Disney vs Non Disney Hotels

[FutureCEO]

On property though.

If you didn't have a timeshare or anything special like that. Which would you prefer? With Disney hotels through the roof for price, Downtown Disney area hotels are cheaper but is it worth it. I've never seen shuttles at the parks for Downtown Disney hotels btw. You have the Starwood hotels too. Four Seasons, though the price is way too high.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

We've stayed offsite as well as on.
We would never use an offsite hotel if we didn't have a rental car - to rely on a hotels courtesy shuttle puts your vacation in the hands of another. You go to the parks when they're ready, and you return when you're told.
I'd rather pay over the odds and stay in a Disney Resort and have freedom of choice - it's my holiday, I'll do what I want when I want

 

[Much-Pixie-Dust]

We are staying at the Hilton Bonnet Creek, post-cruise for a couple of days on our next trip. We will have a rental car. We have always stayed at a Disney Resort, so we thought we would switch it up this time. Even with taxes, parking, and resort fees it is less expensive than a moderate.

 

[DisneyDaver]

Four Seasons, though the price is way too high.

Not sure what you were expecting, but when I checked, the Four Seasons Orlando prices were relatively consistent with other Four Seasons hotels in the Continental US.

 

[BigTxEars]

As far as the quality of the rooms and such I would guess some offsite places are better than the Disney resorts, but they can't touch the location of the Disney resorts. That alone make it worth it to us. We can "feel" the Disney bubble and enjoy being in it, other can't so that matters as well. We find it well worth the extra $ to stay onsite. If we did not and had to leave the bubble each day it would make us sad. Weird I know but true none the less.

 

[stevehousse]

At least the four seasons is a true 5 star resort! And the prices there are actually cheaper than deluxe Disney hotels!!!

 

[A W Reezy]

We always stayed at Buena Vista Palace and loved it. Really nice rooms with great views of Disney's campus, and at the time (last time was 2010), they had Mears buses transporting us from hotel to parks at no cost.

 

[Lance]

We've stayed at the Downtown Disney Hilton twice, and we enjoyed it, stayed there both times for just over $100, so not bad at all.

And I liked the Dolphin, can't go wrong with a good deal at the Dolphin for around $150-$200 a night.

But, I'd take Riverside for under $200, in place of any off-site similar priced resorts.

 

[doctornick]

We've stayed offsite as well as on.
We would never use an offsite hotel if we didn't have a rental car - to rely on a hotels courtesy shuttle puts your vacation in the hands of another. You go to the parks when they're ready, and you return when you're told.
I'd rather pay over the odds and stay in a Disney Resort and have freedom of choice - it's my holiday, I'll do what I want when I want

This is a big factor for me. I agree that renting a car is key when staying off site. In general, I prefer to avoid the "hassle" of renting a car and just go with MDE and resort transport with staying onsite. Especially since we often go on multi-family trips and which would require renting a large vehicle or multiple vehicles for everyone. But having a rental car does give you a lot of freedom as well, so it makes sense if you are doing non-Disney stuff on your trip.

 

[fireman17]

We started going to WDW in 2003 when our family was just a family of four since then it has grown to 7 so, in 2007 we bought into DVC but due to financial difficulties we had to sell it to say I was heartbroken was an understatement. My DW is always on the hunt for bargains and found Bonnett Creek to be very reasonable and on property and I thought using a rental car would be time consuming and a hassle but to my surprise was much better for our family. Our last stay this past April we stayed at Bonnett Creek for 7 days for only $650.00 in a two bedroom suite and to me it was bigger than our DVC when we would stay at SSR. We rented a van like before and it was so nice to walk past the lines of people waiting for buses and right to our van and with a tired little boy he was in his car seat and sleping on the way to our resort.
As a WDW lover that I am I thought I would never stay off property or rent a car with all the previous stays we had at WDW and DVC but with the price of WDW resorts being what they are now and park tickets too a WDW trip may not be as often as it was in the past.

 

[Mouse_Trap]

On property though.

If you didn't have a timeshare or anything special like that. Which would you prefer? With Disney hotels through the roof for price, Downtown Disney area hotels are cheaper but is it worth it. I've never seen shuttles at the parks for Downtown Disney hotels btw. You have the Starwood hotels too. Four Seasons, though the price is way too high.

Why does it need to be 'on-property'?

There are so many off-property hotels which hardly any further away that some on-property hotels.
My view would be that if you want to rent a car so you can escape the extortionate Disney hotel/motel pricing then the distance away is largely irrelevant and its more about which area you want to be in, LBV, Kissimmee, i-Drive etc.

Pretty sure the DtD hotels have shuttles, but then so do most hotels and motels in the area. They don't pick up in the same spot as for the Disney hotels, are not a regular as Disney Transportation, and may not operate as early/late as you would like.

 

[FutureCEO]

Why does it need to be 'on-property'?

There are so many off-property hotels which hardly any further away that some on-property hotels.
My view would be that if you want to rent a car so you can escape the extortionate Disney hotel/motel pricing then the distance away is largely irrelevant and its more about which area you want to be in, LBV, Kissimmee, i-Drive etc.

Pretty sure the DtD hotels have shuttles, but then so do most hotels and motels in the area. They don't pick up in the same spot as for the Disney hotels, are not a regular as Disney Transportation, and may not operate as early/late as you would like.

Because that's what I choose. Rather than choosing from a billion hotels, you have a select few. And since people like staying on property, they always do not have to stay at a Disney hotel.

 

[eddiemcgarrigle]

We used to stay off-site, mainly at I-Drive. I can remember when that area was reasonably quiet with almost no places to drink other than hotels but over the years it got saturated by bars and became very loud and rowdy. Prices also went up (no longer could I get two weeks sunshine for under £500 each) and the peace and serenity of a Disney resort became ever more desirable.

Then, year long free DDP for those of us in the UK sealed the deal with the price differences of Disney with free food and I-Drive with food still to be paid for, meant things where leaning in Disney's favour by a good margin. Since we sampled Disney hospitality, we won't go anywhere else other than a Disney resort.

 

[Gig 'Em Mickey]

The hotels themselves are nicer off site. We prefer to stay onsite though. I like to be "in the bubble" I guess. I don't like having to drive a ton or deal with a ton of traffic. Park entry/exit is ok, short drive back to hotel. But usually we like to use the bus/monorail system. And we do like the theming of the disney hotels. With a little one, renting a car and having to bring our own car seat is a real pain also.

Had a conference at the hilton bonnet creek a couple years ago. Very cool hotel. BUT, was able to put my family up at pop century for 6 nights instead of 4 nights at the conference rate so we stayed there and I just drove over there for the conference while family took the busses to the parks.

 

[tpoly88]

the hilton/waldorf Bonnet creek was nice. they have a shuttle but leaves only at certain times. They Hyatt grand cypress is nice too and does not break the bank. They too have a limited shuttle. I took the shuttles to the park and i took a taxi home. Was still much cheaper than staying on site at a deluxe