years ) Now this was their first time off site,staying on I- Drive.They have one boy and one girl,now 14 & 12,but she said it was the biggest mistake of their lives.Yes,the vacation was much cheaper,about £1500 less,and the hotel was great,but getting to the parks in their self drive car was a nightmare. ( not sure if she was referring to the traffic or just the driving in general ) but also having to leave at night to get back to their I- Drive hotel. Anyway she said never again. Hmmm.So lets see. If your vacation was going to save you approx $1000 for a 14 night stay for a family of four.Would you consider staying off site or would you pay the extra to stay inside the bubble.I know this has been discussed in the past,but I'am curious to see how many of you would pay the extra $$$$$$$ for a 14 night vacation.;)
 
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BoarderPhreak

BoarderPhreak

Well-Known Member
lebeau said:
Yep. It was Riverside. I got the impression that French Quarter had slightly better bus service. They got picked up last on the way out to the parks and dropped off first which meant shorter bus trips. Also, we would see FQ-only buses, but never Riverside exclusive buses. Which is counter-intuitive given that Riverside is the larger of the two.

In 2012, we stayed at Art of Animation which had its own bus route. We didn't have any nightmares like at POR. But the waits were longer than they used to be. There was a time when the average wait for a bus was 10-15 minutes. Worst case, you waited 20 minutes. That used to happen once per trip. But lately, we run into 20 minute waits pretty often. And not even at park close.

Definitely agree with you on the coordination. There has to be a better way. I'm sure Disney could cut down on bus waits, but clearly they don't believe it is worth the expense. But the poor bus service has had me second-guessing whether or not it is still worthwhile to stay on site.
Click to expand...

Hmm, clearly some confusion going on there! I noticed that too, but they had Riverside OR French Quarter busses when I was there two weeks ago. However, we did have one or two rides that seemed to cross boundaries. Maybe they're in the middle of changing things around to alleviate the issues? Of course, there may also be some (not much) leeway if things are especially crazy (as we were there for SB). Riverside definitely needs its own busses, it's way too big (like CBR).

AFAIK, Disney has all the technology to do LED signs with bus timing, GPS, video, etc. but it's not being utilized at all right now. Personally, I think they have a love/hate relationship with the busses. On the plus side, it keeps guests on-property and spending money at Disney - but on the flipside, it's surely just a nightmare for them.
 
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jazznrachie

jazznrachie

Well-Known Member
I have never stayed offsite & would never consider staying offsite. I don't want to leave the magic behind at the end of each day. It just wouldn't feel right. I've never even priced out the difference because I really don't want to know!
 
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Shadowgate

Shadowgate

Active Member
In my 24 times going to the world we have only stayed offsite, nearby, 3 times and one of those was at one of the hotels right by DTD. Each of those times we wished we were staying at a Disney hotel. I will never again do that unless there is no other way of going. Even next time where we will be spending 3 days at Universal and 6 at Disney we will be staying onsite. I dont want to worry about driving and losing being right there. There is enough to worry about with a Disney trip and that is just one too many.
 
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Violet

Violet

Well-Known Member
I don't think I would go if we didn't stay onsite. I'm not the kind of person that can go to the parks for hours and hours, so being on property is key. While I love the atmosphere of the parks, I'm also not a huge ride person, a few a day is plenty for me. Much of the fun for me revolves around the resorts and the restaurants, and just strolling around in small doses.

I think if we weren't going to stay onsite, I would probably go somewhere else instead. But I can see how staying offsite could work great, I think I would just have to vacation differently.

Now if I lived around Orlando, I would have no problem with it....:)
 
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George

George

Liker of Things
Premium Member
I'm always in a "magic bubble". Makes crossing Bay Lake a snap.

jim+bubble.jpg
 
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6laurac

6laurac

Well-Known Member
We are staying off site this go around-for three reasons a) far cheaper b)DD needs her own bedroom at almost 3 c) an extra bathroom is an added bonus

Next trip, when she's 5 1/2, we will stay onsite and shorten the trip a bit to save on the expense. Yep, next trip is already in the planning stages....
 
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tmstephe

tmstephe

Active Member
I have always stayed on property, both when I went as a kid with my parents and now with my own family. It's just not Disney if I still have to worry about driving, parking, etc. We do, however, like to drive down (from Iowa, about 20 hours of drive time) and get a hotel off site the night before our reservation. That gives us a chance to decompress from the drive, walk over to a Pizza Hut that we like (and drink Pepsi for the last time :)), get a good night's sleep, and then head to the parks bright and early for our WDW stay.
 
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Vader2112

Vader2112

Well-Known Member
The bubble starts for me once I get off Exit 62 on I-4. We like to stay on site as well even though we live a short 90 minutes away. Keeps the illusion of being somewhere other than Florida.
 
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Tom

Tom

Beta Return
I would give up something else in an instant, as opposed to staying anywhere other than one of Walt Disney World's fabulous Resort Hotels.

Granted, I would get quite burnt out on a 14-day trip....of course it's not quite the distance for me as it is for those of you across the pond. I can't imagine what a 14-day trip would cost. Saving $1,000 would probably be like re-using an old monorail footing for a billion dollar transportation expansion ;)
 
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